Senior Lifestyle with Eileen O’Brien

They’re everywhere, they’re everywhere, and they’re everywhere! They’re in the discount stores, big box stores, grocery stores, home improvement stores, pharmacies. I knew they were there, you knew they were there. But it didn’t really hit me or impact my life until two weeks ago. 

To the strains on the car radio of “All You Need is Love” (Beatles, 1967) I park my car and head into my local Discount Store. As usual, I visit this store to purchase three items and after loading ten items in my cart I queue up in the line to be checked out by the very kind and patient staff member, whom I have come to know and trust. Problem is, there is no cashier present. As I stand at the counter with all my items assembled on the counter, the line of seniors waiting behind me growing rapidly, and watching people decide to use the self checkouts to step ahead of me, ten minutes goes by. With the encouragement of those also waiting on the line to be checked out by a human, I walk to the back of the store and let the staff know that there is a line of seniors who need a person to check them out. I am told there is no one to personally check us out and if I can’t self checkout, I should return the items to where I have found them! I return to the front of the line, inform the seniors waiting,  as well as some folks with disabilities also waiting , about the response I received. Then I leave all my items on the counter and several of the folks behind me also leave the store and leave their shopping carts behind. Now, if I was “Queen for a Day” on this particular day, everyone in that store who was unable to check out would have gotten all their selected items for free.

Corporate greed is everywhere in our corner of the world – I know it and you know it. But believe it or not, it is not worldwide. For example, in Amsterdam there is a supermarket chain named “JUMBO” that since 2019 has instituted   “Chat Checkouts,” or   “Kletskassa”, that serve as social initiatives to combat loneliness,  especially among older adults. These slow paced and now very financially successful lanes allow customers to chat with cashiers, offering valuable opportunities for social connection and a less rushed and stressful shopping experience. Listen folks, the success of these lanes has led to their corporate expansion of the “JUMBO” brand!

The growth of the corporate cancer of self checkout has led to job loss and no more money in the average person’s pocket. Think about it, when YOU self check out, YOU are working for the store and receiving NO salary, NO discount and NO help! Those “entry level” jobs that we all cut our teeth on helped develop lifelong habits of responsibility, time management, money management, interpersonal skills such as cooperation, conflict resolution and an added bonus of friendships. 

So what should we seniors and anyone else reading this column do? Well, instead of passively noticing signage such as “Skip the Line…Express Pay,” my advice is to SKIP the Express Line and meet the wonderful, often overworked, Front Line Staff that are everywhere! Let’s Begin:

MEET DENISE who works at the Foodtown in Valley Cottage.  Denise welcomes you with a big smile, is bilingual, checks out your purchases, helps you with any problems you might have AND remembers your name if she has helped you before.

MEET TOMAS at the ShopRite in West Nyack. Tomas always has a smile for you and finds out the answers if you have any questions. Tomas offers to help pack your groceries and will actually let you stay on his line when he is going off duty or is about to take his break to get you quickly on your way.

MEET ALEESHA  also at the ShopRite in West Nyack, who encourages you to buy raffle tickets to support a local charity that the store is supporting and shares how much she enjoys working at this particular ShopRite. Aleesha is also very pleased that the bulletin board recognizing staff and their accomplishments in Aisle 11 has been noticed. Readers should check it out on their next shopping trip.

MEET JORDAN at the Stop & Shop at the Orangeburg Commons. He’s the young man who runs after the senior citizen who, after paying for his grocery items,  has forgotten his purchases and is  heading out the door. This young man scurries after the senior citizen before the senior gets out the front door without what he came for.

MEET ANITA at the Dollar Tree in Valley Cottage. She’s the lady always equipped with a smile, who not only checks you out personally but calmly and efficiently, while also running interference for all those self checkout machines that malfunction, refuse your card or cash and don’t help you fill your bags with your purchases.

MEET ROBERT the West Nyack ShopRite Manager, who shares with this writer what a wonderful staff he has and the multiple techniques he uses to keep up morale, cooperation and positively reinforcing his crew.

Here are a few ideas from my corner of the world with how Rockland seniors can support these front line workers: A. Do not use self checkout,  B. Use a  kind greeting and thank the cashier by name after you pay for your purchase, and now for my all time favorite unorthodox suggestion… C. Hand the cashier a dollar scratch off ticket (which I always have in my purse) wish them a great day and good luck.  Try it. The first response you will notice when you make this gesture is total confusion, then shock, then a big embarrassed smile that someone noticed and recognized all their hard work.

In the words of my old friend Thoreau, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see!”

Happy Halloween! Remember, all treats and no tricks!

  Rockland, rockland county, self-checkout, Senior Lifestyle