Another Job - Cashier Experience at Target
Last Thursday I got a chance to work as a cashier in a Target store. This was an opportunity for the software folks to use the software they work on. I work on the Point of Sale systems and for the first time I was able to use the software in production.



While it was a great experience to use the software, I came to know how it is doing another job in which you don't have the comforts of a cubicle, chairs and tables. I was standing for 3 hours doing the same thing again and again
1) Welcome the guest with a smile.
2) Say "Hi, How are you? Did you find everything OK today?."
3) Scan merchandise....Keep scanning merchandise....Sometimes heavy merchandise..
4) Bag the stuff..Keep bagging..Remove hangers from clothes..Complicated hangers from ladies undergarments. Its easier to solve a quadratic equation than removing those complicated contraptions.
5) Complete the payment..Give back change if they paid by cash
6) Give the receipt to the guest and smile again..And say "Have a nice day.."
Now put this in a loop that ran for 3 hours...Man it was tiring..


This time I was able to chat up with some other regular and experienced cashiers. They said some customers were not friendly when the software would reject their checks or won't accept their cards. They would start shouting at the cashier. The challenge it seems was to smile and serve the next customer just after going thru such an experience.

I was able to observe how friendly the cashiers at Target were to customers. They would talk to customers making some comments about any stuff they have bought. or how nice the day was.

All customers are not the same. Some have different requirements. An old lady brought 4 items to my lane and while I was about to check out her stuff, she told me she wanted them in 3 transactions. She was to pay the first 2 items by Cash, the third one with a card and the fourth one was for her friend who buying something else in the next lane...
Another customer bought a pair of sunglasses and asked me if I could remove the tag from it so that she could wear it right away.

Some of the stuff in Target is huge and heavy. Customers need assistance to take those things to their cars. In such a situation, cashiers can flip a switch which makes their lane light to blink. This means the cashier or the customer needs assistance and someone comes up within seconds to help.

Some customers forget to take their card back, or the stuff they just bought. Its the cashier's job to keep these things which customers forget. All this while serving the next customer. This was surely a tough job.

The folks at Target sure have some fun at work too. The Guest Services Team Leader had a Bingo game going on and she invited me to join in. She would come to the lanes and read out the Bingo numbers when not many customers were around. A nice way to have some fun at work.

I started work at 8:30 AM and 3 hours went by in no time. Served 60 customers. Got tired. But I had a lot of takeaways..
Learnt what it is like to work another job.
Leant what it is to use a software in production.
Learnt the need for making software that's fast and easy to use.
Learnt what is meant by superior customer service.

Will I do it again? Yes. Surely...May be 4 hours next time. Will I like that as a job? Don't think so!!! :)

I am waiting for big time organized retailing in India to start. Guess I might get to do something more exciting in a few years especially on the store floor and in customer service.