John Updike places his protagonist, Sammy, in a grocery store where he works as a cashier. Through Sammy's words and detailed descriptions, one can see his personality. Updike portrays his character as being a sarcastic teenager, whose sympathy of three young girls ultimately leads to his resignation. Sammy's acrimonious nature, his infatuated observance, and his compassion towards the girls causes his character to alter throughout the story.
Sammy expresses his sarcastic and critical side as he describes the shoppers at the store. Sammy refers to an old woman as a "cash-register watcher" and suggests that she would have been "burned in Salem" to show the type of people he comes into contact with on a regular basis (Updike 113). His comments convey his feelings of discontent and frustration towards the customers. He uses these insults to bring the reader to a better understanding of how he views these people. He criticizes the appearance of some of the women shoppers by pointing out the "varicose veins that map their legs" and states that they can "care less" about their appearance (Updike 115). His comments show how he has a keen eye for finding unattractive features, worsening his view of the store. This shows how Sammy's criticism towards the women reflects his sarcastic attitude. Sammy also uses such words as "house slave" and compares the shoppers to "scared pigs in a chute" to voice his opinion of the customers (Updike 117). He views the customers as having nothing else better to do than shop. He notices the anxiousness of the customers to pay for their groceries, and he makes a negative comment to voice his sardonic attitude. Sammy expresses his sarcastic and critical nature by commenting on the customers in a negative fashion to expose the supermarket society.
Sammy's standpoint changes as he describes with great detail the attractiveness of the girl he calls Queenie.