In what’s being called an early Christmas miracle, a cashier at a supermarket near Luxembourg City has spontaneously made chit-chat with you.
The chit-chat included a mundane but pleasant discussion of the weather and the season before drifting to your reason for moving to Luxembourg and the cashier’s feelings about working at that location.
Only when the glares of impatient customers in the queue became too unbearable did you thank the employee and depart with your purchases, your heart warmed by the unexpected act of humanity.
You later recounted to a fellow outsider the story, which soon became the Legend of the Chatty Cashier and quickly spread around the community of fellow transplants.
“Rejoice, for there is hope that paying at a supermarket no longer has to be a formal, robotic encounter marked by minimal friendliness and a lack of warmth,” wrote one jubilant expat on Facebook. “From this day forth, customers and cashiers alike will recognize that we’re all in this world together.”
As much as most immigrants and self-identified expats wanted to believe in your story, some, particularly those with cynical, brittle hearts, remained doubtful and formed an investigative committee.
“On the surface, this story appears plausible, and indeed many of us can recall with fondness how it is to make small talk with a stranger, even if that stranger is on the clock, under pressure, and serving us in some capacity,” said Farah Hammoud, chairperson of Letz Be Skeptical of the Legend of the Chatty Cashier.
“However, upon further thought, we find it inconceivable and fantastic, the product of an unmoored imagination, a story that defies physics and goes against every social law of Luxembourg City and its surroundings,” she continued. “The worst part is that such lies give rise to false hope that is bound to come crashing back to the reality of the cold, hard ground.”
“We hereby remove this story from the official log of immigrant anecdotes,” she added. “It will forever be marked as fake news, an urban legend – material for a children’s fantasy book.”
Despite the classification of your story as untrue, some outsiders have vowed that they will remain believers.
“We do believe in chatty cashiers, we do believe in chatty cashiers,” said Henrique Augusto, along with a group of fellow expat believers in a rented meeting room near the airport in Findel. They plan on organising weekly gatherings to affirm their faith and keep the flame alive, he says.
Indignant and now somewhat uncertain about the veracity of your own story, you returned to the supermarket in search of the chatty cashier but were unable to find her.
Despite passing through three checkout lanes with three different cashiers, none of them were willing to help you with your search, let alone even acknowledge your rudimentary French, leading you to determine that the incident was nothing but a dream.
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Originally published by RTL Today
