Narrative Exercise: A Fine Line Between Love & Hate

My first official job was working as a cashier for Shoppers Drug Mart. I had a few odd jobs before that, babysitting, working in a file room, but this was the first job that I wrote a resume, and had an official interview for. I got this job based on my skills and attitude, not because of family, friends, connections, or word of mouth.I started out as a cashier – the very bottom of the retail chain of command. I was only 16 years old, and thought this new job was a great accomplishment. I was very proud of myself. Even though I was at the bottom of the store “hierarchy”, I felt like I was at the top. I got an official paycheque, and I had a uniform! How much more excitement and pride could one teenager handle?

There was only one problem: I was a terrible cashier. There were so many codes, rules, and tasks to remember and I could hardly keep them straight. I constantly made mistakes, and had to call for help from a supervisor for practically every situation. My cash register never balanced – I was always consistently 50 or more dollars over or short at the end of every week.

One week my manager even gave me an ultimatum at the beginning of one shift: balance your cash or we will have to let you go. I was very shy, and felt like an outsider as a result. There is an expected learning curve with every job, but mine seemed to be quite a bit longer than most.

But I loved my job. And anything that I lacked in the technical department, I made up for in the area of customer service. It wasn’t about scanning products or taking money from customers; it was about the interactions I had with the people who stood before me. It was about customer service. It was about the smiles, jokes, and good-humoured small talk that I shared with them. It was about giving them a good experience in the short amount of time they spent shopping at our store. The ability to interact with customers made up for the fact that I seemed to be technically inept. It was like it was the beginning of a great relationship when all you want to do is be together, talk to and learn as much about each other as you can. I was in love with being a cashier and I thrived on it.

Over five years later, I’m still working at my job and I am now a supervisor as well as cashier. I have the most seniority out of any employee at the store except for the senior management. It feels pretty good. The codes, rules, and tasks I had so much trouble remembering are like second nature to me now, even though the amount of them I have to remember has doubled. I wish I could say my love of customer interaction has doubled, but I can’t. My job and I have been together for a few years, the spark has worn off, and I have seen a side of it that is not necessarily positive.

What I do know is that no matter how jaded I am now, how fed up I am with the environment and the people in it, or how much I complain, the best part of my job is still the people. Sure not all customers are friendly, not all are easy to deal with, but the truth is that most are. And that’s enough. Sometimes I wonder how I’ve lasted this long but then I remember. This job has given me invaluable skills, confidence, a strong work ethic, and an idea about what teamwork is all about.

The best thing it has given me is the opportunity to meet and interact with some great, albeit difficult, people on a daily basis.As dull as my duties can be, there is never a dull moment when it comes to meeting strangers.