Training Day at the Supermarket

Feliks started his first shift at the supermarket at two in the afternoon. His supervisor gave him a card with forty fruit and vegetable codes. "Learn these before six," she said. "That's when it gets busy." Bananas were 4011. Lemons were 4053. Limes were 4048. Feliks read the card again and again between customers.

At ten past six, the line at his checkout was eight people long. Then a small woman in a purple raincoat put her basket on the belt. There were seventeen plastic bags inside it, and every bag had a different fruit. There were no stickers on any of them.

"Good evening," she said. "My name is Mrs. Albescu. Take your time."

Feliks took the first bag. Bananas, 4011. Easy. Then apples, pears and oranges. Then a hairy brown fruit: a kiwi. He looked at his card. It wasn't there. The man behind Mrs. Albescu checked his watch. Feliks felt hot inside his uniform.

He didn't call his supervisor. He typed the word "kiwi" into the screen, and the code came up. He did the same with the mango and the star fruit. The bag of green fruit was harder. Were they limes or lemons? He weighed them, smelled one and typed 4048.

"Seventeen fruits," he said at last. "That's twenty-three dollars and forty cents."

Mrs. Albescu paid with exact change. Then she smiled at the supervisor, who was standing behind Feliks with a coffee in her hand. "He's good," she said. "He didn't panic, and he didn't guess. I've tested new cashiers for twenty years."