Peanuts by Charles Schulz for November 12, 2017

He forgot the part where they chew him out for not keeping an eye on their kids while they go outside for a smoke break… (True story!)

yeah, working eight hours seems like an eternity even with the hustle and bustle

I know the feeling, Snoopy, especially when it’s a Monday!

Mendelson, as Lee Mendelson, one of the two animators of the original Peanuts television cartoons (the other being Bill Melendez).

You know you’re in for a hellish day of work when you’re in “countdown mode” 20 minutes into the shift. More fun when you work a 12 hour shift

I was a grocery cashier while in college. That was pre-computerized cash registers, when you still needed to be able to divide (3 cans at 5 for .87) and you still needed to know how to count change. Those could be really long days – including bagging all the groceries. In winter, standing by the front door would get really cold and the dress code required women to wear skirts or dresses.

I remember the faux “shortages” of the seventies (see also, price gouging). Sometimes prices of the “short” item du jour weren’t even posted, let alone marked on the item (this was before computers). The checkers knew my mother so well they’d say, “Mrs C, this lettuce is x-amount…sure you want it?” If she said “no”, they just put it aside, no fuss.

how did Mrs. Mendelson afford a trip to Hawaii if her husband is out of work?

Snoopy has downgraded his fantasy life quite a bit.

There are a few cashiers at the grocery store we frequent who know us well and we usually chat up. As a matter of fact, last week, as we were walking down an aisle, a clerk said to us, “I’m sorry; we haven’t gotten the [grocery item] back in stock yet, but we should soon.” We weren’t in that item’s aisle, and we didn’t mention it to him before; he overheard us talking about it the week before! That’s how well known we are.

I worked up front at a grocery store for nine years so I definitely know the feeling there.

Those prices, let alone the manual “cash register” really date this. Definitely remember those times of going to the store with my mom and thought a dime for a stamp was too much.

I worked as a cashier at a convenience store when everything was manual, and if the item didn’t have a price sticker on it, I made up a price on the spot. BAM!

Alternate final panel: “Well, I look forward to the pleasure of your custom, sir! Bee seeing you…”

“World famous” grocery clerk? That was a thing to be in 1970?

Not sure hold old you have to be to understand….“Do you have any bottles?” I get it but I’m pretty old.

My mom worked at family-owned grocery store starting in the mid 1960s. Not a small mom-and-pop corner shop, but a medium-sized market.

Every week the market had different items on sale, and this was advertised in a flyer. Mom would spend her lunch break studying these ads because the cashiers had to know the prices from memory. There were no bar codes, or computers one could program to automatically change the price. The stock clerks had to manually stamp the prices on the merchandise. The cashiers also had to memorize codes. The produce section had a code for each individual type of fruit or vegetable.

There was a lot of information the cashiers were expected to memorize in order to keep the check-out lanes flowing. Having good rapport with customers wasn’t something in the rule book; it came naturally.

Did you have any bottles. I remember when you took your empties in to the grocery store for the refund.

If more stores had checkout clerks like Snoopy the shopping experience would be a whole lot more enjoyable. I’ll shop there any day!

Mrs. Lockhart may be refered to actress June Lockhart of “Lassie” TV show fame.

I used to want to work in a shop but knowing how rude customers are nowadays, I’m glad I don’t.

The customer is not always right.

xxx

How does Snoopy know all those people?

The fastest grocer in town

“Sweetie”? You couldn’t get away with such patronising sexist talk today. Snoopy would be fired, with good cause.

@RowenA28

It’s not sexist. A delivery driver called me “Sweetheart” before. I love it. A guy who looked a couple of years older called me it as well. I was 18 at the time and he only looked in his early twenties. I do listen out for the tones of their voice and neither one of them sounded patronising or condescending. I can’t understand why most women find it offensive.

Second to last panel – who buys eight loaves of bread and why?

I have been called “Hon” by many women, some I know well, some complete strangers. I don’t find it any more offensive than when someone I don’t know calls me “son” or even “Mister.” Rarely, the attitude that comes across conveys a more sinister tone but for the most part, it’s harmless.

Larry! Larry!! Fans of Impractical Jokers will understand.

Ouch!

Thirty-nine cents for tuna? I wish!