Just another day

I don't really have anything exciting to write about. Just another long day at work. Actually, it really wasn't all that long at all, only 3:00 - 10:30. Lately all my days have seemed terribly long though, for some reason. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that all I do is robotically slide hundreds and hundreds of items across the scanner, it's just getting old. Or something like that anyway, I don't know. I got to be a breaker the other day, which is much better. Then you get to bag, give people their breaks, pick up hangers and abandoned things, and I even got to be the all-important operator for half an hour and answer the phone. It's interesting when they teach you to do new things there...because they really don't teach you anything. They very briefly go over what you do, then expect you remember it all without any help. So yeah, I had a bit of trouble trying to transfer people to other places in the store when they called. But, oh well. It's good experience, I think.

A few days ago I had an older lady come in and hand her credit card to me, and ask if it was the right one, because she had an older one and a newer one. I was like "uhh...I can't really do anything with your card till you're trying to pay with it." so she tried to pay with it, and of course it didn't work. I told her to either call the 800 number on the card, or ask guest service about it, since they know more about that sort of thing there than I do. She got all mad and asked how long it would take, and if I could just do it, and all this stuff. I basically told her I really couldn't do anything about it, and she paid a different way. Some people are a little strange though. Since when do cashiers fix credit cards that don't work?
Anyway, that's my rant for tonight. I think it's time for bed now.

So you're Canadian, eh?

For some reason or another, the past few days at work have been bombarded with unusual influxes of Canadians. It's a running joke that Canadians always try to hand the cashiers their credit cards instead of running in themselves in the credit card machine the way they're supposed to. One lady came up to me, trying to hand me her card and I told her to use the card reader...she said, to no surprise of mine, "Oh, I'm supposed to use that thing, eh?"

I've met a couple of weird people in the past few days as well. One was weird enough to convince the head people there that I needed to walk out with security. This younger guy came up and bought a small grill, the kind in a box that you can make hamburgers in, or whatever you do with those things. We were just chatting about it, you know, regular small-talk. Right? He left his grill there, which I thought was pretty funny since we'd been talking about it. He came back less than an hour later and asked if he'd left it there. I brought it out from under the counter and gave it to him, saying I was glad he'd come back to get it since he'd already paid for it and everything. A little while later, I heard over the walkie/intercom wherever I heard it, "Becky, 2280, Becky, 2280" which means "You have a call at the front desk." However, there is another Becky that works there, quite a bit higher-up than me, so of course I assumed it was from her. After my break, as I was leaving the break room, a couple of team members came up to me and told me they needed to talk to me about something and asked if I'd helped someone with a grill earlier that day. I said I had, and they got really serious and looked at each other nervously. Of course I was slightly terrified, I thought I'd done something really wrong. They said something about finding a back room to talk in, and I couldn't stand the curiosity, asking what happened. Apparently this guy was trying to get a hold of me and ask me out for a drink that night, hence the call at the front desk. They were afraid he was going to come after me, so they made me walk out with a security guard.
I guess there are two things I can learn from this. One, Target is going to protect me from creepy guys. And two, don't make small talk with younger guys.

Almost a Hero

So I tried to donate blood today. Last time I did, which was also my first time, everything went perfectly...except when the needle slipped a little bit after they put it in and caused me horrible pain for about 2 1/2 minutes. But I was done in less than 10 minutes and felt fine. I went today to a little dump of a town 10 miles from my house in a creepy looking gray building (I'm always afraid the nurses are actually vampires, this didn't alleviate my fear at all). After I got inside, they asked me all the dumb questions about my mom being in Mexico, and jammed the needle in my arm. It really didn't hurt at all. Unfortunately, something went wrong and they couldn't get the flow right. A lady who was more experienced in the matter came over to help, and she tried to move the needle to get a better flow, but pulled it out instead. Of course, my arm spurted blood, got everything all messy, and that was the end of it. They were going to try on my other arm, but ran out of time.
I'll save lives next time.

How to be a Great Customer

• Don't try to put your gift card into the credit card machine. It won't work. (Unless it is a credit card-type gift card, which will have a magnetic strip on the back.)
• Never, ever mix produce sold by weight. Even if it's the same price. Just don't do it.
• If your apples don't have stickers on them, make sure you know what variety they are so the cashier will be able to look up the number.
• It's nice if you smile every now and then. Everyone has bad days, but just try to be a little bit friendly.
• Compliments go a long way. If you liked something the cashier did, you should tell them! Cashiers have to put up with a lot of crabby people every day, and a compliment will help immensely.
• Don't get mad and pout if the cashier doesn't say hi to you, and refuse to talk to them first. They see hundreds of people every day, and sometimes start zoning out. They might need a kick. (Not literally, of course.)
• We all know that at Wal-Mart, you so very rarely see this, so it's difficult to remember if you regularly shop there. When there is a cashier standing at the front of a lane and the light is on, it means they're open and ready to help you. Don't stupidly ask if they're open...just smile and say hi, they'll know what you want.
• Similar to the previous one, don't walk up to a cashier waiting at the end of his or her lane without making any sort of eye contact. It's just...awkward.
• We all know this is difficult sometimes, but please try to not have an entire cartload of things, and put them on the belt all mixed up. Sorting even just halfheartedly will make the whole thing much faster and easier for everyone.
• This is also difficult, but do try to make sure your things have tags. This is for your convenience. If something doesn't have a tag, it will only take longer to get you through.
• People tend to bunch up at the closest open lanes. Try walking another few feet and seeing if the other ones are less busy.
• Don't ever take out your anger about prices, quality, what isn't in stock, or your mother-in-law on the cashier. They're like robots, they just ring hundreds and hundreds of things up every day. They really don't know anything about the store. If you have a problem, find a manager.
  
