Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Life In Lumber, Week #2

Day 20:
Had a nice, slow, steady night:)  Only had two issues crop up:  One customer wanted to pay with his LAR, and I couldn't figure out how to do it (turned out an hour later, I realized I'd tried to look up an INVOICE, not the LAR....oops!) so they paid cash.

I'd also run out of $1s, so was getting ready to call the Adriana, but remembered the last time she'd said to hop over to #2.  Had intended to call her, but forgot....and when she came down to relieve me for dinner, that's when I remembered to tell her!  She wasn't thrilled, but sent me to lunch anyway!

After dinner, and discovering my phone was at 15%, I texted S to bring my charger to me, and returned.  A had gotten me more $$ for the drawer, then ran into Problem #2:  A customer wanted to double-check something when another customer approached.  I moved over to #2, but they had discounted items, and I needed an override.  Called A, who told me to call CS.  Couldn't get a hold of 'em.  #1 returned, and I got them rung up while still trying to contact CS.  Even paged them.  After #1 was on their way, I remembered the 'trick' of discounting each one, instead of both.  It worked, and I sent them on their merry way.

Had a customer come in with a dog, and after giving it a treat, rang up the one item.  He asked if I'd gotten the knife....I said no.  He lifted up the seat of the cart, and there it was.

"Oh, that's what you did.....distract me with dog, so I wouldn't see it."

I rang it up while we laughed about his potential shoplifting scheme, ha ha!

At the end of the night, I pushed 3 carts while taking out the trash and returning 2 items to hardware, plus dropping off the used cash register tape.

Manager Jess and Adriana laughed when I said, "I can multi-task; I'm a mom!", when A told me to push the carts to the front.  "I'm getting there!"

Day 21:
Shift began with me taking longer than usual to ring up one item, but got it figured out soon.  Customer flow was steady; however, I had my soda count finished by the time I went to lunch at 6:35.  When I came back, I emptied the trash and got the counters wiped down, and all tax exempts and loading tickets ready.  Checked the register tape; only one needing refilled was mine, and I could do that at closing time.  Only hiccup was when a guy needed tile loaded, and no one in Lumber was qualified to run the loading machine.  Finally, someone was found, and the customer could leave!

At close, a woman came up with a shut off  valve, but it wasn't ringing up.  Tried looking it up; no.  Wasn't in the blue book; couldn't find it on the app.  So called down to Plumbing, and he said he'd be down.  I hopped over to #2 to ring up the next two customers, and I guess Plumbing was busy, for one of the women went down and got the item # for me.  Rang it up, they paid, and off they went.

Fed a Great Dane (Charlie), a dachsund, and a yorkie.

Had time to clean the doors while waiting for Cindy to empty the registers, and even got Justin to return all twelve carts, since it was 'Leave Your Cart In Lumber' day.  I only had to push one up to the front with my paperwork and water bottle:)  J even took out the trash for me!  I was thrilled, since I'd banged my right ankle on a cart and was in extra pain.

Wasn't happy when I checked my email earlier and discovered all my requests for days off had been refused.  I'll talk to Mgr Jess about it.

Day 22:
Arrived; discovered Brenda had already done the soda count.  Customer flow was again slow but steady, didn't really have any issues before going to lunch at 6:40.  However, Jill relieved me and told me she was due to get off at 7, so I cut my lunch short in order to get her off the clock on time.  Didn't really work out; after I returned at 7, she had to go relieve Aliscia down in L&G for her 15 min break!  Oh well.....I tried.  When I returned, J had called for an override, THEN told me she was only joking about the 'be back as close to 7' remark.  Gah....will I EVER figure that woman out?  At least she was in a good mood!

After lunch was a little slow.  I swept the floor 3 times, wiped down the entire counter and around each monitor; emptied the trash.  Kept an eye on the carts; we were actually running a deficit.  But at 8pm, I was steady for an hour.  One customer hadn't written down his items on the bag, and had to look them up.  It rang up $10K, so had to call for Aggie to help me figure it out.  We finally ended up ringing them up as 'Galvanized'.  Another customer had written his down; I awarded him a 'gold star', and took my highlighter and drew 2 'gold stars' on his receipt!

One guy had a sheet of plywood, but no bar code.  He got one for me, and I held onto it, which turned out to be a GOOD thing, since Daniel, the owner of La Carretta/El Corral restaurant, brought me the same thing, so was able to scan my saved code and sent him on his way.  I later stapled that code into my notebook for future reference!

