CURBSIDE ETIQUETTE

Through the Eyes of a Delivery Goddess



Below you will find links to dates when new entries are added. The stories will not necessarily be in chronological order, but rather as I remember them. I am dating them so that you can skip to new ones you haven't read since the last time you visited, and so that you are more easily able to find something you found humorous to share with others.
Retail Frenzi


In light of the looming Black Friday retail frenzi, I thought I'd relate a retail debockle of my own, for those of you who have never been on the cashier side of the register.

This is why I have vowed to never work retail again. (Pizza delivery excluded, although, it has had its challenges).

Like most young employment-seekers, I had been out canvasing the area. Radio Shack finally gave me a job, which was good for my wallet, but not so good for patrons. I had no clue what any of the product line was, or did, or could be used "with". I spent the first two months following protocol, which includes pouncing on the shoppers as they walk through the door, announcing your name and asking what they're looking for, before they even have a chance to look around, and then sadly admitting I was new and they'd have to wait for the other fellow anyway. That was SO uncomfortable to me - I was written up by under cover checkers twice over the course of my dazzling 20-month career because I waited longer than 60 seconds to approach someone, and then, did not ASK what they were looking for, but rather said, "My name is Terri, if there's anything I can help you find, please holler for me." That was unexceptable. My boss knew the extreme level of discomfort I had with tackling folks within the first ten seconds and never pushed me, as long as I made some contact within a minute or so. Besides, I was the only "skirt" in a primarily man's world - how much were they really gonna say to me?

Of course, the busiest days of the year are the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was very, very busy, but easy, because people were desparate and would buy almost anything. During my second, (and last) Christmas at Radio Shack, and therefore, retail, we had an issue with the cash drawer. We didn't have a register, which worked great for me because I was apparently one of the few who was taught to count back change, and not just read it from a digital screen. The store was supposed to close at 5pm Christmas Eve, which in my opinion, is rediculous. I guess that's why I don't make the rules. Myself and the other sales associate were waiting patiently to head out to our families for Christmas Eve meals. The manager counted and counted the money. It was ten dollars short. For a store that only gets about $800 in sales on an average day, and actually had almost ten thousand in sales that Christmas Eve, in my opinion, ten bucks is a tear drop in the ocean. The manager would not let us leave until we found the ten dollars. It was an even ten, not like someone added or subracted incorrectly- someone obviously had given out the wrong change, and I'd venture to guess, it was me. Or, perhaps, I put a ten dollar bill in the one dollar bill slot on the cash drawer, and someone else gave it away as a George. The other Salesman, Mr. J and I ripped apart the counter where money is exchanged, moving everything to the floor and nearly disassembling the shelving and counter top. We paced the perimeter of the store and scanned the edges of each gondola and shelving unit. We found nothing. By 6:30, I was pleading with the manger to just let me put the doggoned ten bucks in the drawer and let us go home. Finally at 7pm, he called around until he found another manager at another store in another state with which to confer. Our manager didn't say, but judging from the look on his face, I'd guess the manager at the other end of the phone said something like, "A measley ten dollars? Are you NUTS? Let those people go home!!!" There was a curious look of disappointment in his face. It was as if he wanted us to stay. He had a wife and two-year old daughter, why on earth would he want to waste Christmas Eve at the store, not to mention withhold two other employees from their Christmas festivities? I think I knocked the other salesman over to get out the door.

The moral of the story?

GET YOUR SHOPPING DONE BEFORE CHIRSTMAS EVE, and certainly, do NOT support the retail stores by opening or staying open on Thanksgiving Day. Holidays are for friends and family. Friends and family are not meant to be behind a counter working because a bunch of fanatics might be a statistic on the "Retail Minute" on the local news.

Stepping down from my soap box now. Happy Thanksgiving!!