Checkpoint: Taylor's Market

The sign outside the place I work reads loud and clear, “Taylor’s Market.” Its reputation is built upon its old fashioned butcher shop that serves the community the finest meat and seafood. Located at a critical intersection in Sacramento and on the corner of one of the higher income neighborhoods, Taylor’s Market is no ordinary grocery store. I work in the produce section (as can be seen in the second picture, I don't the people though) right next to the door so I see every single person that enters and leaves. Usually on hot days, the store is pretty slow with few shoppers entering for a sandwich from the butchers. During slow hours (1pm-4pm), the two female cashiers are babbling about what they did last night or some other boring topic. The butchers, if not waiting on a customer or preparing prime cuts for display, are usually playing around and throwing things at each other. 4:30 hits and there is rush of old and young shoppers that congregate in our small grocery store for a shared purpose of buying food for dinner. The regulars enter shouting a greeting to select workers and are given a welcoming greeting in return. A few police officers come in on their break for a sandwich and neighbors or friends run into each other and begin a long discussion of how their lives are going, often blocking traffic for others. 6:30pm comes around and the rush begins to dwindle and the crowd disperses back into the world having hopefully obtaining what they were looking for. The workers start to close up their stations and at 7pm the doors are locked and the workers finally get to follow in the footsteps of their costumers and disperse back into the world. Although people come in looking for different things and having different attitudes due to the various kinds of day they had, they all seem to leave with the same look of gratitude that they were able to find what they wanted. They look almost eager to take their food home and make a delicious meal that could cure any bad day in the office. Even the workers leave with a look of gratitude that we served our community well. The store is like a checkpoint for different lives to gather together for one shared cause and once we disperse, we all leave with the same attitudes and enthusiasm to eat a great meal.