Friday, August 24, 2007

Backwards Day

Yesterday didn't turn out at all like I had envisioned it would. I went in on a mission to get my four hours of register training done and over with in one stretch. I was only shot down right away:
"You don't get a drawer at first," our customer service manager said. "You need to be trained first, and then when you come down the second day, you'll get a drawer, and you'll ring for at least four hours."
Well, what the hell sense does that make? I already know how to run a dang cash register. God knows I did it enough when I worked at Dollar General. I was basically standing there watching one of our cashiers ring people out, knowing exactly what to do after about 5 minutes. Ok, can I have a drawer to work on this firsthand?

The funny thing about all this is that my coworker went for training last week, and they gave him a drawer right away. He's never had any cash register experience. So why do I have to be formally trained first and then given a drawer? This system makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

I was only down there for about a half hour before my department manager paged me to come upstairs and help her put stock away. We had a crap-load of it too. We had tons of pieces of clothing that needed to be put away and little room to do so.
I had only been working on this for about two hours before one of my coworkers came running over to the desk. She called out to my manager, and I happened to look up, and I saw blood just pouring off her face from underneath her left eye. I ran to the break room to get some ice while my department manager called for a first aid kit.

Apparently, what happened was that she was moving one of the metal arms that holds clothing on it, and it fell. It first hit her on the forehead, and then it hit her underneath her left eye and sliced her. It got really puffy by her eye and very fast. She was debating whether or not she needed to go somewhere. One of our managers suggested she take a break for an hour or so to decide. I offered to take her home if she needed. After filling out some paper work, she sat in the break room.

After about a half an hour, she came out, and my department manager was standing near her. She told me to take my coworker to the emergency room because she was starting to feel lightheaded. I ran to the break room, grabbed my keys and my sopping wet sweatshirt, and we went out to the car.
I ended up taking her to Hamot to get checked out. It was about 3:00 when we got there, and we didn't leave there until about 6:15. Luckily, she didn't break anything in her face, which is what the doctor was afraid of. They did a CAT scan, which revealed she has "a face made of rock." Unfortunately, she has a big goose egg on her forehead and a really black left eye. At least that's all she has to worry about though. The doctor told her to take a day off from work and just relax, so that's what she's doing today.
After we left, we stopped at Taco Bell, and I bought us something to eat because neither of us had eaten anything all day. I was getting my lunch break in somehow. Afterwards, I dropped her off at her house, and I stopped back at work to fill out a time edit and update everyone on her condition.

I think I may call her up to see how she's doing, but I'm glad everything was alright. I was worried she really injured herself.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought about you yesterday because I was in Dollar General. I went to get some stuff to get ready for seminary. I move to Pittsburgh next Wednesday.

Tam said...

If it were you and i, we would have walked in there pretending Jon beat you up and I'd be swearing up a storm. "I'll KILL that SOB if he ever lays another hand on you! Just wait till I see him" In all seriousness, I'm glad she's ok.

And hey! You didn't have to work but a few hours, least of all on a register! I think they want to "train" you because they know you have register experience and they're just using you for it. Just MHO.

Rachel said...

You're moving down to Pittsburgh, Brandon? What for? I wouldn't blame you anyway...but you should move back to Tennessee. I would. :)

Tam, the doctor actually asked if I got in a fight with her. He suggested that I hit her a little harder next time. I asked if I should take notes from him.
I think it would be funny if we did do that someday. God forbid I got a black eye...ick.

As for the registers, they're so screwball and half-assed backwards down there. Screw that. If you don't think I'm capable of putting a drawer in from the get-go, then I'll play along with not being capable to ever run a register. Touché!

Anonymous said...

My sister had a black eye as a toddler from some mishap. Her name is Susan (she goes by Su now), so there were jokes made. Mom joked that she had missed a chance to take a picture of her black-eyed Susan before it healed, and she would just have to give her another one. Danged if my sister didn't legitimately get another black eye from some other mishap, which freaked my mom out, because she thought it would make her look like an abusive Mom.

I am amused by the image of Tam and Rachel going into the emergency room, playing up looking like subjects from COPS or whatever reality show glorifies trashy behavior. ("Well, that does it! We ain't going to Uncle Daddy's again and I HAVE been made to look like a fool in front of the ENTIRE trailer park!") Please tell me that you would be wearing halter tops and gobs of blue eye shadow with an unfiltered cigarette dangling from an overly red lipsticked mouth while carrying out this performance.

Okay, I need to get a life.

-Mike

Rachel said...

You know, now that you suggest that, Mike, I think that would be the picture of perfection! We'd have to have our hair in order, as well: Greased to the hilt, dyed numerous times to a bleach blonde, and the image of being in a wind storm. We just need some embarrassing/regrettable tattoos to complete the look. ;)

Anonymous said...

I am going to seminary in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. I'm getting my masters degree so that I can get my Doctorate and become a teacher of Christian History specializing in the Reformation. My blog is basically just a bunch of thoughts, soon to be based on what I am learning and how I am changing. Its just to log my journey through seminary, since my undergrad changed me so much.

I'd love to move back to Tennessee, I almost applied to Vanderbilt, but they didn't get me the info until after the deadline (they must have heard of me).