Chapter Eight: "Till only to be used by GEMMA"

I found those exact words on a post-it note stuck to my till one day. I pondered on it for a while, wondering if there was a reason. Turned out it was my "allocated till" until more newbies came in.

There are many things to do at the till to keep one's brain stimulated. One such activity is a strange version of "Hide-&-Seek" and is called "Find the Barcode". Typically played with a magazine or newspaper, it can mean turning the object over in one's hands until the little, not-always-but-usually-white, panel catches one's eye. Occasionally the customer will feel the need to participate.

Another till-point game could be entitled, "See how many customers will come to you instead of the till beside yours". I, lacking originality, could not think of a better name. This game is mainly played by tills five (my new allocated till) and six. These two tills are positioned so far away from the head of the queue that one has to yell at the top of one's voice to be heard. Occasionally though, somebody is staring into space and doesn't hear shouts from either till. People generally come to till five more than till six, meaning another, rather frustrated, shout then issues from till six (well, the person using till six)

Till-point games are fun.

Other titles include; "How long will it take to open this bag", "How many more rude customers can one take before one slams the till drawer down", and my personal favourite, "Who can do most (or all) of the daily tasks and therefore serve no customers at all for the entire duration of their shift" This particular one is almost always won by the more experienced members of staff who know that the new people will stay on the tills until told otherwise. Since more new people have started, I came very close to winning (if not won) this game on a couple of occasions so far :)

The "Who has a Pen?" game; everyone knows I always carry one so it's more like "Where's Gemma, aha!"

Some people, like myself for example, may get slightly over-protective of their till. Let me enlighten you...

Saturday past (01/12/07!) I came back from my break only to discover that somebody had signed onto my till. I took one step backwards (why? I do not know...) and almost, i repeat, almost yelled, "WHO'S ON MY TILL?!" "Calm down, Gemma" was the response I got... Then I said, "WHERE'S MY PEN?!"