How do I overcome the fear of cashiers?

I totally feel you! I HATE approaching cashiers. Think about it this way. They’re just like you and me! They wake up sad some times, some struggle with mental illness, they experience losses etc. They’re there to do there job to satisfy you! And I’m sure many of them are more scared of you than you are of them!

Practice in the mirror. Talk to yourself and see how well you respond. Imagine worse case scenarios and respond to that as well. Preparing is the fist step and practicing it is second. Keep going and soon enoigh there will be no such thing as fear. Just another experience.

You can overcome fears by testing it slowly go into the store walking around walk out repeat situation each time getting closer to the cashier before pushing yourself to go there

To overcome the fear of cashiers, you can go up to the cashiers and start a friendly conversation and if you fail try again eventually you would be able to pay anywhere without fear.

There are many different ways of overcoming fears, but the most effective way is a method called "Flooding." With this, you are immersed in a place where there are only cashiers. Have pictures of cashiers in your room, complete transactions at stores, watch videos on youtube of transactions. In doing this, you are telling your body that the fear is not there and that everything will be OK (otherwise known as Desensitizing).

As someone with social anxiety who has also worked as a cashier, I can assure you that the cashier is not judging you or anything of the sort. I used to work as a cashier in both a coffee shop and a makeup store, and as a receptionist in a chiropractic office, and I saw so many people a day that each customer/patient was simply a blip on the map. I didn't even remember most of the people I helped, unless they were regulars. Try to remember that they are just people, too, and they may be feeling similar anxiety to what you are feeling! Try taking things one step at a time. Is it easier to manage this fear if you have a friend or family member with you? If so, start out this way; with someone by your side. Try and engage with the cashier as if they are just another friend. As you get more comfortable with a "safe" friend by your side, you can try doing the same on your own. Baby steps! Chin up :)

Identify where your fear is coming from, then figure out how to overcome that base fear.

Figure out why you're afraid of them then face your fears! You cannot get over something until you realize why you feel that way and confront it

I used to have terrible social anxiety but once I started working as one, I understood that cashiers aren't there to judge you. They simply want to accomplish their job and sometimes strike up a friendly conversation. But we are just normal humans like everyone else and don't believe ourselves superior.

As I’ve worked in a similar position cashiers do not care to remember you or anything about you, don’t be scared

Take small steps, try to begin by planning what you’re going to say, and congratulate yourself when you have done!

Maybe you can try becoming a cashier or talking to one? I understand what it's like to have fears. It's hard.

Just know that they are human just like you. Don't be afraid to ask them questions if you don't understand something. I promise they are not that bad.

Try looking them in the eye after checking their nametag to say hello. If this is too scary, try simply smiling.

Try starting off with small, local shops and engaging with the shop assistants there. Chances are the shop won't be packed, like in large chain supermarkets, so won't overwhelm you and the assistant might even appreciate the chat too.

Even though some cashiers want to be really quick in what they do, making you feel a kind of fear, remember that they don't have any personal problems with you. They just want to facilitate as many clients as possible. They also might feel tired and as a result they can appear a bit aggressive to you, but again this isn't really your fault. Keep that in mind everytime the feeling of fear approaches you. If you still can't overcome it, you can try to visit smaller shops at first, or go to the supermarket when there are not many clients inside, because this means that cashiers are likely to be calmer than usual.

The best possible way to overcome a fear is to identify why you have that fear and then pushing that fear to the limit. If you can do it once and train yourself to continue to do it, even if you don't get it right the first time overcoming fears will be made easy. Always remember that you may not have the courage to overcome it the first time and that's okay. You just have to keep in mind that in order to succeed at overcoming a fear, you must be repetitive and relentless and strong. Getting a friend or a family member to come with you next time you go shopping may be a good first step in overcoming that fear.

Well, you have to think about why you are scared of them. I used to be very socially nervous too. And that's ok. It's who you are. Probably very nice, just more solitary. Try never to overload yourself with responsibilities but still, be determined to realise your worth. Ultimately, if you or your family were threatened, you'd probably say hang on, I haven't done wrong so why am I apologising, or we? Someone has to do something. Trust me in the end it's a good idea if you run through this whenever you can and start shooting back so to speak, though avoid being spiteful. Stay well mannered always. Chances are the person on the checkout isn't worried about you. They might even be nervous as well. I was sometimes working on a til if I forgot how to do something, or had a long queue, that sort of thing. You don't have to talk much. It's really just the feeling of confrontation, breaking that invisible barrier. Are you embarrassed about your appearance, or voice? None of it matters. Go slow, say please and thankyou. Refuse to panic- you're bullying yourself essentially. Eyes down and just go. Every now and then we do get a horrible person, grumpy or mean. If you are really offended stay quiet and then go to customer services. Never feed into conflict, others only beat you at it. If you start going back over it afterwards, distract immediately. It's ok to think but it's not worth worrying over. Bin your fears like bullies, don't water them.

Almost everyone has an irrational fear or two - but I've never heard of one about cashiers. The same principle applies though as with any irrational fear. The most effective way to overcome a phobia is by gradually and repeatedly exposing yourself to what you fear in a safe and controlled way. During this exposure process, you’ll learn to ride out the anxiety and fear until it inevitably passes. Through repeated experiences facing your fear, you’ll begin to realise that the worst isn’t going to happen. It's important to create a list of things that relate to your fear. eg. going to the shop, using self checkout ect.. and then slowly work your way up to exposing yourself to cashiers.

