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xiphiasIt actually wasn't THAT bad. Well, not all of it was that bad.
Let me first say that changing shifts in a 24-hour convenience store/gas station seems a little like changing a fan belt with the engine running. Y'know, it would be really EASY to take inventory of the cigarettes and lottery tickets, for instance, if people didn't keep BUYING them while you're trying to COUNT them.
Let me second say that the person I was on shift with is a very sweet person and is not real bright. And there's nothing quite like sharing a shift with someone who's just having trouble grasping some of the fundamental concepts of working in a gas station/convenience store. Nothing so obvious that I could use it as a dot_cattiness post; the things she's having trouble grasping are actually pretty non-intuitive. Like exactly how you keep track of the fact that you paid money out of the cash register to someone who just cashed in a winning lottery ticket -- you don't. You actually don't. The lottery machine that reads the scratch tickets keeps track of all of that for you and you just deal with it at the end of the shift. I admit that that's NOT actually an easy concept to grasp, but still. . . .
No, the bit which was really getting me was the fact that, as she was copying down inventory, she didn't seem to understand when a number was just Wrong.
So, scratch tickets are sold in "books". They're each one long connected sheet of perforated thingies. They're numbered consecutively; you sell the highest numbered one first. So, at the beginning of your shift, you write down the number of the next ticket in every book. Then, at the end, you write down the number of the next ticket in every book. Then you subtract the second number from the first, and that tells you how many tickets you've sold. Pretty simple, right?
The thing is, it seems like most of the other people around me deal with the numbers fine abstractly, but don't have the ability to determine when a Number Just Looks Wrong. . .
Me: "Um, if that number was right, then we would have sold 150 of those tickets."
Her: "Well, yeah."
Me: "There's no way we sold 150 of those tickets."
Her: [subtracts a number that's 150 less than another number from the other number and gets 150 again.] "No, it's 150."
Me: "Yes, I'm aware it's 150. I'm just saying that at least one of those numbers is wrong."
Our register was over a thousand dollars off.
I went home two hours after my shift, after identifying two or three major places where we had errors, but not finding all of them. I just eventually wrote a note saying, basically, I worked on this for two hours and here's some of the places where we had errors, but I'd like to go over it with a manager and figure out what went wrong.
Oh, did I mention that this was the first time either of us had ever tried to take inventory or do closing paperwork, and we just had it sort of briefly explained to us?
Other things I learned, besides my coworkers are innumerate, and our managers have no foresight: I probably shouldn't drink coffee. I think I drank most of a pot of coffee. I never drink coffee. I have no tolerance for 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine. I have genuine amphetemine reactions to it. Most of the serious body aches I've been having, and chronic fatigue sorts of things went away. I don't know what this means about whatever it is that I've got, but maybe I need to start having regular doses of caffeine in order to deal with whatever it is? I'm NOT making that call myself; I've got a doctor's appointment coming up and I'll mention it to him.
I noticed myself having serious physical, mental, and emotional effects on coffee -- I was not entirely pleased by them. Although they weren't entirely negative. Maybe I'll drink some booze now. Mixing stimulants and depressants -- that's a good idea, right? It's just like freebasing, only legal! Considering my lower tolerance for stimulants and depressants, that would probably actually be genuinely dangerous for me.
I think it would be interesting for people who know me well to see me on this kind of dosage of caffiene, see how my personality changes. I can't quite judge it from inside, although I do note that I'm shorter of temper, and far less empathic, which means that drinking coffee in large amounts ameliorates some of my physical problems at the cost of the things which people tend to like and value about me.
Let me first say that changing shifts in a 24-hour convenience store/gas station seems a little like changing a fan belt with the engine running. Y'know, it would be really EASY to take inventory of the cigarettes and lottery tickets, for instance, if people didn't keep BUYING them while you're trying to COUNT them.
Let me second say that the person I was on shift with is a very sweet person and is not real bright. And there's nothing quite like sharing a shift with someone who's just having trouble grasping some of the fundamental concepts of working in a gas station/convenience store. Nothing so obvious that I could use it as a dot_cattiness post; the things she's having trouble grasping are actually pretty non-intuitive. Like exactly how you keep track of the fact that you paid money out of the cash register to someone who just cashed in a winning lottery ticket -- you don't. You actually don't. The lottery machine that reads the scratch tickets keeps track of all of that for you and you just deal with it at the end of the shift. I admit that that's NOT actually an easy concept to grasp, but still. . . .
