Because I work at a grocery store, I see a big variety in people; happy people, sad people, grumpy, judgmental, genuine and funny. This is one of the reasons that I do enjoy working, because it can be interesting simply to watch people. You may think that sounds really creepy and maybe it is, but I find it fascinating to watch different people and their habits and behaviors. Some people are very easy to read; with one look you can tell what they are thinking. Of course you can’t know for sure, but their facial expressions and body language show plainly their mood whether excited or calm or stressed.
Once while I was working a girl came through and when she saw me waiting for a customer, she looked at me with a big smile on her face. She put her groceries down beside the register and said “Hi! How are you today?” Most people that come through my line aren’t talkative and don’t ask me the question first so it took me a little off guard, but after I answered with a “Good, how are you?” she smiled and told me about her great day and how earlier she was pressured by her friends to go sky diving. She told me how it was exhilarating to free fall and then watch as the ground got closer, how she was so scared, and how she would never do it again but didn’t regret doing it at all. She was so fun to talk to, this stranger, and I wished she’d had more groceries so I could learn more about her experience.
One person that came through my line was quite different than the girl that went sky diving. She came up to my coworker Kyle’s line right after he had told me a joke. I was laughing at the joke when I looked over at her, and was just about to ask her about her day when she started yelling. “What are you laughing at?” I told her that he had told me a joke, and offered to tell the joke to her. “No,” she said louder, “You’re laughing at me don’t lie! Have you never seen a big lady before?!” She was so mad right away for something she had thought I had done, and I felt horrible for making her think I would even do something like that. As she went through Kyle’s line though, she grew angrier because he “wasn’t bagging her groceries right.” She became more obnoxious until Kyle called over our manager who tried to explain to her that we didn’t have anything against her, offered her drive-up, and told her we were just trying to help. She seemingly didn’t believe it though, because she then put all her groceries in her cart, mumbling as she walked out the automatic doors.
Others are much more subtle, and when I ask them how their day was they reply with the typical “Good, yours?” and are quiet until the end of their order when they tell me thank you as I tell them to have a great night. Everyone that I come into contact with at work are all so different and it is what makes it all the more interesting. (544)
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