Be Nice To Your Cashiers.

I understand that anxiety is running high lately. I should know, I take medicine for my anxiety, but that doesn't mean you should take it out on the people you see at grocery stores or restaurants. I have had more people get angry with me, a basic cashier, than with a CSM, or a manager, or corporate, over masks.

Walmart, until recently, had only one entrance open, excluding Automotive. I had probably 15 people yell at me to open the other entrance while I'm standing at a Self-Checkout trying to do my job.

Recently, I even had a customer yell at me and say 'you're so stupid, you know that?' when I made a simple mistake while bagging. Typically, in my county, people are polite and understanding and give calm criticism. This woman may as well have screamed at me.

It was made worse when no managers or CSMs came over to diffuse the situation - they were either on lunch or busy with a customer at the Service Desk - so I, with anxiety so high it could rival Mt. Everest, had to deal with this angry woman alone. In front of about 20 customers during rush hour.

It took everything I had to keep calm and nod and smile. I'm also pretty sure she said something along the lines of 'can't even read' when I slipped up while saying her total. I have minor dyslexia, so my mind gets numbers and letters flipped when I read them occasionally. Now, while I know she had no idea of this fact, it still hurt because I was made fun of in school for it for who knows how long before I finally learned to hide the fact that I was struggling.

This just goes to show that you should always watch what you say because you don't know the situation they're in.

With how the world is at the moment, even simply calling someone stupid could trigger suicidal thoughts, or depression, or an anxiety attack. I was lucky that I have had the practice of hiding my emotions, otherwise, it is very likely I would have been curled on the floor when that woman walked away. Even with my ability to hide my emotions, and my panic, I still did damage to my person. I clenched my jaw so tightly that I must have damaged my gums or a tooth, or something because I tasted blood in my mouth. Always be aware of what you are saying, especially if you don't know the person you're saying it to, because you could very much be a trigger that sets someone on a dark path that nobody wants to see someone walking down.

Just be careful with what you say, even if you're angry or anxious. It could change the way things turn out for a person. You could be saving a life, or endangering one. Make your pick.