No, the bit which was really getting me was the fact that, as she was copying down inventory, she didn't seem to understand when a number was just Wrong.
So, scratch tickets are sold in "books". They're each one long connected sheet of perforated thingies. They're numbered consecutively; you sell the highest numbered one first. So, at the beginning of your shift, you write down the number of the next ticket in every book. Then, at the end, you write down the number of the next ticket in every book. Then you subtract the second number from the first, and that tells you how many tickets you've sold. Pretty simple, right?
The thing is, it seems like most of the other people around me deal with the numbers fine abstractly, but don't have the ability to determine when a Number Just Looks Wrong. . .
Me: "Um, if that number was right, then we would have sold 150 of those tickets."
Her: "Well, yeah."
Me: "There's no way we sold 150 of those tickets."
Her: [subtracts a number that's 150 less than another number from the other number and gets 150 again.] "No, it's 150."
Me: "Yes, I'm aware it's 150. I'm just saying that at least one of those numbers is wrong."
Our register was over a thousand dollars off.
I went home two hours after my shift, after identifying two or three major places where we had errors, but not finding all of them. I just eventually wrote a note saying, basically, I worked on this for two hours and here's some of the places where we had errors, but I'd like to go over it with a manager and figure out what went wrong.
Oh, did I mention that this was the first time either of us had ever tried to take inventory or do closing paperwork, and we just had it sort of briefly explained to us?
Other things I learned, besides my coworkers are innumerate, and our managers have no foresight: I probably shouldn't drink coffee. I think I drank most of a pot of coffee. I never drink coffee. I have no tolerance for 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine. I have genuine amphetemine reactions to it. Most of the serious body aches I've been having, and chronic fatigue sorts of things went away. I don't know what this means about whatever it is that I've got, but maybe I need to start having regular doses of caffeine in order to deal with whatever it is? I'm NOT making that call myself; I've got a doctor's appointment coming up and I'll mention it to him.
I noticed myself having serious physical, mental, and emotional effects on coffee -- I was not entirely pleased by them. Although they weren't entirely negative. Maybe I'll drink some booze now. Mixing stimulants and depressants -- that's a good idea, right? It's just like freebasing, only legal! Considering my lower tolerance for stimulants and depressants, that would probably actually be genuinely dangerous for me.
I think it would be interesting for people who know me well to see me on this kind of dosage of caffiene, see how my personality changes. I can't quite judge it from inside, although I do note that I'm shorter of temper, and far less empathic, which means that drinking coffee in large amounts ameliorates some of my physical problems at the cost of the things which people tend to like and value about me.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-01 10:57 pm (UTC)Hey, if you display enough clue around that place for long enough maybe they'll make you a manager.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-01 11:29 pm (UTC)That's precisely what I'm afraid of.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-02 04:45 am (UTC)I'm sorry to hear that you are surrounded by idiots.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-02 05:12 am (UTC)Of course your first instinct -- mention it to your doctor, is the right one, IMO ... still, interesting ...
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-02 07:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-02 07:56 am (UTC)I guess it's just another example of everyone's chemistry being slightly different.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-02 08:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-02 08:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-05 07:30 am (UTC)Point, counterpoint.
Date: 2003-09-02 12:17 pm (UTC)For me, Coffee /Caffeine == Evil Mind Bending Yuckiness
Date: 2003-09-02 02:44 pm (UTC)Extremely odd - Coca Cola does NOT have this effect on me, and dark Turkish Coffee also has much less of an effect. So it may not be the Caffeine itself. Either that, or it's all in my head ;-)
In regards to some of the comments:
Date: 2003-09-07 08:13 am (UTC)Caffeine reacts differently in different people. Some folks can't sleep after having it for a few hours, others NEED the caffeine to get to sleep (it allows them to focus - much like the ADD reaction folks were talking about).
Mixing Depressants & Stimulants : Easy Way for this Ian, Drink Irish Coffee (Make sure to get it with both the milk and the whip cream). Hangovers are non-existent for most folks who drink this combo, and the alcohol is nowhere as fast acting or harsh.