I have been a cashier for about three years at quite a few retailers. People that have worked in retail know that there are things that customers do that annoy us greatly. I figured it would be good to write about five things that will help you understand what we go through as cashiers in a retail environment.

1. We do not control pricing; stop blaming us.

When prices do not come up as they are posted on signage, we have no way of knowing. The people on the sales floor and vendors are responsible for that; not us.

2. We will choose our job over you, every time.

Every retailer has certain employee and store policies that have to be followed. If the action you want us to take goes against our policy, we will not do it. I refuse to lose my job over something as stupid as me not following a policy that I have been trained to follow.

3. Please, for the love of God, get off the phone.

We are taking the time out of our lives to come into work and serve you. We deserve just as much respect as you do. It is so disrespectful when I try to talk to you and you do not respond back. It takes me five minutes to ring up your items, so the call or text can wait.

4. Get your bagged merchandise out of the bagging area.

Some retailers are different, but most of them have limited space to place your bagged items in. Please be courteous and start putting things back in your cart when you see me struggling to make all of your bags fit in one spot.

5. Having your payment ready is important.

This means more than just having your money or debit/credit card out. This also means that if you hand me cash and I cash you out, do not even think about saying "Oh, I have 15 cents!" Not only is this annoying, it makes me do unnecessary mental math and can mess up the cash register count.

I am sure that cashiers can agree with me when I say that these are the parts of our jobs that make us want to scream. Learn to respect your cashiers, and the retail experience will be better for the both of us.