On the other side...

I was out runnning errands the other day.  It got to be around 5:30 or 6:00 and I was on my way home but I figured on the way back home I would swing by the grocery store and pick up a few things for dinner.  As someone who has both worked at grocery stores and been a customer at grocery stores I can tell you that from around 5:00 until maybe 6:30 or 7:00 there is a pretty steady rush of people.  People on their home from work are picking up things for dinner or they are running in to get stuff for kids lunches for the next day or they have realized they are out of something at home and swing by the pick it up while they are out.  I'm sure most of you have experienced this first hand when you have driven past your local grocery store on the way home from work and thought "Oh, I'll just run in and grab a loaf of bread or I'll just grab some milk."  You run in for two things and get stuck waiting in line of 3 or 4 people. 

So I went in and grabbed my spaghetti and pasta sauce.  I was expecting it be busy (which is was) but what I was not expecting was that there would only be 2 registers open and 1 of them was the express lane.  That meant that for everyone shopping who had over 15 items there was only one register. 

First, let me tell you that this is just as frustrating for us as cashiers as it is for you as customers.  We don't like to look up and see tons of people waiting in line (some waiting patiently...others not so patiently).  So on this particular day I was a customer--standing in line with 2 items and wondering why there were only 2 registers open when practically everyday around this time there is a rush of customers.  It seems like poor customer service to me--when you know that it is going to be busy at a certain to not schedule enough people to work. 

It is the cusotmer service manager who generally does the scheduling for the front end and I will say in his defense that poor scheduling is not always the manager's fault.  Each department is given a certain number of hours for the week

Workin' 9:00-5:00

After lots (and lots...and lots...and lots) of searching I finally found a full time job at a really nice office!  Yay!  Now here's the part that surprised me the most--even after I got a full time job I still plan on staying at the grocery store.  You may be wondering why, after all the bitching, I didn't quit the grocery store when I got a full-time job.  Here's the major reason--my car is a 1996...and it is exhausted.  Get it?  Car?  Exhausted?  Ha!  Yeah the car is really falling apart (those of you who have read some of my earlier posts know that my car problems are well documented) and it is going to the big highway in the sky any day now.  So I got to thinking that if I stayed at the grocery store for a while longer I could save up money for a new car--or at least a car that would be new to me.  So I am going to work 2 or 3 nights a week and those paychecks can be my 'New Car Fund'.  Also, you never know what is going to happen--just as quickly as you get a full time job things could change.  I'm so excited to have a full time job with a steady paycheck but I guess being at the grocery store will remind me not to take anything for granted. 

I always sort of assumed that the second I got a full-time job I would leave the grocery store faster then but I haven't quit.  Well, at least not yet.  I don't know how long I'm going to do both but at least for now I'm gonna give it a shot and be grateful for 2 paychecks. 

Pass the Purell, please

As we are heading into cold and flu season I have gotten to thinking about sickness and germs.

Working with the public = germs.  Generally I am not a germophobe at all but even I have my limits.

First of all dealing with paper money is a germapoloza.  Think about how many different hands money goes through 

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