Ok, a situation like this calls for some creative acting. I had to take a picture once and they really wanted me to be SUPER discreet and it was stressed like 5 times.
Color me annoyed and dismayed that the cashier had a BIG floor to ceiling window overlook the parking lot and like OP, mine was a stand alone and discretion was all 100% impossible. There weren't even any customers at the time to distract her!
Luckily this was a gift type store and so thinking on my feet, while close enough for the cashier to overhear me and still "Browsing", I pretended to make a phone call. [HINT: put your phone on DO NOT DISTURB if you do this!!].
It went like this. I call my "mom" and talk a bit excitedly about a present for a family member giving 8-10 seconds pause for someone else to be talking on the other end. I also pretend that mom is a little batty about directions. "Mom, did you find a gift for the party today? I'm at this store called XyzGifts and they have a big display of unicorn stuff here and you are 100% going to find something the birthday girl will like. Yep, it's on Oak, near Main Street right by the park. No, right by the park, mom. [Pause] No, mom, it's not the brick building. You know what? I'm going to send you a picture of the front of the store so you know exactly what it looks like and you won't get lost. Yep, I think they are open until around 5pm but I'll double check and let you know. I have the balloons in the trunk ready for filling and Adam going to pick up the cake. We got it covered. Love you too, see you this afternoon."
The cashier made small talk about how her grandma gets turned around real easy too and she thought it was a great idea to send a picture and she would do that next time too. We commiserated over taking care of older folks for a minute and I told her if she sees an older lady driving a red Buick, that's my mom.
Then I proceed to go outside after paying for my purchase and took the required pictures and pretended to text them. All right in full view of the cashier who was watching me through the window the whole time. She smiled and waved. So did I.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2021 05:41PM by crayon.