Stop. Collaborate and listen. But really if you haven't read "How may I help you?" you may want to go to that post first. It will explain what I have been up to for the last few months and the reason for this post.
As I was writing about work in my last post I started reflecting on different experiences I had. I thought they were worth sharing so here are some highlights and memorable moments from the workplace:
Rite Aid
Yes, you read that right. And to make it better it was during my first week working as a cashier. It happened when this woman came in and wanted change. She did this maneuver (similar to a card trick) with her cash and when she left she ended up having more money than she gave me. The worst part was I knew that she was stealing from me. I was just so scared that I didn't know what to do. I was like "this wouldn't happen in a place like Cranberry would it?" I would soon learn that people stole all the time. We'd find empty packages hidden all over the store. It was sad, but there wasn't much we could do except be observant. And not get fooled by people wanting $20 worth of change for a $.99 chapstick.
Zimbabwe man
Bowing man
The lady who made me laugh till I cried
Last day
My last day was interesting. It was the day we had one of the worst thunder storms we had in a long time. It was around 7:00pm and only my manager Brittany and I were in the store with one customer. Rain was pouring on the roof and we could see lightning outside. Then all of a sudden the power went out! All three of us rushed to front to get to the natural light coming through the windows. Suddenly a man and his girlfriend banged the front door open (without power they wouldn't open automatically) The man said "Can we buy anything?" Brittany told him that unfortunately, no we could sell anything because without power, the registers were down. Angrily he stormed out with his girlfriend shouting "I need to buy chapstick!" It was hilarious. The other customer left seeing that she couldn't buy anything, so me and Brittany were left in the store alone in the dark. It was like an adventure! I ,thought we'd get to go home, but our manager Steve called and told us to wait and see what happened. So we kept working on price tags by the light of our phones until two hours later when the power finally came on. It was the most exciting last day I could have asked for!
This completely took me by surprise. After this man had paid, he held out two dollars and said to me "This is for you. You were a delight and made us laugh even though the line was busy when we came in. We enjoyed talking to you." It made me so happy because the only way I could get tips was from take out orders and even then people rarely left anything. I guess it is not common knowledge that you tip for take-out. (It's the hostess's job to put all the food together, including making drinks and milkshakes)
One time I asked this lady if she wanted to leave a tip and she said "No I don't tip for take-out. It's like McDonalds." I kindly smiled and said "Yeah..." I shouldn't complain though because I worked with wonderful people like my friend Mary who would use some of her tip money to pay for my break meals whenever she worked. Also the other waitresses would sometimes give me a few dollars at the end of the day for helping them. We helped each other a lot. They knew I didn't like doing my floor so they would sweep and mop for me and I would help with their side work, like filling the syrups. That actually became bit of a joke. They all thought it was so funny that I liked filling the syrups. After a while it was pretty much my job. Whoever had it that day would say "Oh look I have the syrups today, I wonder if someone would like to help me" And then they would smile at me knowing that I was more than willing. We all made a good team. I will miss them at college. But I'll definitely be back to visit when I come home :)
Zimbabwe man part 2
Yes, he found me at Denny's. I kid you not. He came in with his daughter. We actually became friends after a while and he was sad to hear I was quitting Rite Aid. So as they say 'don't judge a book by its cover' or by the scary money transactions they do late at night that require a password.
Seeing friends
I did also get visits from family and friends. This goes for both places. Thank you to those that came in and visited me. It always brightened my day to see a happy familiar face!
Last day
My wonderful co-workers completely surprised me on my last day. Towards the end of my shift, one of the waitresses named Sherry came up to me and said "Karissa they need you in the back!" So I followed her back there to find the rest of the waitresses waiting for me with a cake. They also gave me a card with money they had collected to help with college. I was so touched I almost started crying. I gave them all hugs and took pictures of course :)
Zimbabwe man
This is one of the weirdest things that happened while I was there. At Rite Aid we did money transfers offered by Western Union. The person sending or receiving money would pick up a phone by the cash register and get a confirmation code from WU. Then they would give us the code and we would do the rest. It was pretty easy, but this time was different. This man wearing a Dominos uniform walked up to me with his code after spending over 15 minutes on the phone and handed it to me. I typed in the numbers and instead of bringing up the option to confirm the transaction a text message popped up. It said "Ask the customer what their favorite color is. If they do not answers exactly as it is printed below do not go through with the transfer" On the screen under that it said "blue".
