As an experiment I took on a second job with a major US retailer for the Holidays. Partly for something to do, partly for the discounts and maybe for the money (well – maybe not as it turned out.) I do computer work professionally and rarely see how people interact with the technology I support. (for example, I’ve set up point of sale systems but I’ve never operated one.)
I won’t say which big-box company I was working for but I’m sure you have all shopped there. Let me preface this by saying my experience was mostly positive. Other than the pay (which was just above minimum (i.e. Abysmally low)) I liked the company and would work for them again – other than the pay which to put into perspective, I did similar work back in the 1970s and got paid about the same or LESS, adjusted for inflation.
Here is my observation.
I was impressed with the extent company culture was instilled into new recruits. New recruits are informed that the company is “tah best-best best” pays so much better than that brand X company. The company has a bazillion acronyms which didn’t bother to learn. They are pretty firm about people getting breaks and lunches. I was told that the Labor Board gets automatic reports from their HR system. Seems a bit draconian to me.
They did get the breaks on time!
The company was really against unions, to the point of making us watch a propaganda video on how unions didn’t really improve the lot of workers. (I wanted to insert a shot of some filthy kid in a 19th century coal mine giving thumbs up to right to work.)
Some fat guy with a cigar and a top hat approves of all this.
Edit; unions are not a cure all but they do keep companies aware of their workers. Top hat guy does NOT approve of that.
I was a cashier, running a machine which at any given time had more money inside than I’ve ever had for myself in cash…. Ever. We didn’t keep a till (much to my surprise.) I counted it a couple of time and discovered – those registers have got a LOT of cash in them.
People around here have LOTS of cash too. I didn’t realize it.
However, if anyone reading this is thinking of knocking a bigbox store cash register off – forget it.
I was not aware how completely monitored all transactions are. Every transaction is videoed along with a running account of each key punched on the system. You are closely monitored whenever you set foot into one of these places. There are dozens of video cameras all over the store, some of them are hidden, and some are fake. None of them are watched all the time but all of them keep images for a few days.
Otherwise the work itself was kind of mindless. It was like being a bag-boy back in the 1970s and by the way you have to ring up purchases as well. I can see how this eliminated an entire class of jobs! I was handling about 50 transactions an hour; average transaction was about $75.00 so I was running nearly a thousand dollars an hour into the system. And people in the computer field did all of this! And they still want to cram SOPA down our necks? Bad Congress! no biscuit!
- The people; co-workers and management.
Most of the people I worked with were pleasant. The managers were very good and polite. They almost drifted into love-bombing when we did our job well (not quite love-bombing, they certainly believed in “praseology” as a management stratagem.
“Thanks for all of your hard work” and that kind of thing.
My only bitch about management is that they are unrealistic about store closing. If one is scheduled to say, 11:PM it is very likely you will be there until midnight or 1 AM. Most people didn’t have a problem with that. I got upset merely because I had to get up at 5 AM to go to my day job. It got a rough when I closed several days concurrently. Most of my co-workers were high school kids or late middle aged people who worked there full time.
Also it’s common for a cashier to be required to solicit stuff (like credit cards) during a transaction. All the bigbox stores do this. This is annoying to the customer and to the employee as well. I’ve never liked sales and I didn’t like being forced to wear my salesman hat when I was trying to get people through the checkout line fast.
No complaint other than I got a cold the first week something in the building was making me cough my lungs out for three weeks thereafter. I had to go fetch freaking shopping carts in the snow! Actually, that was more fun than running the register.
Frankly, people can be utter pigs.
Not all of them to be sure, not even most of them. But enough to make my head spin. Here’s a quick bestiality.
A Change Counter must-must MUST count out exact change no matter how absurd the amount. “That comes to 54.89 I say.” They hand my a hundred dollar bill; while I’m in the middle of handing them their eleven cents THEY HAVE TO DIG OUT 89 cents IN PENNIES! THEY HAVE TO SLOWLY COUNT THE FRACKING PENNIES! THEN I HAVE TO RE-COUNT THE FRACKING PENNIES! Then they behave like I’m supposed to congratulate them on wasting my time and the six or so people in line who are now pissed at ME! Also the fact that each transaction is timed and waiting for a costumer like that give you a bad rating.
