A person whose job is to take payments and give receipts in a store, bank, or other business.
From French 'caissier', from 'caisse', meaning 'cash box' or 'chest', from Latin 'capsa', 'box'. The word originally referred to a person in charge of a money box or safe.
A cashier is literally 'the box person'—the guardian of the cash box in older times. Even with digital payments, the job title still remembers the days when all money lived in a physical chest.
Retail and cashier roles have often been feminized, with language and imagery depicting cashiers primarily as women, which can both stereotype and devalue the work. This has contributed to assumptions about who performs front-line service and how that labor is compensated and respected.
Use 'cashier' as a gender-neutral job title and avoid assuming pronouns or gender for cashiers in examples. When discussing service work, recognize its skill and complexity regardless of the worker’s gender.
["checkout clerk","sales associate","front-line staff"]
Women, especially women of color, have made up a large share of cashier and service roles, often underpaid and underprotected despite being essential to economic life. Acknowledging their labor and expertise helps counter its historical devaluation.
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