Alas, I have survived!

[ShinyGreenApple]

Well, I did it. Eight and a half very long hours, and I made it working behind the cash register at a grocery store on the day before Thanksgiving. Yes, it was insane, but thankfully there was no suckage! Our SM had ants in his pants because it was mentioned that the VP of the company would be dropping by for a visit today (He never showed), but other than that, it was good. Had a bit of fun, even. Lines were backed up and one of the managers was bagging for me. (Yes, my managers actually come onto the floor and do PHYSICAL WORK, don't you wish you had them? )

Me:

M: Awesome manager

C: Customer

I think I had mentioned something about my workday being almost over and getting to come back tomorrow and do it all over again . . .

C: Oh goodness, you poor things! You guys are open tomorrow and you guys have to come in and work?!

M: Yep, till four o' clock.

C: Oh. So, if I happen to have forgotten the pecans or some cream, I can . . . (She was getting a stupid smile on her face at this point)

M: *with eyes narrowed* Don't show up at 3:59.



Ah well, I found it amusing I love it when we get good customers like that who we can joke and play around with without them getting 'offended'.

[Spiffy McMoron]

C: Oh. So, if I happen to have forgotten the pecans or some cream, I can . . . (She was getting a stupid smile on her face at this point)

*ATTENTION!! The following post may show how sheltered I was as a youth!*

It was the first time the family had Christmas at my aunt and uncle's house. Previously, Christmas would have been back home, close to my Grandma's house. But that year (1997, I believe) we decided to go to the city to have it, rather than back home.

Anyway, it's Christmas Day, and we're out of cream or milk--something like that. Me and my uncle went to the closest grocery store that was open, which was one of those giant grocery warehouses. I'll never forget two things:

1) The fact that there were some poor people that had to work on Christmas Day
2) The sheer size of the place, which was compounded by the fact that the only person we saw in the store was one single cashier--no other workers, no other customers, nothing. It was kinda like the first five minutes of 28 Days Later.

[PaRaGaS]

Lines were backed up and one of the managers was bagging for me. (Yes, my managers actually come onto the floor and do PHYSICAL WORK, don't you wish you had them? )

Our managers do that too. The boss of the place as well.
But then again, I work at McD's.
Maybe it's normal for severely understaffed fast-food joints to have the highest ranking person work in the kitchen

[ShinyGreenApple]

Our managers do that too. The boss of the place as well.
But then again, I work at McD's.
Maybe it's normal for severely understaffed fast-food joints to have the highest ranking person work in the kitchen

That's true, but in the retail environment, it's quite rare. To me, anyways. I spent over two years working for the evil yellow smiley face store. I was used to upper management just standing around looking important. They do a bit of that here, too, but if they see a problem arise, they actually go and do something about it, rather than yelling at the FEM to. And then during slower times, they'll actually stand around and talk to you, like . . . like you're a real person and not below their social status

The first time a manager ran out and started bagging groceries for me, I thought I was going to be in trouble for not being able to handle things But I found out that that is more than normal for this place.

[Geek King]

It was kinda like the first five minutes of 28 Days Later.

What? Crazy monkeys attacking the PETArds who let them loose despite the technician trying to warn them? That's awesome!

[Spiffy McMoron]

What? Crazy monkeys attacking the PETArds who let them loose despite the technician trying to warn them? That's awesome!

That must have been in the back...

[bean]

There's two managers who don't mind jumping in and getting their hands dirty - I've seen them do everything from bagging groceries to helping me out at pizza when I was slammed. Seen them in the bakery, seen them in the deli, basically they magically appears when someone is getting slammed. And when they're bored.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the upper management in my store. There's one who's kind of a stickler for being by the book, but I get along with him just fine.

I found out my store's total sales the day before Thanksgiving were a little over $318,000 (they were predicting about 320k, so they were pretty much spot on). An average day is about 150k. So glad I don't work front end, especially on that day.