Another full day at the check-out counter, bip, bip, bip…I did not mind working in shift, or the repetitive movements to arrange the goods in the shelves – except when the shelves were tall and I have to stretch my arms high, feeling pain in my right shoulder, the one I injured last summer wrestling with my cousin. It was the noise that made my job unbearable. When I first started, my colleague told me to just work mechanically and the brain would eventually blend out the constant beeping. But it did not work for me. I tried…take a brick of milk, scan it, push it left, take the bottle of oil, scan it, push it left, take the ham in special offer, scan it, push it left, but at the fifth or sixth piece I scan, the bip resounded in my head like an explosion, waking me up. This uninterrupted cycle of drowsiness and alertness gave me headaches. I thus had to find for better strategies. For a while, for example, I concentrated on the customer’s purchase, imagining what they will do with the stuff. I felt immediately lifted when I scanned several bottles of wines, chips and other junk food. But I had a certain uneasiness every time I would scan a celery or some spinach, because in most cases these were followed by many more fresh and healthy items, whether it was food, cosmetics, or household stuff. As I was working in an organic supermarket, the discomfort was in most days much higher than the happiness I derived from the customers´ purchases. With each day, my sadness increased at the sight of products with no chemical compounds, chips made of carrots, wine with no sulphites and I developed an aversion to anything green to the point of getting a skin rush each time I touched a broccoli. I asked for a bonus to cover the hazards of the trade, but the manager did not consider I was at risk, nor was he thrilled about my sick leave which lasted the whole Jerusalem artichoke season. The time spent home curing my allergies gave me though the opportunity to rethink my professional life. I realized what my real call was and I decided to go for it: I will apply for a job at the ´Beverages Hoffmann´, yes. Goodbye fresh food! Welcome wines and beers! The future looks suddenly brighter: the large selection of alcohol in the store will guarantee me happy feelings during all my shifts at the check-out counter.