I thought of a few more stories from work that I wanted to share.
A couple of days ago I noticed a bag with some clothes sitting on the counter and asked a co-worker "do you know what this crap is doing here?" right as the guy whose stuff it was walked up to the counter. Whoops. I'm not sure if he heard me, but he didn't appear offended at all. Thank goodness. I was fairly embarrassed.
On Friday nights there are always a group of kids (not the same ones every time) nicknamed "the theatre kids" who come into the store. They received their nickname because their parents drop them off by the movie theatre nearby, but instead of going to the theatre they come over to our store and disrupt and destroy things. I think they are usually in the store for about 10 minutes before getting kicked out. They're generally extremely loud, because apparently pre-teens have a lot of drama to stand around in random places in our store and talk about. They often play basketball or climb into the tents (most obviously to make out) or simply pick up assorted balls and leave them around the store. Annoying. Good thing we have walkies and can alert all other employees that the "theatre kids" are in the store and keep tabs on them.
As cashier, one of my jobs is to try to get customers to buy a protection plan on various items, most commonly on shoes. It's actually a really good deal if you frequently wear out your shoes. Basically it will cover the shoes for one year and covers generally wear and tear things like sole separation, rips, tears, fabric discoloration, broken eyelet, etc. So when one of these things happens to a shoe, a person who bought the protection plan can return the shoe and get a check for the exact same amount of the shoes plus tax to use like cash in the store (usually used toward a new pair of shoes). I purchased one of the running shoes I just bought because they'll obviously wear out in a few months and then I get a new pair of shoes for like $9 at the end of the marathon.
Anyway... so when I ring up the items and click "total," if there is anything that the customer purchased that has a protection plan, it will pop up on the screen and tell me how much it is and how long the plan lasts. It's pretty hard to tell which item the protection plan covers because it doesn't give many details. One guy I rang up had the protection plan pop up, and I assumed it was for the shoes he was purchasing. The plan was real cheap, so he decided he purchase it.
Then later he came back in and said he realized that the protection plan was for the sleeping bag he purchased (it'll cover zippers, rips, etc), and not the shoes. I noticed my name on his receipt as the person who made the mistake, and I was super embarrassed. So then I tried to return the plan and the shoes so that I could change the protection plan to the shoes, but it wasn't popping up on the screen. I finally figured out that it was because the shoes he purchased were youth shoes, which do not have protection plans (obviously kids will outgrow the shoes first). I apologized to the customer, explained what happened, and then proceeded to be super embarrassed. I'm so glad that he caught it though before 30 days had passed, because then he could have been stuck with a protection plan on the wrong item.
One more embarrassing moment (gosh I just realized that about all of my stories were embarrassing for me!). We have a new store manager, and while she was still fairly new, someone called and asked to speak with Kelsie. I hesitated, and then told him that we didn't have anyone that worked in our store with that name. The person then informed me that it was our store manager. Oh. My. Gosh. Probably should have learned her name a bit quicker.
Ok, there's my stories for the day! I really do feel educated there most of the time. In fact, when I found out that the newest cashier is in high school while I have my MA, I felt VERY educated. And overqualified. But I still LOVE being a cashier. As Jake says, I'm totally in my element there.
