Maybe it’s just me, but I find the notion of holding a conversation with a supermarket cashier to be quaint. I say this even though I’m friends with one of the cashiers at my neighborhood supermarket and am regularly chatting him up as I check out. But unless I know someone personally, I see no need to start gabbing away while he or she is ringing up my purchases. It could be the fluorescent lighting or the insufferable muzak, but it seems to me that the grocer is just not the ideal place to build community.
