The Life & Times of a Cashier

Next time whenever you walk into a store and pay at the cashier, please DO smile at them, they're job isn't as easy as you think......... but what if they don't smile back? err..... I don't know...... but chances are they will? heheh.....

Well, being a cashier for just a day gives you the insights to their life, maybe not fully, but partially is more than enough. It really ticks you off when those customers don't even bother looking at you, or don't smile when you give them the "thank you" with a polite smile........ Worst of all are those trying to act rich and give you that rich, snobbish face, ish.... sooooo wanna slap them.....

Hahaha!!! ok, I didn't really want to slap anyone, I'm just exaggerating, but there are such customers ok, but they didn't cause any problems, just weren't friendly.

Worked at Renaissance for the Estee lauder sales, and apparently it's only by invitation, so outsiders were not allowed..... But even so, these people were camping at the hotel since 2am!!! (or earlier) the sales isn't in another 6 hours....... I'm a worker there and I had to be there at 5.30am and I'm complaining, but they're willing to wait.... aihz, shoppers..... or shall I call them Shopping Warriors.......

The line outside the ballroom, think that's all? no no no...... look below:

Line

more lines

and lines until the hotel's entrance!!
(I really admire the hotel for tolerating all these, and being so supportive....)

But, being a worker there has it's own advantages:

1. We get first pick at the goodies =D without the crowd and all the snatching (I didn't have anything to buy though, I don't even use the products. Only got a couple of eye shadows for my mom. Maybe I should get orders from my aunt next time, heheh)
2. We had awesome food!!! Both breakfast and lunch were provided, at the hotel's coffee house. And just on food alone, if you were to pay as a guest, would come up to Rm70++. So, it was really worth it ^^ By the way, did I mention that they were both buffets? Yea, they were, so it's all you can eat!!!
3. Last but not least, we get paid~~ Not much, but the job was simple bagging job, and with all the benefits we get, yea, it's cool =D

Me, Jason and Bon were all working as cashier's assistant on that day, just had to help the cashier sort the merchandise and bag them for the customers. Tiring though, especially when they come with like 3-4 bags full worth of merchandise!! (bigger then your jusco/giant bags..... maybe the large jusco bag size, the really large one) The way they buy is as if these stuff are free..... and the total would come up to about.... RM3000? O.o I'd much rather buy a new laptop....

My cashier row. See the lady in the middle, the one looking down? She's my cashier...

Our tags

We reached there a little after 5am, and I didn't even slept that night, I was used to sleeping late T.T Anyhow, reached there, went up to the ballroom, *jeng~~* the whole line of que waiting outside, and I couldn't stop saying 'These people siao one ah!!" for the whole day.... So, we went inside, get to know our positions, get introduced to our cashier, and started shopping!! The items are really cheap, if you use the products. They had products from Estee Lauder, M.A.C., Origins, DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger, Clinique..... lots more. I could say all of them had more than 50% discount off, where a perfume would be around RM80-100+, make up RM30-70..... roughly around there. There are thing that cost more than RM100 as well, depending on the range and the set. But if I'm not mistaken almost all the items are less than RM200, with the cheapest at RM5, no wonder these people are crazy.......

Those are M.A.C. cosmetics going for RM72 for a pack of 3, eye/lip liner, eye shadow and lipstick (it varies, some comes with different stuff I think)

Estee Lauder, the middle one is nail polish, going for RM10

Hehe, us shopping ^^ I couldn't decide which eye shadow to get for my mom.....

The place before it's being crowd-filled

Had breakfast after that *yum*, 5 star breakfast, hehehe~~ It's been awhile since I had breakfast, at such hour of the day some more, 6.30am...... I'm supposed to still be asleep!! Anyhow, they had fried rice, sausages, ham, potato, scrambled eggs, etc. Mmmm *smack* *lick lips* ^^

Having breakfast =D

Our table after we finished eating, squeaky clean~~ *sparkle*

Went back to standby after eating, the sales started around 7.30am. We waited for quite some time before the first customer came to pay, and when they came, *stare* ahahahaha!! I guess it was a really awkward moment for them!! XD All 64 pairs of eyes staring back at them, wondering which counter they'll go to. (a note to all you shoppers out there: if you do not want to be stared at during a warehouse sale, never, I repeat, NEVER be the first customer to pay for the day) Well, you can't blame us, we had nothing to do, and we were all anticipating for the first customer to come out!!

