Annie Tan: Ang Malditang Cashier

Prologue

Cashiering is not an easy job.

It's not just about greeting the customer, asking for loyalty card, punching items, stating the amount, receiving the payment and saying thank you in the end.

It's a lot more harder than the steps above.

Lalo na kung maldita ang kahera.

It might involve a small argument between the cashier and the customer during the transaction, which may lead to a big fight, that may lead to a bigger problem, and the moment the fight ended, the cashier's job ended too.

"So, anong nangyari sa office kanina?"

I grabbed her coffee and sipped on it. It has a strong taste so I gave it back to her.

"Suspension."

She wasn't shocked. Parang ineexpect niyang ganoon nga ang outcome nang usapan namin ng manager namin kanina. Instead she shook her head and smiled.

"How many days this time?" she asked.

"Seven."

"That's a long vacation! Next is termination!" Mas lumakas ang tawa niya. It's as if to offend me but when she saw I have no reaction she immediately cleared her throat. "But really, Ann, bawal naman talaga magwalk-out  kapag may customer."

I know. If the customer wasn't too cocky I wouldn't have done such horrible thing. Pero kapag naaalala ko ang nangyari kanina ay parang tama nga lang ang ginawa ko. He deserve it any way.

"Ano ba kasing ginawa niya? I just heard you had a dramatic walk out, sayang kasi di ko naabutan ang scene. And stop delaying the story. Nakipagkita ka sakin for this diba?"

Napapikit ako ng mariin habang inaalala ang nangyari kanina. Tama siya, nakipagkita ako para may mapagkwentuhan, siya lang naman kasi ang pinagkaktiwalaan ko sa lahat ng mga katrabaho ko. Maine's like my best friend. Kasabay ko kasi siyang magapply sa trabaho at sabay din kaming nadeploy.

So, I told her the whole story. How the guy scolded me for punching the items slowly. Kasi daw nagmamadali siya. Kasi daw may meeting siya by 5 PM. He was in a hurry pero ang binili niya ay isang pushcart. He reached my counter exactly 04:59. So ang gusto niya sigurong mangyari ay sampung segundo lang ang ilaan sa buong proseso. I'm no superhero who have such power to do the whole thing within seconds. So sa inis ko dahil kung anu-ano na ang nasasabi niya, nagwalk out na ako. And he was screaming for me to come back.

Napatango si Maine. "We'll tama ka sa part na nakakainis yun. Pero Ann, you should've explained him the situation before doing the action. In fact you could've suspend the transaction, let him go for the meeting and told him resume it the moment he ever came back. Diba? The result would be far from suspension."

I hate to admit it but she's right. So I was silent the whole time.

"Habaan mo ang pasensya mo. Buti nga at hindi ka natanggal. Pagbalik mo dapat mabait kana."

Mabait naman ako, pero sisikapin ko paring maging mas mabait sa trabaho.