Got the doors locked, soda stocked, and by now, had 7 carts to push down, in addition to some returns.  Chad took out my remaining trash bag, and I pushed 3 of the carts toward the front, dropping off my returns to Tools, Plumbing, and Hardware.  Was able to take off my vest, and when I got up front again, Mgr Brandon was there, so asked him about not being on the schedule yet for Mon.  He told me to talk to Jess on Thurs.  Then, I asked him since he vetoe'd all my requested days off for the summer, should I put my HS reunion request in as 'vacation'.  He said yes, so plan to go back in and request them all as 'vacation' days!

Day 23:
When I arrived, Jill was swamped, with Aggie helping her, so I jumped on Register 2 and checked out the next customer.  Logged out, then relieved J, who was happy to be going home!

About a half an hour later, one of my 'frequent fliers' showed up, and I tried looking him up under Tax Exempt, but we couldn't find him.  I called Chelsea over, who told me to look up under the LAR.  Joked to Rich that he needed to come back every day, to get me in that habit!  Then wrote myself a note.

Had three guys with four carts full of stuff; 1st time, I tried to ring up the wrong bar code, so had to redo it.  Rang up their drywall, 4 sheets.  Later, turned out that particular cart wasn't theirs; they had 6 sheets.  Easy fix.  Sent them on their way.....then thirty minutes later, noticed the drywall was still in the aisle!  Soon, one of the men came back for it, saying he'd TOLD the others he'd thought they'd forgotten something, lol!  An hour later, he was back again; they'd bought the wrong door.

Hispanic guy came in, wanting the $26 ladder out front.  I called Aggie to unlock it; she sent someone down with the key, but since the customers were still shopping, she refused, and said to call again when they were checking out.  I sent Ben out to write down the item #, and it rang up $59.98!  Then, I looked it up in the sale paper, and it was 'SAVE $26'.  When they arrived at my station, they had picked up a ladder.  I showed them the real price, and the younger one translated.  I asked if he still wanted it, and he shook his head and placed it to the side.

When I went to lunch, Sandy chastised me for placing soda bottles on the bottom, even after I told her I'd been using them as fill-ins.  She pulled them all out, and we noticed others had rolled to the back.  Okay; lesson learned.

I also wore a belt today, to keep my pants up.  Worked!  Didn't cut off my circulation when I sat or bent over, and I wasn't having to hike up my pants every 15 mins!

I swept the floor 5 times, even sweeping part of the lumber aisle, including the area around a stack of drywall.  Had everything done by 9, but Aggie didn't bring me the soda until 9:15.  By the time I was finished, it was 9:30.  Pushed my carts back to the front and went back to my locker....by the time I reached the CS desk, Brandon was on the intercom:  "All cashiers to the front....all cashiers to the front..."

I shot back, "If you had a bone spur, you'd limp too!"

"You're the first one back!  There are others still out there."

"I'm first?  WOW.....that almost NEVER happens!"

Got my schedule for the final week in April.....they scheduled me for the 27th.  I'm either going to have to simply tell them I'll be late that day, or find someone to switch with!

Left my water bottle on the counter at CS....guess I'll have to buy another.

Day 24:
I walked into the Training room to clock in and discovered a mound of food on the table:)  Mgr Jess was in her office, so I stuck my head in and asked what was the occasion?  No special reason; they ordered Subway for everyone.

Walked down to lumber and hopped on #2 to help Jill out, then there was a lull for a few minutes after she left.  Got the soda count accomplished, then all hell broke loose.
   -Had trouble locating one customer's LAR
   -Another customer had a question I couldn't answer, so had to ask Chelsea, who was tied up with her own CFH.
   -Damond came down to help out briefly, then things settled down again.

I went to dinner, and ate my Lunchable, plus two slices of Subway sandwich and 2 cookies.  After lunch, I was able to get some of my closing duties finished, and had a playful conversation with Karl, who tried to shove more carts behind #2.

"Take them down THERE!  Take them down THERE!"

Tom and I also had a friendly match over carrying lumber on my head or on his!

Nobody came down to get the soda count, so Aggie told me to leave it there and she'd get it in the morning.  She took the tax exempt slips; I pushed two carts and returned two small items to Electrical, then went back to close the 'big door'.  I'd also accidentally knocked the left door off the track, but a customer helped me get it back on.

Next week, I'm in Lawn and Garden on Mon, then up front T-W-Th.  Off to Kentucky on Friday!

See you next week for the next installment of 'Life As A Red Vest, Pt 3'.

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