In Berlin, I have had the distinct pleasure of visiting one of Europe's most luxurious department stores, KaDeWe, short for Kaufhaus des Westens. Only minutes from the Zoo Bahnhof, KaDeWe is filled with upscale clothes, accessories, and gourmet food. And more! (As copywriters like to throw in there.) On the top floor, there are stations exhibiting fresh, exotic foods, including pastries, coffees, chocolates, truffles, and a cornucopia of lush delicacies. You can buy a cup of coffee for about 3 euros and sit by windows offering panoramic views of Berlin (well, para-panoramic: one side of the building). And when you purchase this cup of coffee, or strudel, or smoked salmon, you pay (dearly but you don't mind) a lovely cashier sitting comfortably at a computerized checkout register. Go back seven words in the preceding sentence. She (or he, as the case may be) is sitting comfortably. And the cashier presumably can sit all day.
Contrast that with our premier local supermarket chain, Wegmans, renowned for being one of the best places to work in the United States. In fact, it is currently listed Number 3 on Fortune magazine's list of best places to work, and was Number 1 as recently as 2005. (While I disagree with the explanation, the company's website even addresses the issue of the missing apostrophe in the store's name.) Anyway, Wegmans cashiers all stand up, all the time, unless they are granted a break or have a disability.
I've used two extreme examples, KaDeWe Berlin and Wegmans Inc., because each is a showcase, premier store. But I am pretty sure it is common in all of Germany, and maybe all of Europe, for cashiers to be afforded the pleasure of a seat. Just as it is common in the USA, not just at Wegmans, to see cashiers standing.
Can someone explain this to me?
I myself have stood at a register (a long time ago). It kills your back. And your legs.
Does it all have to do with some kind of Puritan work ethic in America, home of the union movement? Fear of presenting a slovenly appearance? Something about productivity?
Hard to fathom, especially if you are comparing the modern-day U.S. to the forever industrious and dutiful Germany, home of Max Weber and his "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism."
So, what gives?
Can someone give me any plausible explanation why Wegmans, as well as most, if not all, of its competitors, can't find it in their hearts to let the cashiers sit down?
Are there stores (grocery or otherwise) out there that let their folks sit comfortably?
What gives?
Weigh in, folks.
Stand up for sitting down!
Maybe we can start a movement right here.
Just in time for those Labor Day speeches.
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10 comments:
Missing apostrophes or intentional misspellings (i.e. Kitty Klinic) will make me impose a boycott.
Y'all don't wann'a be a'gittin' me started up (notice all the apostrophes) about the grocery industry here in the good old USA. What it boils down too, our Cashiers also stock shelves, clean, run to assist customers, clean the toilets, bag groceries for other lines, and replace unwanted items back on the shelves. It all boils down to minimum labor force in the stores. They can't sit becuase they don't have the time.
I don't know about Wegmans but I know about most of the rest. LOL
Good Post and Good Point.
Later Y'all
(shudder) You've jogged my memory as to last night's horrific dream. I spent the majority of my teenage years working as a cashier for one drug and grocery store or another. And then I spent my early-adult years as a bank teller. (shudder)
I still dream of those jobs on occasion.
now you got me a thinking...the american work ethic...more like the japanese than the european
What I don't get is the WHY? What makes anyplace so great to work in? Because of the benefits? If it is not my mistake no matter what the benefit... Aren't you working for it?
There is no benefit to working... not even the check!
Now maybe I am saying this because I do not like my job but really wouldn't we all want to be doing something else if we could?
Really?
M
When I first lived in Germany i found that to be one of the oddest things about it-- the sitting down cashiers.
And though they may sometimes be slow and though you have to bag your own stuff, I can't say that it could possibly foster a spirit of slovenliness. But I think you're on to something as far as the puritan tradition......
Really appreciated this. Thanks for writing....
Interesting post. I don't have an answer for you but can tell you that sitting all day isn't exactly all it's cracked up to be.
Mist,
But a buoycott would be so uplifting.
MC,
Point well taken, but break not taken either.
MRG,
I hope you are finally getting to cash in on those earlier years.
AZG,
Is it culture or capitalism, or both?
M,
Partly true, I concede. Though I'm fortunate to like what I do, at least some of the time.
L,
Correct. I don't think slovenliness and Germany can coexist in the same sentence, paragraph, treatise, manifesto, essay, or novel.
T.E.,
Pun intended, I ASSume?
PK
I can't think of Berlin anymore without thinking of the movie Eurotrip. What a great movie!
How queer.
Yes, supermarket cashiers sit - to do otherwise would be silly, non?
Puss
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