Friday Morning Bagel

Cheddar bacon bagel, toasted, with plain cream cheese. That was my order this morning at the Manna Bagel Company on State Street in Bristol, TN. I go there almost every Friday morning and typically order either the above or a banana nut bagel, toasted, with plain cream cheese.

The bagel shop is owned by a Messianic Jewish rabbi named Joe Bell. He's a really nice man with a group of great people working for him. And, his shop produces really, really good bagels!

I've been going there and meeting my long-time friend JC Hobbs for nearly three years now. JC and I are "bagel buddies." JC was one of my teachers in high school, and he was Sam's scout master when Sam was in Boy Scouts. He looks like Grizzly Adams, or maybe Saddam Hussein. (hehehe) I managed to sneak a picture of him this morning as he was laughing at something someone said.

Wal-Mart Tips

Here are some tips for checking out at Wal-Mart:

1) If you have anything heavy in your cart, do not put it up on the belt. You do not have to prove that you are manly enough to haul it up there. You see, your cashier, though likely not as manly as you, as probably already hauled tens (if not hundreds) of those item across the scanner today and would appreciate the reprieve.

2) If you have large bags of dog food, cat food, cat litter, etc., check for a peel-off bar code label that can be handed to the cashier while the bag is left in the cart.

3) Once you put your items on the belt, do not constantly fiddle with them, rearranging them. Meticulous cashiers look over the items on the belt and determine the best order to ring them up to ensure the most efficient way to bag them. If you rearrange things, it may mess up her system.

4) Please hang up the phone! Talking on a cell phone while checking out is not just rude, it can be an impediment. You can not possibly pay attention to what the cashier needs to say to you if you are talking on the phone.

5) Parents, watch your children. Shopping can be a stressful time for kids, and they often show it by acting up. Many times, parents aggravate the situation by being unnecessarily harsh. Relax. The children will usually follow the parents' lead and relax also. If your child(ren) make a mess (ie: a bag of M&M's spilled all over the floor), at least show some concern and even make an attempt to clean it up. Then, the cashier will have sympathy for you.

6) When you buy a potted plant from the Garden Center, pay for it in the Garden Center, if at all possible. If you must take it through the front-end checkout, do not put the plant on the belt, unless the cashier instructs you to do so. It is usually easier for the cashier to come around and scan the plant with the hand-held scanner than to clean dirt from the plant off the belt and scanner.

7) Don't expect the cashier to read your mind. If you have items to price-match, let her know BEFORE she rings it up. Otherwise, the item will have to be voided and rung up again.

8) Last, but certainly not least: BE FRIENDLY!!! The job can be stressful at times, but a smile and/or friendly conversation from a customer can really brighten up the work shift!

These tips apply to checking out at a regular register with a cashier running it. There is a whole other list of tips for using the self-checkouts. Number one: If in doubt, DON'T use it!!!

How I Broke a Cash Register at Wal-Mart

Of course, it had to be I...accident-prone Suzanne...who broke the cash register. And, it had to be Saturday, one of the busiest days we've had at Wal-Mart in a while...what with the "grand opening" of Toyland, in anticipation of Christmas.

First, let me tell you a little about the register. The keys have a base with a stem that connects them to the keyboard. On top is a sort of cap that holds on the label telling the function of the key. On many registers, some of the more frequently used keys have lost that cap on top, and consequently the name label also; and we have to just know what the key does because of its location.

So, when I logged onto register #3, the busiest register in the store, the first thing I noticed was that the "TOTAL" key was wobbly. I assumed that the cap was loose and pushed down a little too hard, trying to snap it back on. Instead, the whole key broke off, even the stem. Well, that rendered the whole register unusable because the "TOTAL" key is required for each transaction.

The CSM came over and looked at it for a few minutes, trying to see if there was any way to quickly fix it. My customers were standing there staring at us. I was able to complete the sale for the first customer in line, but then I had to move down to the next available register and close down register #3.

Some time between 11pm Saturday and 3:30pm Sunday, someone fixed the register; but I was not assigned to use that one again. I spent most of my shift yesterday on the self-checkout monitor where I wouldn't have to use the register much.