We’ve all had the experience. You’re standing in line to check out at a store. You have a box of pasta, say, in your hand. You’re late to pick up the kids, but you need the pasta for dinner, so you can’t bail. Your frustration mounts. You feel helpless.
“Being in a line like that makes me want to punch someone,” says Franklin Eklin, a neurosurgeon recently employed at Samaritans Charity. “I’ll sometimes pay people to let me cut in front of them or just start yelling until a manager shows up and quickly checks me out to shut me up. But all that’s a lot of trouble for a problem that should be easier to solve.”
Unlike most people with a pet peeve, Dr. Eklin is doing something to solve the problem. He has founded a company called Biglobal Revitalizers Ltd that promises to produce a “better breed of cashiers.” Eklin explains: “With modern cash registers and bar code systems, being a cashier only uses a small portion of anyone’s brain power. What holds us back is that one person can generally only focus on one task at a time. Our solution enables people to do more at once.”
Biglobal’s proprietary solution involves an operation. “We split the corpus callosum—I can tell you that, but the rest is secret.” The outcome is that each side of the body can function independently. “It basically transforms one person into two functioning cashiers,” says Eklin.
Biglobal has also developed specialized equipment to maximize the efficiency of its cashiers. This includes a new cash register with two keypads. The company also manufactures goggles that help cashiers focus each eye solely on the correct side of the register. Finally, Biglobal has developed a program of post-operative training to acquaint its employees with their new “multi-capable bodies.” Says Eklin, “We do everything possible to help these people be the best they can be. Sometimes, since we’re performing a surgery anyway, we throw in a little lipo to help them stay on their feet through long shifts.”
Biglobal is headquartered in the Philippines and is currently drawing most of its employees from impoverished areas around Manila. Eklin says many of the workers are able to support extended families on their pay from Biglobal. Now that the surgery, equipment, and training are nailed down, Eklin says the company is negotiating contracts with major global retailers to supply their full checkout processing services.
“Pretty soon it will be a stamp of approval,” says Eklin. “You walk into a store and you see one of our cashiers, with the branded vest, and those chunky glasses—you can’t mistake them—and their distinctive way of holding their arms away from their bodies and shuffling when they walk, and you will know you won’t have any problems with lines. You will know right away that this store cares about your experience as a customer. It will be a huge competitive advantage for the store that uses us.”
