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Monday, September 21, 2015

Cincigal Grocery Store Clerk - THE LESSONS OF A GROCERY STORE

Well, the store is slowly losing it's square footage as certain areas are emptied of product and restocked with dismantled shelves, tables and bins.  And to make the everyday shopper aware of the change the area is roped off.  Grocery shelves are slowly emptying and a portion of the Produce Department has now been filled with skids stocked with cartons of soft drinks.  Slowly, everything is beginning to be moved forward.

The Floral Department is, more or less, non-existent and when a customer asks the location of some products well, your guess is as good as mine.  One has only to hunt for it.

Now, after all of these years, for some of us this is not a job any longer but more of an expedition.  What use to be organized, scheduled and prepped for, is now mostly a mere 'beats me' situation.  You come in to work, look around and try to summarize what needs to be done which ultimately gives way to a 'what the hell' attitude.  Sorry!

Liquidation, has become a new lesson.

Working in a grocery store is kind of like going to school.  The lessons are many, you just don't seem to graduate. 

For beginners there is basic math (figuring out those sales and percentages when you can't find a calculator and don't have your cellphone available), English (the art of learning to get a point across), Psych 101 (and II, III & IV), Law (both federal and state), Debate (how to handle ones self in the crossfires), Accounting & Banking (cash office, cashier), Proof Reading (figuring out how to read and explain those receipts), Computer Skills (learning how to handle, and apply, new programs on out dated computers), Home Economics (being able to help a customer distinguish certain perishable
products), Business 101 (ordering, managing, displaying according to sales, holidays) Speech (although this one most generally gets lost in interpretation) and Security (being able to identify a theft in process).  I am sure that there are some things that I have not remembered but this list provides the 'must have' courses.

As in school, there are some who will not pass and others who will go on and the only way you will know if you have passed will be if you are allowed to stay.  Which basically means, you will always be a beginner.

For some of us, school is about to be dismissed.  There will be no scheduled program to give recognition and no awards for any achievement. 

But when those doors shut, one final time, there will be a new lesson to learn - getting past the emotions and moving on.

Talk at ya later!

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