Supermarket cashier is not traditionally considered a career path by modern standards. It's a good first job for those just starting out, certainly great summer work for high schoolers, but not something you think of as a stopping point on the path to making an independent living.

Not such the case fifty years ago, when this training film, "Supermarket Cashiers: Ambassadors of Goodwill" was produced. A lot more went into the job, as you'll see. Barcodes had yet to become standard, so all goods' prices had to be manually punched in, along with the proper department each item came from. Errors were easier to make and were more costly. Coupons, checkwriting, price discrepancies -- all the things that take seconds to solve these days could take ages in some situations way back when.

"Sports Night" is the show that got me interested in working at a TV station. I can guarantee you that I was the only eighth-grader in my little Texas middle school that was tuning into this show as religiously as I was. Come to think of it, I was probably the only person in the area watching it; "Sports Night" lasted two seasons before being unceremoniously canceled in 2000.

This is a shame because the concept had legs. Set behind the scenes of a nightly sports news show, "Sports Night" was the television debut for creator and head writer Aaron Sorkin, who would set up similar fly-on-the-wall shows "West Wing," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," and "The Newsroom."

Times Daily

FLORENCE --; Award-winning music producer Rick Hall will speak at the University of North Alabama's department of entertainment industry at 3 p.m., Tuesday.

The event, dubbed "Coffee Talk with Rick Hall," will be in the Mane Room, 310 N. Pine St., a performance venue for the entertainment department.

The event is free and open to the public.

[Read more...]... Read More