The truth is that I too was a reluctant ShopRiter. I went around to numerous businesses at the end of the summer before junior year to look for a job, but no one would hire a 16 year-old with no experience. I had never in my life worked anywhere before. So finally I went to ShopRite, filled out an application, and scheduled an interview with the Human Resources Manager. Why ShopRite? It fit the 2 requirements I was looking for in a job. #1-They would hire me despite having no experience anywhere, and #2- it was within walking distance from my house, which was important because I could not yet drive so I would need to transport myself to work on foot on weekdays after school. This was in the middle of September. I interviewed and was hired as a bagger, at a starting rate of $5.50/hr ($6.50/hr on Sundays) with a pay raise guaranteed every 6 months. I went to my orientation on October 2 at the ShopRite of Garden State Pavilions (the one next to the now defunct Racetrack). It was 4 hours of boredom, filling out paperwork and watching movies about working in a supermarket environment. However, one of the papers I signed was an agreement to join the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. (My membership in the Union has helped to shape my political views. Find out what President Bush is doing for American workers. See Entry for 1/27 for more.)
One week later was the big day- my training as a bagger, also conducted at the Racetrack ShopRite. It mostly consisted of real-life bagging. But first I had to demonstrate proficiency in a bagging simulation on a computer program. I passed with flying colors. After the training day, which was a Wednesday, I was all set to begin at Marlton ShopRite. Friday October 11, 2002 was my first day working there. This is the day I personally consider to be my first day at ShopRite. I bagged for several hours, and returned the next day to do the same. I received my very first paycheck the following week, netting about $70 after deductions. This was a huge sum of money to me at the time. I had never held a job before, so the only time I had ever had this much money at once was around the holidays in December or around my birthday. But this was different- I had worked for it, so I felt much more a sense of accomplishment.
For the next week I was scheduled as a bagger, so I would get home from school at 3pm on weekdays and leave the house at 3:30 for the half-hour walk to ShopRite. My shifts were scheduled either from 4-9 or from 4-10 on weekdays. At night my parents would pick me up from work, and they drove me on weekends, but weekday afternoons I had to walk. My third week though, I was in for a surprise. On the schedule posted in the employee breakroom my name was listed, with the word “Carriage” over it. I asked Rich, “What does Carriage mean.” His response “That’s carts buddy.” My new task was to spend 5 to 6 hours outside pushing the shopping carts from the parking lot up to the front of the store. At the end of October the weather was pretty nice, but little did I know that the winter of 2002-03 would be one of the coldest in recent memory.
I was now a ShopRite cart-pusher, working five days per week, outside for up to 6 hours at a time. As the months advanced, the temperature dropped. By December the temperature would be down to about 20 degrees by only 7 pm. And my shifts lasted until at least 9, and usually until 10 at night. The windy nights and rainy days were the worst. Wandering around a cold, windy, dark parking lot outside of ShopRite was not the most enjoyable way to spend a day. And when it was raining and cold, I still had to be outside pushing the carts. My gloves would get soaked through in minutes, and I could feel the rain seeping down inside my jacket. There weren’t a lot of rainy days, but when it rained, I was extraordinarily uncomfortable for a whole shift. At least I was already adjusted to the cold by the half-hour walk just to get to work and stay outside with the carts. Somehow I managed to fit in all my schoolwork around my job, working about 28 hours per week. I stopped going to the cafeteria for lunch, instead heading to the Drafting Room during my 5th Period lunch and starting my homework there.
I continued to show up for work, on time every day, performing my duties without complaint and to the best of my ability. It certainly got very tiring at times, but I stuck with it. Besides pushing carts, my other responsibilities included emptying the trash cans in front of the store and throughout the parking lot, and sweeping up trash in front of the store-which mostly consisted of cigarette butts tossed carelessly on the ground by other employees. I did cut my hours back a little, working 4 days per week for a total of about 22 hours, starting about the beginning of December. I met a Mexican alien (no comment on his immigration status) who also pushed the carts with me, and he spoke no English at all. So I was able to practice my Spanish, and of course he taught me all the best words. My Spanish grade improved because of this, and I really improved my fluency. This routine continued through January, until the last week of that month, when I was rewarded for my perseverance with a promotion to cashier. Besides a pay raise to $6.75/hour (7.75 with the extra dollar on Sundays), the biggest benefit was the improved working conditions. Working inside all the time was a huge deal to me, someone who had been outside in the rain, the wind, the cold, for 4 months. There was just one little problem with this. I would need to return to the Racetrack ShopRite for my week of cashier training.