Suddenly it turned into one of those mystery episodes where you don't know if someone is really who they say they are and you have to test them with personal questions. Was this going to turn into a Supernatural episode? So I turned to the man and said "This has never happened before and it may seem weird, but I need to ask you a question. What is your favorite color?" Without blinking he stared me in the eyes and said "red" *cue the horror music* I didn't know what to do then, but thankfully one of my managers was there to handle it. She said we couldn't give him the money until he had the right answer. So he left, but within a couple hours he came back and proudly walked up to me, smiled, and said "blue". He answered right so I gave him the money. I would see him occasionally after that. He would receive money and then immediately send it away again to Zimbabwe. I never asked why, but it was fun to come up with possible scenarios when it wasn't busy and I had nothing to do.
Suddenly it turned into one of those mystery episodes where you don't know if someone is really who they say they are and you have to test them with personal questions. Was this going to turn into a Supernatural episode? So I turned to the man and said "This has never happened before and it may seem weird, but I need to ask you a question. What is your favorite color?" Without blinking he stared me in the eyes and said "red" *cue the horror music* I didn't know what to do then, but thankfully one of my managers was there to handle it. She said we couldn't give him the money until he had the right answer. So he left, but within a couple hours he came back and proudly walked up to me, smiled, and said "blue". He answered right so I gave him the money. I would see him occasionally after that. He would receive money and then immediately send it away again to Zimbabwe. I never asked why, but it was fun to come up with possible scenarios when it wasn't busy and I had nothing to do.
Bowing man
When he walked into the store I said "Hello!" and he turned to me and bowed and said "good evening". Then when he got what he came for and walked up to the register, he bowed to me again (in front of the whole line!) and said "how are you miss?" This was very sweet but I didn't know how to respond so being the quick thinker I am I said "good!" *facepalm* This is usually what happened when people would try to flirt with me. I would feel awkward so I would start rambling and they would end up looking at me like I was crazy. For instance their was this guy who asked for my number every time he came in the store, so I would go on about my boyfriend who lived in Australia. And because I am such a convincing lier *cough* he didn't buy it at all. So I started avoiding going to the register and waiting for my manager to help him. Great job Karissa!
The lady who made me laugh till I cried
This is one of my favorite memories from working at Rite Aid. Ok, so to set the scene it was about 8:30 at night. I had worked at Denny's that morning, I had a migraine, and I was ready for it to be 10 o'clock so I could go home. This woman walked up the register and started making small talk. Then she asked me about this wallet that she was buying for her son, which is a perfectly normal thing to ask right? But for some reason the way she asked made me start laughing. Now when I am tired I feel like a zombie, but I act like I am fine so that people won't notice. But when I am extremely exhausted I hit this point where the smallest thing seems hilarious.
That is what happened with this lady. When she saw me laughing she joined right in and started going on about her son and how if he wanted a wallet so bad he should have just come in the store himself instead of sitting in car. (I'm actually laughing right now just thinking about it.) So we sat there laughing until her son did actually come in the store wondering why it was taking her so long. She turned to him and asked if he liked the wallet and he said no. This just made me laugh harder. So while he went to get a new wallet his mom stayed with me and kept making me laugh. By the time he came back I was crying from laughter. I can't remember what she even said or why I thought it was funny, but she was exactly what I needed that night. She helped a half hour fly by and made me laugh which made my night ten times better. And thankfully she thought it was funny too and didn't think I had completely lost my mind.
That is what happened with this lady. When she saw me laughing she joined right in and started going on about her son and how if he wanted a wallet so bad he should have just come in the store himself instead of sitting in car. (I'm actually laughing right now just thinking about it.) So we sat there laughing until her son did actually come in the store wondering why it was taking her so long. She turned to him and asked if he liked the wallet and he said no. This just made me laugh harder. So while he went to get a new wallet his mom stayed with me and kept making me laugh. By the time he came back I was crying from laughter. I can't remember what she even said or why I thought it was funny, but she was exactly what I needed that night. She helped a half hour fly by and made me laugh which made my night ten times better. And thankfully she thought it was funny too and didn't think I had completely lost my mind.
