My Future Was Destroyed by the UPC Scanner

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You were at least, semi-realistic. Me? I wanted to be either a cowboy or Yogi Berra.

GL H of MN 3:53PM June 27, 2008

....of youth. It's quite apparent from your still unrequited lust for cashiering that you never actually worked as a cashier!
But did you ever read Studs Terkel's "Working"? One of the interviews is with a woman named Babe, a supermarket cashier. She speaks of her work with pride and love! Astounding, really.
(Maybe just to me? I did work as a cashier and found it, um, soul-destroying.)

Working Girl of WA 8:32PM June 26, 2008

But just think: if not for the UPC, you might be head cashier at the Safeway today, instead of being a journalist. I think you won. (And now that supermarkets have started to set up self-service UPC scanners, it's even worse for the cashiers.)
When I worked at McDonald's, in high school, we had to type in the prices ourselves. Now they just press a button for "Big Mac", and the price is done for them. No UPCs, but it seems to've become equally lifeless.

Barry Leiba of NY 2:21PM June 26, 2008