Remember when my checker invented Quesadillas? Or the time when everyone was in a hurry? Well, I'm not the only person these shenanigans happen to, my sister Nan had a situation at work on Saturday...
I’d like to tell the tale of how my Saturday night Shift at Fred Meyer went from good to better to bad, all in the course of 4 hours.
The night started out as any other. The 7 o’clock clock in followed by register assignment. Spending 2 hours on the express lane was bliss. Small transactions blur the customers together and cause a kind of rhythm to form. The arrival of fellow cashier, Delynn means that I am to go on break. Could it really be 9 o’clock already? The first two hours of my shift have flown by…it all felt like only 30 minutes. This, surely, is the sign of a great night at work.
Although my 15 minute break passed far too quickly, I have hope for the remaining 2 hours. While ringing up a cheerful customer, I glance up at a crinkling sound. Walt, the grocery manager, is straightening the Lay’s chip display, located directly in front of my check stand. This is nothing new. One grows to learn to tell the time by these routine chores. But could it really be 10 o’clock already? The approach of my favorite night crew guy and a glance at the clock in the lower left hand corner of my computer screen confirms this. Amazingly, working tonight hasn’t been too bad at all!
“Attention Fred Meyer shoppers, the time is now 10:45 and in just 15 minutes your one-stop shopping center will be closed for the evening. Please bring your final purchases forward so our remaining cashier may assist you.”
Really? Amazing! The past hour has flown by, and it’s closing time! My instant joy at this overhead announcement was quickly deflated by my manager. “There’s still 20 cars out there!” she said as she walked by. Unbelievable. 20?! However, trying to stay positive, probably over half of them have just stopped in for a last minute item, such as a quick dessert for the night or milk for the morning. These small transactions will be taken to U-scan, the self-checkout.
“Attention Fred Meyer shoppers…”
The call for 10:50 is usually a joyous occasion, but when I see a huge cart full of groceries pull into my check stand my annoyed button goes off. Make that double annoyed when I see her huge binder of coupons. Great. She’s one of those customers. How am I supposed to be quick when she’ll force me to be slow? Okay..it’s going to be okay. Just be quick and cheerful. I am determined to end the night well.
While still ringing up the coupon lady (really? Do you have to do 5 different transactions so you can get all your Powerade for 50 cents each? You’re killing me here), I hear Toni make the 10:55 announcement to bring all the final purchases forward. Two women are moseying up and down the aisles, paying no attention to the overhead announcements.
After I finish bagging all of coupon lady’s Powerade and other groceries, she brings out her reusable bags (no, I’m not kidding.) Excellent. I’ll just re-bag all these bottles for you, since you insist. Thanks for waiting until I was done bagging it in plastic bags.
“Attention Fred Meyer shoppers, the time is now 11:00 and your one-stop shopping center is now closed for the evening. Please bring your final purchases for our remaining cashier will be closing momentarily. We’d like to remind you of our hours of operation from 7 to 11 every day of the week. Once again, Fred Meyer is now closed, so please bring your final purchases forward.”
It’s amazing. Those two women are still walking up and down the aisles with their Artic Circle blizzards in hand. They must be hard of hearing. Perhaps the man with the cart full of Tupperware cannot hear either, since he is still walking around the entire store.
I begin cleaning my register, a routine chore that comes at 11:00. As I look up, it appears the two women are not deaf. They seem to be communicating about their shakes as they continue to meander through the aisles with no expected purchases in tow.
In the middle of washing down my register belt, the two women approach with a carton of ice cream and a bag of chips. Well, at least they made their decision. While ringing them up, the Tupperware man approaches. Seeing that I have a customer, he backs up and walks down to U-scan. What a nice fellow, I think to myself. He’s trying to get out of the store as quickly as possible.
Once the two ladies are done, I get a call from Toni saying I can drop my till, and go home. Sweet! I still have to pick up the security tags from all the check stands and drop them off at the apparel register, so I start doing that. Halfway through, the Tupperware guy rolls up. What?!? I thought he left! Toni already locked the front doors, and technically he’s not even supposed to be in the store anymore. Lucky for him, I haven’t dropped my register’s money yet, so I can still ring him up.
When I’m done (11:10 by now) Wanda tells me that the Tupperware guy went back to shop some more when he saw me helping those two women. I thought he was going to U-scan to leave faster, but instead he was going back for something else. Ridiculous.
After dropping my till and finishing all my other closing chores, I still have to wait around for the Tupperware guy to unload his cart so we can bring it back in and lock the doors again. (why couldn’t he just carry his 3 bags out to the car?)
Finally, we can all clock out. It’s 11:15. And that is how I spent my Saturday night.
2 comments:
Nancy- ridiculous, how could they so blatently ignore the overhead announcement! I'm sure you were super patient with them though!
Okau, reading it back, it doesn't sound so bad. But think about this-it's rude for them to ignore the announcements. I'm not their slave! I am just trying to work like everybody else, and they're making it difficult. I think that's what made me mad. The fact that they think they can treat me like dirt.
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