week 1 / erica

Watching the cashier at Hi Thai for a half hour at 11AM

She’s about five feet four inches tall. She’s thin, Asian, and female. She has a tightly tied back high placed pony tail of long straight black hair. Some silver colored clips hold back any excess small hair that the pony tail doesn’t pull back. Around her neck is a silver chair with a silver ring on it. Her casual black shirt looks faded from washing, but the neon pink pattern printed on the front is still quite bright. She wears no makeup. It’s just her smile, but only when customers actually approach her.

She stands in front of the cash register. She sits there waiting with her hands on each side of the register, staring out to the public, never really moving much. Not even her pupils. A customer comes up. Her smile turns on instantly. They tell her their order. She punches in some buttons on the register and tells them the total. They give her cash. She opens the register, makes change, and closes the register as she hands the customer their receipt and change. The next person in line comes up and she does the same. The next person comes. Repeat. When the line finishes she resumes her pose.

Her boss approaches her, speaking with her. She turns to face him. She immediately walks out from behind the counter and walks across the way to a customer whose order she had just finished taking. Now her wash faded neon yellow baggy long shorts and dirty white sneakers and white socks become visible. After speaking with the customer for a moment she walks back across the way again, returning to behind the counter. She tells her boss something, he nods in response and she resumes her normal stance behind the register.

More time passes. Some people order. She kneels in to hear their order better, smiling all the time. They hand her a credit card. She takes it, swipes it, and hands them back a pen, slip of paper and their card. They sign the paper and give her back the pen and paper. She gives them their receipt and then turns around to fix the orders that have been made. She then grabs the recently prepared meal, looks at the slip on the paper and yells out, “Thirty.” Then she places the Styrofoam packed meal on the counter for its owner to pick up. She goes back to her behind the register demeanor. Waiting.