Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Help Wanted

It was a pre Halloween fright, in a most unexpected place-- a supermarket.

I dropped in to one of my favorite stores for a few odds and ends on a recent morning.  It wasn't much.

The fright occurred back in the deli department.  I was waited on by a trainee.

Don't get me wrong.  We all have to start somewhere.  I admire the work ethic, and the trainee clearly wanted to do well.  He attentively listened to instructions from his superior.

Still, I cringed when he took the long stick of sandwich pepperoni from the refrigerated display case and placed it on the slicer.  The guy didn't seem to have a command of the machine.  To make matters worse, his superior obviously had better things to do.  Instead of watch a trainee handle an exceptionally dangerous piece of machinery, she wandered off to the back room.

The slicking seemed to take an eternity.  In reality, it wasn't.  Thankfully, the episode ended without blood and with all ten fingers.  It was touch and go for a while.  I could breathe again.  The next struggle was with the machine that weighs the meat and prints out a price sticker.  At least there's no potential for injury there.  Well, maybe a paper cut.

I would assume the trainee's skills will be better upon my next visit.

You might be wondering (maybe not), what gets a supermarket on my favorite list.  First, it's the ability to get in and out in a reasonable amount of time.  The store I favor always seems to have a decent number of registers open.  The store is sans frills, no shoppers club cards, no fancy cheese case, no restaurant, no beer, -- just a good supply of the basics.  It's all I really need.