Last day
My last day was interesting. It was the day we had one of the worst thunder storms we had in a long time. It was around 7:00pm and only my manager Brittany and I were in the store with one customer. Rain was pouring on the roof and we could see lightning outside. Then all of a sudden the power went out! All three of us rushed to front to get to the natural light coming through the windows. Suddenly a man and his girlfriend banged the front door open (without power they wouldn't open automatically) The man said "Can we buy anything?" Brittany told him that unfortunately, no we could sell anything because without power, the registers were down. Angrily he stormed out with his girlfriend shouting "I need to buy chapstick!" It was hilarious. The other customer left seeing that she couldn't buy anything, so me and Brittany were left in the store alone in the dark. It was like an adventure! I ,thought we'd get to go home, but our manager Steve called and told us to wait and see what happened. So we kept working on price tags by the light of our phones until two hours later when the power finally came on. It was the most exciting last day I could have asked for!
Denny's
Adjusting from the PCC
Some of you may know that during my first year at college I worked at the Polynesian Cultural Center in one of the restaurant as a hostess. This gave me great experience and helped me with my job at Denny's quite a lot. I already knew how to seat people and what good customer service was. (In Hawaii we called it the 'Aloha Spirit') I did have to refrain from greeting customers with an "Aloha!" while shaking a shaka when they walked through the door though :)
Some of you may know that during my first year at college I worked at the Polynesian Cultural Center in one of the restaurant as a hostess. This gave me great experience and helped me with my job at Denny's quite a lot. I already knew how to seat people and what good customer service was. (In Hawaii we called it the 'Aloha Spirit') I did have to refrain from greeting customers with an "Aloha!" while shaking a shaka when they walked through the door though :)
Tip for the hostess
This completely took me by surprise. After this man had paid, he held out two dollars and said to me "This is for you. You were a delight and made us laugh even though the line was busy when we came in. We enjoyed talking to you." It made me so happy because the only way I could get tips was from take out orders and even then people rarely left anything. I guess it is not common knowledge that you tip for take-out. (It's the hostess's job to put all the food together, including making drinks and milkshakes)
One time I asked this lady if she wanted to leave a tip and she said "No I don't tip for take-out. It's like McDonalds." I kindly smiled and said "Yeah..." I shouldn't complain though because I worked with wonderful people like my friend Mary who would use some of her tip money to pay for my break meals whenever she worked. Also the other waitresses would sometimes give me a few dollars at the end of the day for helping them. We helped each other a lot. They knew I didn't like doing my floor so they would sweep and mop for me and I would help with their side work, like filling the syrups. That actually became bit of a joke. They all thought it was so funny that I liked filling the syrups. After a while it was pretty much my job. Whoever had it that day would say "Oh look I have the syrups today, I wonder if someone would like to help me" And then they would smile at me knowing that I was more than willing. We all made a good team. I will miss them at college. But I'll definitely be back to visit when I come home :)
Zimbabwe man part 2
Yes, he found me at Denny's. I kid you not. He came in with his daughter. We actually became friends after a while and he was sad to hear I was quitting Rite Aid. So as they say 'don't judge a book by its cover' or by the scary money transactions they do late at night that require a password.
Cute couples
One of the sweetest things about working at Denny's is the customers. So many older couples would come in to enjoy some breakfast food together. My favorite is when sweet old men would hold their wives hand and guide them to the table. You could really see how much they loved each other. One man even pulled out the chair for his wife and then gave his coat to her so she wouldn't be cold. It was touching to see little moments like that.
One of the sweetest things about working at Denny's is the customers. So many older couples would come in to enjoy some breakfast food together. My favorite is when sweet old men would hold their wives hand and guide them to the table. You could really see how much they loved each other. One man even pulled out the chair for his wife and then gave his coat to her so she wouldn't be cold. It was touching to see little moments like that.
Seeing friends
I did also get visits from family and friends. This goes for both places. Thank you to those that came in and visited me. It always brightened my day to see a happy familiar face!
Last day
My wonderful co-workers completely surprised me on my last day. Towards the end of my shift, one of the waitresses named Sherry came up to me and said "Karissa they need you in the back!" So I followed her back there to find the rest of the waitresses waiting for me with a cake. They also gave me a card with money they had collected to help with college. I was so touched I almost started crying. I gave them all hugs and took pictures of course :)
Do you see why I should have written about this sooner? I have so much to say and now I finally have time to write about it. I hope you enjoyed my stories. And I'll try to stay up to date with this blog, but with school starting soon I don't want to make any promises. I'll just say I'll do my best!
Thanks for reading!
♥TTFN, KARISSA
Thanks for reading!
♥TTFN, KARISSA
