"Please swipe and sign" is my new catch phrase.
As the customer line slowly starts to get longer and longer, I start to panic as I do not want to keep anyone waiting for an extensive amount of time. I ring up customer after customer, making simple mistakes that take too much time to fix, making the line even longer and the customers even angrier. My manager walks in and helps clear out the line and then gives me instructions on how to improve. She always says "after some time, you will get the swing of things." I try to let her words reassure me that everyone makes stupid mistakes but in the back of my mind, I feel like I do not deserve to be paid for not working at my greatest potential.
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Sometimes, it takes me five minutes to ring customers up, while other times I can ring up a customer in thirty seconds. I have tried and failed to master the art of returns, always printing too many receipts or swiping the customer's card the wrong way. I answered phones time after time and would tell people wrong information. They would ask when we are open until and I would say a time later than the store is actually open. However, the saying practice makes perfect could not be more true.
I work two week days and one weekend, equaling about 12 hours a week. Every time I have gone to work, I retain more skills and gain more confidence behind the register. I am able to deal with impatient customers without my supervisor looking over my shoulder. I answer the phone, kindness and knowledge seeping through my voice. I call managers and different departments over the loud speaker.
Being a cashier has given me working skills and experience that can help later in my life. In college, I can get a job as a cashier knowing I can get the hang of it because of my previous practice. It is a job anyone can do, where you can make easy money and improve your people skills. The longer you work in one place, the more like a family the work place can feel. My employer hosts a secret santa for all employees: cashiers, salespeople, and managers. Every Thursday after we close (at six in the afternoon) there are pickup volleyball games between the salespeople and the cashiers.
I love working where I do and I love being a cashier. It is a job where I get paid more than money; I get to meet people I now consider friends instead of just coworkers and I get practice for the real working world. Baby steps is what my mom always tells me and for the first time, I am taking her advice.
