Checker Bored

Checker Bored

Invisible chains hold the woman

behind the register

She is not the daughter

of the original owner

who owns a multi-million dollar yacht

who plans to add another to her fleet

This woman has children

maybe a husband

maybe

for whom she scans and bags

until her mind is numb

on the little money

this corporation pays

Each little thing she does for me

I thank her

I'll compliment the “corn rows”

or the hijab she wears

I'll smile as much as I can

knowing well few will thank her

for her aching feet

the simple paper cuts

the rough skin of her fingers

If she puts the bags I provide

full of the food and products

I will use every day

into the basket on the electric cart

I will thank her as many times

as I am able

smiling whether she see it

or not

If she lives with her family

are they also burdened

with people who care so little

with long hours of repetition

unfamiliar operations she learns

as she grows into this job

she might leave in days from now

because the boss is strange

because a customer complains

because someone showed no respect

because a man was condescending

because someone told her

to go back to the country

from where she came

escaping the guns bombs and murders

escaping the poverty of the neighborhood

in the state next door

A thousand reasons will cross her mind

until I don't see her again

until she finds a place in this world

where the owner

will take less and give a living

to her and those with whom she works

Thank you for your help today

Thank you for smiling just a little

Thank you for saying hello

to an old man

who will only talk to you today

returning alone to his quiet house

Barry G. Wick