Bob unloads all the snacks he was carrying onto the til.
The cashier asks if Bob took any petrol.
Bob says no.
The cashier works away scanning Bob’s items.
‘That’s €4.35’ the cashier says.
‘Cool I’ll pay by card’ Bob replies.
Bob taps his card, it beeps.
And now they wait, Bob and the cashier stand in complete silence as they wait for the transaction to be finished.
Finally the receipt prints and the cashier says ‘thanks’. It’s all over and Bob walks away.
This awkward silence between customer and cashier is a hilarious predicament. Both adults so close to finishing, dying to be free of this moment but forced to wait.
In my experience this awkward silence happens quite often. I often pay by card and I often have to wait for the cashier to set me free.
The usual interaction between me and cashier is simply silence. But every now and then a cashier does the unusual and makes small talk.
They ask how I’m doing, or if everything was alright or they comment on the weather. It doesn’t matter what they say, it’s the intention behind it that I find admirable.
They are using this forced waiting time as a chance to connect to another human being, to display a bit of humanity or even to make the moment a bit more bearable.
I can understand why most don’t do it. It’s easier to not say anything at all and just wait.
But I do appreciate those who do it.
Who use this brief moment to try and inject a smidge of humanity into a stranger’s day.
Thomas Duggan 