A Better Day

I'm feeling more optimistic tonight. No reason really, just a new day.

I'm getting a few too many shifts at work, so I guess I'm feeling a little overworked! Ah well, there are worse problems. I have a day off tomorrow, so I'm having a few drinks (ha! maybe that explains my sudden change of mood....).

Today at work, I noticed again how effortlessly I'm flying through the transactions. For most of them, I hardly have to think about it any more, it's mostly second nature now. If a customer remembers belatedly that she forgot to use her 'golden age certificate for one dollar off', and I've already rung up the till, I know what to do to fix it. If a customer hands me a ticket for their dress pants that were hemmed in our tailor shop, I know how to find them on the rack in the little back room where the tailor is slaving over her sewing machine. Today I even helped a little boy who had lost his parents. I've noticed that I learn best after I make a mistake. Things don't necessarily sink in until some key thing is said to make it stick. Something that will help me remember. I'm like that in everything. For my photography, for example, I don't remember some new thing until I might have gone for months on end doing it wrong. Then suddenly my great friend will say something that helps it stick. He has no idea that he's just said the key thing, and usually I don't know either - it's just some comment that he might blurt out, and that rings in my brain forevermore, helping me to remember. Today one of my co workers said the key thing that will help me remember to stamp the alteration tags after they've been paid. "If you don't stamp them, the customer might be arrested at the door!" she said very impatiently (since I'd forgotten three times). That comment has stuck. From now on I will remember to stamp the tag!

One thing I still struggle with, is answering the phone. I HATE using the phone! In menswear, which is my department, the phone rings constantly. Actually we have four phones. Sometimes several of them ring at once. Usually it's a salesclerk calling from a Sears in a neighbouring city, asking if we have an item in a certain size for an anxious customer. It's nothing scary, all I have to do is put the salesclerk on hold, then go out on the floor and look for the item. If I find it, I have to get back on the phone to tell the clerk, then ring up the sale and prepare the item for shipping. I probably might even find it kinda fun if I could just get over my first reaction to the phone ringing - which is the urge to run in the other direction. Wierd, I know. I can't seem to get over it.

Today a young woman came up to me and asked if I could tell her why she didn't receive a call after she applied for a job at Sears. Suddenly I felt so cool (ha). She asked if I thought it might be because she'd mentioned she had no retail experience - I told her no, I had none either. She asked if I had any advice, and I told her she might come back tomorrow before noon, when the office is open, and pester the hiring staff there. I told her the thing they look for is an upbeat attitude and a willingness to uphold the law of "the customer is always right". She was so grateful, she reminded me of myself when I was looking for work.

Today I found out another of the trainees in the menswear department isn't well liked by the others. It's her fault really. She often says "Oh I do Not want to be here!" at the beginning of her shift. She often calls in sick - I had to fill in for her once. And one of the other staff told me this girl treats her badly. This is a bit bad of me, but I was thrilled at all this news, because it means I have an even better chance at being rehired after Christmas - less competition! Woohoo!

I used to get irritated when I was a customer in a store, and had asked a clerk to show me where an item was, and the clerk walked briskly ahead of me, leading me to the place without once turning around to check if I was following. I thought this was rude. Now I understand. When I first started this job and a customer asked me to lead them to a certain area, I would walk with them, or ahead of them but always turning to look over my shoulder to see if they were following. Then I discovered that if I walk with them, the pace will be snail-like. I can't afford this - I have too many things to finish before the end of my shift. And if I walk ahead but keep looking over my shoulder, it feels silly (and probably looks it). So now I do what I used to hate in other clerks. I walk briskly ahead and don't even check to see if the customer is following. This is a bit mean perhaps, but I find it fun! (lol). Sometimes I reach the destination and turn finally to see the customer huffing and puffing with all their packages, an anxious look on their face as they try to catch up with me. It gives me a feeling of power, which, I suppose, is mean. Ah well....