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[ali_babble]

I am exhausted. First day at work today - I've got a part time job for a few weeks working the tills at the petrol station I mentioned in my last post. Sounds easy enough, but it wasn't! Sure, if you can scan the item and the person has cash it's fine. But if someone wants to pay by credit card, or has an account for the petrol, or wants a lottery

Comments

[apple4b]

OMG ! Ali !!!!! Your new job sound like a COMPLETE one !!!!!! and, indeed, you have A LOT to learn & to do !!!!!!!
But don't worry, the first dayS are quite difficult, because you always have to learn something new... but I'm sure in a few days, you'll be OK with all the details in your job and will become a real professional !!!! ;))

I wish you a BLOODY good luck !!!!! Hold on and keep concentrated !!!!
*cross fingers for you !*

[ali_babble]

Serving people in a busy place, whether it be in a restaurant, or in a supermarket, can be a really tough job. And it isn't helped by the fact that they're really poorly paid jobs as well. People can be really impatient and it doesn't help when you're learning.

But thankfully I'm in Ireland and most people are really nice about it. There are far worse countries to start out in.

Thanks for wishing me luck! I think it really helped me on my second day!

[apple4b]

And I really hope your followings days went better !

People could understand you are a beginner ! But if you say that Irishes are rather cool with you, that's good !

Good luck again for the following ! ;)

[scarlett_0]

OH, I love your pink and black layout. I almost chose this one for my own journal.

Good luck with the new job! Jobs rarely run smoothly until you get the hang of them. There's always something out of the ordinary that happens that will throw you for a loop. But you'll eventually get the hang of it!

[ali_babble]

After my second day I am getting the hang of it. The only thing I absolutely cannot do now is serve ice creams. We have a machine that serves whipped vanilla ice creams (known in the UK and Ireland as 99 flakes - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Flake), which look like this; http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a159/HelenLM/99.jpg

You have to pull really softly on a lever and turn the ice cream cone to get that swirl effect. Only I pulled too hard and too much came out and so I had to throw out the ice cream. Yikes. I haven't dared try since!

Hopefully I'll be able to get it done next time!

And thanks for the compliment about my layout. It's annoying how limited in choice free accounts are, but this pink one is quite nice!

Yay! Good one!

[rushysgirl]

That's a hell of a lot to remember! I hope they go easy on you until you learn the ropes.

"or wants cigarettes (there are so many kinds, and they're all behind glass so you have to press these tiny buttons, but I don't know any cigarette brands so it takes me ages to find them)"

I think I know someone who could help you with that. *wasn't me* *tapes mouth shut*

Re: Yay! Good one!

[ali_babble]

Hmm, I wonder who you were talking about? If only I had some sort of visual aid... ;D

The staff are very, very nice (they're usually a lot friendlier in small places than in huge supermarkets - my sister worked in one, and from what she told me I never want to work where she did), so they're quite easy on me, but it's not like I've a big "L" sign across my face, so some of the customers are a little less forgiving. And when there's a huge queue people get annoyed when one till is going so much more quickly than the other. But the second day was a little easier, so thanks for the support.

[mooncove]

Hope it's continuing to go better for you. That's a lot to learn in a short time--and it sounds like hard work. (I started out doing cashier work myself, standing for 7 or 8 hours a day, dealing with impatient customers, so I can sympathize!) In a way, it's too bad you'll only be working there for a few weeks. You'll just have it all figured out, and it'll be time to move on already!

[ali_babble]

I know! It's a lot to learn, and won't do me much good if I work somewhere else, unless it just happens to be another gas station with the same sort of automated system. Oh well, at least I'm doing something more productive with my time. The standing actually isn't a problem. I thought my legs would be killing me but I'm actually all right...for the moment. I feel sorrier for my sister. She works in a horse riding centre and that is physically a lot of work. She aches after every day she spends there.

But thanks for your encouragement!

[mooncove]

I didn't have any trouble standing all day either when I was your age (hard to believe that now--Gawd, I sound so old, don't I?), but working with horses all day sounds a lot more strenuous. It's probably a lot of running around and lifting, huh? At least, once you get all the training down, there's never a dull moment working with customers, is there?

[ali_babble]

Oh, never a dull moment at all... Just infinite ways to mess up or agitate a customer (although in the cases of some customers not handing them their change in 5 seconds, even if they handed me a huge note which I have to break up, is enough to get them annoyed). It's a pretty thankless job, but it's a job none-the-less.