|
(Days Gone By...) Part 1: Target |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, it's been a reasonably long time since my last journal entry, and I've got some vaild excuses/reasons, but it doesn't make it any better to me that I've been so behind. Maybe when I look back on this I'll be able to justify it, but as of now I still feel bad that because of time restrictions, along with just being plain exhausted, I just haven't had the time. Which is why I'm seizing the opportunity to do so now.
As of late, I began my first job as well as my first year in college. This, along with the necessary hours for sleep have been eating up any of my time, and it's been difficult to cope with the lack of sleep as well as the demands that need to be met academically and financially. Work, while it is enjoyable to an extent because of my co-workers and my need for attention and social interaction, hasn't been easy to say the least. It's tough, I work hours I'd rather not, and days where I don't have to go to school but I still have to go to work, I question my reasoning for having to travel such a distance to get to my job. I usually need to be out the door at least 3 hours beforehand if I'm coming straight from my house, whereas I need to be leaving the campus with at least an hour to spare so I have enough time to sit down for a minute while I change and start work.
I do get downtrodden, but every time I do I try to think of the new friendships I've made at Target and of course the monetary aspect of my situation, and I have the resolve to keep going, which is nice, because when I think of what I'm doing and how this is going to be paying off sooner or later it gives me courage and the strength to keep going. Of course I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but it gets to me when I see other people having it easier to me, and working at a Target in Summerlin is exactly what I don't need in those terms.
Working in retail is a big shock when it comes to dealing with the outside world, knowing you have ways of dealing with things. I think for the most part what sets me off about customers, or "guests" as Target prefers to call them, is the attitude. Now, I'm not so harsh as to deny that some people can have off days, and sometimes it isn't their fault something bad happened or a mistake was made, but when you're in a social environment like a department store, or a business for that matter, you really see people's true colors, and the ugliness inside people.
Maybe it's because they think that because we're employees for some nobody store like Target that we're inferior to them, or that because we can't fight back in these terms without being fired they feel they can get away with being nastier to people than usual. Whatever the matter, I think maybe even the fact that they're probably much better off financially than us, which is why we work there. Another redeeming factor is children. I don't think I've ever had this much ill will towards children, or even teenagers for that matter. To say that some of these kids are spoiled would be an understatement. You could look at them and realize they wouldn't work in a place like this if their lives depended on it.
But enough of the problems, Target isn't all bad. Like I've said, the "Team Members" are what get me through the day. First off, Carlos, my trainer, has been a real friend to me, and he doesn't realize how much I appreciate it. Even now, that I work in departments by myself without his help or supervision, he still comes to check on me just to see what I'm up to. I think I may be a friend to him too now.
Alyssa has been a welcome relief too, seeing her and making her laugh is worthwhile. In fact I think lately I've been able to bring smiles to people a lot easier now that I'm comfortable in the environment. Helen is like that too. She's pretty old and even has diabetes, but making a joke about a certain "guest" or how people can be how they are seems to let her loosen up a little bit. Jennifer is so awesome too, she's pregnant with twins right now and we're all pretty excited, she guided me through a lot of things on my first day and she's always so patient and understanding, I'll never forget when she reprimanded me and then read my mind about the situation.
One customer was look for a certain color body pillow, and when I went to look, the only one I could find was this green colored one I hated, so on the walkie-talkie I radioed back that we only had this "ugly green" one left. Believe me, no matter what you say, it was an ugly color for a pillow, I don't think anyone would have had bed spreads to match this green, and if they did, then they had an ugly bed too. Jennifer quickly told me (not on the walkie) that you're obviously not supposed to say things like that over the radio because it could deter a guest from buying an item. Of course at that point it made perfect sense, but I freaked out and how she said you could get in trouble for that.
One of my biggest fears in these situtaions lately, especially in my job, is disappointed or displeasing my higher-ups, I want to do anything I can to avoid any looking down since this is my first job and I'm on my trainee "probationary period". Looking back I'm sure it wouldn't have been that big of a deal if I'd been talked to about it, but my heart was in my throat the rest of the night. Jennifer spotted me later and told me to stop worrying about what I had said.
I asked her if it was that obvious I was still worrying about it. She told me no, but then she said that it just kind of showed because it seemed like I would worry about something like that because I'm such a nice kid. That made me feel so much better I wanted to hug her. It was nice to hear that I was coming off as a good person to other people there, I needed that to get by.
Another matter is my name. It seems like so many of my co-workers have trouble with my name they're begging me for a way to shorten it or make it easier. This sort of deal makes me laugh and inside pisses me off like normal. I mean, ok maybe it's just because it is my name, but I really don't see what's so hard about saying it. It's not that difficult, it's not like they have to spell 'Emiliano'. So several people have already tried to come up with some nicknames, of which I do not approve of in the slightest.
The first being Greg, he came up with "Big Easy", because "I'm big, my name starts with an E, and I'm easy-going." The second one was from Sandy, a lady I worked with and opened on the weekends. She wants to call me "Bear" and currently does, because "I'm like a big teddy bear". Just for reference, I like Big Easy better, but this is only if like I had to choose between one or the other. It's funny because they would ask me if I had any nicknames, and I immediately lied and said I didn't, that my other friends for the most part had no trouble with my name. No such luck.
But to me, I see all of these things as just one big experience to learn from. For the people that give me trouble and make me want to run headfirst into them, I calmly think up comments in my head later on and decide that I shouldn't worry about it. I don't really know these people, and I won't likely see them again, and if I do I won't remember them.
Also, I have to cherish what little childhood I still have left. By curfew law, they have to let me leave the store at 10 p.m. Once I turn 18 however, I have to stay until everything is done with. Anyone know where I can get a discounted Fountain of Youth?
End of Part 1.
(Days Gone By...) Part 2: College; Coming Soon.
Edible Substance · Mon Sep 11, 2006 @ 10:22pm · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|