A New Clerk

Ting

I grab my phone to see what the notification is.

“Urgh”

Then I put away my phone and continued my sleep.

Ting

I try not to be bothered.

Ting,, ting,, ting,,

I should be bothered. It motivates me to wake up and prepare for work. I'll be sure to wrap the beginning story for you. I am the supervisor at CVS. Yesterday, we accepted a 19-year-old girl to work as a part-time employee. She is the only part-timer who applies this month when we really need a new clerk. She fulfilled all the requirements. Therefore, today she is ready to get a brief training under my supervision. Even before it is started, she already has dozens of questions. “What should I wear?”, “What time should I be there?”, “How long should I work?”, “Is there any break time?”, etc.

This is always a problem when somebody asks, “Does it make sense? Is there any question?” The answer is “It makes sense, no question,” but only when they go home, and then everything becomes hard to understand, and many questions appear. Sadly, it happened to me. I asked the exact question, and she confidently said No question. She already ruined my expectations even before we started the first day.

It's 7 AM, and I'm alone here. There is no sign she has arrived after all those texts. Thirty minutes later, she comes. “Good morning,” she greets me. I answer, “Follow me.” I start the training before this place opens. I explain to her all she needs to know to put the new products in and take the old ones out. Eventually, I remind her, “Don’t forget to check the shelf consistently!” She says, “But I don’t remember that we have shells here.” “What do you mean? We have a lot of them here. This is a shelf,” I pointed to a shelf in front of us, and she could only say, “Oh... I see. Shelf...” This is the first time I feel annoyed by somebody who has misunderstood what I am saying. I used to be a very tolerant, humble, and kind person, but anytime people misheard me. But not this time.

I move to the storage and explain to her the boxes that she needs to know, and write down what’s inside them. I want to know how strong she is to move some of the boxes. “Anna, can you move this box for me, please?” I asked while clearing the way so she could move it. “Sure! Which one?” She seems eager to help me. “That one right in front of you,” assured her, where the box is. “Argh.. stubig!” she mumbled, and it was hard for me to catch it. It sounds like she just said stupid. Who’s stupid? Me? Because I asked her to move that box? “Sorry, what’d you say?” I asked her just in case it was a misunderstanding. She answers “Nothing.” I feel so bothered and curious, I compel her to repeat what she just said. “Oh, it’s really nothing. I just mumbled,” Her answer even worsens my first assumption that she just said I am stupid. I urged her, “No, please tell me what you just said.” “Which one?” she sounds confused. “The one before ‘nothing’, the one that you said while you lift that box,” “Oh… I know what you mean. I said, ‘is too big’. That’s my first time lifting something heavy in the last couple of weeks,” that’s what she explains to me. I am too stunned to continue this conversation.

I feel off today. Many things have happened beyond my control. The crowd in the cashier section makes my mind even more chaotic. I keep thinking about whether we should hire new staff or not. But then I realize that one Anna is enough to make my blood pressure rise. I cannot handle two Anna and repeat the same hiring staff procedure. It wastes my time. The person whom I keep thinking about comes to me without even noticing. She looks so concerned. “I’m sorry to interrupt your work. But can you help me for a second?” I answer “What?” “A customer asked me to help her find something. But I don’t know where to find it. I keep searching for it. It doesn’t even have a section to start with,” she says, asking me to follow her. “But can you wait? Don’t you see I have this line waiting for me?! What is she looking for?” I insisted. Then she says, “Earring.” I realize that something is missing here. “Give me a minute,” I ask other clerks to replace me and follow her. I am right. The customer is an elderly woman seeking hearing aids. Nobody will ever find earrings in this place if the actual stuff that she needs is hearing aids. I ended up helping the old lady and left the cashier section. I cannot just leave Anna by herself. Thus, I continue to accompany and encourage her to write down what she needs to know. Anna makes me drained and exhausted.

It is only an hour left before this place closes. No more customers come until a young girl comes and seems so confused. I asked Anna to help her. Likewise, test her memory of all things that she should know. I am only 10 feet away from them, so I can hear what they are talking about. “Excuse me, would you like to show me where I can find Voltaren?” the young girl asked. Just as I predicted, Anna answers, “Sorry, what did you say?” “I am looking for Voltaren,” the young girl repeated. Anna looked even more confused than the customer, “Boltaren? I never heard that before. What is that for?” “It’s for arthritis pain. It’s a gel and has an orange and silver package,” explained the young girl. “I see... please follow me,” answered Anna.

At this point, I have finished making up my mind. I will open the recruitment for new clerks.