help is on the way

the belt won't move.
the machine won't take the cash.
the salad won't weigh
and the tuna cans won't scan.
the help light blinks and the robotic
voice says someone is on
the way to help you.
every time you go it's the same.
you expect it now, you wait
to wait, it's the way things
are. no easy pass
with machines in our way.
how you miss the sullen
clerk with his tired eyes
the droop in his seventies
mustache.