I can't help noticing the misery of some checkout operators. All day long they stand in a neon-lit place and say the same thing over and over: "How are you? Thank you. Have a nice day." Oh yes, and "would you like a bag?" I can see how some operators suffer from the monotony, so I make an effort to smile, acknowledge them as humans, and when I have time, I have conversations with them while they put the groceries through. I see quite a lot of people treating supermarket operators like robots.
Some don't make it easy to chat with them. If someone eyes you like you owe them a favor you've refused to pay back, it's not very welcoming is it? Granted, they may be dealing with some stressful issues, a smile would be in order if you expect someone to say anything to you. But one thing I always do is thank them for their service even if I don't get a response [and I never expect any by the way].
I used to work in retail when I was younger so I'm definitely aware of cashiers and I empathize with them and try to be as nice as possible. If a cashier looks like she doesn't want to talk, I don't bother her because she's probably been talking to customers all day and is likely tired. It's an important and needed job because everyone has to pay for their items somehow, but it can be a tiring and repetitive job.
Well I never really made small talk with any of the people working in retail unless it's connected with their service. I think it would be weird in my book to strike a casual conversation with them out of the blue. I think I would only bother to do that if I'm interested. I never bother them while they're working.
I've done cashiering and I always carried on a conversation with the customers while checking them out, but I did like being out on the floor and stocking much better. Mainly because standing in one spot without a lot of room to move around since cashiers are required to stay close to their registers can definitely wear on you after awhile and you can only do so much straightening and such around your own register. It does seem that more cashiers aren't as friendly as they used to be though and I'm not sure why that is. I always enjoyed conversing with my customers and shopping should be fun for the most part. In other words it's not much fun having a crabby cashier after you've just enjoyed a shopping trip!
