Rule #1: Don't make assumptions. I expected to be paired with one of the mature cashiers, or perhaps even the store manager. Instead, my trainer was a sweet and bright 16-year old volunteer.
Michelle said she was fulfilling a community service school requirement, but she seemed to genuinely enjoy it, and obviously has been working at the Senior Center for a while.
She told me she liked math, and thought she was “pretty good at it." Indeed she was. Especially at the end of the day, when my brain was fried, and we had to do all the tallying, accounting and sales report for the manager.
They say that getting out of our comfort zone is good for us. After all, being an "expert" is easy, learning something totally new is humbling. But I loved the store and the people, both the customers and the Senior Center employees and volunteers. We were much busier than I expected, and the three hour shift went fairly fast.
The store is run almost entirely by volunteers. The manager reassured me that "everyone made mistakes, and some people made "LOTS of mistakes." I felt better. Not to stereotype, but she has a number of very elderly volunteers, including a 95 year old lady who insists on working as a cashier and kinda forgets where she's at in the middle of transactions. (I only did that once.)
The cash register was a challenge. And yes, I made several mistakes:
I shorted a guy 10 cents in change, but he didn't notice.
I accidentally made a totally separate 15 cent charge to a credit card (how on earth?)
I had a couple sales voids, par for the course.
Well, I was enthusiastically invited back next week, so that's a good sign. I'll have to wait and see if they put me to work in the back room processing donations instead. Ha!
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