Devoted to customer service and the principles of exceptional customer services

I was in Target yesterday and as the cashier was ringing me up, I asked him how his day was going.

"Oh, it's a pretty slow day today," he answered.

"Is that a good thing or bad thing?" I asked. 

"Bad thing.  The day just seems to drag when it's slow."

I could tell by his mannerisms that he simply just didn't want to be there.  He was just very slow-moving and if I had been one of those impatient customers, I would've been a little peeved. 

I wanted to suggest that he ask his supervisor if there's anything that he could do while it's slow, but of course he would've thought I was some crazy slave driver :) If I was him I would have found something to do...like clean the cash register, organize payments slips, credit applications, etc.  But who knows, he probably did that already :)

"Slow days" tend to affect how your employees interact with their customers. As a manager, how do you motivate your employees to get through the day - especially those slow days working in retail?