behind the counter
Where employees stand
Behind the counter describes items kept where store employees work, requiring customers to ask for them rather than selecting them from shelves.
Some products are kept behind the counter for security reasons—expensive electronics, cigarettes—while medications sold behind the counter require pharmacist involvement but not a prescription.
The phrase also describes employment: She worked behind the counter at a deli for years.
- cash registerRetail transaction machine
- gatekeepingControlling access to something
- prescription drugsMedicine requiring doctor's order
- cashierTill operator
- discretionCareful judgment in speech
clerk · professionalism · register · stockroom · exclusivity · customer service · authorization · pharmacist · display case · locked cabinet · top shelf · off limits · trustworthiness · under the table · sales floor · back room · privilege · checkout
- pharmacypharmacist, pharmacy, prescription, dispensing, prescriptions
behind the counteron the shelf
Set aside, inactive
on display · self-service · out front · in the open · grab-and-go
behind, counter, hind, hinder, hindmost, count, counters, countered, countering