Code 4011 stays entered between customers the clear button worn smooth on the left edge where thumbs drift trying to find center
Jalapeños weigh in at $0.59 per pound ginger root the same purple cabbage prints as bananas
The 4 key sticks—needs a double tap releases with a dry click 0 has no resistance left 1 1 always in sequence
Print label anyway the thermal paper curls at exactly two inches leaves its chemical-sweet adhesive tongue
Tuesday: thirty pounds of bananas (it was two watermelons) the scale prints what it believes
Produce manager’s clipboard shows movement up 347% actual bananas brown in their crates the count holds
Someone wrote CLEAR FIRST in Sharpie below the screen the letters worn down to gray suggestions fingertips have polished the R to invisible
Scale 3 at the north entrance works perfectly no one uses Scale 3
After midnight the overnight crew weighs their sandwiches from home coffee thermos on the metal plate the scale offers 4011 accepts their nod
The morning shift arrives to 4011 waiting begins the day’s corrections that aren’t really just the same motion again: hover / decide / print
Other codes exist somewhere: 4238 4665 3082 dusty in the system their buttons matte and unremembered
Soon the distinction thins yellow things cost what yellow things cost root vegetables accept their tropical pricing the scale suggests we agree
4011 enters itself now or the button spring has learned the angle fingers just confirm what’s already there