My blog crashed again so I'm going to leave blogging until I get home. I was writing about my day working at Myer again when it crashed.
Monday 5th October 2020
Today is the Labour Day public holiday but I am working at Myer from 11 am - 5 pm today.
In order to get to work on time I leave st 9 am which is especially important being a public holiday as public transport runs to a limited service Sunday timetable.
The 144 bus is not packed but still has a few people on it at this time of the morning as it's destination is Manly ie the beach. The connecting B Line bus is the same as it's destination is Mona Vale also destination the beach or more like Northern Beaches. Because it is a public holiday and a perfect hot sunny day everyone is headed for any beach nearest to them. This is what I fear and one of the reasons why I need to look for alternative employment closer to where I reside ( besides not being happy working at Myer in general due to all their rules and regulations and the pressure of getting to work on time by certain times so I am not late for work and don't get locked out of the staff entrance/exit). As Summer approaches and it heads closer towards Christmas public transport will only get worse travelling to and from work. It will become even more crowded on buses as I have already noticed this in the past week when I've had to stand on some 144 buses and on the B Line most of the way. Travelling upto 4 hours total just to do a 3 hour shift and getting there on time during the Christmas and New Year Season is just not on. The traffic will become horrendous along the Spit Bridge and The Roseville Bridge closer to Christmas and during Summer as more people head for the beaches for the Christmas & Sumner holidays. One accident in either direction on either route to/ from work will be a nightmare for me to get to and from work.
I still haven't responded to the email I received from What's Cooking at Chatswood to attend an interview as I have been working and my next day off is Wednesday but I don't want to waste a portion of my day just going to an interview. It has to be done on a day I start work later or very early morning.
I didn't need a snack before work this morning so no croquetss. I wasn't sure if Myer opened as normal from 10 am this morning or 11 am as the website said hours may vary today so was unsure whether I had to use the staff entrance or front entrance therefore I sat near Meyer's ground floor store entrance and blogged whilst waiting to see if Myer was actually open at 10 am to the public. Yes it was therefore I could enter via the front entrance of Myer through the ground floor front cosmetics department ( the only entrance/exit allowed during store opening hours and during breaks) to make my way to the staff lockers before starting work on level 1 in the Homewares derpartment.
I did not expect it to be such a busy day today. The team leader makes it clear to us at the beginning of the shift not to hang around the counter and chat today as we are being paid triple time for our public holiday shift before correcting her you mean double time ( we knew what she meant) - more like time and a half or wager theft ( note : this is my first public holiday shift working at Myer so it will be interesting what I get paid for it and how clear it is on my next payslip! The question is will I be paid correctly by Myer? or will they do a dodgey?)
Today I didn't ask any customers for rounding up of their purchases to donate to the current ongoing charity or mention the charity to customers. Besides being far to busy, I've given up - if I still can't see the target amount and how much has been donated so far as well as my contribution - I don't really care anymore. Why should I put effort into something where there are no visible results. How do I know Myer isn't pocketing all the customer donations for themselves and not actually passing it onto the local Manly Vale Women's Shelter as advised?
I still ask all customers if they have a Myer One card and still no takers for those that don't however I had one customer who had 3 different Myer One card numbers under her name and only one had her correct postcode against it when I did a Myer One lookup on the POS system. How did this happen? I gave the customers all the membership numbers and advised her to phone to amalgamated them all onto 1 Myer One card. I managed to look up most Myer One memberships today except I had a few customers with problems using their Myer One app or downloading it to use. One customer wanted to purchase a qulit but asked how he could see his previous purchase of the type of quilt so he could replace it. I advised him to download the Myer One app which keeps records of receipts of all his purchases so he can refer back to them later. He took my advice and tried to do so on the spot. A lot of customers were getting messages popping up in black advising them that they have received a Myer One Rewards voucher only to find out that it was not quite ready to redeem but in the process or on its way and should be ready to redeem in November. Same message popping up - I think this is due to the current 5th of October change on the Myer One loyalty program where you no longer have to wait until you accumulate 2000 points before you receive your $20 reward card ie 2 points for every dollar , instead when you accumulate 1000 points you receive a $10 rewards voucher ie the more you spent the quicker you get a rewards voucher and more frequently ( in theory anyway). If it now works this way quite a few of my customers have accumulated instant $10 reward vouchers just from their single purchase!
