To the Inexperienced...

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, there are those in the population who have never held a job using a register. Let's allow that to sink in for a minute.
They have never dealt with late-night and even afternoon drunkards. They have never had ten people in a row hand them a twenty for a dollar tab. They have never had to tell someone to his'er face that the credit card was declined. They have never dealt--in person--with a price change in a poor neighborhood.
We as cashiers have so many things that irk us, and we get so angry at the customer...but that isn't fair. None of them realize that what they are doing is wrong. Well, some of them do, but that's beside the point.

Today, I am going to address those who have never had a face-to-face customer service or cashier job. And I'm telling you--get one.

Once you spend about a week or two cashing people out and dealing with the asinine "problems" these people have, you will understand how to behave yourself. You will finally be able to go into a store and not feel like the person across from you is your enemy. And once your one or two weeks are up, you are free to go. Unlike the rest of us.
You see, most of us are not here by choice. Most of us are just trying to pay the bills until something better happens; maybe we're waiting to graduate or save up enough for a car to get the job we really want downtown. Maybe we are high school drop outs because we are pro-life and we were raped in our own bedrooms (no, that last one is not me, don't worry). There are so many reasons why we do what we do, but for the most part, we are stuck here.

And that being said, let's delve into just a few of the things that the "inexperienced" do that makes us angry.


Money. That's all life's about right? At least, in the business world it is. So when you get up to the register, no--we can't spare some money for you. Maybe a penny. Maybe a nickel. But any more than that, and we risk losing our jobs. So yeah, you're soda is really not that important to us.

Price changes. When a store sells a product, that store agrees to sell it at a certain price. Sometimes, however, that number is only suggested by the manufacturer and the store can sell it for more if they want. Yes, buying a soda for more that what it's "worth" sucks. However, the cashier didn't set the price, nor do they care about it. More than likely the person you're complaining to buys their soda at a cheaper store. Call up the store owner to complain. If it is a franchise, the owner can decide what they want to sell things for. If it is a chain of stores all owned by a corporation, they have to sell it for what the big bosses decide. Make sure you know what kind of business you're dealing with before you start ranting and raving about something that that person has no control over.

Large Bills. Convenience store clerks are only allowed to have so much money in their drawers at a time. They can get money from the safe only so many times in a shift (depending on how much money is in there), and every time they get handed a twenty, this makes it harder and harder for them to make change for people later on in the shift, regardless of how much you actually owe them. Please don't try to break your fifty by buying a a stick of gum. We may just say no. And by the way, yes, we can do that. Please don't make a scene.

Cups. If you want a cup full of ice, please make sure that the store you are currently occupying gives those out for free, before you get it. Most stores don't, and don't think that for a minute that we'll give it to you just because you made up some lie about how the store down the street does it or we did it yesterday. Why? Because it costs money for those cups. When you get soda, you are not necessarily paying for the liquid. You are paying for the cup to put it in. That, of course, won't stop the store from charging for refills--otherwise they'd lose too much business. Even so, you leaving with that cup unpaid for is on camera and if the cashier gets blamed for that, s/he is out of a job. Period. So don't whine that you have to pay for it--buy a plastic cup and reuse it. Heck, buy that cup and an ice tray. That combination will pay for itself hundreds of times over, and it's "green."

So many issues, so little time. If you want to see more, then get a CS job. Stand behind the register and check people out for hours at a time and your whole world view will change. I will definitely add more in future blogs, but for today, we're out of time.

Next time, I will share that interesting idea I mention last week. Boy, I'm excited! :-)