Further Adventures in Cashiering

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This is a follow up to the thread: Cashiers?

Well, I've been on the job for two shifts now and I'm working a call-in shift for 8 hrs tomorrow. I have to say it is very demanding. The store I work at is full-service. So I'm checking stuff through while bagging at the same time. I know "whaa whaa." I'm so happy to have a job. It's not bad - I'm getting the hang of the produce codes (of which there seem to be thousands )
But what seems to get to me most is the completely different expectations of each person. They're like snowflakes - each one completely different. One wants all the different kinds of meat kept separate, one doesn't care if their chicken is bagged with the lettuce. Everyone's expectations are different. It is overwhelming.

Ann, congratulations on finding a job. Just from reading your posts, I gather being gainfully employed means a lot to you. Most jobs I've had are overwhelming in the beginning too. I'm sure you will get used to it and do just fine.

Hang in there!

I would just [habitually] do everything the way the most picky people prefer, that would save wasting mental resources worrying about it.

Thanks!
This was a long day. The had a live band playing (for a grand re-opening.) I could hear Satan laughing at me.


I think you're right. I've adopted a high standard for packing and customers seem to appreciate it. I really wish they didn't track your items-per-minute. Makes me feel like I'm in a distopian novel.

"Thanks!
"This was a long day. The had a live band playing (for a grand re-opening.) I could hear Satan laughing at me. Laughing"

A band at a supermarket? Ann, if you're anything like me, I bet you could hear Satan laughing. The job itself would be near-sensory overload. But a band along with it would have me in a fine frenzy.

I stopped using the baggers at the grocery store because I had high standards about what kinds of stuff should go together... I would definitely not put my raw meat and produce together, so I think I would try to get in your line!

A bad band at that . . . I hate it when bad bands mangle good songs.


The thing is though, that everyone's expectations are different. Some people will tell me to throw lettuce on top of raw chicken because they don't want another bag.
I think this is what gets to me. One after the other, a unique perspective. I think I might be having ToM problems.

"A bad band at that . . . I hate it when bad bands mangle good songs."

Ann, I must agree. I'm listening to Steely Dan as I write this. I cringe at the thought of poor musicians trying to cover this music.


"The thing is though, that everyone's expectations are different. Some people will tell me to throw lettuce on top of raw chicken because they don't want another bag.
I think this is what gets to me. One after the other, a unique perspective. I think I might be having ToM problems."

Ann, I understand completely. I had the same problem when I was appointed to run my library--i.e., how to give people what they want, which is the key to success. Non-fiction wasn't any problem for me. But fiction was, as that tends to rely on social fads, styles, and other things that mystify me. So, what I did was when a new fiction writer comes out with a book, I check to see how well their last book did with my readers, and if it did well, I get that author's new book. Since I too have ToM problems, I've found taking the most simple, direct approach is best.

I'm guessing we all want our groceries bagged differently. I eat a lot of fresh produce and fresh lean meat. I always do my shopping early in the morning before I go into work since the store is usually less crowded. So, I have to keep the meat and produce in a cooler in my truck all day. Because my cooler isn't that big, I have the cashier separate the things that need refrigeration from those that don't. I always go to the cashiers who get it right so I don't have to sort through everything while putting my groceries in my truck.

This does seem to be true.

It's the figuring out what they want that is the tricky part.

Today I was scolded. It was inevitable. So much money is going through those tills - people take it pretty seriously. The irksome thing is that I actually did what I was told to do, but it turned out not to be the right thing. Arggg.

Ann, "Arggg" is right. One of the reasons I dreaded my last job was that I was expected to enforce policy. Yet when I did so, and push came to shove, I was invariably shot down by my superiors.

I'm surprised to hear about cash problems. I thought Canada was much further along the way to being a cashless society than the US. Unless I'm buying something very expensive, which isn't often, I always pay with cash. I hope you don't get annoyed at me.

Cash is easy . . . It's all the elaborate methods of paying that are tricky. My mistake amounted to putting the slip into the wrong drawer. But the payment went through.
What I find really dumb is that you can scan points from a barcode on your phone, but if the cashier puts the phone through a scanner, it will wreck it. You have to use the hand scanner. Well, how dumb is that. Have a promotion that can wreck the customers' expensive phone.
I can hear the mice.

That sounds like a pretty minor slip-up to me, especially since you're so new. We all make mistakes though. My assistant, who is normally very good, made an ordering mistake that will probably cost my library eight hundred dollars. She knows she screwed up, I know she screwed up, and I left it at that.

I'm not quite sure what you mean about scanning points from a cell phone. Then, I know little of such things. I pay cash to keep things simple. And since I talk to so few people, and since service out here is hit or miss, I don't even have a cell phone. I'm slipping behind the times.

I just came in from walking my dogs through my field. My border collie puppy caught a roadrunner. That's not easy to do. I've clocked those things going at least thirty miles per hour in my truck. I made her let it go of course.

They do come in handy . . . "it's a weapon..."

Uh oh. I gotta ask: weapon against what?

While I think Texas' cannabis laws are over the top, I do like their policy on weapons. We are allowed to carry a handgun in our vehicles with no permit, so long as it remains concealed at all times. That's what I do for a weapon.

Well zombies of course.


I wouldn't want access to a handgun. I would almost certainly get into a mood where I would shoot myself with it.

Cashiering sucks!

I will try to find something else. However, it is (for some reason) easier to get a job when you have one. So I'm looking at this as a stepping-stone. Perhaps I can get into a different department. I'm thinking floral.