Free food

As I am writing this I think my cheeks are turning a little pink with embarrassment.  This has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever done since working as a cashier...

Not that any of this really excuses what happened but there were a few things that sort of set me up for disaster.

First, it was Sunday.  Sunday always seems to be the busiest shopping day at our store and that day was no exception.  It had been steady all day and I was just trying to get all of the customers out as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Second, when this happened I only had about 15 minutes left in my shift so at that point in the day I was sort of on autopilot.

Third and finally I was working next to a new cashier and just as I was the at the end of the an order she asked me a question and I went over to help her.

So it was sort of a perfect storm of events and here's what happened...

So the lady in my line put her groceries on the belt and I rang up her order and gave her total.  Just as I was giving her the total and she had her credit card in her hand the cashier next to me asked me a question about how to do something.  The customer swiped her card through the machine to pay and I finished up with her order and went over to help the cashier next to me.  There was (finally) a lull for a few minutes and I was bagging groceries for about 5 minutes until I got a customer at my register.  I was about to begin ringing up his groceries when I realized something unusual--my cash register screen said, 'Not Authorized'.  For a minute I stood there wondering to myself, "What hasn't been authorized?  I haven't even done anything yet.'  Then it dawned on me.  The last order, the lady from about 5 minutes ago, hadn't gone through.  When the lady put her card through it had been declined and I hadn't even noticed--(D'oh!)  And (of course) the lady was lonnngg gone by now.  There was nothing else to do but cancel out the order.

What made things worse was that this had just happened to another cashier the week before.  The other cashier's had an order that was about $120.  The customer had ran her card through but it was declined.  The cashier was texting someone and didn't notice that the card had been declined until after the customer had already left.  The cashier was taken off the schedule for the rest of the week.  So after that, needless to say, the managers were already kind of pissed about someone walking out with free groceries.

When some of the other cashiers head that she let the customer walk off with $120 worth of groceries most of them were sort of like, 'How could you let something like that happen?'  But honestly, I was never smug about it (smug about some other things maybe--but not that) because that sort of mistake could easily happen to anyone.  I learned the hard way that when you're at work if something like that happens to one of your coworkers try to be sympathetic and don't get cocky because it could just as easily happen to you next time.

Luckily for me I didn't get into too much trouble--my situation was a little different then the other cashier because my order wasn't that much--it was about $39.00 and in my case there wasn't an element of 'fault" (meaning it didn't happen because I was doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing--like texting).  It was just pure stupidity.  I felt bad and what was so frustrating for me was that it was such a dumb thing to do and how easily it would have been to prevent if I had just taken an extra second to check my register screen.

Money for Nothing

There are lots of signs that the end of summer was rapidly approaching...the college kids were getting ready to go back, there is back-to-school stuff all over the store, the halloween candy is out (In August--I'm serious about this). 

I love fall and the crisp air and the leaves changing colors but I have to admit I was feeling slightly grumpy because while everyone else seemed to be talking about fun trips, concerts and summer vacations my summer had been uneventful (maybe a more accurate word would be boring). 

Then one day I got a pleasant surprise--I had unused, paid vacation time!  Please don't get me wrong--I certainly couldn't afford to go anywhere but I was excited that I had 12 hours of getting paid, without having to actually go into work!  I had until the end of the year to use it.  I thought this was really good timing because there were a few weeks of warm, summer weather left and I maybe I could take a day trip or do something fun.  So, I picked a few days to use up my vacation time and headed to the shore for sun and sand.  Yay! 

So in the end I ended up with a check for around $120 and I didn't have to go into work at all!  Money for nothing--sign me up for that!

Up in smoke...

So here is the deal...when you work you for four hours or more you get one paid 15 minute break.  If you work 7 hours you get a half an hour 'meal' break.  That's seems pretty straight forward and simple, right?

But what if you smoke?  If you smoke not only do you get your paid 15 minute break but you can also go outside for a cigarette (or two) during your shift.

