What Goes Around Comes Around

Growing up, we make friends, we make enemies and we make awkward acquaintances. Growing up we often don’t realize how important these various relationships are.

Obviously we try to treat others nicely, and hope they treat us like so in return and if not….well, as they say ‘what goes around comes around,’ but as we grow older we start realizing that ‘Hey maybe I should’ve been nicer’ or ‘I should’ve been a better friend’ or just generally ‘I should’ve behaved differently in that situation.’ When we mature and become adults and get jobs we begin to see how these relationships can play a huge role in our lives when it comes to applying for a job or asking for a favour of similar importance. If someone you’ve previously engaged with is involved with that company or organization, well why look at your resume, when they have a first hand reference?

This can be good or bad. They can and should ask that person what their experience was like knowing or working with you. If you didn’t try very hard to get along with them, they have every right to give you a bad review and therefore ruin any chance you had at landing the job.

This could also be a good experience though. If said person is your best friend, they can give you the best reference you would’t ever be able to ask of someone to give for you. Because that person knows you, the employer will take into serious consideration what their current employee says about you since they have first hand experience working with you. Employers of course love this, because they have a credible, reliable source telling them the potential risk they are taking hiring someone will hopefully be one well worth it hiring you because of a good reference. Or not-so-much worth the risk if they give you a bad review.

So remember, next time you plan on making friends, enemies,or acquaintances, they could be influencing your future employer. Do you really want to lose job opportunities over trivial things?

Juggling Isn’t Just For Clowns

As a CreCommer, you would know that we have speakers at seminars every week. Every week it seems like there are a few reoccurring themes. One is being able to juggle. Being able to juggle a schedule, people, along with all other aspects of your life – it really is a talent of its own.

Not everyone knows how to juggle or manage their time, and it’s obvious when it comes to working with other people, handing projects in or even for meeting a friend somewhere to hang out. If you don’t have this skill, you’ll not only suffer in school, but in work as well. It’ll also effect your reliability, and how others perceive you, and perhaps even your credibility.

This is something that is so important to learn how to do, yet we’re never directly taught it, or made aware of it. You may learn you need to do your homework now so you won’t hand things in late or have mountains of catching up to do in your school work but we aren’t being told this is time management when we chose or chose not to do our homework and go to our friend’s house instead.

You could also even go as far to say that anything we do in a day we’re learning or unlearning how to discipline ourselves and use time management and the art of learning to juggle different things going on in our busy and very chaotic lives.

It’s something that I don’t think has enough emphasis because once we do get out into the real world, we won’t just be busy anymore – we’ll become full-time jugglers, much like the speakers we see every week. Are we prepared for this? Maybe, some of may be already, and some might be by the time we finish CreComm. Maybe we won’t want to be when we realize that we’ll continue being this busy or even busier when the time comes. Going into this, we somewhat expected it. To what extent, I don’t know. My point being though that whether we have the skill now or not doesn’t matter because if we don’t, soon or later we will need it, and desperately. It’s vital.

Cyclists Versus Drivers

Living in Manitoba, one is especially privy to hearing the numerous arguments that drivers make about cyclists and pedestrians, as well as the ones cyclists make about drivers, and witnessing it all as one drives or cycles down the streets of Winnipeg. Why is that?

It’s an ongoing cycle. Drivers just want to get to where they’re going, and get there fast. They don’t want to drive behind slow cyclists or having to move halfway into another lane to avoid hitting one, just so they can pass them. They also hate treating cyclists like a vehicle when they’re cyclists. Drivers resent cyclists being allowed on the road because they have to be tolerant of them – as we all know you can’t just pretend that a cyclist isn’t there and run them over.

Cyclists in turn don’t like when drivers aren’t considerate of them on the road and try running them down. They also don’t like it when drivers ignore their presence and try driving like they aren’t there, as that usually ends up with someone getting hit. Cyclists are, by law, on the streets instead of the sidewalks. They don’t have much of a choice, and I’m sure don’t like feeling in the way on the road. But no one has a choice and so drivers should at least respect that and give them their space when driving so they don’t feel like their life’s endangered when cycling.

