Happier Than Ever

Since this is my final blog post, I felt it would be a good idea to revisit one of the customers I have previously talked about. I was originally going to write another boring post. BUT seeing the same person at work today I decided upon coming home that it would be much more interesting than the boring post I was working on.

The tall, skinny, old lady friend with the great personality showed up at my work again today. Usually she is alone, but in the last post about her she had her family with her. This time she had a friend who was going shopping with her. The change in her from the time she was in with her family was astronomical.

I hadn’t recognized her at first because of her fuzzy, purple toque that was covering her stark, white hair. This lady is usually so positive and happy, but today she was somehow even more cheerful and pleasant. I could tell that she was having a really good day. She made her way through the lineup, slowly as usual, and got so unbelievably excited when she saw me.  Her face seemed to light up even more than usual. It was really good to see she has people in her life that care about her, people that know how she is like I do, and people that lift her up rather than bring destruction.

I was really happy to see her family’s negativity hadn’t affected her outlook on life. It is really great to see someone going through negative hurdles in life and take them in stride. People like this make me feel really privileged to work with people even as a cashier. These people in my life inspire me to be a stronger person.

Different jobs. Different commitments. Different lives…?

Going to University thus far I have found working two part time jobs as well as going to school has made it feel as if I have multiple lives. Both jobs are wildly different and school is a new experience entirely. To mix things up, I also have a huge commute beyond everything else. I enjoy change and feel it is fundamental to my survival and well being. This is likely good because it makes me enjoy the variety of roles and positions I have.

The first job I have had for quite a few years now and never thought I would like it. I never thought I could appreciate working in an office, but I do. This job is very dynamic and changes with new challenges could facing me almost every time I go in. My position here is an office manager so I do get considerably more say than I do in my retail job where I am a relatively powerless cashier. My office job I make decisions based on what is the best for the company, while the cashier job I make decisions according to preset rules.

This makes it really confusing when I have to act according to totally different roles. To confuse myself further, in university I do things according to how I feel is right. I am still restricted by some requirements and rules, but have to worry less about consequences at university than at work. Outside of work and school I go on a lot of adventures to places I’ve never been before. These mini trips are really fun for me but add to the feeling of having different lives.

Growing up, I thought I would prefer stability. However the older I get the more I realize how much I appreciate freedom and instability. I have found, especially recently, that I enjoy change. If I do not have enough change in my life I panic now and will purposely act in ways to change my situation. Some of the ways I do this is by going to new places, sitting in a different spot, completely flipping my routine, or messing with my sleep schedule. This makes work particularly confusing because of the structure, timing, and rules there.

It may be possible that I feel I have these different lives because of the variation in my schedules. I am definitely thankful for this feeling and the opportunity.

A Glowing Personality

Throughout the time I have been working at my job, I have gotten somewhat attached to some customers and some customers to me. There are customers that will specifically wait to go through my till and others that genuinely brighten my day. I always look for the good in people because it makes life more enjoyable and it becomes much easier to be aware and grateful of your surroundings when you practice this on a daily basis.

There is this one customer in particular who brightens my day. The first time I saw her she slowly walked up to the counter with her little walker. I decided to make some small talk with her since it was early in the morning and there weren’t many people there. Somehow we got to talking about fishing and tying flies. Her wrinkled face immediately lit up into this huge grin. Every time I see her her face is full of life despite being restricted by needing a walker and having Parkinson’s. She is unusually tall for a senior and is quite different from most seniors I have encountered in my lifetime.

She comes in fairly often and we have gotten to the point where our conversations will be in small segments based on the old conversations. The one day she was very excited because she got ‘new teeth.’ As far as my knowledge of false teeth go, they were likely caps on her old teeth. She said she was really excited to try out her smile, but was having a hard time getting used to them. This pretty well encapsulates her personality and her outlook on life that she usually has.

Then the one day I saw her in the store with her family. My initial reactions were very positive. I assumed she was with her family having a fun time and they were down to visit her for a little while. It was quite busy that day so I could not quite observe the entire scene. However when they got closer I felt as if I suddenly had a rock in my stomach before I could even figure out why. I saw that the smile and the glow of life in her face was gone. It seemed a little unusual that this would happen, of all times, when her family was there visiting her. I quickly realized they were talking to her like she was unable to move, stupid, and handicapped. Where I saw this elderly woman who was full of life, they saw a burden and an idiot. I could hardly handle the way they were talking to her. So I proceeded talking to her like normal in the hopes they would see what I see in her. She gave me an uneasy look as if she was not able to express herself as freely as normal. It wasn’t long before her nephew interrupted her answers. So as soon as they were done in the checkout I tried to quietly offer her words of encouragement to hopefully get her through this. Luckily they were only down for a little while. I wish I could have made more of an impact aside from being the only one to not talk to her like an idiot in the hopes it would make an impact on how her family perceives her.

