Walmart Gives Such Good Writing Material

She must have been new to her job. And, it must have been the first time she had to change the paper in the receipt printer. A look of fright and confusion came over her when she saw the red line across the previous customer's receipt. It was obvious that she really had no idea how to change the tape.

She apologized to me, promising that "this will only take a minute."

I smiled politely and nodded my head.

She began by trying to open the machine. She pried on this, and pushed on that. The cover didn't budge. She looked at me with apologetic eyes. I just stood there.

It was a full three minutes later when she finally got the receipt printer open. Her next mistake came when she didn't pay attention to the way the old roll of paper came out. She ripped it out of the machine, proud that she was making progress.

She opened the small drawer below her register and took out a new roll. The end was glued so smoothly that she couldn't find the end. Once she did find it, she picked at it, trying to loosen it from the rest of the roll. She picked and picked, pulling small bits of paper off, but not really getting anywhere.

I suggested she use a pair of scissors or a utility knife to cut a shallow slit across the roll and then tear off a layer or two to start with a fresh end.

She didn't understand.

When she finally got the end loose, it had been a good seven or eight minutes. She placed the new roll of paper in the machine and then stood there. Which way does it go? I could tell she was trying to remember. She tried this way and that. She put the end through over the top. She put the end through underneath. She pressed the advance button to no avail. Over and over again, she tried.

After about five more minutes of trying, she finally gave up and called for assistance. Thank goodness someone came right away. The supervisor had the tape in and everything back together in under a minute. The girl apologized again, her face flushed with embarrassment.

She checked us out with the only complaint being that she wasn't quite sure how things should be packed, and we were out the door.