Retail is a job that requires little more than basic social skills and hand movements. Some people make a career out of it and climb the ranks, and others, like myself, work there temporarily to make a little money before moving on to bigger things.
I worked at Hannaford for ten months. Hannaford is a grocery store chain based in New England, and there’s one in my small town. I wasn’t sure what I could learn as a cashier, but I went into the job with eyes and ears open to take note of all I could.
I actually learned quite a bit.
You’re Never Off the Hook from Doing Dirty Work
I’m not talking about keeping your station clean, though I did a great job of that. I’m talking about when a crazy rush hit that we weren’t expecting, and the emergency customer service team was called to the front. Sometimes they were workers from the Bakery or the Meat Department, and sometimes it was the store manager and department managers.
This surprised me. I thought the people in managing positions would be too busy or too important to do the dirty work. Nope. There they were, often at the bottom of my register bagging the items I was ringing up, doing the dirty work.
The Less Paperwork, the Better
From what I’ve seen, paperwork that was meant to be helpful is often ignored. For example, if a register ran out of a certain type of bill, like
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You’ll Never be Able to Please Everyone
For the most part, customers were gracious and understanding if we made a mistake or if we didn’t have something in stock. Other people were less so.
There was one women who always asked if we had vegan sour cream. Every time we had to explain that we no longer carried it. In a town of 2,000, it wouldn’t surprise me if she were the only vegan, making such a product unprofitable.
There’s only a certain amount that is in our control when we work for a large company like Hannaford. All we can do is our best.
No matter what job you’re doing, take the opportunity to learn something new. Pay attention and observe.