Montana Jones

Montana n: A state of the northwest United States bordering on Canada. Admitted as the 41st state in 1889. The fourth largest state in the union, it includes vast prairies and numerous majestic mountain ranges.
Syn: Treasure State, Big Sky Country, Last Best Place.

Jones n: slang. An addiction or very deep craving.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Guilty pleasures

In my regular visits to the Costco I don't bother with their normal oversized carts. I load up the heavy duty flatbed cart. Many items, many pounds. I push the cart slowly because if I get going fast I would not be able to control it or stop it. There would be mayhem. At the checkout it is not a matter of finding the shortest line, it is usually about which lane is the easiest to navigate to. A decision weighted by which line has the cutest checker. I have been known to choose the longer line just so I could spend more time watching those cute Costco checker girls do their job.

I like the Costco, they have done a good job training their people. Speedy and efficient appears to be the rule. I admire how they can pull items from the conveyer and bleep the bar code so expediently. The assistant playing catcher at the other end; sorting, organizing, stacking, boxing with quick handed skill.

Heavy items remain on the cart. The checker and the sidekick pour over it, coaxing out the bar codes for the zap of the laser gun. They exert themselves in the lifting and pushing of products. They are usually dressed to well for this sort of work. Clothing not meant for labor. A glimpse of skin, an inadvertent flash of cleavage, exposing the pink secret color of the underpants. The checker girl and the sidechick are all business. Scan the products and get them back on the cart. Makes the display all the more compelling.

I try to be casual about watching them work. As though I am more concerned with my purchases in their hands than my true focus. The way their bodies move as they bend and lift and heft things about. Their rapid, all business movements that tease with a glimpse of a curved hip, the sway of a breast or the flex of a muscle.

Strength, curves, efficiency and a strangely chaste peepshow all rolled into a simple business transaction. Thanks Costco checkout ladies. Watching you work is one of my guilty pleasures.