Do Walmart cashiers normally wear rubber gloves?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

I thought I might cross-post this to see the different (if any) perspectives.


Do Walmart cashiers normally wear rubber gloves?


http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002238778#post18

My roommate just returned from his second trip in as many days to our brand new "urban Walmart" ... or whatever they are calling their mini-Walmarts in cities.

On both days, he noticed the cashiers wearing rubber gloves. Yesterday, it was three out of three cashiers with gloves and today it was two out of three.

I guess I'm a suspicious sort of fella but this Walmart is just about ground zero in our neighborhood we lovingly call "Boys-Town" or "The Gayborhood." This is Chicago - East Lake View.

I've never been in a Walmart so I don't know what their normal procedure is. But I've been in other high-traffic stores and I can't honestly say I've ever seen full-on rubber gloves. Rubber tips for handling cash etc., but no gloves.

The only time I have seen a cashier wearing rubber gloves was at a toll booth.

I know money is one of the dirtiest things we handle on a daily basis. Part of me thinks germophobes would wear gloves.

But part of me wonders if people "not from around these parts" got wrangled in to opening this new(er) store. I know the drill - I (a gay man who was in the closet at the time) worked in the suburbs with some real winners. When I would mention where I lived (It was Wrigleyville to them) I would hear things like: "Do you carry a gun?" and "are there a lot of fags in your neighborhood?"....AIDS jokes etc. etc.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive. But this is one of those things that make you go hmmmm.

[Bennyboy]

1. Yes they do...

And I live nowhere near anything gay. (NORCAL Suburbia) About half wear gloves. The money is dirty and gets on their hands and in their nails so they wear gloves.

[appleannie1]

4. California was ahead of my area with the disposable wipes too.

[appleannie1]

2. To be honest, I have never seen a Wally World clerk wearing gloves.

Perhaps you should ask them if one of them is contagious or something because you really don't want to catch anything. Wally Worlds do have disposable wipes so you can wipe off the cart handles nowadays to prevent spreading the flu.

[left on green only]

8. To my understanding, prevention of the spreading of flu via cart handles has nothing to do with it.

Recent "scientific" studies have shown that 72% of all shopping carts found in the USA contain fecal matter (E coli) present on their handles. http://www.grocery.com/bacteria-and-fecal-matter-found-in-grocery-carts/ How is that possible, you might ask? Think about it. Where do people put their little diaper wearing monsters while they are doing their shopping? Answer: in the kiddie seat of their shopping cart - which coincidentally happens to be located directly adjacent to the cart's push handle. And when people lift their said little monsters in and out of said kiddie seats, what part of their anatomy do you think gets dragged across the cart's push handle? Bingo! But hold your gag, for the worst has yet to come. How many of you who are monsterless have shopped for just a few items on any given occasion, and have put those items (fresh produce, for instance) on the kiddie seat of the shopping cart, for convenience while you push the cart around in the store? I hear a little shit (pardon my french) does wonders for the taste of sweet potatoes, not to mention keeping the subject of your diseased intestines a familiar topic in the office of your primary care physician. So then it would seem that a little flu virus is not the worst thing that you can get from your shopping cart, or your cell phone for that matter (http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/17/study-1-in-6-cell-phones-contaminated-with-fecal-matter/).

[LostinRed]

9. Gross thanks for the links.

Man I always use those wipes at the grocery store. I thought I was just preventing the common cold.

[Lunabelle]

11. Thanks for that

Now I'm gonna use those wipes and wipe down the cart first. I didn't even think about those cute little toddlers spreading they're adorbable fecal bacteria!

[William769]

3. I haven't noticed it where I live.

But then again it's not hands I'm checking out.

[beyurslf]

5. One does at the store by my house, but she also wears these big glasses and a hair net

and some apron like thing that goes down to her ankles. I just figured her OCD was flaring up, but she is like that all the time. So, who knows.

as for handling money, doesn't everyone just use a card? What is cash?

[Fearless]

7. I've noticed it in Massachusetts

From time to time. Always the cashiers... So I assume it's pretty common practice. I can't speak for the individuals' reasons, but it seems most likely a germ-related one.

[HockeyMom]

10. Neither in NY nor Florida

have I ever seen cashiers wear gloves; at Walmart or anywhere else; from supermarkets to retail to restauarnts.

[joeybee12]

12. I think it's because it's easier to undo the plastic bags with them...

And also to count the money.

[Broken_Hero]

13. Yes,

SW Missouri Walmart, very rural, in a town of 9k or so. IME, at least 1/3 of the cashiers I see wear the rubber gloves, if not a bit more(it isn't half though).