Americans face an epidemic of loneliness. For some, supermarket self-checkouts make it worse
LOS ANGELES — On a hot Friday morning this summer, Marliss Myers pushed her grocery cart past the cluster of self-checkout kiosks and directly toward check stand No. 1.
It was the start of her weekly trek to the Albertsons in Arcadia, California, where the 83-year-old first met cashier Sharon Hechler almost a decade ago. Hechler spotted Myers, and her arms burst from her sides in excitement.
“Good morning, honey!” she said, pulling Myers into a hug. “You’re nice and toasty.”
“And you’re cool,” Myers said.
“Happy shopping.”
The weekly interactions with Hechler provide a steady spark of joy in Myers’ routine, which she has tried to maintain in the months since her husband died. The couple — he dressed casually, she in heels and with neatly coiffed hair — shopped together on Fridays for years, always picking out two steaks for dinner before checking out in Hechler’s lane. After his death, Myers gave Hechler a copy of the eulogy she read at his funeral, a gesture so thoughtful it drove the longtime cashier to tears.
“We all need that human, personal touch,” Hechler said.
This year, in a stark warning about epidemic levels of loneliness and isolation, the U.S. surgeon general
