This week I have all the irons in the fire. I am not unique. I understand that many of you do as well. Burning the candle at both ends or whatever you want to call it that is my life for the next couple of weeks. This looks like early morning Facetime calls from my little boy. “Mom, what you doing?” My view is typically straight up his nose and this distorted picture is one I cherish because I know he had to ask my husband to call Mama as he excitedly shares news about the barn kittens. He misses me. I know one day I won’t get these calls about kittens and pug nose close ups. I worked 18 hours yesterday setting up our Ag Swag Booth for the Grant County Fair, and in between setting up and vending at the fair there are phone calls from staff at The Mercantile about being out of lids and messages about what kind of cookie we are going to do for a catering gig we have next week. I have excellent staff who make burning both ends manageable. I have errands to run while our booth is open so there was a quick training session for my niece Clara who is assisting me this week. Off I go to grab an extra extension cord, do some banking, order supplies, and run to the store to grab some Advil. I’m exhausted physically and my mental load is running at top speed, which this morning feels like a snail’s pace.
I grab the items I need and see the only available check out is self-checkout. I despise self-checkout. We run a few small businesses and even if a wish granting fairy gave me free self-checkout kiosks with all the money, space and training to operate them I would kindly say “no thank you”. In a world where many of us are burning the wicks until they meet in the middle, I desperately need those moments in a checkout line to just breath. It gives me a tiny space where decisions are not being made. It can literally be where I let my shoulders down, roll my neck and take a deep breath. I don’t think about employee schedules, payroll, beer truck deliveries, parts pickups, the weather, ordering supplies, training people, chickens being out of food, nothing. I just breath and sometimes let people who have one item and appear to be in a hurry go in front of me. The checkout line is my mini vacation, do not take that away from me!
As I finish checking myself out the cherry on top is paying for that darn “reusable” bag and as I complete the transaction, I realize the only thing I came in here for… the Advil is not in my bag!
As a small business owner who sometimes bites off quite a bit of life at a time, I promise we will never have self-checkouts. We not only place everything neatly in a bag we will gift wrap for you, order special items in your size or color or make a special dessert for your gatherings. Serving our customers is the reason behind the why. Creating space to visit and communicate with our people is what makes the difference between little ole’ me and the self-checkout places. My small business cannot compete with volume or space, but we will not take away the sigh of relief you may feel to shop at a pace that feels like a vacation.