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Retail Store Journal excerpt

I have pretty much only had two types of jobs – office jobs and customer service jobs. Both of them have their ups and downs, their perks and their annoyances.

As a cashier where I’m at now, this is seriously the easiest job I’ve ever had. Previously, my customer service jobs have been very busy and very fast-paced. In between waiting on customers, I always had a ton of other duties that had to be completed, or I was making food or cleaning or something in addition to being a cashier. This one is totally different, though. In between customers, I stand there and wait for more customers. Sometimes I straighten the candy racks leading up to my register. When it’s really slow, I straighten the candy racks in all the lanes, not just mine. And when it’s totally dead in the store, I face items in the aisles near the cash registers, but that’s about it. So easy, I could do it in my sleep. It’s one of those, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this” situations, but then I remember that I’m only making minimum wage.

Today’s customers were interesting to say the least. First, there was the woman who argued with me to try to get a sale price on an item of clothing that wasn’t, in fact, on sale. She was pretty adamant about it, but what we do is call that department to get confirmation. Once the department worker tells me if it is, that’s the bottom line. No amount of arguing’s going to get me to change my mind. Got it, lady?

Next up was a local cop, about 30s or 40s. I’m terrible at guessing ages, but you’d think a cop would be able to guess someone’s age, right? I mean, it’s sort of part of their job, right? “I would have sworn you were 17!” he told me after I told him my real age, almost a decade more than his guess.

Another customer asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend.

And this old woman seemed to be frothing at the mouth. She scared me a bit.

I had to take the bus home again. It seems crap that I have to pay for a ride home when it’s less than a mile. I wish I could walk the distance. If it weren’t for the highways between my house and my work, I would totally walk home.

Oh, and the air conditioners are broken at the store. We have some fans blowing at the front of the store, but some supervisors don’t like the fans to be running. Who knows why?! Customers complain that it’s hot at the front of the store (it’s the registers running that make it hotter), but they’re in my line for minutes while I have to stand in it for hours! Ugh.

But, hey, at least the job’s easy, right?