The idea of a “magic circle” in Bogost text Play Anything (2016) resonates with me at my current part-time job at a grocery store.
Working customer service, one is always preoccupied with the idea of how to derive pleasure in a monotonous, emotionally performative, and labor-inducing job that rarely requires challenging to stimulating work. Most interactions with customers are based on chance at a fixed time and space; specifically, two hours scheduled on an assigned register during an 8-hour work-shift.
One of few challenges one is more likely to face in that scenario involve an argumentative customer, who wishes to complain about whatever issues they are dealing with outside of my control. Because of that, most interactions with customers are assessed by 5-second judgements I conceive pre-interaction. Questions I try to assess quickly include “Do they look like they’re in a hurry? Do they have earphones on? Do they want me to paper bag everything because they live close-by? Do they want me to bag groceries in two-evenly distributed paper-bags to ease their arms as they walk home? Do they want me to bag all the heavy grocery items into their reusable bag because they’re taking a car to their final destination? Am I gonna get snarked at because I didn’t tie up the egg carton with a produce bag? Am I gonna get snarked at because I didn’t spray hand sanitizer on each hand before handling their produce?”
For mental stimulation, I practice a form of Tetris while bagging the groceries. All frozen items in one separate bag, with raw meat layered in between bags of frozen peas or berries. Produce that is easily bruised will be packed on top of sturdier items, like canned beans, or boxed muffin-mixes. Small snacks, such as granola bars or peanut-butter cups, are left for last, as a courtesy for the customer, who probably bought the $0.99 impulse candy as a reward to be immediately consumed after the transaction is complete. Triangle-shaped cheeses are placed next to each other so their angles perfectly line up. Bags of leafy-greens and delicate tortilla chips are placed on top, to avoid damaging the delicate chips, or smushing the soft leaves. The rules to grocery-bagging were never taught, only enforced to let the time go by quicker. I heard the phrase “packing each grocery bag like an intricate, special gift” on a podcast from an over-enthusiastic grocer, describing the pleasure they receive from carefully doing this monotonous practice. At first I judged her, but now I get it.
Another ‘game’ I play involves the interaction with the customer during this limited, rehearsed interaction we experience together. It relates to Callois’ definition of alea, in that–
“Chance determines the distribution of the hands dealt to each player, and the players then play the hands that blind luck has assigned to them as best as they can.” –pg. 18
Each customer sent is not by my choice; therefore I must adapt to each situation differently. If I get the impression a customer feels slightly more engaged to small-talk, I start guessing what kinds of topics or humor they’d be more receptive to. Some interactions result in deeper, yet slightly uncomfortable information being passed around. While engaging with an older, male customer, he felt it was appropriate to disclose his suicide attempt to me following a distressing episode of depression. Another woman was shopping with her toddler, while holding onto a pair of crutches to ease walking with a heavy cast around her ankle. She informed me her husband is waiting outside in the car, hinting that the cast around her leg was a result of physical abuse on his end. I offered her help to her car, as she anticipated being scolded by her husband for buying “too many” groceries for the family, and I wanted to make sure another person was present to avoid any verbal altercation that would ensue between the both of them.
Bogost states in Play Anything (2016) that
“Frustration is one way of interpreting the difference between what I wanted and what lawns do. Another way is to acknowledge that the world is outside my head rather than within it.” –pg. 16
As a way to cope with long, monotonous working hours, I find myself observing customers and coworkers alike, assessing each interaction as a sort-of game, which the objective always is: “How do I avoid uncomfortable interactions or confrontations? How do I de-escalate a situation which has never escalated in the first place? What kind of stress would they be under that could cause me stress? Do they not want to make eye contact with me because they’re shy, they’re in a hurry, or they simply are a rude customer? Is there any miscommunications I played on my part that could have contributed to this disagreement?” Trying to imagine a strangers inner world and conflicts outside of my own has become a coping mechanism to avoid taking rude or demeaning behavior personally. It also allows me to engage in what Caillois terms as mimicry, in which I am the performer, delighted by the sheer presence of the customer, and driven by the idea of success being dependent on how well this contrived interaction will play out.
“…it consists in the actor’s fascinating the spectator, while avoiding an error that might lead the spectator to break the spell. The spectator must lend himself to the illusion without first challenging the decor, mask, or artifice which for a given time he is asked to believe in as more real than reality itself.” –pg. 23