Being only 16 and unable to drive, I faced the daunting problem of transporting myself to the other ShopRite, with my parents away for the week I was training. They were in California at a business conference, so I had no one to drive me down Route 70 to get to my training. Not to worry, I was able to take the NJ Transit bus, picking it up at the hospital on the corner of Brick Road and 73, and taking it to my destination. NJ Transit –Bus Route #406. There were 5 of us in my cashier training class, and this time the training included much more intensive computer work than before. I had to practice and learn how to work a cash register in the computer simulation. Now I can work the register with my eyes closed, but at the time it was not an easy task to learn. I’m proud to say that I was the valedictorian, graduating at the top of my class and completing the training with minimal problems along the way. It was time to return to the Marlton ShopRite, this time as a cashier.
It was the end of January, and I remember distinctly that my first day working “on register” as we call it was the same day as the Eagles NFC Championship game against Tampa Bay. I had this goofy plan to wear my headphones under my shirt so I could listen to the game while I worked, but of course it didn’t work. My walkman got no reception inside of ShopRite. So the transfer inside proved to be a double-edged sword on that day, but of course it was worth it to be inside. I was really nervous to start on register, and for the beginning of my shift I bagged, as I had done for 4 months previously on those rare occasions I was scheduled inside as a bagger (of course I primarily was scheduled outside with the carts). I observed the cashier I was bagging for very carefully, watching what he (or she-I don’t remember who it was) was doing, trying to observe the behavior for any little hints that might help me when it was my turn to go on. About an hour in, the supervisor told me to go in to the Countout Room and count out a till (cash drawer) with another cashier who would train me. I don’t remember who trained me, but months later when I was talking to other cashiers about their first day on register, Mary would insist that it was she who had trained me. So I counted out all the cash that I would start with making sure the total in the till began with exactly $150. For their first month on register every cashier is on a probation called “Cash Control,” meaning that he or she must count the till at the beginning of a shift to make sure there is exactly $150, and again at the end of their shift to account for all the cash handled on that shift. If a cashier makes a mistake after they are removed from Cash Control then they are placed back on Cash Control (I have never been back on Cash Control since my first month of being a cashier). Of course repeated mistakes, having too little or even too much cash in a till at the end of a shift, will result in the employee’s termination. The time just seemed to fly by. Normally a bagging or cart shift would seem to drag on forever, but I was so engrossed, concentrating on trying to do everything I had been trained to do, that the time went by without my even noticing. “Did you remember to hand the customer their receipt? No, better work on remembering next time.” “Did you ask for their Price Plus® card? Make sure you do at the beginning of an order.” So many things to remember. Man, this job is harder than it looks.
For the first two days I was on register I had an experienced cashier to train me, but after that I was on my own. It was simply a matter of time and experience, but eventually I mastered the job, and developed my own individual techniques that I use. One special technique I’m willing to share is that I fold the customers’ Catalina coupons (the red ones that print out during an order) and receipt into a tiny roll and hand the little roll to them. Most are very thankful, especially the ones with long receipts for over a hundred items and lots of Catalina coupons. I can now cashier with my eyes closed, but it was tougher than it looks to learn. So after I got off Cash Control after the first month, I was able to perform other tasks that cashiers also are responsible for. I did returns, which means that I was the one who took the blue cart around the store and put the [unopened] items returned by customers back on the shelves. I also did damages, which is putting items that cannot be sold into special areas in the back of the store so that the store can get some credit for the damaged items. Bringing up bags from the back, both plastic and paper, and collecting the trash from the other cashiers’ trash cans is also part of the job. Leveling is another important job. Have you ever wondered how all the bread or soda bottles or other items look perfectly aligned on the store shelf? Yup, employees are paid to align the items so they look neat. It’s a really boring part of the job. And collecting coupons- stuffing them into a bag and bringing them to the Countout room. The store is reimbursed by manufacturers for the face value of all coupons used by customers. Of course, bagging for other cashiers is also part of the job. I had done all these jobs as a bagger, but now I was getting paid $1.25/hr more to do it, and I was always inside. It was late February of junior year, and I was working the 4-10 shift on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. And now I looked forward to coming to work, I got to know some real nice kids from Cherokee, and some kids from East that I didn’t know at school. The after school shift is almost all East and Cherokee kids. But I was still walking to work on weekdays. Until March 14 that is. Friday March 14, 2003 I got my driver’s license, and I drove to work the next day, and have had the Grand Prix to drive to work since then.
