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Some days--or rather, EVERY MONDAY, I want to wring the scheduler's neck. The past three Sundays we've had more cashiers scheduled than registers available. Nice because we got everyone from my orientation class caught up on training, but bad because training is not supposed to be done on weekends, it looks bad for the store. ("They must have too many hours/too many people, if they've got people training during their peak times.") Mondays, on the other hand, we are ALWAYS short in the morning and early afternoon shifts. Just shifting ONE cashier from Sunday opening to Monday midshift would solve everything.
We were slammed yesterday. Lines 2 to 4 deep from 8:30 AM until 1:30 PM, when I literally went running to the head cashier and begged for my lunch because I was starting to crack up there. There had been no one to cover a break; the only 'breaks' I got were the two times my register went down, when I just got to be shouted at instead. (It didn't help that I hadn't eaten before work and never got enough of a gap to even eat a granola bar or something.) It wasn't much better in the afternoon; I was on a slower register but still had a non-stop stream of customers, just never a backed-up line. And they did manage to get me a break.
I did over $15k in sales on my own, and I only had ONE transaction over $400!
Scenario 1:
Angry (but non-sucky) Customer: These lines are awful! You should call your manager, have her help you ring!
Me: *weak smile* She already is. She's manning self-checkout.
ANSC:
Scenario 2:
My register locks up (this is the second time it went down, the first time I rebooted it), needs a manager override to unlock. My manager has three alerts going at SCO and is trying to handle them. My line is getting backed up and angry so I try to pop over there and see if I can clear any alerts for her. Nope, she's in scanning mode because some self-important SC is making her scan his entire order. Back at my register, people are angry that I've left to get her!
SC: *BELLOWING* WHAT IS THIS? YOU HAVE NO REGISTERS OPEN?? WHERE IS THE CASHIER? THE LIGHT IS ON!
Me: *looks him dead in the eyes, because he never took his eyes off me, comes back stands behind the register, and plays 'statue' until the manager can come unlock my register*
(As an aside, people understand more when I have to reboot a register, as compared to when it locks up and needs an override to unlock. Everyone understands when the screen is black with text flying across it that the computer crapped out. They may be upset, but they've all been there and they're less likely to take it out on me.)
Scenario 3:
I managed to get two credit card applications yesterday, my first in a month and a half. It's breathing room for me just because it's slower than constant ringing, even though the line's building. (So many people REFUSE to deal with 'the machines' and so will stand in line for forever to use a regular register.)
There were problems with both: the first guy's was rejected, he acted surprised about it, and then suddenly said "I wonder if it's because of the freeze I put on my credit to protect my identity?" Ya think? That's what the freeze is for.
I had to laugh, though because he was so comically surprised that something that prevented other people from opening new credit cards with his info would prevent him from doing so too. 
The second woman's went through, she got her discount, finshed transaction, and THEN said "And the card will come to my new address, right? We just moved." *cue record screech* Wait, what? You handed me a MD license in NJ. Well, shouldn't be a problem if you set up a forwarding address...you didn't. Okay, well...in the brochure, there's a 1-800 number...oh, you want ME to fix it? I can't do that. The service desk is over...I just told you I can't fix it, my register can't access your card info. Oh, now you want that 800 number so you can complain about me. *sigh* It's in the brochure. (Knock yourself out. You got the card, that gives one of my metrics a much-needed boost, I've stopped caring about you. Go away...) Oh, and thanks for shopping with us!
We were slammed yesterday. Lines 2 to 4 deep from 8:30 AM until 1:30 PM, when I literally went running to the head cashier and begged for my lunch because I was starting to crack up there. There had been no one to cover a break; the only 'breaks' I got were the two times my register went down, when I just got to be shouted at instead. (It didn't help that I hadn't eaten before work and never got enough of a gap to even eat a granola bar or something.) It wasn't much better in the afternoon; I was on a slower register but still had a non-stop stream of customers, just never a backed-up line. And they did manage to get me a break.
I did over $15k in sales on my own, and I only had ONE transaction over $400!
Scenario 1:
Angry (but non-sucky) Customer: These lines are awful! You should call your manager, have her help you ring!
Me: *weak smile* She already is. She's manning self-checkout.
ANSC:
Scenario 2:
My register locks up (this is the second time it went down, the first time I rebooted it), needs a manager override to unlock. My manager has three alerts going at SCO and is trying to handle them. My line is getting backed up and angry so I try to pop over there and see if I can clear any alerts for her. Nope, she's in scanning mode because some self-important SC is making her scan his entire order. Back at my register, people are angry that I've left to get her!
SC: *BELLOWING* WHAT IS THIS? YOU HAVE NO REGISTERS OPEN?? WHERE IS THE CASHIER? THE LIGHT IS ON!
Me: *looks him dead in the eyes, because he never took his eyes off me, comes back stands behind the register, and plays 'statue' until the manager can come unlock my register*
(As an aside, people understand more when I have to reboot a register, as compared to when it locks up and needs an override to unlock. Everyone understands when the screen is black with text flying across it that the computer crapped out. They may be upset, but they've all been there and they're less likely to take it out on me.)
Scenario 3:
I managed to get two credit card applications yesterday, my first in a month and a half. It's breathing room for me just because it's slower than constant ringing, even though the line's building. (So many people REFUSE to deal with 'the machines' and so will stand in line for forever to use a regular register.)
There were problems with both: the first guy's was rejected, he acted surprised about it, and then suddenly said "I wonder if it's because of the freeze I put on my credit to protect my identity?" Ya think? That's what the freeze is for.
I had to laugh, though because he was so comically surprised that something that prevented other people from opening new credit cards with his info would prevent him from doing so too. The second woman's went through, she got her discount, finshed transaction, and THEN said "And the card will come to my new address, right? We just moved." *cue record screech* Wait, what? You handed me a MD license in NJ. Well, shouldn't be a problem if you set up a forwarding address...you didn't. Okay, well...in the brochure, there's a 1-800 number...oh, you want ME to fix it? I can't do that. The service desk is over...I just told you I can't fix it, my register can't access your card info. Oh, now you want that 800 number so you can complain about me. *sigh* It's in the brochure. (Knock yourself out. You got the card, that gives one of my metrics a much-needed boost, I've stopped caring about you. Go away...) Oh, and thanks for shopping with us!
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