• If the cashier makes a mistake, such as missing a coupon, double scanning an item, etc. etc. etc., and the transaction is done, take it to guest service. That's what they're there for. If it's not busy, go ahead and ask the cashier if they can fix it. If they can't...guest service is your friend.
• If you have a discount or coupon you want to use, don't run your credit card until you know for a fact that the coupon or discount has been applied to your purchase. Voiding credit card payments is not fun. Again, if this happens, it's probably easier to just take it to guest service. They're pretty good at that kind of thing.
• Don't talk on your cell phone while you're checking out. Especially in one of the following situations: your credit card doesn't work, one or more of your items don't have tags, or you have a large transaction.
• If you forgot something and need to run back and find it, offer to do it on a new transaction and let people go ahead of you. Especially if it's going to take more than a minute to get it.
• Please, please use the sticks placed near the belt. They mean "this is a separate purchase from the person in front of me". You have no idea how confusing it gets when 3 people, who look like they're together, come at the same time and dump all their things on the belt, and then get mad when you try to ring it up together. Just use the sticks.
• If you like reusable bags, great! But don't load your cart to overflowing, dump it all, shampoo, meat and veggies all mixed, on the belt, throw 20 bags in the cashier's face and expect him or her to get it all sorted and bagged quickly. It won't happen. The best thing to do is offer to help fill the bags yourself. And sort your stuff while you're putting it on the belt.
  
• If you want paper bags, don't wait until the cashier is finished with plastic. If you remember too late, either fix it yourself, or forget it. An exception is if it was a small transaction and the store is not busy.
• If you want to use a check, please either fill out the parts you can before the total, or write it out very quickly. However, if you're very old and slow, take your time.
• Many people like to pay the exact amount of cash that is due. This is great, however, if it takes more than about 15 seconds to find the right change, just forget it. Take your change to the bank if you have too much.
• Don't ever, ever put anything like money, coupons, or other very small, flat objects on the conveyor belt. Even more importantly, don't blame the cashier if they get sucked in. Those things are automatic. No matter how we try to stop the belt in time, sometimes we can't. It's not our fault.
• If there is a large orange and black sticker on your item that says "non-conveyable", don't put it on the belt. Especially if the cashier looks very small. Leave it in the cart, they'll scan it there.
• If you have ten of the same flavor of pop in large boxes, just put one on the belt and tell the cashier how many you have. Same goes with anything else moderately big and/or heavy.

*NOTE* There are exceptions. Mistakes happen, and no one expects you to be perfect. These are only general guidelines.

Yay Fireworks!!

I ended up not having a bad fourth of July after all. I got $12/hr that day...and we got out an hour early, a free pop, and after that some friends from work and I got together and watched the amazing Grand Forks fireworks show. It was cool, but last year, I went to the Pyrotechnics Guild International show in Fargo, and ever since then, all fireworks have been a little lame. That's okay though, it was still fun. Especially when those of us who are a little more immature had a race to see who could roll down the hill the fastest, when the fireworks were over and none of us wanted to go home. Actually it was a dike, not a hill since those don't really exist in Grand Forks. But close enough. (I won, by the way.) The pictures there, they were taken with my phone...so they're not the best quality ever, but you have to admit they're pretty good for a phone. :)

Happy Fourth!!

It won't be terribly happy for me because I have to work from 3:30 to 11:00, but that's okay. I'd rather make money than get a million mosquito bites attempting to watch fireworks. At least, that's what I tell myself. My family had our celebration last night so that I wouldn't miss it. We made some pretty freaking awesome dessert, and if that was all we had it would have been fine with me...because yeah, it was amazing.


Yesterday I decided it would be a good idea to take the dead chipmunk Dumb Baby had so kindly brought us, and skin it. Why I thought it would be a good idea, I'm not completely sure. So I got my brother outside with me and that's what we did. I'm only going to post one of the 50 billion pictures he took, because it's the only one that isn't really gross.

Blog...?

So I'm pretty new at this whole blogging thing. I've always used computers a lot but have never done a blog. I think it's going to drive me crazy that I can't change certain things about the layout, but...whatever. So as just a bit of an introduction, I'm 18, living at home, working at Target, halfway done with college and trying to decide what to do with the rest of my life. I'll probably move to Utah in the next few months and get a license in cosmetology, then come back here and finish my degree in Psychology. I have the most amazing boyfriend in the world, and those of you who think I'm wrong...umm I don't know, but you are because he is. We have two cats, one called Fattycakes and the other is Dumb Baby. We have a few other animals as well, but those are the only ones worth mentioning at the moment. Maybe because they have the coolest names. You have to admit, they are pretty cool names. I have five siblings, three older brothers, one little brother and one little sister. That's about all I have for today though. Now that I'm done with the boring stuff...here are some sweet pictures:

Amazing boyfriend (and me)


Fattycakes
You gotta admit, this cat is awesome.