Page 4 - MidWeek - April 5, 2023

4 MIDWEEK APRIL 5, 2023
What do you fill your Easter eggs with?
W Help Yourself
hen I was in high school, I worked part time as a grocery stock clerk/cashier. I loved being a cashier because we got to work with the sin-
gle, young and pretty female cashiers. But I also loved it because of the interaction we had with customers. Sure, there was the occasional tough customer, but for the most part, this was in the town of Wahiawā, where people were really nice. On holidays, customers would bring us gifts and bags of fruit during lychee season. While we refused monetary tips, it was tough to turn down baked goods and food made specifically for us by grateful customers.
APRILLE CAYCO
Registered Nurse, Waipi‘o
“I have a 3-year-old son and a dog, so Easter eggs have been filled with Hot Wheels and dog treats — two different Easter egg hunts, of course.”
EJAY TUMACDER
DevOps Engineer, ‘Aiea
“Play-Doh, Legos and mini squishy toys.”
KAREN NISHIDA
Electrician, ‘Aiea
“My go-to candies are Starbursts and Skittles because they don’t melt when the kids are hunting. The lucky ones can find quarters and dimes in theirs.”
JUSTIN CHORIKI
Engineer, Hawai‘i Kai
“I’ve never filled Easter eggs myself, but when I was little, my Uncle Glenn filled select eggs with a note that correlated with a special prize. He would and still always goes above and beyond for his nieces and nephews.”
And while we tried to process each customer quickly, the friendly conversations we had certainly made my day. So, I appreciate the work of cashiers, no matter what the business, because I’ve done that job and understand what it takes.
The thing is, in 2023, it seems that everything is going the way of self-service and self-checkout. Gas stations pi- oneered the self-service mode. Anyone remember “Coin Power” gas stations? It was the same with banks and ATMs. Remember “OTTO?”
Ron Nagasawa
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IEmbrace Adaptability
define stress as the inability to adapt to a changing environment. The more flexible we are in adjusting to changes around us, the calmer we become.
In the next few months, we will witness how pro- foundly the world is changing — at a pace unlike anything we’ve experienced. Financial, economic and planetary cycles, as well as technology advances, all point toward one thing: revolutionary change.
To prepare, it’s imperative that we stop judging and resisting, and open our minds. Stay grounded by find- ing your community and adopting personally nurturing practices — much in the same way a tree requires deep roots to nurture itself so it remains strong and flexible.
Change is happening, and we cannot deny it. The best we can do is accept it, stay connected to ourselves and each other, and keep looking for the upsides.
alice@yourhappinessu.com
Now, when grocery shopping, you have the choice of going to a conventional cashier or through the self-check- out. My first experience with self-checkout wasn’t so great. I could figure out how to get my bar-coded stuff through, but when it came to stuff sans barcode (like fresh produce), I’d have to seek out a cashier to guide me through it. So, I end up spending more time at a self-checkout than if I went to a “human” cashier.
And I’m not alone. I’ve noticed now that the lines to use the self-checkout are longer than the convention- al cashier lines. Once, I raced my wife and told her to go through the cashier line and I would go through the self-checkout.
Sure enough, she beat me and even stepped up to my register to help me navigate the touch screen and payment process. It was a twist on the old adage: “The cashier who checks themselves out has a fool for a customer.” Or something like that.
Recently, my wife and I tried out a fast-food self-or- dering process. I did all the ordering. When we got our food, my wife noticed her order was wrong. It was all downhill from there, as she had no one to blame but me.
When we got home, I tried to make light of it by saying, “Thank God for me that there’s no such thing as self-ser- vice laundry!” My wife laughed and said, “Don’t push your luck, honey. You never heard of a laundromat?”
rnagasawa@midweek.com