problems with cashier work

Post Reply New Topic

im so bad at working at a till i dont even know if ive spelt 'cashier' right. i work in a tea room and gift shop and has rescently been moved to the gift shop department due to my inability to use the till. i have worked there for over 9 months, i worked part time over summer, and while at college i do saturdays and fill occationally if anyone is sick. i have only been told that i have been a problem about three weeks ago. the boss was very nice about it, she could have sacked me but instead moved me to the gift shop because the till there is simpler to use. However, a few problems have occurred in the work place. one is that i dont know if the rest of the staff are aware of this issue. thier behaviour seems awquard at times but im not a very good judge at that sort of thing, but i also feel, well, demoted, as i am now just the saturday girl that gets sent to do the washing up, or other staff's domestic shopping, and has fewer responsibilities in the work place. although the till is easier to use i still find it difficult, and it's getting to the point where im looking a little stupid for asking for help with the same things that i should have learned by now. its not that im dyslexic with numbers or anything, though my mental arithmatic is poor, but it is which buttons to press and in which order, and if something goes wrong theres a certain way of correcting it and the money must balance out at the end of the day. i also learn by constant repetition. once a skill is in my head im fine but getting it in there is like pushing information through a brick wall, and as im only working 1-2days a week and by the time it gets to next saturday i have forgotten it all. i am glad that ive been moved, a quited gift shop is a a relieving change to the busy, loud and socially awquard atmosphere that comes with waitressing. i believe that what kept me in a job was my ability to interact with customers, as my degree of aspergers is only slight. no one at work is aware of my condition, and im unsure about how to bring it up to my boss. i dont think that she would be pleased that i didnt mention it upon my application for the job, but at the same time no question was raised about medical conditions at the interview.

any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. im losing my confidence a bit. the only reason fo appyling for the job in the first place other than money was so i could learn how to use the till well.

steffi

Being diagnosed with Asperger's and had two jobs working the cash register, I know how you feel. It took me a while to get the hang of it. Heck, I still have problems sometimes but they're not as bad as when I first started. You learn through repetition, right? Ask them and see if they can get extra training time in for you. Although things might be different with you than me, since you're working at a different place and all. But hopefully I was some sort of help.

I honestly can't give you any advice or suggestions, but I can relate.

I was fired from every job I ever had involving a cash register.


My mental arithmetic is poor too and it's even worse when i'm anxious.


If I only had to deal with one customer every couple of minutes or so I would've been OK.

But needless to say...that's almost never the case. I nearly had a melt-down during every shift. There is no way I can deal with people that close-up and think about what i'm doing at the same time.

Sometimes the issue is not really the math but performance anxiety. I have a Finance degree and I find cashier work a little difficult sometimes as well. I simply wont do it any more. There are people checking through, people in line and even coworkers walking up to give you more change for your drawer or tell you something. All that put together with AS is very difficult. Any distraction can make you lose count.

I don't think you are supposed to do math in your head as a cashier because there is a computer cash register to do it for you. Of course, I have mis-keyed before and had to calculate in my head to correct it. I find this hard if people are all yammering at me. Ironically, if I am shopping I can keep track of the prices of a hundred cart items and come up with the almost exact total for my groceries in my head. It takes me longer to use the calculator. GO figure.

Anyway, the only advice I can give you is to do your best at the job your are given, and after a while ask for more responsibility. Even let your boss know that you are a person who needs more practice to do something well. Once you show you are eager to learn and do a good job she may trust you with more difficult work. I think she must already know this about you to a degree if she didn't fire you-just moved you to a less demanding job.

Do you have to be a cashier? Could you, for example, be moved to stocking things, or tidying up? I think if you're really as bad at it as you say you are, you'd probably be more efficient switching jobs entirely. Talk to your boss; maybe there's another position that doesn't involve cash registers.

This is the reason that I refuse to work in any stores, or restaurants. Employers like to presume that everybody who's female, is automatically going to be an excellent cashier, with a high pitched voice, that doesn't have any trace of a foreign accent. That makes me sick.