To be fair most of the time they will only go outside for a cigarette if it is really, really slow so I have never really minded this until the other night when I was working as a cashier.  Here's what happened...when I first got into work I talked to the manager and he told me there was a mistake on the schedule and that there were two cashiers scheduled until midnight.  It was me and one other kid, Luke.  The manager told me that since I was the 'extra' cashier I could stay until 10:00.  So I said sure, no problem and was pretty happy to get out of there before midnight.  Luke and I both started at 7:00.  Around 8:00 Carrie and Luke were talking and they asked me if  I wanted to stay until midnight and Luke would leave at 10:00.  I told him it didn't really matter to me either way (especially since I had originally planned on being there until midnight anyway) and Luke sort of hinted that he had plans and he wanted to leave early.  I was a little disappointed that I was stuck there until midnight. but I did need the hours and figured it wasn't that big of a deal.  So Luke came in at 7:00 p.m and was leaving at 10:00.  That's just three hours.  At around 9:00 or 9:30 he went outside for a cigarette break.  Which I normally would not have minded at all except that meant I was the only register open.  It was a pretty warm summer night and during the summer it seems that people tend to put off their grocery shopping until later at night.  So it got really busy and I'm there all by myself while Luke gets to chill outside having a cigarette.  I'm not saying that Luke's isn't entitled to a break while he's working but it shouldn't be while it's busy and I think if you only work for three hours you should be able to suck it up without a break.  I work 5 or six hour shifts without getting a break pretty often.  So I was thinking you have less then an hour left of work--you couldn't make it? 

So that got me to thinking that the whole thing really isn't fair--certain people get to duck outside in addition to the break they already get while the rest of us are stuck inside, you know, actually working.  So (and I know I am not the first person to say this) it seems like I am basically being punished for not smoking? 

Political Science

No one likes us,
I don't know why.
We may not be perfect
But heaven knows we try.
And all around,
even our old friends put us down.
Let's drop the big one,
See what happens.

We give them money,
but are they are grateful?
No! They're spiteful and they're hateful.
They don't respect us,
so let's surprise 'em.
We'll drop the big one,
And pulverize 'em.

Asia's crowded,
Europe's too old.
Africa is far too hot,
And Canada's too cold.
South America stole our name.
Let's drop the big one,
They'll be no one left to blame us.

We'll save Australia,
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroos.
We'll build an all-American amusement park there,
They got surfin', too.

Boom goes London,
Boom Paree' (Paris).
More room for you,
More room for me.
And every city the whole world 'round,
Will just be another American town.
Oh, how peaceful it will be,
We'll set everybody free.
You'll wear a Japanese kimono babe,
There'll be Italian shoes for me.

They all hate us anyhow,
So let's drop the big one now.

Let's drop the big one now.

Lyrics and music by: Randy Newman

Hitchin' a Ride (Part II)

It was a nice day in the summer and I had made plans to hang out with my sister.  She lives in the city and we planned for me to meet her at the train station in the city and from there were gonna head to A.C to sit on the beach for a bit, soak up some sun and cruise along the boardwalk.  Whenever I go into the city I take the train for a few reasons.

1) I don't want to fight traffic and pay for parking.  (and I figure by the time I pay for gas and parking a train ticket is cheaper)
2) It's green!  I feel like I'm being more environmentally friendly when I use public transportation
3) As you read yesterday my car is not in the best shape right now.

By the time we got back from A.C I caught the 10:30 (something) train in the city and was headed back home.  The train ride lasts about an hour.  It had been a fun but long day so as the train rolled along I found I could barely keep my eyes open--they felt superglued shut.