My career had advanced, and I was now traveling to work in style in my lovely Grand Prix. It couldn’t get any better than this, right? I continued to work hard, and in April 2003 I was nominated for Champion of the Month but did not win, and in May 2003 I won the Champion of the Month Award from Marlton ShopRite. The store awarded me a $50 American Express travelers’ cheque that I could use anywhere, $5 of store credit for every day I worked in the month of June (the Award is given at the beginning of the next month, so I received the May 2003 award at the beginning of June), a neat certificate that put my achievement in writing (I may frame it someday, probably not), a laminated plastic sign with my name on it that was posted in the Countout Room and on the bulletin board next to Register 1 for all the customers to see, and the handshake and personal congratulations of the then Marlton Human Resources Manager (who I think was since promoted to a higher position at another ShopRite owned by Supermarkets of Cherry Hill, Inc.). And Rich announced to our whole US History 2A class that “guess what, someone in our class is Champion of the Month at ShopRite.” And he told everyone it was me, everyone congratulated me. And Rich called me “Champ” for a while afterward, which I don’t mind at all.
Once a cashier gets really good at cashiering, he or she can train other new cashiers. I have trained at least six, but I’m not sure exactly how many. I guess it’s good that I’ve trained so many I can’t even remember how many I’ve trained. The store began to be renovated in late spring of 2003, and the new section opened up about September. The interior shelves were all torn down, and new shelves were installed in a different arrangement. This happened over Thanksgiving. The new Meat Department opened in mid-January of 2004, and the new Seafood and Dairy Departments are nearing completion as well. Once the central heat is installed and turned on (I can’t imagine who didn’t think it would be needed in the winter), the store will be pretty much done. I kept the same schedule over the summer, but in September of senior year I cut back my hours more, so I now work the 4-10 shift on Sundays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. This is a good schedule. I like the 4-10 so I don’t have to get up early, and 18 hours per week isn’t too much. In July I got my raise to $7.00/hour, and after I had been working there a year, in October 2003, I got my Sunday raise to +$2.00 on Sundays, so I now make $9.00/hour on Sundays. I also receive health insurance benefits after a year of employment at Marlton ShopRite, which Mom is happy about because the store insurance plan is going to pay for the new glasses I needed after Nemerof broke my old ones. And if you’re curious, I later found out that the reason the store hired me as a bagger but then sent me outside to push carts is that baggers were paid $5.50/hour and cart-pushers were paid $6.00/hour. So it was cheaper to hire me as a bagger and send me outside to push carts. I don’t harbor any ill-will toward the store because of this, it’s just simple business economics.
As I write this it’s been 16 months and counting since I began working at ShopRite. I’m still employed at the first job I’ve ever held, now making $7.25/hour ($9.25/hour on Sundays). And every day I go to work I’m inside, and I perform a variety of tasks as the utility employee. Whether it’s cashiering, bagging, trash, coupons, returns, damages, bags, supervising self-checkout machines, stocking dairy, leveling, training new cashiers, Store Security, or any other indoor task that may be required. And I also call maintenance over to where we need them because I speak Spanish (not fluently, but well enough to hold an intelligent conversation, due to my long hours of practice while I was pushing carts) and the maintenance staff is mostly all non-English speaking Mexicans. I’m generally happy about going to work, and I don’t do it for the money anymore. I now continue to do it for the life experience. There are 2 kinds of people in the world; Workers and Owners. I’m a Union man. The Union fights for the Workers’ rights and protects the Workers. Someday I hope to be an Owner. But whatever jobs I hold or careers I embark on or businesses I own in the future, I hope that I never forget those frigid nights wandering around a dark parking lot, starting out in life as a humble ShopRite cart-pusher.