What doesn’t help this is when drivers don’t bother to be considerate of cyclists, and don’t move over or almost kill them by ignoring their presence on the street. It’s also unhelpful is when cyclists ignore all laws of the road by driving through red lights, riding the wrong way on a one-way and dodging around slow-moving vehicles, never mind switching back and forth from the streets to the sidewalks believing they have the right of way at all times and thinking drivers will yield for them when breaking all said laws. They won’t if they can avoid it, even if that’s a near life and death situation for said cyclist.

But when neither party seems willing to be considerate of each other is when we face most of these problems that occur every day. Wouldn’t it just be easier if drivers shared the road instead of trying to run cyclists into the ditch and cyclists did their best to keep up with traffic and abide by the laws? I think so. If they both tried, rather than accusing and fighting as to who has the right to drive where, driving and cycling in Winnipeg might actually be nice, as opposed to stressful and aggravating.

As a driver, I can accept that cyclists have a right to be on the road. What makes it hard is when all of this is going on and no one is willing to give in. Unfortunately, the streets will only be better if everyone cooperates, and at least tries to get along. At least until then, we could all try to pretend and you know, not run over any more cyclists. They aren’t exactly made out of metal…

Things That I Love About Customer Service

So compared to my last post about customer service, this one is much more optimistic and is about the things I love about being a cashier, even if it is only a part-time job. These little extras make it somewhat enjoyable from time to time, and that’s something everyone can appreciate!

1. The Regulars

The Regulars are some of the ones who entirely make my day. They are the customers who appreciate your service, who you can have a chat with that backs up the line and are usually happy or outgoing people. What I like most about them is that they actually take some time to bother to get to know you or strike up a conversation with you. It’s nice, when everyone else you deal with is unpredictable in the way that you don’t know if you’re going to be dealing with someone nice, someone not-so-nice, or someone who’s just having a bad day. These customers, even if they aren’t having the greatest day, will still make an effort to be friendly and respectful. They respect the fact that we will cross paths at the counter most likely again and take it into consideration. They want good service and you want good customers and these relations work well. What’s also nice is you get to know each other on a more personal basis so when you do see them again, you are genuinely happy to see them, and vice versa, and it just makes for an overall good experience as for the cashier and the customer.

 

2. Little Kids

While some parents might not like bringing their kids into the store, for obvious reasons like temper tantrums or cranky days, when they bring their kids in on a good day it’s absolutely adorable! Kids sometimes knowing how to play cute to get adults attentions, sometimes just by being kind of shy; they do the most adorable things! It’s a nice interruption from zooming through interactions, from one to the next, to take a moment and slow down and have a reason to smile or giggle.

 

3. When Friends Visit

I know, I know! Friends shouldn’t visit you at work, but it’s always nice when they do (providing your boss isn’t around)! Especially when your life gets busier or when all your time is taken up working, ugh, it’s just really nice to have a few moments to catch-up, make plans and share the inside jokes that make up your friendship. It also livens up your shift for the few minutes they are around, and helps you get some quality Bestie Time that you so desperately need and crave!

 

4. Seeing People You Don’t Expect to See

That’s pretty self-explanatory. You’re standing there, ringing people up, dealing with the rush, when look! Who happens to walk into the store? That person you haven’t seen in a little while, a few weeks, or maybe even someone from years ago! It might be your best friend, it might be her mom, or maybe it was the person your great-aunt got her dog from! However you know them, sometimes it great to see them (sometimes it might be someone you’re not-so-happy to see), but in the case of someone you are happy to see – it’s great! Makes your day! The traditional “Oh my god! How are you?!”s are in order and even if the meeting is brief, seeing a familiar face is always something I look forward to and is a nice addition to the your otherwise dull and dreary day!

