AWKWARD ZOMBIE

I have a question.

I'm gonna be 16 next year. What's a good first job?

I dunno, cashier maybe. Not that my job/cashiering is necessarily "rewarding," but it's always good to be able to say you understand how to do it. Plus, unlike other jobs, it's a "do x for y hours" job. You have no tasks to complete and nothing to be held accountable for; no one can accuse you of failing to complete what's required of you, of not managing your time well or not pacing yourself, because you have only one thing to do and when you are done with your y hours of putting shit in sacks and pushing buttons, you can go home and immediately stop caring about it.

On the other hand, cashiers are usually the face of a business, and that means you may have to deal with shitty people. To a customer, the cashier is the one to be held accountable-- company hasn't ordered more tobacco? Something out of stock? Bought something that was broken? Another, completely different cashier was rude to you? Blame the cashier you're speaking to-- demand information they don't have, and if you're in a really bad mood, threaten to "have [them] fired."

But I enjoy being a cashier, mostly. There's definitely things that are nicer about it than other jobs, but at the same time, if you're a task oriented person like me, the trudge through "hey how about stand still for 6 hours with or without business, with nothing to accomplish whatsoever and nothing to check off?" is painful sometimes. Lately my supervisors have been letting me run off and do other shit when it's dead-- I actually like to put away returns, help customers and just generally shoulder burdens on behalf of others. If I put away that cart full of crap, the night shift don't have to feel so anxious about whether they'll get their real tasks done. If I straighten all the drinks, combine product boxes, clean, wipe and dust, pick up after my area and teach willing customers how the store works, no one else has to worry about it. None of it is stuff I have to do, but it's stuff I will do, to keep occupied and help out. I like to think that's why they pay me more than minimum wage-- by an extremely, maybe even insultingly small margin, but it IS more than they technically have to pay me.

For me, cashiering is probably/definitely better than being a food prepper in a fast food joint, for various reasons. I don't think I could stand to work at McDonald's, and god bless every soul making my crappy hamburgers for me. My last job involved routinely hefting, sorting and/or plowing through more than a thousand pounds of trash/"donations" a day, easily, in 110F heat next to an uncleaned grease trap full of rotting fat and roach carcasses and I'd rather do it again than be forced to work at a fast food place.

But... that's just me. I'm not saying it's "below" me, or that I disrespect the people doing it. I would strenuously avoid many jobs, but I still respect the people who do them. There's just all kinds of reasons I would find fast food unbearable and unrewarding, for me specifically. But I'm grateful that people DO perform that work and I think they deserve a hell of a lot more than they get for doing it. Somebody has to, after all, and it's not "easy" just because you don't need a degree for it.

Any one that you can find with the market being what it is.

Being a teen with no previous work experience, you kinda have to take what you can. Being underage already limits possible jobs by quite a lot.

It took me ages to get my job at Papa John's, and while I don't regret quitting, I do regret not having worked there longer. I worked about 3 1/2 months there, but now that I'm looking for another job, I find stuff on the requirements like "1-2 years customer service experience" and I think "well daisies if I'd have just stayed working for Papa John's I'd be a customer service expert". Obviously not all jobs are like this, and with Halloween coming up you may be able to land a seasonal position at your local Party City or other Halloween shops like Spirit. But yeah, food service seems like an okay job for starters, but eventually you're going to end up not liking it unless you can handle stress like a champion. I don't know about other places, but the Papa John's I worked at half-assed my training and said "yep yer good ta go" and then the boss would jump my booty when I messed something up.

Anyhue, put in my applications for Albertson's, Subway, and that chicken place. Gonna give them callbacks tomorrow if I'm not called back. I didn't apply to Office Depot because seriously what the fuck. I'm about to write up my Party City application as well, so there's that.

No job yet.

Applying at Toys R Us tomorrow. My friend works tbere and said he'd give me a good recomendation.

Woooooooooooo

Don't get rustled that your Sandwich isn't made because there are 15 people in front of you

So I called Albertson's to confirm my application, and they said they haven't checked apps yet, so she asked me to leave my name and she'll check for it when they start pulling applications. Did I just get bumped to priority?

Ha, maybe. If they remember you you'll certainly, well, be remembered!

In other news, that thing Syobon posted about in the Cool Poop thread is totally true. It's so grating that almost every job available these days not only encourages, but requires you to allow the customer to do anything they want, no matter how rude or aggressive they are, AND to then reward that behavior with special treatment and rule breaking just to please them. For example, I found out that we are actually NOT supposed to be accepting coupons after they expire, but was told it was company policy to... if the customers complains. In fact, if a customer gets loud and aggressive I'm required to take their coupons, all of them, and manually override the register to give them a discount up to two weeks late. Not because they're worried for my safety, like how you're supposed to give a robber whatever they want, but just because. The customer is allllllways right!

And no matter how rude they are, I not only have to deal with it-- which I would, anyway, I'm not an aggressive person unless it seems like someone else might be hurt by something going on-- but I have to then go the extra-extra mile to please them. If they tell me HEY, THAT WAS TEN DOLLARS, IT AIN'T MY FAULT YOU SHITHEADS PRICED IT WRONG, I have to just take their word for it immediately and take as much off the top as they want, because they're being rude. If they don't pay attention to the list on their WIC check or their WIC book and grab the wrong thing, if they read the shelf wrong and get the wrong thing, and decide to dump their incorrect items on the floor or counter and say, "Oh yeah, well you go get the fuckin' thing, I don't give a shit, it's not MY FAULT that YOU can't do your job right!" like an angry child, I have to drop whatever I'm doing and go get it for them myself, or make another associate get it for them. If a customer looks directly at me and drops things on the floor they don't want, or stuffs them behind a shelf, or otherwise tries to hide an item in an inconvenient and childish place, even frozen stuff, I have to just tolerate it wordlessly and clean up after them with the customer watching rather than inform them that they can just give us the items, or that we'd prefer they just leave unwanted items at the register. If they lie directly to me, or scam me, I have to just tolerate it-- a customer can come in with a cart full of expensive cosmetics and snap "These're a buck at some other store!", even if they bodaciously say "Some other store," I'm required to take their word for it and sell them the items for whatever they want.

It's even worse that it's unfair to the customers who ARE nice and polite. I think the policy should be the reverse, if anything at all-- but of course, that would be bad for business, no matter how huge a discount we're forced to give the jerks.

I probably wouldn't last long then, unless they put me in a position that doesn't involve dealing with jackasses.

The most ideal position you can get is dealing with jackasses by being a jackass.

Also that sort of thing only happens at Walmart. Which is weird because allowing it means more people will do it which only increases problem. By putting a stop to it they'd drastically cut down on the asshole population.

Had to chop onions last night.

Hydrochloric acid all over my face.

I just realized that by getting electronics cashier at the highest-rated Toys R Us in the district I am most likely going to be super busy on November 18. That's when the WiiU releases.

Also watch out for Black Friday. One of my older friends has experience working retail on that day and it's like everybody suddenly turns into 4-year-olds let loose in a candy shop on free candy day.

Bizarre American shopping rituals scare me.