Observing this, though sad, makes me have a lot of respect for this woman beyond what I ever thought I could have. As much as it sickens me to see how she is treated in a situation that would be good to most people, I cannot help but look at her and be inspired.

A Moral Dilemma

There are few things that make me feel more sick to my stomach than seeing someone doing something so wrong morally, yet act as if nothing is wrong with it. It makes it much worse when I have to stand back and watch and am not able to interfere for various reasons. These reasons change depending on if I am at work at the time or if I am simply wandering wherever I feel.

When I see someone shoplifting my first response is purely territorial. This is especially so when I am at work because I cannot help but feel a sense of ownership and duty in that I care about the company and should act in some way or another. Unfortunately it is not this simple, it never is. The possible penalties for acting on my instincts are a possible fine, a legal nightmare, or a threat to my personal safety.

Let’s start with what I can do. If I saw something happening I would be able to ask the person if they were going to pay for it, call the cops, report to security (if applicable), or follow them around to try to intimidate them into not stealing anything else. Unfortunately, none of these things really satisfy the need I feel to at least stop what is happening in a way that would make an impact.

It has frustrated me for a long time not being able to do anything about this. Even if someone was to point a gun at me and tell me to give them all the money it would be completely against how I feel about everything I would have a really hard time listening even though it was dangerous.

One of the things I have decided would be a definite improvement would be some sort of face recognition system. Most stores already have cameras throughout them, many of those stores have even more than you can see. In theory, people should be able to transition to the face recognition system easily. So how I figure it would work would be to have a protected database where people’s pictures would be stored. I propose we use the images gathered through the forms government id they have obtained in their lifetime. This way if someone were to shoplift, they could find the evidence on the cameras, send it in and they could track the person down much easier.

Although it seems an easy enough switch to my system, I don’t see it happening. I am well aware of the privacy repercussions this could create, however it is an idea created by a mind dissatisfied with the rules of society and retail. This in itself would be a moral dilemma fighting a moral dilemma. There must be something we could do….

Unwelcome Exposure

“Hi, did you find everything you were looking for today?”

“Yes, yes I did, I’ve found you.”

Great, another one. I can feel their eyes burning a hole into my name tag as they lean much too far into my personal space bubble. I know it’s coming; the dreaded repetition of my name. Unfortunately this situation is hardly an isolated event.

Although I have always liked my name, I  would prefer not to deal with some of the repercussions it has. For instance, due to the uniqueness of my name all you need is to spell my first name right and you can find me. This makes me very uneasy when faced with people that are all too personal, close, and creepy.

The obvious solution to the name tag problem is to just not wear a name tag. This comes with its own problems. Not wearing a name tag makes it harder to make a personal connection quickly with customers, is against the dress code of most stores, and can result with issues in accountability.

Often when helping a customer, they will look at your name tag immediately to make a mental note in case they need your name for later or to remember you at a later date. I am guilty of this myself. A customer exclaiming “hey you” to get your attention is an indication you were likely not doing your job as well as you could be. To achieve great customer service you have to ask the right questions, give the right answer, and show them they came to the right person and the right place. The absence of a name tag makes it a lot harder to make that connection. Without great customer service the company can be jeopardized. Sales and the amount of loyal customers would decrease as it is not uncommon for customers to come back to the store as opposed to a similar store for specific employees that have been helpful in the past.

As far as accountability, I find it harder to trust someone that is helping me when I don’t know their name. Of the biggest reasons people have to wear name tags is to distinguish them from the other employees and to hold associates accountable are among the most important. I have personally observed coworkers at various retail jobs not follow the rules as closely because they did not have the name tag for people to report any issues they have had with them. Unfortunately due to complaints not being able to be pinned to “your-employee-with-brown-hair-and-a-blue-shirt” the rest of us aren’t able to escape wearing a name tag just in case we were to misbehave.

Where I work, name tags are such a strict part of the dress code that if I were to not wear my name tag I could be sent home without pay until I complied. This concerns me, not because I don’t want to comply to the dress code, but because I do not have the option to opt out due to safety concerns. These overlooked safety concerns are a huge problem. Hopefully through expressing such concerns and finding a plausible conclusion, eventually harassment that can comes along with traceable names will no longer be an issue.

After much deliberation, I feel the best solution to my and many other people’s problems would be to be given the option to use a nickname or an alias of some sort. This would still allow for the proper connection with customers without putting the employee at risk. Whether or not this would be considered a possibility to be implemented in various retail locations would likely depend on the head offices. However, I feel that this is highly important and should be given a lot more thought than it has been given.