That 'Working' Stuff

It still hasn't set in that I have a job, I'm working, and they're paying me to do it. I don't feel like writing long paragraphs that have to flow together, so I'm gonna do that quick thought thing again since that seems to work well at getting everything out...

-The art of selling things is really interesting. I think I currently suck at it, but I'm getting better. People are intimidating.

-Despite what those silly e-learnings said, I can categorize customers into several basic groups: the people that need to have their hands held along 110% of the way, the people that know what they want, the people that think they know what they want but are really clueless, and the browsers. After three days on the selling floor, I'm starting to like the first two a lot. I also like international customers too, they tend to spend quite a bit.

-Shockingly, almost 50% of the people that walk into the store speak Spanish, and about half of those only speak Spanish.

-I still get extremely nervous when people shove money or a credit card in my face after a transaction. "Duh Noelle, you work here!"

-Customers that use the salespeople efficiently are awesome. I don't mind being your personal shopping assistant for an hour if you're gonna spend $2K. Even if you don't spend that much, its still better than standing around doing nothing tidying up. I actually like answering questions. Ask away!

-Speaking of the oh-yeah-I-work-here phenomenon, it's still weird having people coming up to me asking questions...but oh wait, I know the answers, I have a key, I can help!

-No, we do not have any more Wiis!

-I prefer to sell cameras rather than computers. Odd thing is, I know more about the computers, cameras are just easier and more fun to sell.

-An interesting guy came in and schooled me on a few of the higher end cameras. Turns out he used to be a professional photographer. We had an interesting conversation about the tech industry and robotics and all that cool stuff. Turns out he works for Citrix too. He urged me to get out of retail as soon as possible lol. That's definitely on my agenda. This will hopefully be my first and last retail job.

-Public transportation sucks! I've never had a problem with it until I had to rely (NOT reliable, btw) on it daily. I hate waiting and I hate the heat. Screw that, I'm getting a bike.

-The power went out for an hour and a half today when a wannabe hurricane came through. We gathered to the front of the store and did nothing. All the customers left after a half hour. Apparently this happens often, but never for this long. "Free" $12 for me lol.

-I hate downtime. I'd rather be overwhelmingly busy with customers than have to pretend to be productive by re-straightening the same rows over and over again.

-I keep hearing things from employees that the new management sucks, which is why a ton of people are leaving and there are a ton of new hires (like me). Things like "this place is a hell hole" and "why would you ever choose to work here" aren't really comforting. I don't know if I should be worried just yet. Then again, the store's ranking is blah, so it's probably a necessary change.

-A 1-hour lunch break is a really long time when you can't just drive off anywhere. There are always cartoons on in the break room, Spongebob Squarepants has never been so hilarious.

-I can't wait to get paid! I want my Nintendo DS and new iPod already!