NJM #19 - Just Little Retail Things in These Foolish Things

Nov. 19, 2022, 7:41 p.m.
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Public

I don’t have much to say today except that I worked 4 hours in the store today. It was Saturday so it was busy. I don’t know if I’m doing a very good job or not.

The store that I work in is actually a major thoroughfare and is a mall entrance and exit (the store used to be a department store, so it is a key entrance to the shopping mall), and one of the doors is kinda broken so it gets stuck open and it’s been freezing cold like the rest of the country - literally freezing today! And the breeze would blow in and it forced me to move around a lot to keep warm.

It’s still very hard for me to get used to the earpiece thing. The managers are always, always talking into them and I can’t concentrate when I’m talking with a customer and they are rattling on. I also have trouble understanding what people are saying into their mics. Some people mumble; some talk soooo fast; some are maybe even speaking a different language (they’re not, but I still can’t comprehend).

I was mostly greeting customers today as they walked through. Every time the store sensors go off (you know those sensor tags that are put on every item to deter people from stealing? They go off a lot just when people are walking through because other stores forget to take the sensors off), we have to get on the walkie talkie thing and announce what the deal was. Like, “it’s just people walking in.”

It’s almost shocking how many times people walk through and the smell of weed permeates the air. I mean, it’s a million times stronger than even cigarette smoke, and the customers even say things about it. We have plenty of air freshener for that and every once in a while I’ll see someone just spraying down the whole walkway.

And today I sort of got a weird feeling that I might see my first ex-fiance at some point during the holidays in that store. I say that because for some reason today I remembered what a fan he is of the store. I also saw a man today with the same bald head and slender but muscular physique. It would be soooooo freaking uncomfortable to see him, but it could very well happen. What would I do? What would I say? I’m not that concerned, but I should prepare for any and all uncomfortable circumstances…like, what if my old boss comes through? Stuff like that.

Tomorrow is my first 6-hour day. Let’s see how it goes.

Happy Shopping!
GS

Jinn ⋅ November 19, 2022

I hate the smell of it and it’s everywhere . Some of it smells very much like Skunk to me .

colder ⋅ November 19, 2022

Totally agree. It smells like a dead skunk.

bobbi01 ⋅ November 20, 2022

I didn't realise it gets that cold where you are.

Complicated Disaster ⋅ November 20, 2022

I caught some kids smoking weed on their way to school the other day. I didn't know that was a thing! Xx

Perpetually Plump ⋅ November 20, 2022

I work in an ICU, and family members come to visit, and they reek so bad. There was one kid that his girlfriend asked for warm water and rags to wipe him down, and I told her that she should also wipe down her friends because they smelled so strongly. Lol. Absolutely wild that people will come to the ICU blazed as hell and stinking to high heaven.

There is no way I would be able to have a conversation with a customer while somebody was talking in my ear on a headset. I would have to turn it off or turn it down or drop it out of my ear. Talk about asking the impossible of people with multitasking!