I was originally hired as hardlines seasonal but I've been a cashier for four years now. I used to hate going to back up cashier because I didn't really know what I was doing. I'm happy to talk to people and I meet interesting people and regulars say they always look for me. You have a lot of power to make peoples' days as a cashier. I get a lot of people set up with Cartwheel when I know there are big coupons on there for things they are getting (especially bedding and furniture). For example, the other day someone who didn't know about Cartwheel got $40 off their $200 mattress topper from it and they were certainly happy.
I've only had a couple of people get angry at me for asking for their ID for alcohol purchases. One lady started swearing at me, calling me an "f-ing b*tch" and such, so I cancelled out her order and started to call AP to have her escorted out of the building (she didn't apologize but did get her ID out so I started ringing her again, although after she paid she started off on me again, the next guest in line was sympathetic). Certainly, when we go through hundreds of guests every day, they'll be a few crazies in there. I've had some people (clearly old enough) refuse to buy alcohol here because we require ID (even after I offer to obtain an override so I don't have to scan it). But I think people eventually learn that many places are requiring ID now for every purchase.
So mostly I love being a cashier. We don't get scored on attachments (except service plans) but I'm always convincing people to get deals ("Hey, if you buy two of these diapers, you get $10 back"). Other than the occasional crazy person or fraudster (tag switcher, people with stolen credit cards, usually people AP warns me about as they're coming to the lanes), the only negative to being a cashier is REDcards.
Not having to ask for REDcards for a month was very nice (and according to comments online, pleasant for the guests as well). It's not the asking, it's the "Why haven't you got at least two REDcards today?" Now, I understand that corporate puts pressure on down the line until it gets to the cashiers. Corporate says, "Why haven't you got at least 30 REDcards today?" and so I'm required to get my share. I don't really blame the GSTLs but threats and punishments don't get people to sign up for them -- if the GSTLs threaten my job for not getting REDcards, can I threaten guests if they don't get one?
The easiest way to force everyone to get a REDcard would be to simply change Target to a membership-only club, like CostCo, where you have to have a REDcard to shop there. See, 100% conversion!
Before it was 5%, getting REDcards was even harder because the point system was pretty bad and sometimes there'd be problems getting the 10% off first purchase to come up right, so it was a surprise when someone actually got one. I didn't even get one until we went to the 5%. Plenty of people signed up when we first switched over, I think the the most I had in one day was 8. Spot wants conversions to constantly increase but it's simply getting harder and harder because people have either already got them or they really don't want one (such as cash-only or paper check-only diehards). After the breach, it's now even harder.
Some people absolutely hate backup cashiering but it forces you to learn how to deal with the public (now we're training all new hires as cashiers first). If it wasn't for conversions, I would have no complaints. But people complain about conversions so much on here (and IRL) because they are a major problem.