I had my first shift at Rite Aid today. It was an 8 hour day. I had to get there at 8am, which is 2 hours earlier than the earliest I had woken up on project before this morning.
I began by doing paperwork and then CBTs, which are Computer Based Trainings. I did about an hour and a half of CBTs, which is apparently small potatoes compared to some later CBTs but that was enough to get me well bored.
Then I got to man the cash register. I picked it up pretty quick, but I guess I'm going to relearn all of the things I learned today in CBTs later. Yippee.
It was a pretty straightforward procedure. "Hello, do you have a Rite Aid card?"
If no: "Would you like to sign up for one? ...... No? That's fine. Cash or card?"
If yes: Scan the card. Scan items. Bag them. Press the 'Debit/Credit card' button on the register or the 'Cash' button depending on the medium tendered. Try to press the button before they swipe their card. If you're not fast enough, press the button and then say, "Go ahead and try that again."
If fewer customers show up and things slow down, go and straighten the shelves near the register. Not like the actual shelf. The items on it.
This was actually a huge highlight. There was a big rush all morning because people show up on Saturdays -- and that made time go quick, which was nice -- but straightening is one of my things. I do it sometimes in stores that I don't work at. So I would scurry over and stand up the toppled sunscreens until the shift manager would bark, "Nolan to the register!" and I would look up and see that there were like 40 people in line that I hadn't noticed.
And then I would hurry them through and scurry back to my array of sunscreens.
So parts of work were definitely kind of a blast and my coworkers were really friendly and time went by really fast until the last 3 hours which were really, really, really slow. So overall, positive experience.
But when I stopped for my employee-discounted less-than-five-dollar lunch, I took a moment to reflect on my day and realized something a little alarming.
I had turned into a robot.
I couldn't remember what I was like behind the register. I had no perception of my own appearance. I couldn't remember any thoughts I had. All I remembered was saying over and over and over: "Do you have a Rite Aid card?"
It was weird. I was a robot. I was a clerk. I wasn't a human with emotions and feelings. I was part of Rite Aid. I smiled and doled out cigarettes like a cancer-spreading fiend, and tried not to act embarrassed when the lady on the phone said, "Oh my gosh, I am being so rude to this boy right here. Hold on a moment."
I tried to make jokes, but they were weird coming from an automaton and the recipients patiently smiled as if to say, "That's nice, metal man. Maybe you should go straighten those sunscreens over there." So I stopped making jokes and just tried to smile.
Anyway, the day wasn't that bad. My feet hurt from standing so long, but it was a really friendly atmosphere and not a bad time and I'm not dreading going in at 8am on Monday that bad yet.
Also I get a 20% employee discount so I know where my paycheck's going. I bought 4 of the big Gatorades today and some pretzels. Delicious!
Anyway, so work's going to be alright.
Also, if you're the praying type you could shoot some up this next week because it's Killing the Giants week and we're going to be doing evangelism as hard in the paint as possible. We set some number goals which I'm still ambivalent about, but the big thing is that we're trying to push ourselves to get past the limits of our strength and then to trust that God's going to make stuff happen slash give us energy.
It's gonna be tiring but crazy sweet.
I began by doing paperwork and then CBTs, which are Computer Based Trainings. I did about an hour and a half of CBTs, which is apparently small potatoes compared to some later CBTs but that was enough to get me well bored.
Then I got to man the cash register. I picked it up pretty quick, but I guess I'm going to relearn all of the things I learned today in CBTs later. Yippee.
It was a pretty straightforward procedure. "Hello, do you have a Rite Aid card?"
If no: "Would you like to sign up for one? ...... No? That's fine. Cash or card?"
If yes: Scan the card. Scan items. Bag them. Press the 'Debit/Credit card' button on the register or the 'Cash' button depending on the medium tendered. Try to press the button before they swipe their card. If you're not fast enough, press the button and then say, "Go ahead and try that again."
If fewer customers show up and things slow down, go and straighten the shelves near the register. Not like the actual shelf. The items on it.
This was actually a huge highlight. There was a big rush all morning because people show up on Saturdays -- and that made time go quick, which was nice -- but straightening is one of my things. I do it sometimes in stores that I don't work at. So I would scurry over and stand up the toppled sunscreens until the shift manager would bark, "Nolan to the register!" and I would look up and see that there were like 40 people in line that I hadn't noticed.
And then I would hurry them through and scurry back to my array of sunscreens.
So parts of work were definitely kind of a blast and my coworkers were really friendly and time went by really fast until the last 3 hours which were really, really, really slow. So overall, positive experience.
But when I stopped for my employee-discounted less-than-five-dollar lunch, I took a moment to reflect on my day and realized something a little alarming.
I had turned into a robot.
I couldn't remember what I was like behind the register. I had no perception of my own appearance. I couldn't remember any thoughts I had. All I remembered was saying over and over and over: "Do you have a Rite Aid card?"
It was weird. I was a robot. I was a clerk. I wasn't a human with emotions and feelings. I was part of Rite Aid. I smiled and doled out cigarettes like a cancer-spreading fiend, and tried not to act embarrassed when the lady on the phone said, "Oh my gosh, I am being so rude to this boy right here. Hold on a moment."
I tried to make jokes, but they were weird coming from an automaton and the recipients patiently smiled as if to say, "That's nice, metal man. Maybe you should go straighten those sunscreens over there." So I stopped making jokes and just tried to smile.
Anyway, the day wasn't that bad. My feet hurt from standing so long, but it was a really friendly atmosphere and not a bad time and I'm not dreading going in at 8am on Monday that bad yet.
Also I get a 20% employee discount so I know where my paycheck's going. I bought 4 of the big Gatorades today and some pretzels. Delicious!
Anyway, so work's going to be alright.
Also, if you're the praying type you could shoot some up this next week because it's Killing the Giants week and we're going to be doing evangelism as hard in the paint as possible. We set some number goals which I'm still ambivalent about, but the big thing is that we're trying to push ourselves to get past the limits of our strength and then to trust that God's going to make stuff happen slash give us energy.
It's gonna be tiring but crazy sweet.
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