Speaking of which the team member and I managed to sucessfully put an order (actually 3 separate orders) through for my customer for 15 boxes of cut glass shot glasses on the iPad . We got all 3 iPad out and processed 3 separate orders at the same time each for 5 boxes of shot glasses and managed for the first time to sucessfully complete an order! So happy an entire bulk order finally went through although it does not make up for our previous customer who needed 19 boxes of dinner sets but only 5 managed to go through before it was out of stock after 2 attempts to process the order. The worse thing about it is the customers with large orders usually purchase other bits and pieces from what is available in the store first before placing an order for the rest. We also had to process payment separately for each order separately on the POS and note to self the order receipt the customer signs for spits out before payment is made on the point of sale and after all barcodes are scanned into the POS system from the iPad.
Besides being extremely busy serving customers today including a couple who purchased 22 side plates, 4 dinner plates, 25 fruit forks , 2 stainless steel straws, 2 steak knives & 8 cereal bowls ( I think) , there were old sale signs that expired today to pull down and new sale signs to go up, constantly putting returns/exchanges away, finding and labelling items without any box, tags, labels, descriptions or price eg the set of 4 Salt & Papper Stencil mugs and putting them back on the shelf and the most difficult thing to do today apart from removing and relabelling all the MW individual cutlery pieces and putting the back onto the shelf ( still not completed from last week) was a customer who wanted the queen quilt cover set off one of the display beds as that was the last one on hand in the store. I had to strip the bed and fold the quilt & pillow cases back into the package for the customer whilst still serving other customers the find another quilt cover to replace it and make up the bed again. Luckily I had some help from another casual team member who I just met.
Other duties answering customer phone enquiries, directing customers in the right direction where it be Click & Collect now downstairs in The Hub not upstairs, where the rest rooms are, Shop & Drop ( parcel pick up) etc.
I had a customer today that wanted until I finished serving as he wanted to exchange his purchase for different sheets. He wanted green sheets but we didn't have any so I had to refund him cash which again I could not p process on the POS because I did the same thing to the same thing I did last time - tried to refund a dollar amount with 99 cents. We can't refund anything that is not rounded off to the nearest whole dollar or 5 cent. We have not had a by penny's ( 1 cent coins) and nickels ( 2 cent coins) for a very long time! Third time lucky - we'll see :)
Did a cash clearance for the ( 2nd time today) - I hate the machine at the back , I describe it like the Cookie Monster.
End of a very busy tiring day. I think I did more sales today then I do on a normal week day.
I do a bit more grocery shopping - more like snack shopping after a toilet stop and washing my hands ( I do this after every shift before catching the bus home) of a sandwich AND a new rather large bento lunch box for tomorrow's 7.5 hour day at Myer from Coles as there was nothing left at the chicken shop. I wasn't sure whether to wait for the next 280 bus if it was still running to Chatswood or cross the road to catch the next B Line bus to Neutral Bay Junction and connect with the 144 bus home. The B Line bus didn't take long to arrive but it was crowded and I noticed the very last 280 bus to Chatswood was also arriving in a minute or 2 so I waited for it and it was not crowded at all. I tried to blog but was too tired to so just chilled and caught up on watching YouTube videos.
A few more groceries from Woolworths Metro at Chatswood including chicken wings for dinner and some for lunch tomorrow and some spinach leaves.
Home by bus. Preparation for tomorrow as I must leave by 7 am tomorrow in order to get to work by 9 am. I washed my new lunch box out and packed my lunch - the box is still not big enough to hold my lunch!
Haven't had time for laundry or cleaning. Will do on Wednesday my day off.
I am so tired I still haven't finished Sunday's blog and today's blog after it crashed.
Watched Have You Been Paying Attention on Channel 10 after the news and some documentary on Trump which I paid no attention to.
Bed by 9.30 pm I think.
Tuesday 6th October 2020
I'm working again at Myer from 9 am - 4.30 pm today. It's going to be a long day hence I packed my lunch this time the night before.
This morning I did 2 things pay a bill due next week and responded to What's Cooking Chatswood advising them that the first available time I can attend an interview is Thursday before 10 am before work.
Instead of waiting 4 minutes for the next connecting Bline bus I asked the driver of the 154X express bus whether he stopped at Warringah Mall and hopped onto this bus. Maybe not the best idea as it has stopped at Manly Vale but the B Line is actually due in 6 minutes. Arrived at Warringah Mall at around 7.50 am closer to the path acrosd the outside carpatk to the mall entrance but as I arrive near the entrance to the mall the 280 bus just pulls in therefore it makes no difference which bus I catch at this time of the morning. The B line and 154X buses travel along the same route between Neutral Bay Junction and Warringah Mall.