I just think of it like their a schoolmate, I don't talk to them often but I still socialize with them whenever I see them. I find it easier to speak to people in general if I think of the world as a school setting because it help assure me that the people surrounding me can not cause me harm. It also helps me to relax while checking out to start a lighthearted conversation with the cashier. Things such as talking about the weather or even reporting something like a a water spill in one of the lanes in the store can help a lot.

I got ahead of my fear by slowly exposing myself. I started somewhere I felt safe, with a friend with me. Then I did it without the friend, then in a new shop with a friend, then without a friend. It took a lot of time, and I'm still working on it, but I'm getting there. It also helps that when you're struck with the fear all of a sudden, especially when waiting in a line, just to go over the options. Think to yourself, "what's the worst that can happen?" and remember to be realistic. Trying to figure out from where your fear came from can also be a huge help.

as a former cashier, i promise you that they don't care. i don't mean this in a malicious way at all, but if you happen to be struggling with anxiety (or social anxiety, specifically) then i promise that you don't need to worry about cashiers judging you. they just do their jobs, and i promise that they have seen weirder things than however you're interacting with them. cashiers are people too, and if the mean little voice in your head decides to shout a little louder, try to remind it that it's being unrealistic. good luck!

Well I would have to say the first step to do if you want to overcome the fear of cashiers is to push yourself to go up to cashiers more often than you usually do. Also, maybe try communicating with the cashier, start a simple conversation by asking how his or her day is. By pushing yourself to to go to an cashier more often than usual will help over come your fear. Also, by trying to start a short and friendly conversation with the cashier will as well help you over come your fear by making you realize that they are just like you, just trying to get through the day. By the end results now you feel less feared of cashiers and wouldn't mind being around them any more.

I like to first look at the situation from the cashier's perspective, the job can be very repetitive. You have the opportunity to make their work shift a little brighter. They are usually happily surprised if you start a little conversation with them, it can be about anything! Even a 'Hey there, how are you today?' can lead to a positive outcome, a conversation or a smile on their face. Another benefit of practicing this is that you come across as a very confident person. It may be difficult at first, believe me, we all have struggled to start conversations, myself included! However, once you learn yourself to ask them how they are or how their day is going, you will gain the confidence you need and you no longer have to fear them! I am sure you guys all got this!

Understand that they are ordinary people just like you and try to approach them the same way you would like to be approached if it was the other way around, from there try make light hearted small talk as you are paying for your item to make both of you comfortable with each other and afterwards you will feel a lot more confident with talking to them and if that doesn’t work try to practice your social skills with your friends or family and maybe that might help you to build the confidence to talk to a cashier.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that cashiers are just another individual running through their busy day, like me. I am here to shop, and they are here to check me out -- simple as that! When I initially used to avoid checkout lines or conversation, I instead began to plaster a smile on my face and pronounce a big 'Hello!". Over time, receiving a warm smile in return or a "How's it going" helped me rid the notion that the cashier in front of me is judging me. I am a small part of their day, just as they are a small part of mine. The least we can do is a small moment of warm greetings, but besides that, cashiers are not here to judge you :)

With having such a specific fear, and knowing where your trigger lies, perhaps gradual exposure could be something you may consider. Gradual exposure is a technique of using small steps in building up to a goal of facing your fear. Perhaps, one day, you may simply walk to the front of a store. You could repeat this first step until you find it easier, and then next time take a step into the store. By gradually taking these steps you would be increasing your comfort zone, more than you think. In the end, perhaps you may feel you'd like to try and buy something, which would be the goal. This, of course, is simply an idea for you. Perhaps you could tailor this to your specific situation, if you feel it would suit you.

Honestly, as a cashier myself, we're equally as scared of customers as they are us. The best way to get over the fear of us is to approach - if you have to - with a smile and we will instantly be in a better mood, because we've likely had rude customers already. Walking up openly and smiling makes us relax a little and we will be much more pleasurable to work with. I understand the fear, but theres nothing to be scared of if you are a friendly and understanding person. You got this, just relax and slap a smile on and everything will be perfectly okay. Eventually, it'll get easier. Have courage.

Practice! make extra stops buy coffee and gum in separate places, also when making purchases with more items like grocery shopping on your way to the register start calculating the costs before you reach the cashier so that you have a ball park for what the purchase should be you can even calculate the sales tax so this way the cashier is not telling you anything u didn't already know and the total should be just a confirmation of your calculations. That confirmation should reassure you and the prior calculating should ease anxiety smooth your check out. You could also try getting a part time job as a cashier if you become one of them it will put you in the situation to understand them better also you will have to interact with lots of different people, it could build you socially and eliminate social anxiety all together.

Be polite to them and they will love you. Cashiers are just people trying to make a living. They deal with lots of different people throughout the day, and some of those people can be inconsiderate or straight up rude. Occasionally, they'll be dealing with people wanting an argument. Point being, they just want to get through their work day and aren't out to hurt you or judge you. A quick "Hello" or "Thanks" is usually enough to suffice. If that makes you nervous, it might help to practice with a friend or family member first - tag along with them so you aren't alone to start off with.