Other People's Money (or, OPM)
Okay. I'm tired. I spent all of last week at "Window Academy," in a town closer to home than the one my job's in, but still not in MY town. I spent 8 hours a day, for 5 days, 40 hours total, learning all the rules and regulations of how to handle job-specific operations, namely the retail end. I memorized the numbers of about a thousand different forms (3849, anyone? How about a nice 6401? Or an 8105-b? Which I would be forced, by conscience and law, to fill out if YOU were to refuse to fill out an 8105-a. Fun stuff.) I learned their usages. I learned how much they cost. I learned more about weights and measures than I ever, ever, ever want to know again. I learned which forms were available with which weights and which measures, and I learned how those very same weights and measures can change their spots and possibly mean something else, thereby causing the aforementioned forms to change THEIR spots. They mutate, or something. Morph.
I learned all this to get me ready for 40 hours of on-the-job instruction (OJI), which is what I'm doing THIS week.
Guess what? Almost none of what I learned is of any use to me. Only the most basic forms are ever used, and I could work 20 years doing the retail end and never fill out an 8105-b. We had a couple of LIARS come in today. They left before we found out they were LIARS. I asked why we weren't filling out an 8501-b, and my instructor looked at me like she didn't know what I was talking about. She's been doing the retail stuff for 20 years, and has never filled one out. She knew what the form was, but I guess it's a joke-form, or something, because no one ever fills one out. Ever.
And I have to say, I hate this part of my job. I also have to say that, after I spend this week becoming more and more convinced that I'm an unteachable idiot, I probably won't be working this retail stuff more than a couple of hours a week, at most. So, I'll promptly forget pretty much everything I've learned.
You know what the worst part is? I have to be responsible for Other People's Money. My poor, unsuspecting customers come to me and, usually willingly, hand over their money and expect me to do the right thing. HAH! They SO don't know me!
Not only do I have to be responsible for the customer's money, but I've been working out of my instructor's till, her cash drawer, and if I screw up, it shows up on her read-out at the end of the day. On Monday, my first day of OJI, the read-out (which is form 1412, by the way) showed that I lost her 90 cents. I felt so bad all the way home that I had some trouble falling asleep that night. It would be different if it had been MY 90 cents, but it wasn't, it was HERS. HER money.
Other People's Money is the part about doing retail work that I just do not like. I enjoy working with the customers, joking around with them, helping them out, but I don't like having to deal with their money.
Thankfully, I'll be going back to the grunt-work of lifting, pushing, hauling, and sweating next week. Probably as soon as Saturday. Just leave me there. I don't have to deal with dollars and credit cards and forms and weights. I just have to move stuff around. If someone does something suspicious, I don't have to fill out a stupid 8105-b; I'll just tattle on 'em. That won't happen, though, because at my usual workplace, there's nothing suspicious to do. Not much money is involved in pulling things off of trucks. I don't think.
I learned all this to get me ready for 40 hours of on-the-job instruction (OJI), which is what I'm doing THIS week.
Guess what? Almost none of what I learned is of any use to me. Only the most basic forms are ever used, and I could work 20 years doing the retail end and never fill out an 8105-b. We had a couple of LIARS come in today. They left before we found out they were LIARS. I asked why we weren't filling out an 8501-b, and my instructor looked at me like she didn't know what I was talking about. She's been doing the retail stuff for 20 years, and has never filled one out. She knew what the form was, but I guess it's a joke-form, or something, because no one ever fills one out. Ever.
And I have to say, I hate this part of my job. I also have to say that, after I spend this week becoming more and more convinced that I'm an unteachable idiot, I probably won't be working this retail stuff more than a couple of hours a week, at most. So, I'll promptly forget pretty much everything I've learned.
You know what the worst part is? I have to be responsible for Other People's Money. My poor, unsuspecting customers come to me and, usually willingly, hand over their money and expect me to do the right thing. HAH! They SO don't know me!
Not only do I have to be responsible for the customer's money, but I've been working out of my instructor's till, her cash drawer, and if I screw up, it shows up on her read-out at the end of the day. On Monday, my first day of OJI, the read-out (which is form 1412, by the way) showed that I lost her 90 cents. I felt so bad all the way home that I had some trouble falling asleep that night. It would be different if it had been MY 90 cents, but it wasn't, it was HERS. HER money.
Other People's Money is the part about doing retail work that I just do not like. I enjoy working with the customers, joking around with them, helping them out, but I don't like having to deal with their money.
Thankfully, I'll be going back to the grunt-work of lifting, pushing, hauling, and sweating next week. Probably as soon as Saturday. Just leave me there. I don't have to deal with dollars and credit cards and forms and weights. I just have to move stuff around. If someone does something suspicious, I don't have to fill out a stupid 8105-b; I'll just tattle on 'em. That won't happen, though, because at my usual workplace, there's nothing suspicious to do. Not much money is involved in pulling things off of trucks. I don't think.
Lori finally stopped procrastinating at 8:21 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Lori, Deb here, still stuck at the REC. Been looking for updates from both you and Keith to see how life is in the outside world. We need new info! LOL We are still waiting to hear where we are going. We know where it should be but still don't have official notification. Hope all is going well, take care.
Lori, I finally started posting to my blog again, so I may with all due smug righteousness admonish you to post something new. One post a month is a little paltry.
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