My current job
After the hurly burly of the charity shop this new job is an absolute doddle. I'm a part time supervisor, part time cash office administrator in a supermarket chain outlet.
My regulation hours are made up of two shifts, one Sunday one Monday afternoon/evening. During Sunday I do the lot, bring in cash and count it while keeping the checkouts churning over. Our checkout operators are not permitted to override anything or do much that requires any amount of thought. Basically they're treated like trained monkeys. Pushing predefined buttons in a structured sequence produces a predicted outcome. Any deviation from the norm must be handled by a supervisor. So any mistake, however trivial must be handled by a supervisor.
Let us say, for example, that the checkout operator mistakenly selects the menu item for broccoli rather than sprouts. The checkout operator is not permitted (indeed has not the facility) to delete the erroneous item.
Instead he or she must call for a supervisor. Someone has to trot out with the manager key for the till, retrieve the wrong entry and delete it. The operators are trained to enter the correct item and continue processing purchases while waiting for the supervisor but if the mistake is made at the end rather than at the beginning of the customer's trolley load a delay is inevitable.
Similarly, some items not appearing in the computer which drives the menus on the checkouts must be keyed in by a supervisor.
Worst of all on some shifts is the fact that an underage operator may not sell alcohol. In the old days all she or he had to do was ask permission of an adjacent (over age) operator. Today that isn't possible; a supervisor must trot out with a key and process any alcohol purchase.
We're rather reliant on some shifts for student monkeys who are all too often underage and so the supervisor is back and forth constantly.
That's it. That's what I do as supervisor. I make sure we have sufficient checkouts open, balancing demand against staff levels and then I make entries our operators are not permitted to make.
Never mind the more complex stuff for one moment, such as handling the licensed goods, the TVs, set top boxes and recorders. Sales of such items must be reported to the licensing authority. That means paperwork which our operators cannot be trusted with. And refunds are not something even the most experienced operator can be trusted with.
Except that later at night, particularly on my Monday shift, when it makes no sense to have me sitting on my fattening arse watching the TV monitoring the checkouts and waiting for something to happen and I'm out on the shop floor learning a completely different aspect of what makes the shop tick I can't be the sole resource the operators have to fall back on so one of the more trusted shelf stackers is given a set of keys and the authority to do my job.
Banking is a completely different matter, though just as dull.
My regulation hours are made up of two shifts, one Sunday one Monday afternoon/evening. During Sunday I do the lot, bring in cash and count it while keeping the checkouts churning over. Our checkout operators are not permitted to override anything or do much that requires any amount of thought. Basically they're treated like trained monkeys. Pushing predefined buttons in a structured sequence produces a predicted outcome. Any deviation from the norm must be handled by a supervisor. So any mistake, however trivial must be handled by a supervisor.
Let us say, for example, that the checkout operator mistakenly selects the menu item for broccoli rather than sprouts. The checkout operator is not permitted (indeed has not the facility) to delete the erroneous item.
Instead he or she must call for a supervisor. Someone has to trot out with the manager key for the till, retrieve the wrong entry and delete it. The operators are trained to enter the correct item and continue processing purchases while waiting for the supervisor but if the mistake is made at the end rather than at the beginning of the customer's trolley load a delay is inevitable.
Similarly, some items not appearing in the computer which drives the menus on the checkouts must be keyed in by a supervisor.
Worst of all on some shifts is the fact that an underage operator may not sell alcohol. In the old days all she or he had to do was ask permission of an adjacent (over age) operator. Today that isn't possible; a supervisor must trot out with a key and process any alcohol purchase.
We're rather reliant on some shifts for student monkeys who are all too often underage and so the supervisor is back and forth constantly.
That's it. That's what I do as supervisor. I make sure we have sufficient checkouts open, balancing demand against staff levels and then I make entries our operators are not permitted to make.
Never mind the more complex stuff for one moment, such as handling the licensed goods, the TVs, set top boxes and recorders. Sales of such items must be reported to the licensing authority. That means paperwork which our operators cannot be trusted with. And refunds are not something even the most experienced operator can be trusted with.
Except that later at night, particularly on my Monday shift, when it makes no sense to have me sitting on my fattening arse watching the TV monitoring the checkouts and waiting for something to happen and I'm out on the shop floor learning a completely different aspect of what makes the shop tick I can't be the sole resource the operators have to fall back on so one of the more trusted shelf stackers is given a set of keys and the authority to do my job.
Banking is a completely different matter, though just as dull.
posted by Enyo @ 10:38 pm
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