My first official job was working as a cashier at Kmart. I started this job as a Junior in high school. I quit when I started my Senior year because I had become very involved with school activities.
What I did
When a customer walked up to me, I smiled, asked “Did you have an exceptional visit today?” (that was what the company wanted), grabbed merchandise, moved the merchandise over a laser, and put the merchandise in a bag. When I wasn’t working the register, I would straighten and face (make things look pretty) the checkout aisles. If it was really slow, I would be sent to straighten and face the rest of the store.
Job Highlights
- Kmart gave me money to move things over a laser, put things in bags, and talk to people.
- One time, I had a Native American accuse me of being racist towards her people because I wouldn’t reduce the price of a vacuum from $299 to $99. A cashier doesn’t have that kind of power anyways!
- I made a total ass out of myself when I was the only person in the store to clap twice and yell, “BLUE LIGHT!” when Kmart brought back its Blue Light specials. Trust me, I was shaking after I did it, but then I didn’t care. It was fun to see the look on the customer’s faces!
- I got this job when I was 17, when I thought people chewing gum were instantly cooler. I asked the Human Resources Manager that hired me if I could chew gum at work. She told me no because it’s not professional. Later on in life, I had a waitress that was chewing gum, and I immediately knew what she meant.
Positive Takeaways
- Being a cashier was my first customer service position. I learned that I liked talking to people in a business environment and was fairly decent at it. This experience would go on to help me become a Flight Attendant.
- As weird as it sounds, a low paying job as my first job set the standard for any jobs down the line. I was making $6.25 an hour (started at $6.00), and this helped me appreciate future jobs more.
- Required no previous experience, but I left with plenty.
- I was given the opportunity to make Blue Light announcements. When I got this job, I was a bit of a shy guy, but this helped me climb out of that shell.
- I didn’t have any problems with management!
Negative Takeaways
- Pay wasn’t great, but cashier is an almost-no-skill job!
- Became monotonous and boring after a while.
Final Words on Cashier
This is a job for those looking for any experience and just down on their luck in finding a job. This isn’t something one should do for more than 6-12 months, unless one feels that one is born for it.
If you found this helpful or entertaining, please consider your support to BLoafX.com at the support page. Links to Amazon on this site are linked to my affiliate account with Amazon. Any link you click to Amazon that results in a purchase will generate a percentage to me.
Please subscribe to my blog. Every time I get a blog post, you’ll get an email notification! It’ll be a variety of posts, so maybe you’ll learn or see something new often! Thank you for your support!