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In terms of consumer traffic, it's either feast or famine at the card shop. It'll be me and sales lead on duty, sprucing up the store and enjoying the carols and then POW! The door opens and shoppers magically appear. Some ask for assistance, which means that often, instead of two of us at the registers, there's only one.
Our customers are uniformly pleasant and patient. I am grateful for that, because I remain slower than I would like at the register.
Monday, I screwed up. A 30-something woman wandered in and walked around the store for a while. Then she grabbed a basket and started to shop. She bought a little of everything. Roll wrap, ornaments (buy 1, get 1 50% off), jigsaw puzzles, crafting kits ... all kinds of stuff, many different shapes, some of it breakable. Her final tally was over $200.
I was slow but careful. Especially with her ornaments. I brought the two big bags around the counter and handed them to her. She thanked me for my help and, after spending over an hour with us, she disappeared out the door. I went on to help those in line behind her.
When the rush was over, I turned around and reached for my water bottle. That's when I saw it: one of the $25 jigsaw puzzles she paid for but I forgot to bag.
Katie, our new store manager, pulled up the transaction but since the customer wasn't a rewards member, she couldn't access the name. We just had to wait until the poor woman got home, unpacked her purchases, and noticed the puzzle was missing.
It took her about an hour to call. It was at the end of my shift. Lanie, who came on to relieve me, was the one who took the call and said the customer sounded "pleasant, not at all mad."
That's nice, but she still had to drive all the way back to the store to get what she'd paid for.
Yesterday was only December 9. My last workday before Christmas is December 19. That gives me a lot of time to make more and similar mistakes at the register. I suck.
Photo by Danny Lines on Unsplash
Oh, Gal, try not to beat yourself up! Having worked in retail I get the tendency for perfectionism, but--with a large order an error that was easily fixed is not a big deal. You're doing great!
ReplyDeleteIt happens. I worked retail for a lot of years. It sucks that you didn't bag one of her items, but when she called to find it, you had it for her. That's huge. I can think of instances when a customer is told they are out of luck for something they paid for but didn't get. That is the worst. This? Not ideal, but at this time of year, mistakes happen.
ReplyDeleteI have never worked retail, but I screw up at other stuff all the time. We are, after all, imperfect humans. It's good that the customer wasn't mad. You are very conscientous and honest in your work.
ReplyDeleteYou don't suck. You're human. And a darn good one. When I was a bank teller I cashed a check and gave the money to the wrong customer in the drive through. They kept it too. I had to call the customer to confess and felt horrible.
ReplyDeleteEasy and honest mistake. I worked retail a long time ago, and it is easy to miss an item when they dump a truckload onto the counter. Give yourself some grace, my friend. You made a mistake. You do not suck because you made a mistake.
ReplyDelete