the thrill of training and the agony of de feet

[owlmoose]

So I now have two days of Borders employeedom under my belt. I spent the first day learning the basics of the cash register and of shelving. Today I received more cashier training and practice helping customers as well as lessons in using the computer system and the phone. I'm liking it so far, although it was never super busy -- we'll see if customer stress gets to me when they're piling up three thousand deep. Shelving was the best. The inventory control person who trained me kept talking about all these shifting projects that she wanted to do, and I had to restrain myself from volunteering to do all of them. I shelved for three years as a student library employee at Bryn Mawr, and I had forgotten how much I liked it. It's a kind of puzzle, figuring out where all the books go and then arranging everything to make them fit, but it's not terribly mentally or physically demanding. Whenever I was stressed out about a paper or life in general at school, I'd go to the library, put on my headphones, and just shelve for a couple of hours. It was a great way of feeling useful without having to think too hard. I find it very zen. I wonder if I can ask to spend at least a significant portion of my day putting books on the shelves rather than working the register.

As I was warned, my feet are definitely tired. The first day, I wore my Ecco ankle boots. They were fine, but not really supportive enough. So I picked up some new shoes today. They were pricey (like, maybe there goes my first paycheck), but I think it will be worth it once I've broken them in.

Anyway. So far so good! Now I get a couple of days off. My real test begins on Saturday -- a full day of work, and the holiday shopping season has begun.