The que line for the customers. I can see a customer sitting there sorting stuff, but she wasn't the only one, many others did the same, they just grab everything in sight and sort out after that, throwing out stuff they don't want =.=

After a few hours, I began to fully understand why those Shopping Warriors are willing to camp outside and wait for it to start, because if you are not amongst the first customers, you won't get what you want!! I could see counters clearing up at 10am, a mere 2 hours later. And it was like 2 more hours to lunch, 5 more hours to closing! I expected it to clear off during lunch, not after 2 hours of opening....

The crowd!!

Haha!! The guy: 'I see my picture being taken!!'

Work work work, then went for lunch after that. The first batch went at 12.15pm, and my batch went at 1pm. Thank goodness my baby and bon were working in the same row as me, as well as 1 of Jason's cousin, so we got to go together!! If we got separated, aikz..... lunch would be a boring one..... But, hehehe, as I've said, thank goodness XD Another 5 star meal. They had briyani, lots of sotong and prawn, macaroni, salad bar (with shrimp, yum~~), etc. Oh, they even have ice kacang!! But it was so so only, not enough taste @~@

Lunch voucher, see the price, RM45++!!

Went back to work, but nothing much to do already, just stand there and wait for customers to come. And my counter, what sad case, aihz..... No one would come to my counter. Mine was the second counter for the row and somehow, people would tend to either go to the first counter, which is before us (understandable) or the third counter!! Why would they skip our counter and go to the next?? Somehow my counter was like some blind spot or so, especially when there are customers at the first counter, it sort of blocks off the view. No one would notice it unless u wave at them, and even so sometimes they're too engrossed with their items that they don't notice.

And not to mention my row was the last one all the way to the end, so when the people come out, they would only notice the middle rows, not us. So my row was like.... *crik crik, crickets singing, newspaper flies pass~~* My colleagues and I ended up playing there, trying to wave every time we see customers coming out to prove that our feng shui was bad. End up, they look at us, stare stare stare, then walk to the middle row =.= (Point Proved)

So, we just standby and serve a few customers that somehow decided to come to our row, and most importantly MY COUNTER. Then, at 3pm, hehehehehe~~~ 'sau dong', time to close counter and pack up =D My counter's total came up to 48k (considered little.... psst, did I mention that my cashier was kind of lazy as well? she was sick also, so end up, curi ayam non stop, go toilet also longer than me, lunch also longer, then sometimes don't bother waving at customers to come also. Hear can pack up only, fast fast pack, some of the other counters still working one, aikz....) My baby's was 98k, his cousin's 60+k, and Bon's 75k.... imagine the total profit the company earned just for that day O.o millions......

Bon's total, see the very last amount? make that 76k =)

Oh well, great experience as a cashier, hahaha, at least I know what it's like now (not forgetting the free food~~). But in a way, it was quite fun working for the event also, some of the colleagues very 'sam pat', which is what makes it fun, hahaha!! Non stop gossiping about the customers. but it's not our fault, there are people losing credit cards, car keys, even kids!!! gosh, they're crazy when they shop, forgetting everything else, all they know how to do is *door opens* CHARGE!! Thus, the title 'Shopping Warrior'. Oh oh, and there's also a customer, buying a total of RM5700, and paying in cash!!! Brought out stacks and stacks of money, and most probably there's still a huge stack in his/her pocket. haha!!

*Picture credits to Bon, thanks for supplying me with the pics, if not this would turn out to be one long, boring, picture-less post. You should have passed the cam to us, then we could have taken your pic as well. =D