School's Back ! ! ! ! ! !

Hooray!!!!!
The little darlings are back in school!!!

That means that we have more of the regular cashiers at work in the daytime. You know, the ones that actually work???!!!

It has been such a pleasure the past few days working with the people I work with. They all do a great job, they are friendly to the customers, they are considerate of their co-workers. And THAT is very important.

You know, you may not like having to deal with some of the customers we have but at least be considerate of your co-workers. The hardest shift is the 7:00 AM yo 3:30 PM shift. You're on express, you have to keep an eye on EVERYthing. You have to sell cigarettes, if we have them.
You also must keep an eye on lottery, get the candy shelves at each register re-stocked, handle and concerns that approach the customer service desk, AND serve any and all customers that come through. Because from 7:00 to either 9 or 10, depending on the day of the week, you are by YOUR SELF!!!!

By 3:00 you're ready to leave so its VERY nice when your relief comes in a little early. I have been burned a few times by somebody being late for their shift and that person goes in my black book. They get no help from me for when they have to take a bus, or have an appt. or anything else for that matter.

I think it is pretty inconsiderate of your peers to expect to leave 5 minutes early and show up 5 minutes late, because there is a built in 'grace' period of 7 minutes either side of shift start or finish. You might help them out once but when the favour is NEVER returned, then its "gloves off baby!"

* * * * *

Funny thing, I was thinking about my elderly gentleman friend who lost his wife a few months ago. He is such a wonderful, sweet man and I care deeply for him. I was thinking I hadn't seen him in a while and wondered if he was okay.

Sure enough doesn't he come through my line yesterday! He bought a few things, including his two items for the food bank, and was very happy to see me. (Not nearly as happy as I was to see him).

We chatted for a little. I asked him how he was doing and he said okay, some days are better than others. And then he said his days are always better when he sees me. Isn't that kind ?

He told me he always looks for me in the store, when he comes in. I gave him a big hug and a kiss before he left. His face just lit up.

* *

THAT makes the job all worth it.

Well, this has been an interesting few weeks . . .

It sure has. I still can't get over the number of people who have asked where I've been because they haven't seen me in a long time. I am working only three shifts a week now, and it sure has made an impact on the number of people I see or that see me.
It is so nice to be missed! ! ! ! ! Hopefully, can add another shift sometime soon.

* * * * *

Lets see. What's been going on?

Oh, I know! ! ! !

1) We are losing our fresh seafood section. Not profitable.

IDEA: Why not have seafood day be one day a week, say a Friday, and publicize that date so people know when to come. It works for the Market downtown!

2) We are losing money because we are seeing people get there groceries through another source that delivers!

IDEA: If we had a delivery service, it would get used quite a lot, I'm sure. We have an elderly population near us and a lot of time their grown up children are getting items for them. I've mentioned a delivery idea and it has been met with great enthusiasm by the customers.

3) We hardly have any buggies left. Again.
Rather than going with getting a buggy for a quarter it needs to be a steeper price or more of a consequence.

IDEA: We either charge a hefty deposit which you get back upon return of the buggy, or for minimum wage we have some one sitting in the parking lot keeping an eye on people that leave with buggies. They can then be gently reminded that they can't remove the buggy from the lot as it amounts to theft. Even if we had someone doing that once a week, maybe they'd (the customers) start to get the hint.

4) Since they have been cutting hours all over the place, we seem to be losing more customers and more food. I don't know how many times I have gone to buy fruit especially and find that I must really pick through 8 to 10 packages before I get a good product. There aren't enough people to keep it straight.

* * * * *

So I get to work today and by the second customer I have this weird Karma all over the machine and myself.

Second customer!!! She has a chip card and I tell her to put it in the machine. She does so and I instruct her to enter her 'PIN'. She tells me she doesn't have one. I tell her its probably the same as her debit card. "I don't have a debit card" says she. Well, I don't know what to do and we try it a few times, different ways, and finally it turns out that she HAS the chip, but no pin and all she had do was hit the 'okay' button. It worked! ! ! ! ! The customer behind was 'helping' by saying that you don't need a pin with credit cards. I started to say that that wasn't true but thought it easier to just let her see how it works.

Sure enough, it worked just by her hitting the okay button and signing the slip!!?????

* * * * *

Then I had someone who wanted to buy some bread and other bakery items that all have discount coupons on them. Okay, so I ring in six loaves of various breads each with a coupon. Then there are some danish, also with a coupon. I ring them in but the machine registers it three times! (^%%*&%$$%#%). I go to cancel it and the machine says I have to reverse the coupon first? WHAT coupon? So I try to remove a coupon and then scan the item to remove it, but it doesn't work. I try it a few times different ways, and nothing. I call HC and she comes over and it turns out I have to remove ALL the coupons (6), the 2 extra items that were scanned, then put all the coupons back ON, THEN I can proceed with my job. Thank heaven the next people were patient.

Oh, by the way, when you remove an item, you first hit 'void' then scan the item, then put the paper in the printer, hit the button and it prints; that ONE item. You have to do that each time for each coupon. And you can't leave the paper in the printer. You must re-insert it each time as the printer, very kindly, shoves the paper out the top when it has printed its ONE item.

* * * * *

Later on I had a man with a wife (?) and child, that were from another country, and were buying about $30.00 worth of groceries. He hands me his credit card and I said that it had a chip so he has to put it in the bottom of the machine. He does and then I said you have to hit okay and then enter your pin. "I don't have a pin number." Well its not going to work then. He says he used it yesterday and didn't have to use a pin. I said i don't know how that could happen yesterday and then not allow it today. He kept insisting that he had done it. Finally, I call HC over, again, and she tries to explain to him that it is NOT going to work. He has to call his credit card company and get the pin. He keeps grumbling and finally says, "fine, put all that stuff back."

Okay by me. The couple next in line.... he wanted to pay for their groceries and the wife said no. I talk with him all the time and he asked what I thought. I said for him not to do it. He seemed surprised and the wife says "she works here, listen to her." There was just something a little strange about him trying to say the card worked the day before.

*

Not an hour later a coworker comes in and I'm telling him about the day and when I get to the last story he says he had someone doing that last night. I said really, what did they look like. He described my customers to a 'T'.

So . . . . . turns out the gut instincts were right.

* * * * *

This post was actually written on Tuesday September 7th, 2010.