Second Day of Work

So you have decided that CS is the job for you (or you were too lazy and broke to continue looking)...now what?

Now, you (hopefully) have years and years ahead of you to perfect your CS abilities and move up the corporate ladder! While you're on your way, however, let me share some advice with you:

First and foremost, you need to learn to be patient with yourself. Everyone makes mistakes, even you. When you hand back incorrect change or press a wrong key on your screen, just remember that it is NOT the end of the world. All you need to do is to make a mental note of what you did wrong and try not to do it again. The only stupid mistake out there is one you never tried to learn from, even if the lesson is just to never do it again.

Secondly, you need to learn to love your job. Every morning, while making coffee at our coffee bar, I overhear so many of our customers say, "I don't want to go to work," or "I'd be fine if I wasn't on my way to work." And I can't help but reply, "If you feel that way, maybe you ought not work there." Not everyone can have an awesomely cushy job. And maybe your only talents are something that won't feasibly earn a living. That's okay. What you need to do is to find pleasure in the little things dealing with your line of work. Even if for the strangest reasons. For example:
I find great enjoyment out of exceeding a customer's expectations. This is not because I enjoy being subservient, but because it will either wipe that smug look off of their face, or it will truly brighten their day. I also feel a strange satisfaction in getting on my knees and scrubbing, well, anything. This is probably related to a freak floor-cleaner accident when I was a wee lass and is not really the norm. However, I take this with me every time something needs to be cleaned (as a side note, I'd like to say that done right, scrubbing equals zen).

Thirdly, multitasking. This can be one heck of a tool for when the balance of things to do versus time to do them with is out of whack. However, you want to use this sparingly. If you overdo this particular method, you will start to go a little crazy. Symptoms include, but are not limited to: dizziness (due to running around the room), headache (from trying to cram too many to-do lists in your brain), forgetfulness (when tasks started before extensions to said lists start to fall out), and finding you have more to do than before. An example of the last one is when you carry too many things at once because you have a limited amount of time before, say, your first batch of coffee is done brewing, and end up spilling whatever you were carrying.
If you find that you are suffering from one or more of these symptoms, please stop everything, breathe, and if possible, get some help from a co-worker! You cannot and should not do everything in you store. Do a limited number of things really well; don't do a half job at everything. But also make sure your boss knows what responsibilities you are perfecting.


So far, we've discussed being patient with yourself, learning to love your job and multitasking. These are important things to remember in making your job easier. The next post will continue this subject. Points will include becoming interested, becoming interesting, and the biggest bit of advice I can ever give you.