Paheja Siririka
People have created parodies of cashiers at well-known supermarkets or retail shops that are common or predominant in southern African. They have hit close to home regarding the type of services given by cashiers to customers.
Some critics have gone further to label these types of service providers, with others saying its only black cashiers that have attitudes when serving certain customers.
Local artist Topsy Kim created such a parody on Facebook last week, which has garnered close to 3 000 views, tones of comments and more than 60 shares, captioned ‘Black people are always in their moods’.
The clip starts with a cashier who was about to leave for lunch but was randomly stopped by a customer.
“No problem, I can come back after lunch,” says the customer, to which the cashier interjects and insists on assisting.
“I don’t want to waste your time and it might be way out of your budget but we have a little promotion going,” informed the cashier, promoting an ongoing sale to the customer, to which the customer buys in.
In another scene of the same clip, a manager can be seen doing some paperwork, having a conversation with a cashier, while a customer tries to get their attention and seems to be ignored. The customers insist on being noticed and enquire if the shop is open. “The shop is, mos, open; you can enter,” replies the manager.
The manager seems clueless about the stock in the shop and their prices, to which the customers asks if there are any promotions. “Who told you?” rebuts the manager.
Nicodemus Aipumbu posted a comment: “Perhaps we should see the humour in the post but labelling blacks as unprofessional and incompetent compared to whites promotes self-hate and inferiority complex. Skin colour does NOT define one’s behaviours”.
No doubt, the 3:17 clip is funny and rib cracker, but is this a general representation of black cashiers? Are black cashiers always angry and not-in-the-mood gum-chewing individuals?