This is definitely the cause of such situations. Yes, changing the routine might only cost a quarter, but the end employee has no reason to want to go out of hi

This is definitely the cause of such situations. Yes, changing the routine might only cost a quarter, but the end employee has no reason to want to go out of his way to help; he is compensated for standing there each hour, not for finding creative solutions to problems. Now, assuming it is actually an employee who cares, we deal with the assumption the manager/supervisor will actually allow people to step outside the box. In my experience, this is a non-starter. Managers and supervisors at places like this tend to be the original front-line employees who weren't able to actually get out of there, implying that they also cannot think outside the box.