 

5. The Customers Who Bring Their Pets

Some people take their pets with them everywhere they go, even into the store, providing they are animal friendly. My workplace happens to be an animal friendly place, so from time to time, customers will bring their dogs, some of The Regulars bring their dogs on every visit, which can sometimes be every day! What I like about this is that it’s a nice distraction from working. It gives you a chance to slack a little, and usually draws the attention of all the other nearby people in the store as well, drawing them in to your dog, Spike or Rex or whatever your furry little beast’s name is! If kids are around it pulls them out of the candy bins and straight to the dog, and animals lovers alike will flock too. It lightens an otherwise dull atmosphere and distracts everyone for only a little while, in the best way possible!

 

6. Cheerful Customers

Whether or not their experience is the best or the worst, as long as you try your best, they love you. These particular customers go out of their way looking to make conversation with anyone who’ll have them, and will try to be happy and conversational with any and all who cross their path. Be warned, even if you’re having a bad day, they will even sympathize with you! How awesome is that? Especially when compared to most people who won’t ask how your day is going, nevermind caring about the response even if they did. The cheerful customers are the genuinely nice people of the world and whenever having one of them as a customer, I always find it to be a good experience, and you can’t help but want to give them the best service you can give, which will keep everybody happy!

 

7. Customers Who Pay in $5 and $10 Dollar Bills

Seriously, one of my biggest pet peeves are when people have a $2.00-something puchase, and what do they do? They pay with a $20, $50 or even a $100 bill. This in turn, eats up all the cash in my til, especially the $5’s and $10’s, and all around screws me for trying to give anyone else money if I have to. It just sucks. So whenever somebody pays in exact change, or $5 and $10 bills, they absolutely make my day because they’re giving me less calculating to do, taking out less of my change and replenishing the bills I use the most often! This might very well be my favourite type of customer since I am always running out of $5 and $10 dollar bills! I’m always so grateful when these customers come along, usually just in the nick of time!

 

This list might grow as well, depending on if I remember more things, or more occur, I’ll add them! Hope everyone else in retail can relate and if you have any favourites or pet peeves just comment them! ‘Cause they might just be another one of mine too!

Things I Don’t Like About Being in Customer Service

Well for those of you who know me, you might know that I work as a cashier currently. For those of you who don’t know me or where I work – I’m a cashier. Haha. Anyways, as you might have noticed, this post is titled “Things I Don’t Like About Being in Customer Service” therefore let’s get onto that  and I’ve made it into a lovely list format just for you!

1. Customers with Bad Attitudes

Yes, while I understand that no one person will be happy all the time, the least you could do is not take it out on your awesome cashier. I obviously realize that you might be having a bad day, that you might be in a rush from your rude and relentless  tapping, but it isn’t going to make our exchange at the counter go by any faster unfortunately. I am probably already going as fast as I can, if not already feeling rushed and pressure from your impatience, not to mention if there’s a growing line-up, I am probably just doing the best that I can. So please, calm down, it’ll all be over soon…

2.People Who Throw/Hand You Very Tiny Folded-Up Dollar Bills

Honestly, that’s so annoying on so many different levels. For starters, it would be nice if you could at least unfold it for me, but no, people never usually do. It takes times to unfold and shove into my til, and the more time I have to waste on doing something as small as that, the longer everyone in the line-up has to wait. You know who to thank for that now. If by some chance you do unfold it (hurrah!) now it’s all bent/crumpled, ya, thanks for that, now it won’t stay flat in my til. I don’t exactly have any bricks or encyclopedias lying around for that kind of thing, thanks. But even if I did, I highly doubt it’ll ever resemble flatness or some sort of smooth piece of paper again.

