As I remember I also look to the future

I remember like it was yesterday. It was my first job in over a year. I had been laid off due to an injury and no one would hire me unless I was 100%. My first day in the store was after my birthday in 2008. I was so happy to be working again I considered it somewhat of a birthday gift. It was fun being in a store that sold things I could use and afford like toilet paper or greeting cards, as opposed to being in a store that held high end products like $300 sheet sets, which was where I worked before. My boss was so nice and clearly gave her all. Everyone there was a large family, and like a family we sometimes picked on each other by sneaking up on each other. I remember how fun it was at first, scanning the items and how carefully I bagged the items. I was just showing proper respect to another's belongings.
It wasn't until I had been there a while that I found out that it was not always such fun. Things do go wrong.. The software responsible for processing checks and checkcards had stopped working. We could only accept cash until it was repaired. I remember putting up a sign on our front door saying that the systems were temporarily down and we could only accept cash in the meantime. It's hard to believe that I thought it would be read automatically by people coming in. The manager on duty and I also mentioned it to anyone coming in that we could only accept cash.
I don't think we were heard by everyone, that's when it happened. An elderly man and his wife had come in and they did their shopping. I am positive that I told them but I didn't notice any reaction. They came to the register and I scanned everything and gave them their total and they only had checks on them. Their reaction to this problem wasn't pleasant. I was accused of not caring about them. I did care, I was just naive enough to think that all warnings and notes are read upon entering a store. That was the first day I cried at work. There would be many more to come as I learned more and more about the downside of retail.