Thirty or forty years ago, there were clerks to unload your groceries from the cart, a checker, a sacker and then the sacker loaded them into your car (and most were organized under the Teamsters, too, even in Texas). Today, it's not uncommon for a customer to unload their cart, sack their purchases, load up their car and then have to unload at home. [Off topic aside: And no one teaches their sackers, if they have them, how to sack. Canned goods and bananas or tomatoes do *not* go in the same sack!] Even with scanners, checkers have a physical job. And when there are no customers in line, there are other things to be done, like keeping the scanners clean, straightening up racks or such.
Someone doing counter sales should be mobile and not sitting so that they are reaching all of the customers and their needs, moving about between customers, pulling product out to be examined, etc. It is a sales job afterall, and I don't understand what is so bad about common courtesy and enthusiasm as a way to entice your customer base.
But I have to admit, the supervisor demanding toll booth workers stand all the time is oppressive. What did he expect? Were the toll booth workers supposed to clean windows, rotate the tires and pat the car on the trunk on it's way out?
- Deborah