3. People Who Get Mad Because We Can’t Find Something

Sorry, but it’s not our fault. If you come into the store looking for something and you need help, by all means ask, we’ll help you the best we can. If we can’t find it because we don’t know where it is or it happens to be out of stock or we just don’t carry it, well we can’t do anything about that. We try our best to know what we do have, but we carry a lot of items in the store, so we probably won’t know where exactly they ALL are, nor if we carry that particular crazy thing you assumed we MIGHT have had. I personally suggest calling ahead as to not waste your time, nor ours, and if the clerk can’t find what you were promised on the phone, please, feel free to hunt down the one who did tell you that or ask to speak with whoever you spoke to on the phone. It’ll just make everything so much easier for everyone.

4. Rushes

It seems like people rarely come to the counter one at a time, unless they happen to be the only ones in the store. Seriously, we stand there a long time, and not to have anything to do is really boring. That’s why getting customers (good or bad) is usually pretty exciting, or if not, at least a relief from doing nothing. What’s awful though is going from doing absolutely nothing, to a rush of over 3 people. It’s not fun, it makes your experience rushed and gives me anxiety because I just want to help everyone in some sort of timely matter without making anyone wait too long. So instead of dawdling when you’ve found everything you were looking for, go to the counter while it’s empty!  Instead of joining the long line-up and waiting for me to finally get to you, then maybe hang back a minute or two and look around the store. You might be done shopping but at least you’re giving yourself something to do, and when you’re done the line will probably be much shorter!

5. People Who Sneak Behind the Counter

Whoa, whoa, whoa…What do you think you’re doing?!  I can get in trouble for customers going behind the counter! Not cool! So if you need anything, like lighters, the phone, or anything else, just ask and I’ll help you to the best of my ability, just don’t go running into my space with no warning though. It’s just not allowed. If I invite you behind, to use the phone for example, go for it, you still shouldn’t be there, but at least I know what you’re doing and why you’re there, and that’s okay. Going behind my counter without my permission is not okay because I don’t know what you’re doing, and for all sorts of legal and security reasons you just shouldn’t be there because you’ll probably get me and yourself into trouble.

6. People Who Sneak into the Store, Literally a Minute Before Closing

Come on! We all just want to go home. You’ve literally had from 9 am -9 pm to go shopping, and you want to do it now, when we’re getting ready to leave? I can assure you, no one in the store will be pleased if you do this, especially if you decide to grab more than one item. Seriously, we don’t want to be there all night and you had all the time in the world to do this earlier! Also printing out your entire 200+ photo album of that wedding you just went to last weekend does not need to be printed out within the last half hour of closing. I realized you might be inconvenienced to be coming here so late, but you need to understand, you’re inconveniencing us as well, and need to appreciate the fact that we’re letting you stay in the store 5 extra minutes when you aren’t supposed to be here anymore.

7. Misbehaving Children and Other Inconsiderate People

All in all, I like kids. What I don’t like however, is when they stink-bomb my place of work, linger about when we decide to not get them into trouble and then later on cause further troubles. Very annoying, and very rude. Parents, if that’s your kid, keep better tabs on them because we’re not here to discipline them, you are, and it’s your job to teach them what’s okay and what’s not. Pranks can be fun and harmless, I completely understand, but pranking public businesses in a way that affects a large group of people isn’t acceptable.

8. People Who Think the Store is a Bank

So I’m sure that we all, from time to time, pay for insignificant amounts of money with $20 bills. What’s irritating is when people do it constantly, and with larger bills. Paying for a $2.0 dollar purchase with a $100 is absolutely ridiculous. Sometimes I don’t have enough money in my til to give you back that much change, or it is immensely inconvenient along with taking up most or all or my remaining cash. This is what a bank is for. Not anywhere else, and especially not our store. I understand it’s inconvenient to go to the bank, but sometimes I can’t afford to give you that much cash. Also the least you could do is ask before passing me the $100, if I can give you cash for it. If I accept then I’ll accept the fate I’ve decided for myself to help you, but forcing me to give you all my cash is not cool. It will annoy and possibly piss off your cashier and you just shouldn’t do that.

That’s it for now, I might update this post or make another when more things come up! And remember, be nice to your cashiers! They’re humans with feelings and emotions too!!