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Adventures in Minimum Wage, part 2

I've worked 2 days at my job. On the 2nd day as the cashier, I was doing decently, and it was almost time for shift to end.  A few young kids come in wanting to buy one of those prepaid Visa cards. They lay their cash on the table, and I enter the amount into the card.  Except.............I didn't know that the card costs $4.95.  These kids don't have that extra amount, can I just deduct it from the amount put on the card? Sure.

Except that requires a transaction void, and that transaction void is over $100.  My boss has to do transaction voids. Heck, they have to do item voids...you see, there might be someone stealing from them by voiding items on  the counter...except if you have too many transaction voids (for ANY reason) you can get fired.   My boss goes into a tizzy, now a call has to be made to their immediate manager on why a transaction void of over $100 was done. I get to hear the boss bitch and moan and holler for the remainder of my shift.

I did not know these cards had a fee. I've never purchased one, never even LOOKED at one since I have my debit card through my bank account. Um...............wouldn't this have been one of those items to TRAIN me on before hitting that cash register?   My 'training' was 1 hour of watching one other girl run the cash register. That's it. Now most of it is cake: run the stuff through, hit the appropriate payment button, make sure to give out the correct change. Smile and say thanks.

Incidentally, you know how people put down cashiers because they look at the screen to figure out how much change to give? You can stop now. Run a cash register for a few hours, you'll realize how that is your friend. I would run roughly a transaction every 1 - 2 minutes. I don't even know how to spell my name after such a rush.

And honestly, I was constantly fearful of double scanning items, because each time I'd have to call for help. And then I'd get an exasperated boss to come up and tell me to "write the transaction down" (PLEASE, CCTV can tell you which one it was, PLUS the stupid ticket I put in the drawer, STOP WITH THE WRITING DOWN OF SHIT! IT TAKES TOO MUCH TIME!)

And let's talk about employee purchases for a minute. Each day I walk in, if I take my purse in, it has to be searched..as well as when I leave. Great. Um, yeah..see those poise pads? Freaked out yet? I didn't realize how important it was for everyone to see them!

I cannot walk in with a soda lacking a taped receipt to it, EVEN THOUGH there is a CCTV camera shined right on the entrance that shows everyone walking in and out. If I do, I can get fired. If I purchase items from the store AFTER MY SHIFT, I have to have someone WRITE IT DOWN (again!) the transaction #, the date, who ran me through, what I bought, and then MY RECEIPT IS TAKEN FROM ME.  Um. yeah. That CCTV is STILL SHINED ON THE CASH REGISTERS!

This basic treatment of all employees as thieves from the get-go is a real sticking point. That, the lack of training and the sheer amount expected from me for $7.25 an hour had me looking already for a different job.

Fast food joint up the road a block is hiring for days for $8.00 an hour. Guess who went there? My 2nd interview (yeah, I know..for a burger flipping job?) was today. I know tomorrow.

Oh, and I finished another prayer shawl. I've started a pair of socks for Dave from some Paton's that was on clearance. Honestly? It had been so long since I knitted a pair of socks that I actually had to refer to a pattern!

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