Over winter and summer breaks, I work at a supermarket. It's honestly a fairly simple job because I'm a cashier: greet customers, efficiently bag their stuff and bid them farewell and tell them how much they saved. Everyone needs to go to the supermarket at least once, you know. Unless you buy everything from a farmer's market or you grow your own veggies, you will need to encounter someone who will sell you what you need. From the short amount of time I've worked at a supermarket, I'm amazed by the crappy treatment of cashiers. I know everyone who works a retail job feels the same pain.

The customers as well as the employees know that they are interacting because they have to. It's not like they had a choice and could walk out of the supermarket on their own (unless they decide to use a bag-your-own, but you know what I mean). The thing that continues to amaze me is the fact that people insist on being rude. I just don't get it.

Today, I had a customer who literally yelled at me for being closed while I was in the middle of my last customer's order. I apologized just because I didn't know what else to say. He asks for my manager, and he yells the same thing at him. Then my manager tells me to turn my light back on because another girl was hopping onto my register, so I did. The customer walks over and says "Oh, so you changed your mind?" All I said back was, "No, she's replacing me. I'm going home." "Good for you," he replied. He was legitimately angry at me for going home. I understand you want to buy you groceries and leave as quickly as possible, but come on, man. I'm tired, too; I've been up on my feet for hours doing this. I deserve to go home on time without getting yelled at.

Respect is not difficult. As kids, we were taught to treat others the way we'd like to be treated. Employees understand your frustration, but things will only change if you are calm and kind. People like to treat employees in retail like trash, as if we're not people. Yeah, we're there to help you, but we aren't pack mules. Saying hi, asking how we are and being considerate is all we ask. What's the point in getting upset and making your experience worse? If there is a problem, speak to the manager calmly because they want to help you solve your problem as badly as you do. And most people working these minimum wage jobs are teenagers working to pay for school, bills or daily costs. Everyone is a person with feelings and a life outside the environment in which you encounter them.