Over the summer of 2023, I started working as a cashier at a small local grocery store. When I tell you that working in customer service changes a person, it does. Just for the record, I absolutely love my job. It was cool to see into a small window of people’s lives; most of these people live in my community. I am extremely lucky to live in a neighborhood where people are mostly friendly, and to work at a place where the management is attentive and responsive.
However, every cashier has a story. Whether it’s the guy who took off his shirt in front of my coworker, or the man who told me I didn’t deserve my job because I handed him the wrong bag, or the creep who tried to hit on one of our high school baggers, or the… Yeah, I could go on. Need I mention that in every single one of these interactions, the cashier was a younger woman and the customer was an older man?
In the United States, 72.9% of cashiers are women, and 27.1% are men. Why such a large gender gap? Well, a Reddit thread—written about 12 years ago— tried to answer that question. One user says that women make better cashiers because they are “much better to look at.” Okay, let’s talk about this. Many companies prefer to hire women for customer service jobs because they are socialized to be “gentle,” “flexible,” “patient” and “kind.” Obviously, the assumption that women naturally possess these traits is sexist. Another user theorizes that “most men don’t want to settle for that type of job.” This is blatantly misogynistic, implying that men have a natural sense of determination in their work-related endeavors that women lack.
Some of the harassment that many cashiers face is also due to the stigma associated with working a minimum-wage job. Cashiers typically work for little pay, and many see those underpaid workers as responsible for their own condition. The American Dream emphasizes the importance of the “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality, without acknowledging the unique struggles that people might face when they try to do so.
All this is to say, remember that your cashiers are people! They are integral to your shopping experience, and you never know the personal or work-related issues that they’ve had to deal with that day. It’s always better to be kind, and treating service workers with disrespect is not going to get you what you want any quicker. A smile or a polite (non-invasive) question goes a long way, especially for female cashiers who haven’t been treated in a humanizing way for hours.