KH Thinks #1 Why Some People Never Come In When Im on the Till
A minor mystery in human behaviour, explained through Kinetic Humanism.
KH Thinks is where I take the strange little behaviours we all do and run them through the lens of Kinetic Humanism.
There are people who will walk into the shop on any day of the week…
except the day I’m standing at the till.
They see me, pause, and drift backwards like they’ve suddenly remembered they left the oven on.
Sometimes they even poke their head in, hesitate, and perform a U-turn with the confidence of someone avoiding a parking attendant.
The first few times I blamed coincidence.
Then timing.
Three years later, I’ve accepted the obvious:
Apparently, I am an obstacle.
Not a dramatic one.
I’m not booming prices or glaring over the counter.
I’m just standing there, scanning a jumper, radiating the faint threat of possible eye contact.
That’s all it takes.
People will walk past precarious shelves of donated tat, a tower of mugs, and a rail of cardigans that smell faintly of a few different houses but a till with a present human behind it?
That stops them cold.
Visibility is louder than clutter.
Presence is louder than chaos.
Especially if the last time they saw me, they were sliding a pair of sunglasses into their coat with the subtlety of a child in a school play.
Those ones avoid me like I’m gathering statements.
Not from guilt exactly just from not wanting to remember themselves too clearly.
The funny part?
These same people will chat easily to me on the shop floor.
If I’m elbow-deep in hangers, wrestling a rail, or trying to survive the annual Christmas cupboard, they stroll in like I’m a completely different man.
I’m not.
Only the role changes.
At the till, I become The Face of Judgement.
On the floor, I’m The Man Who Looks Busy.
People will always pick the second one:
less attention, less pressure, fewer inner alarms.
Most of us make these choices automatically:
How seen will I be?
Do I feel steady enough?
Is today the day for being perceived?
Kinetic Humanism calls this a motion-avoidance check a quiet loop where your system weighs up whether entering the space will cost too much coherence.
If the answer feels high, you retreat.
If low, you act.
It isn’t personal.
It’s just the nervous system protecting itself in the cheapest way it knows.
Some days I fit the shape of someone’s equilibrium.
Some days I am the reminder they weren’t expecting.
Either way, human behaviour rarely hides anything mystical.
Most people are simply trying to get through the hour without disrupting themselves.
KH Grade: B Behaviour
Stable, mildly avoidant, predictable.
Low risk, low friction, quietly funny.
KH Explanation: Why This Happens
KH sees this as a coherence-protection loop:
Awareness spike: “Someone’s at the till.”
Coherence check: “Will I feel too visible?”
Regulation: stall, hover, reverse
Implementation: enter only when attention drops
Stabilisation: regain steady internal state
People don’t avoid tills because of you they avoid the feeling of being seen.
When you’re on the shop floor, you no longer carry that weight.
It isn’t inconsistency.
It’s simply the mind maintaining balance with minimal effort.
Human systems rarely lie.
They simply speak quietly.
Notes
Header photo by Photo by Robert Keane on Unsplash
About the author
Based in the U.K. Rowan Broadley writes about quiet systems, everyday behaviour, and the work of running a charity shop.