“Oh that’s at half price!” says the Price Quibbler. I look at the “item,” a blouse that has already been reduced by about 1/2 price. I point this out to her, hoping she will drop the whole thing and just buy the blouse. “The sign said that everything was half price!” she exclaims. That means it’s half off whatever it says there.
Well, actually no it does not. The thing is ringing up, at X.xx amount which is half off the regular amount. Price Quibbler is trying to get this item at a quarter of the regular price. So we send someone to do a check, “Oh I don’t want it then!” Price Quibbler says when the price check confirms what I told them. I actually had one argue with me about an item that was showing one half off, Price Quibbler insisted it was “x.xx” price which was more than the coded price. So I gave in and charged her more for the item, and Price Quibbler had a fit about that too.
Go-back People will bring a cart-full of merchandise to the register and leave half of it just lying around. “I just don’t want this, and this and this …. Etc.” WELL WHY DID YOU HAUL THIS CRAP UP TO THE REGESTER IN THE FIRST PLACE????” Some Go-back People will cunningly hide merchandise behind signs and other merchandise. Like they believe we have some invisible Underpants Gnomes to magically whisk the crap back where it belongs. There is a subset of G0-back People who let their children play with toys until they are finished or the toy is broken, whichever comes first.
Then of course they act like they are doing you a favor by hauling merchandise across the store so it can live in a box at the service desk all day and have some minimum wage-slave stick it back on the shelf at 1 AM tomorrow morning.
“Bob and Lisa “ is a code phrase for checking the bottom of the cart and inside boxes for merchandise. They are also a type of customer. I’ve had people try to rush things past me, then behaved insulted when I tried to scan the item, then had me void the item off behaving like it was MY fault it was sitting on the bottom of the cart.
Yeah right!
On the phone for the entire transaction. Slow getting stuff on the conveyer, slow getting money out. Confusion over stuff on the pay screens. Can’t figure out where credit card or money is.
GET OFF THE DAMN PHONE!
Cannot figure out which of the twenty credit cards in their purse/wallet will have a glimmer of action enough to pay for whatever useless trash they are buying. Can’t remember where they put money in giant cluttered purse. Left money in car or someone else (who is still shopping) will pay, eventually.
How in the hell do people get away with carrying so much cash around? I mean really! There is a class of people around here who apparently don’t have bank accounts and get paid in cash stuffed into white envelopes. Dropping three hundred dollars for just random stuff (candy, bric-a-brack, perfume, movies) seems normal to Cash-only folk. I’m in awe when I see folks nonchalantly pull out hundred dollar bills to pay for twenty dollar purchases, and they have a stack of those. Some are oil workers get paid in cash I’m sure but, some Cash-only folk don’t seem to be from around her if you know what I mean.
Look, I like coupons but, let’ get one thing straight. A coupon is a conditional device to get a discount and that’s all. They are not the reason you shop at a store and they should NOT be the reason you pick up an item even though condition usually about purchasing some product. They are marketing and advertising tools only. Remember that.
Not so to one customer! She informed me that the 5 dollar store coupon just meant she got five dollars off regardless that she didn’t meet the conditions (of making $50 dollars in purchases.) I had to read the coupon to her, twice, explain what the words meant and explain the theory behind coupons. (she of course got annoyed when she thought I was patronizing her.)
Then she really frightened me when she got into a car and drove off. Hopefully she can figure out where the brakes are.
- It’s on Sale for Half Price Today Folk!
Why is it that people start to proclaim this the moment we get really busy? You have to stop and get a price check, annoying the customers waiting and me!
I know some people are doing this just to defraud the store and get stuff a little cheaper. Some have a point in that the signs don’t always correspond with the coded price. Company policy is to just cave and let them rip the store within reason. But had people demand that I take half off $50 items with no evidence.
One other thing I observed is the abject desperation of some people. I had folks come through who obviously had no money, yet they were maxing out whatever credit they had to buy Christmas ornaments and decorations. I suppose I’m a cynic but, I keep thinking that Christmas is only a short time every year (not freaking from Halloween to Jan 31st either!) Some decorations are fine if you can afford them but , food on the table, rent/utilities first people!
****
All in all it was a good experience and I don’t regret it one bit. I had no TIME to do anything else for the past couple of months. (Literally I was working and sleeping and doing little else most days.)
However I’m now trained on point of sale systems, I guess that counts for something!
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