April 26, 2023 –
I arrived early for my first day on the job. Things did not go well. As I sat in the big Sears parking lot, I waited for other employees to arrive to see where you entered the building. Once inside, I observed the other employees go to a time clock and “punch in.” So, I found my timecard and punched it in. I did not know the restroom’s location when I needed to take a bio-break on that first day. I had to ask.
I went to the farm and fence department as a salesperson. No one else was there. I spent the next five minutes looking at the products.
When the first customer arrived, I approached him, introduced myself, and asked, “How can I help you”? In a college sales course, I learned that the customer was interested more in how I could help them than what I knew, which was very little.
Once we found the product he was looking for, we headed to the cash register, where one of the other sales associates offered to ring up the sales. I was thankful, as I had no cash register training. The other sales assistants were helpful all day in ringing up my sales. It wasn’t until the following day, when my department manager asked me why I had no sales, that I realized the other salesman had not helped me; they had allowed themselves to my sales by ringing up the transactions using their numbers, not mine.
The first day on the job went differently than planned. But I learned things that would serve me later when I hired people. I told new hires how to get into the building and instructed them on using the time clock and the cash register.
The best thing I told them was the location of the restrooms.