And just slightly over minimum wage
Well, I've been working all weekend. I am t-i-r-e-d. In the immortal words of my good friend, Nic, "My feet hurt all the way up to my ass." True that.
I often wonder what my tenure at Walgreens is supposed to be accomplishing in my life. I stand for long hours at a time. I put new sales tags up and rip old ones down, week after week. I unload crates of merchandise and stock shelves. I repeat phrases over and over again like, "Is there something I can help you find?" and "When you're ready to check out, I can ring you up right here in cosmetics with no wait." Really deep stuff.
In the last two days I've met a retired paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne who served in Vietnam from 1960 to 1968 (in the Navy, Marines, and finally the Army 82nd), a 95 year-old man who was surprised to have lived for so long, and the foster mom of a three month-old crack-baby suffering from horrible colic. I've helped a middle-aged man find fragrance sets for his entire family (two kids in college, his son's girlfriend, his daughter and his wife), an old lady pick out nail polish colors "young people would like," and a young lady pick out a gift for her 87 year-old grandmother.
I have been flirted with, condescended to, snapped at and ignored. I have been thanked, blessed, smiled at and appreciated.
It's not just a job. It's an adventure.
I often wonder what my tenure at Walgreens is supposed to be accomplishing in my life. I stand for long hours at a time. I put new sales tags up and rip old ones down, week after week. I unload crates of merchandise and stock shelves. I repeat phrases over and over again like, "Is there something I can help you find?" and "When you're ready to check out, I can ring you up right here in cosmetics with no wait." Really deep stuff.
In the last two days I've met a retired paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne who served in Vietnam from 1960 to 1968 (in the Navy, Marines, and finally the Army 82nd), a 95 year-old man who was surprised to have lived for so long, and the foster mom of a three month-old crack-baby suffering from horrible colic. I've helped a middle-aged man find fragrance sets for his entire family (two kids in college, his son's girlfriend, his daughter and his wife), an old lady pick out nail polish colors "young people would like," and a young lady pick out a gift for her 87 year-old grandmother.
I have been flirted with, condescended to, snapped at and ignored. I have been thanked, blessed, smiled at and appreciated.
It's not just a job. It's an adventure.
posted by Cas at 10:10 PM
2 Comments:
my question of the day is "did you find everything you needed today?" over and over and over again, except tonight, i added a shot of humor, 'except for a short checkout line.'
at one point, without thinking, i actually asked a lady if she wanted to purchase a "blah blah" replacement plan... she burst out laughing and shook her head no. i don't think i would make a good sales-person. all the blah-blah-bull-shit would get to me.
lol - I remember my days at Belks (I was in high school) and the department I was stuck in was hosiery. Now Belk's doesn't sell cheap stuff in the hosiery department, so go figure the only night we were really busy was Saturday when the ladies decided they needed their new stockings for church the next day. We had to keep the bins stocked and the area dusted and neat as that was the first department you saw when you walked in the door that was on that side. I was hardly in my department and I guess that's what got me fired or terminated. I was notorious for being in shoes (lots of sales there) or children's (lots of fun and people always buying preppy clothes for their kids) or sometimes in jewelry (right behind the hosiery department so it's not like I was gone too far). My department was one of the most well stocked ones as well as the cleanest. I never had any customers though. So I was always helping other sales persons when they got busy and it's not like I couldn't see my department and get over there if there was a customer. But it was a learning experience. Not sure how it contributed to my life goals but back then it was just a job (my first one), so I took it because I had a car payment and insurance to cover. Maybe it will come to you why you are there. Maybe not. Take it for what it is now and just remember that this is only temporary. See you in the postings - E :)
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