People Doing Their Jobs Only As Well As They Were Trained

I believe some people who give me questionable service are actually trying to do their best, but are hindered by a lack of training. These are usually the young whippersnappers with a shortage of real-world experience. Like the window guy at Hardee's last week.

My bill for a taco salad [YES! I'm glad you asked! There WILL be a report on the quality of my most recent taco salad, coming up soon!] was $8.12. I didn't have small bills. I DID have 12 pennies that were not up to the standards of the Woman Owner of the Gas Station Chicken Store. I gave Window Guy a twenty, and 12 pennies for my $8.12 bill.

He looked at me like I had two heads. Even though I said, "I have the 12 cents, and here's a twenty."

I don't know if he didn't punch it into the register right, or what was going on. He stood there with the cash drawer open for a couple of minutes. Looking. I swear, I heard him digging in the change tray. Then he turned and said, "Here's your twelve dollars change. Even." Which was correct. But he didn't sound convinced. 

 

I really wish these cashiers would get training on counting back change. The Woman Owner of the Gas Station Chicken Store absolutely trains her people that way. Then again, she can't keep a cashier! I guess they think she's too demanding. But at least they would know how to count back change if the power went off, or the register broke. Which has happened more times than you would imagine at the assorted convenience stores I frequent.

The other lackadaisically-trained cashier last week was a young lass at the School-Turn Casey's. I have all the patience in the world with these newbies. I don't mind at all waiting for them to figure it out. She had to ask the other cashier how to scan a scratcher winner. And how to use that receipt to subtract from the price of my purchase. However...

I asked for one Cash4Life draw ticket with EZ Match, for The Pony. She punched it in, then held it out to me after it printed.

"Is this what it looks like?"

"No, you don't have the EZ Match. That's just a Cash4Life draw ticket. It's $2. When you get the EZ Match, it gives you five extra numbers to win instantly. It costs $3."

I can print these tickets myself from the machine at Country Mart. I imagine Young Lass's ticket terminal would work the same way. It gives buttons on the screen for which game, and then other buttons for EZ Match, or perhaps Power Play if it's a PowerBall ticket. Not rocket science, but if you're nervous and new and trying to hurry, it might be hard to concentrate. So I was calm in explaining it to her. She turned back to do it over, and got the ticket right. But here's the thing:

Young Lass had that first $2 Cash4Life ticket in her hand. She STARTED TO WAD IT UP!

SWEET GUMMI MARY! You can't do that with lottery tickets! The lottery is regulated within an inch of its life! So many safeguards against fraud. You can't just throw away a ticket that you misprinted, and then not have the money in your cash drawer! That is tantamount to STEALING! It took all my self-control not to yell, "STOP WADDING UP THAT TICKET!"

While she was preoccupied with printing the right ticket, Young Lass relaxed her hand. She laid the crumpled ticket on the edge of her lottery terminal. I really hope she asked her co-worker what to do with it! Most of them will just let it sit there until somebody asks for such a ticket, and then sell that one to them. I don't think they're supposed to buy it themself. I think there's a rule about buying lottery tickets from the place you work.

Anyhoo... a bit more thorough training would have made these two workers more self-assured. Maybe the Woman Owner of the Gas Station Chicken Store could hold seminars for prospective cashiers! Which nobody seems to be able to hire enough of these days.