# Why do cashiers have to stand? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745 "2014-01-26T12:47:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/41 "2016-09-06T14:03:57Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > I have to agree. A service employee who is sitting or worse yet leaning against something looks unprofessional, unapproachable and like they don’t give a damn about their job. Then why do are receptionists usually seated? Or for that matter, what about doctors and lawyers? They’re always seated behind desks. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/42 "2016-09-06T14:03:57Z")
I was supplied a stool as my pregnancy advanced. I hardly used it. I couldn’t do my job effectively sitting down, and I wasn’t in the habit of sitting on the job so it felt strange. Getting on and off the stool was annoying too. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/43 "2016-09-06T14:09:06Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Anyone with back or leg problems who really needs a stool or chair would have to have one under the ADA. 'Course, they also don’t have to hire you if you mention the accommodation in your interview. There’s also getting the employer to admit you “really need” it - I’ve often heard “everyone is in pain at the end of a shift, stop complaining” which, to my mind, does demonstrate a certain level of dysfunction in the whole system. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/44 "2016-09-06T16:56:21Z")
I spent two weeks in Stresa, Italy, last month and the cashiers at the local Carrefour grocery store sat behind their registers. IIRC customers or baggers do the bagging, so the cashier is just cashiering. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/45 "2016-09-06T17:17:41Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Anyone with back or leg problems who really needs a stool or chair would have to have one under the ADA. 'Course, they also don’t have to hire you if you mention the accommodation in your interview. I suspect it’s actually cheaper to provide as many stools as tills there are than have to go through all that procedure. But in the end it’s not about what makes or does not make sense; it’s about Tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/46 "2016-09-06T17:22:25Z")
I think it’s mostly a question of control by management. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/47 "2016-09-06T22:00:53Z")
I’ve been a store cashier for almost three years now. I am 61 years old, and have no problems with standing. Some younger people have left after a day or two, saying they can’t take the physical demands. A cashier is constantly moving the upper body, and standing means I can also move my legs. I do have to lean down occasionally, mostly to put new bags out–impossible on a stool. When there is nobody on line, I have to put items back on the shelves. All this movement would be much harder if I also had to get on and off a stool. I’ve had customers attempt to make physical contact with me from the other side of the counter. I want to be able to step back and move quickly when that happens. I also move items and bag quicker while standing. And that is the most important thing when the lines are long. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/48 "2016-09-07T01:57:22Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > No cart needed, that’s solely if you want one (and there’s a 1 quarter deposit on carts - you insert the coin to release the cart from storage, you get your quarter back when you return the cart to storage). Lot’s people just carry stuff, or load up a bag, unload it at the register for scanning, and repack. So - at Aldi’s you can just do what you normally do, no problem. > > There is always at least one spare cart at the end of the register set up - they’ll scan and drop your items into that cart, and you can just scoop and repack right there if you want, lots of people do it. Danke. (Thank you, in German, in honor of ALDI. Not that I expect people not to know this, but I didn’t want to do a one word foreign language post.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2016, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/49 "2016-09-07T07:06:10Z")
A question, because maybe I should have explained a bit more. I’ve seen a couple of people mention “getting on and off a stool” in a way that makes me think you’re thinking of those uncomfortably-high ones in bars. Is that so? Because the ones I mean are at butt level. You can put it a bit higher and then use it as a backrest, or put it a bit lower and then sit down or get up without the kind of contortions bar stools need. Maybe I should have mentioned that before. ---
**Author:** ![youaredumb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c4cdca/32.png) [@youaredumb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/youaredumb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/50 "2018-08-11T03:30:46Z")
> [@butler1850](#): > > If you’ve time to be sitting, you could be cleaning/straightening/restocking something instead. ive worked as a cashier and most of the time i wasnt allowed to leave the register… unless it was closing time or their was someone else staying up there i had to stay standing at the register. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/51 "2018-08-11T03:59:44Z")
In Ireland, cashiers sit on stools. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745/52 "2018-08-12T01:14:24Z")
I know I couldn’t do a cashier job where I had to stand all day, or any job where I had to stand all day (might be able to manage it if I could move around, but not sure about that.) There are a few places, mostly smaller stores as opposed to big supermarkets and the like, where cashiers do have chairs and can sit down if they want. When I’m applying for jobs in stores, I choose stores where the cashiers can sit down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cashiers-have-to-stand/679745.md?page=2)