Customer Appreciation By jim bourey

Masked shoppers jockey in six-foot increments

for the next cashier, only two working, who seem

sullen and unhappy to be serving cranky seniors 

at six-thirty in the morning. Our turn

comes. Dark eyes stare at me through

the plastic shield as I load groceries

on the belt. She can’t see my smile.

I hope my eyes tell her

I want this to be a pleasant transaction. 

Quickly she scans through my two-week pile

of necessities. (and a thirty pack of Yuengling)

I do the payment machine task,

bag the goods. We bag our own now.

As she hands me the receipt 

I look straight at her, say

Thank you so much for helping me out today.

I really appreciate it.

She holds my receipt a few seconds longer,

gauging my sincerity, I think. Doesn’t smile

Just doing my job. But you’re welcome.

and she turns to the next customer, six-feet back.

Jim Bourey is an old poet who divides his year between the Adirondack Mountains and Dover, Delaware. His chapbook “Silence, Interrupted” was published in 2015 by the Broadkill River Press. His work has appeared in Mojave River Review, Paddock Review, Gargoyle and the Broadkill Review and other journals and anthologies. He was first runner up in the Faulkner-Wisdom Poetry Competition in 2012 and 2016. He has served as an adjudicator for the Poetry Out Loud competition in Delaware. In his North Country months, he is active with the St. Lawrence Area Poets and has taken part in Art/Poetry projects in Saranac Lake.