The day is coming to an end, the dinner rush is ramping up. You join the crowd of irritated, hurrying, just-off-from-work people. You unload your items onto the conveyor belt, looking up as the checker greets you. You relax. Oh, it’s her, you think. I know she’s going to make this a good experience for both of us.
That’s the kind of relief I strive to provide as a cashier. To be the one people know will serve them and do so cheerfully. Even though I’m not pursuing a career in customer service, the skills I’ve learned and the human behavior I’ve observed are invaluable for understanding the market and how the world runs.
Here are 3 of those mindsets.
1. Conversation intuition
As a cashier, you have to read the room. Each customer will have a different tone, energy, and expectation. I’ve learned how to identify the best way to serve a customer in a short period, whether that’s inquiring about their day, staying silent, or including them in a more interactive conversation.
It’s the beginning of your day–you have to get your shopping done, and you’re bracing for an interaction you don’t want to be having. The checker smiles at you and asks if you found everything okay. She completes your order efficiently and warmly while leaving you to yourself. Wow, you think. It’s like she knew I needed something simple.
By anticipating what a customer requires, I can better serve them in the way they need me to.
2. Patience and stability
People are impatient. While checking, you can’t afford to be the one who is in a hurry. Both parties involved feeling rushed will only result in it taking longer. With patience comes the ability to maintain my sense of rhythm and stability, without being shaken by the state of the customer.
Have you ever been flustered at a register and been comforted by a calm response? Maybe you kept dropping your card, or you have a question about a price. Possibly you gave the wrong coupon to the checker. Odds are in this situation, it improves the atmosphere if you can trust that it will be made right, and the checker will stay levelheaded.
3. Teamwork appreciation
Having a team and working together is paramount when in the field of retail. You are each other’s first line of defense, the ones answering the call for backup, and the ones supporting and encouraging one another through the ups and downs of the job.
A good team at your side can make all the difference between success and defeat.
In the view of the customer, seeing a united front who are all working together to solve problems and serve works as a comfort. It makes them want to keep coming back.
To sum it up
Cashiering is a trial by fire every day, and it can be a brutal teacher for the art of human expectation. I will take the mindsets I’ve learned as a checker into my life as assets, and draw value from these experiences throughout the rest of my career.
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