They used to work like that. You would come up to comrade cashier, and tell her what you wanted one by one, and pay. I still remember the shock when I went into a supermarket for the first time. Felt like going to a "authorized personnel only" place.
this was how things worked before supermarkets in general - you'd ask the general store clerk for x units of y good, think the deli counter or auto parts store model.
