A Nevispages.com weekly feature by Curtis Morton Sr
The way I see it, there are certain job options that I would always avoid, but for some of them, I have total respect for those persons who work in those areas and are especially good at it.
Two such professions are TEACHING and being a CASHIER.
Just yesterday, Thursday 1st October, I left home in what looked like hurricane-like conditions, to accompany my wife to a nearby supermarket, to get some well-needed items. On that particular afternoon, the supermarket was exceptionally busy and I was even wondering if I missed an important announcement about a storm coming or something.
Anyway, we got into this long line and after a while, I realized that the line was not moving. Soon after that, I heard an explosion. I mean, someone at the top, was blowing her top, literally.
She was not a happy trooper. I peeped and realized that there was a woman, already at the cash register and she was letting the poor Cashier have it.
Well I newa!
To her credit, the Cashier remained calm and cool and responded in a very quiet manner. This went on for a few minutes. Then came the domino effect.
The customers in the long line started to get itchy:
‘Why she doesn’t take it up with the manager?’
‘Mek she no get out the line and stop hold up people? Me got clothes to tek up off me line!’
“Who she tink she is-Rude and outa place!’
I mean, even my good friend Idetha, who I have known all my life and who I thought ‘can’t even mash ants……’
Deta exploded too: ‘Mek she no gu long!’
The woman continued her siege of the cashier station for some more minutes and then said:
“I will check in the vehicle to see if I have the receipt and I will be right back.”
Another explosion from my line:
“You nah come back in front ah me you know..Oh!’
‘When you come back, you go to di back of the line!”
Then another customer let off some ‘expletives deletives’, in the general direction of the woman, who had gone outside already
Honestly, I was really disappointed at the general attitudes being exhibited, but I can’t deny the fact that it was more entertaining than the Windies women final one day versus England, that I was watching previously, on youtube!
But that was not the end of the story.
As the line moved quickly, I saw the woman through the glass door, on her phone in animated conversation.
Then the phone close to the Cashier rang. The Cashier paused to answer the phone.
She then turned to us in amazement: “You know the woman outside there, just called to say that she is making a complaint on a rude cashier, but she does not know it’s me she talking to!’
I mean that certainly took the cake!
I later discovered that the whole issue under debate was the fact that the woman brought back some items to be replaced, but did not have a receipt. The Cashier told her that she could not replace the items without the receipt and she did not have the skillset to pull it up on the computer, so she would have to come back another time. That’s when the woman exploded.
Yes, the role of a cashier is hard and she has to concentrate at all times, just can’t afford to slip up. I just said SHE. Dear reader, have you ever seen a male cashier in Nevis?
Well, anyway, my research has revealed the following:
“A Cashier’s primary role is to assist customers in the in-store check-out process. Main duties include ringing up sales, bagging items, requesting price checks, honoring coupons, collecting payment and giving appropriate change.
A cashier is a customer service professional responsible for the daily operations of a retail or department store. Some of the duties cashiers typically have are:
• Operating cash registers, product scanners and payment machines to facilitate customer purchases
• Collecting payments from customers
• Learning the layout of the store and providing customers with quick responses to questions about product locations
• Helping bag customer purchases as they’re scanned
• Completing simple mental mathematics for calculating tax and issuing change for purchases
Certifications
Typically, a cashier does not require any particular certification in order to earn their position. However, some companies have their own certification programs that are required to be completed before a cashier is allowed to work the register. The process of earning these certifications generally includes educational sections on the basics of customer conflict resolution, software training and daily cashiering operations, and they are typically offered as a part of a cashier’s onboarding and training.
Skills
Some of the most important skills for a cashier to master are:
• Customer service skills. Cashiers are a point of sales position within a store, meaning that customers purchasing products through a store must go through a cashier in order to conduct their transaction. Because the cashier is an integral part of the customer experience, it’s important to know how to interact with customers and ensure they have a positive experience.
• Store product knowledge. A cashier will often be a first point of questioning for a customer in need of directions in a store. Having a detailed and up-to-date understanding of a store’s layout and where to find particular products will allow a cashier to quickly direct customers to the section of the store they’re looking for without hesitation.
• Mathematics. Although most of the mathematics involved in working as a cashier is primarily automated by the cash register’s software, it is still highly beneficial for a cashier to be mathematically inclined. A mathematically talented cashier can calculate a customer’s change for cash payments and act as a type of quality assurance during checkout to prevent mistakes in the checkout process.
• Communication skills. This role is the primary problem-solver when issues arise in the store. Cashiers use problem-solving and critical thinking skills to anticipate numerous outcomes and identify the most effective solutions.
• Computer literacy. The cashier must be capable of using their store’s cash register software to check out a customer’s order, build their receipt and accept their payment. For certain types of products, a cashier may be required to manually search the store’s inventory database to check out the item.”
Here is a personal testimony of one Cashier:
“I have worked as a cashier for 5 going on 6 years. Slip up’s like that does happen to the best of cashiers, but you should always give them back the extra change they mistakenly gave you. Always do so because the cashier’s drawer will come up short at the end of the night. Therefore when it does the cashier who had been working said drawer will be responsible to as why it came up short. Some places will keep the cashiers’ tips to make up for it, and some other places will take it out of the cashier’s check. One of the places I use to work at the drawer came up $50 short and the owners then made all the cashier’s put money in to make up for it being short. The owners then made it a rule that none of the cashiers are allowed to have their credit card tips. It truly made me mad especially because a lot of people mainly pay with card and tip in card. Sometimes I would work my — off being the only cashier and manager on shift then at the end of the night only walk off with (if i was even lucky enough) $3.00.”
“Cashier balancing is a process usually conducted in businesses such as grocery stores, restaurants and banks that takes place at the closing of the business day or at the end of a cashier’s shift. This balancing process makes the cashier responsible for the money in his or her cash register.
Unless it happens several times then they would be removed as a cashier at least or fired at worst. … If the till is short, then the cashier provided too much change, purposely or by accident, and therefore it is their fault.
An overage is when your drawer is over the amount your POS report says you should have. A shortage is when your register’s total is short. Shortages could mean cash was either lost, stolen, or counted incorrectly. An overage typically means your customers were shortchanged.”
So, you see why I could not be a Cashier and you see why I respect all Cashiers well not those who like to TEK UP what ain’t theirs. Not that kind!
However, dear reader, if Cashiers ever give you too much change, please give them back!
In the long run, we still have to give an account to Jesus himself and our actions now will help to determine our eternal future.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?