David Cooper

0398 - Cashier

Added 2024-12-16 09:00:02 +0000 UTC

This surly employee looks like he would be a recognisable recurring design, at least for a background character. The spiky hair would make him stand out to me in crowd scenes, I think.

As far as I can tell, he only ever appears once more, in season 8's "The Old Man and the Lisa", escorting Mr Burns away from his ketchup/catsup issue.

Hair colour aside, he actually does look like he's aged six years, somehow.

This scene also marks the first appearance of the generic Grocery Store.

(The Simpsons Wiki lists the Tracey Ullman short "Shoplifting" as its first appearance, but that location looks more like a convenience store to me than a full on supermarket, and no establishing shot is provided.)

The most famous thing about the Grocery Store is its mischievous squeaky runaway trolley, seen in its establishing shot above. On further research, I was surprised to learn that this world famous escaping trolley only appears in 3 out of the Grocery Store's 14 appearances (using the same repeated shot each time), and that the store gets a paint job in season 17's "Million Dollar Abie":

and again in season 22's "The Blue and the Gray":

The store also appears in several video games, but the trolley 's status is difficult to determine in an interactive medium.

UPDATE: I was researching the upcoming episode "Old Money", and this gentleman can also be seen as a cashier in the shop "Grandma's World". PHEW, that was a close one.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.