Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 32-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Continued from Vol. 364
The eight-hour shifts punctuated with strictly monitored breaks dragged on. My back ached, my wrists hurt and evidently, I wasn’t memorizing the 100-plus codes fast enough. This particular Whole Foods had previously been a quirky, neighborhood grocery store. It didn’t have a fancy conveyor belt for groceries after they’d been rung in. There was a walled-in area the size of a shoe box where the cashiers (who for some reason rang through groceries as fast as they possibly could, then stood there picking their fingernails or whatever) piled everything, meaning that baggers were constantly swamped.
We were periodically moved from till to till, and some cashiers ended up as baggers during the day, which I could see was how the staff conducted their socializing. Of course no one would want to do my bagging because they wanted to talk to their friends. Plus, I was new and a lot older and whenever anyone did bag for me, I asked them the produce codes rather than looking them up. I’d hold up a chunk of turmeric root or whatever and try to engage with them in a variety of ways.
“Any idea what the code is for this little baby?” I might ask. Or maybe I’d use an English accent. “Say old chap, in your vast experience, have you ever bumped into one of these little beggars?”
Yes, I can understand why I did my own bagging. And I can see why they put me on the till closest to the door that was almost never closed. I was new. To be fair, there was a small heater at by my feet, and I was allowed to wear my coat and hat.
Continued in Vol. 366
“The Orbit” from the album Who Shot Elvis? (Matador, 1996) (download):
