CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Scattered Cashiers

I’m on a real roll this week, where every time I am checking out of a grocery, I get the clerk who won’t shut up and concentrate.

No, I get the clerks who are so busy chatting and gossiping that you can barely tell their lane actually is open, despite the lighted check stand number.

At a Ralph’s recently, there were two bagging staff who were so busy talking to the cashier, who had wandered away from the check stand, that I wandered away trying to find someone to check me out. They then giggled and told inside stories and jokes the whole time they were “helping me.”

Later, at a Pavilions, the clerk was busy being told about the condition of the ladies room, then explaining it to another worker who was to go fix it, the entire time she checked me out. I realize that talking about the ladies room while handling Super Bowl party food doesn’t really contaminate that food, but it’s not pleasant to be having the toilet area so close to the food area, even in conversation.

A conversation like that, I think, should be murmured quietly between customers.

I want concentration on my check out. I want efficiency and no toilet talk. I don’t want to be made to feel like an outsider who doesn’t get the staff’s inside jokes, either. You can all but ignore me, that would be better, than talking around me like I don’t matter.

After all, I’m paying all this money, so for just a few minutes, I’d like to feel like my business is important and not an impediment to your jokes and bathroom duties. Is that too much to ask?