After a while the train came to a stop and I managed to open my eyes just enough to squint out the window and I saw that I am almost at my stop.  The station where I parked my car is close to my house and close to the grocery store, too.  As I tried to wake my self up I glanced across the isle and saw someone looking at me.  I realized it was Miguel, one of the guys from the night crew at the grocery store.  He is from Mexico and barely speaks English.  He smiled, pointed at me and "Philadelphia."  I nodded.  I glanced at my watch--by now it was close to 11:30--I'm pretty sure he should have been an work about an hour and half ago (but I'm not really sure).  The train was quickly coming up to my stop and my mind started racing.  I know that his train stop is a few stops after mine and there is a side of me that knows the decent, "right" thing to do is to offer this guy a ride to the grocery store so that he won't have to walk from the train station to work.  It's what I have been taught by my dad and grandparents to do--help people out when they need help.  They have shown me, by example, the importance of doing whatever you can to help people.  So it should have been a no-brainer--but it wasn't.

All I kept thinking about was having to get in through the passenger's side door and climb over to the driver's side.  My logic told him he probably wouldn't have cared--he would have just been grateful for the ride, but it was really, really embarrassing.  I pictured him laughing as I climbed into the drivers seat.  (This is really shallow of me--because it is really funny and if he was laughing I should have been laughing my ass off right along with him!)  I'm really fortunate to have a car and the bottom line is it's a pretty funny situation to have a car that you have to climb in and out of (it could have been worse, I guess--it could have been 'Dukes of Hazzard' style).  My other (very flimsy) excuse is that I was just so tired--I felt like I could barely stay awake long enough to drive myself home let alone drive Miguel to the grocery store.

Like I said, it should have a been a no-brainer, but it wasn't.  The train came to my stop.  I gave Miguel a small smile, waved and got off the train.  I have felt really bad about it ever since.  In my defense he is a slightly creepy and definitely annoying guy but I should have helped him out.  It was a situation that had a simple solution but I made it awkward by not doing the right thing.  Miguel sometimes still points at me, smiles and says, 'Philadelphia'.   Which I'm pretty sure translates to something like, "You are the bitch that wouldn't give me a ride to work when we were both on the same train."

Hitchin' a Ride (Part I)

I love driving.  The freedom of the open road.  Cruising along the highway at 80 miles per hour with a good song playing on the radio.  The wind in my hair.  Actually, scratch the wind in my hair because the driver's side window of the car is broken--it goes down but it won't go back up again.

Ahhh--but the freedom of the open road comes with a hefty price tag.  Gas money.  Car insurance.  Vehicle Registration.  And once a year the state inspection and emissions test.  So when it was time for my annual car inspection I decided the cheapest option was Pep Boys.  But apparently my car was so old (it's a 1995) that they didn't have the equipment in their shop to do the emissions test there.  The guy at the shop told me they could do the state inspection but I would have to get the emissions test done somewhere else.  So I found a small local auto mechanic that had the right machine to do the emissions test on my "ancient" car.  I dropped the car off off, came back about 1/2 an hour later, paid for the emissions test, picked up the car and drove away.

As I was driving down the street I noticed the drivers side window was down (see note above about broken driver's side window).  When I got home I tried to put the window back up but it was off the track and I could only get it 3/4 of the way back up.

Well the window had been broken before and my dad had fixed it so I asked him if he would mind taking a look at it again.  He said sure.  Well, to make a long story short (I know--too late) my dad got the window to go back up but in order to fix it he had to take the car door off the track--I'm not really sure why but that's what happened.  When he was done working on it the door didn't line up with the track so it wouldn't close properly.  So now every time I get into the car I have to get in front passenger side and climb over to the driver's seat.  If anyone ever sees me climbing across the front of the car they must wonder what the hell I'm doing.

Now what does this have to do with work?  Stay tuned.

It's a mystery to me

We have started having mystery shopping come into the store.  I'm sure 99% of you are familiar with the concept of the mystery shopper--they basically walk through the entire store with a sort of checklist they are given.  They give the store a total number of points out of 100 based on how many things on the checklist that were done while they were shopping.