I am so tired I almost fell asleep a few times on the bus this morning. My neck is a little it by as it is very and raining at the moment.
I will start making my way to the staff entrance at around 8.20 am this morning. No idea what time it is open from for a 9 am start.
Just as well I arrived through staff entrance/exit before 8.30 am for a 9 am start. The staff entrance/ exit locked after that time so there would have been no way for me to get in before the store opens at 10 am after the store's front entrance opens.
First thing I do is put my stuff into a staff licker and my lunch in my new extra long bento box I purchased last night into the staff refrigerator ( there are 2 so I made a note in my diary on my phone which one I put it in) before sitting down and having a rest in the staff room to catch up on my blog and skim through my truck load of emails ( mostly junk which I delete).
On my way upstairs ( after I have punched in) I bump into the customer service manager and am allocated a few tasks already. I give her the "I'm onto it" and head up to the Homewares department.
My first allocated task was to remove all of the MW dinner sets and put them back onto the shelves. My next allocated task was to move all of the $15 MW white & blue boxed crockery ( which have had most of their clearance stickers removed except for a few that were missed and which I removed) and organising it all onto the triangular stand where the MW dinner sets had been removed off. I am told to make it look decent and not to make it look as if it had all been just chucked onto the stand and not to forget all the spoon rests (there were hundreds of them) and if I could mot fit them all onto the one stand to put the excess in reserves. I made it clear to the customer service manager that I think it will all fit. And it did! I went 1 step further and put yellow dots on the empty display boxes and wrote display box on them and put them either behind the display piece of crockery or underneath the stand which has a nice void storage space behind the front cover along the base of the triangular stand.
Next was to empty the rest of the MW large white vanilla pod plates which I fed into the MW Panama range as that was the story they were were mixed into when I worked at Plenty ( I have mentioned serial time before to customers how Myer is notorious for holding very old ranges so if you break something you will be very likely to find a replacement at Myer - MW Vanilla Pod range and Panama range are at least 2 seasons old!). Only a clearance sale could get rid of a few of them.
In between I had to find a clearance sign for the shelves a team member was moving stuff onto. Restock the black plates on the coffee machine display. Find another 2 clearance signs and grab a rather heavy glass riser from one of the Electrical department displays for the customer service manager who insisted it wasn't heavy. Luckily it was on the floor and not up on a shelf.
Next was move the remaining Swirl 3 or 4 dinner sets and put tgem back on the shelf. These were heavy but I had help from a male team member to lift them onto the trolley for me. I still had to lift them off to put them back onto the shelf so I don't see the point of asking for help.
10 am and I put my lanyard on and have to start serving customers. Half of my day was serving customers in Electricals and kids wear. I serve even if I am not in those departments. Keeps the customers happy most of the time.
I asked most customers if they had a Myer One card or wanted to join but no one wanted to join and those that had one but didn't have it with them I managed to find 99 percent of the time althought it usually took 3 attempts to find them on the system. Some customers still have 2 cards with different numbers showing up on a Myer One look up.
I did not ask any customers for a purchase round up donation as it is still pointless as the figures are still not showing up on Myer Metrics.
No orders again today - products customers want still out of stock.
I sold some more electrical products again today but did not bother with offering a care plan. Why should I bother.
I actually had a proper lunch break today and took almost the full hour. Due to start and finishing times I had to take my lunch break between 1.15 pm and 2.15 pm as I was leaving at 4.40 pm and you can't take a lunch break less tgen 1 hour before your shift finishes - if the company was more organised you should not have to think about this issue.
Today is the start of a new series of sales so that means taking down every single expired sale sign and putting up all the new sae signs. Unfortunately I had quite a few customers particularly from the Kidswear Department with purchases where the sale prices had not yet been uploaded onto the system. SoI am running around checking the offers printed on the current sale signs and having to honour them for tge custoners by manually overriding the original price on each piece of kids clothing and entering the discounted price before totalling the purchased. Kids clothing was not tge only discount price problem I had a customer with a companion in a wheel chair and they purchssed not 1 but 2 electric egg poachers separately. Again the price on the box was not the promotional price therefore I had to again honour and manualy override the original price to the advertised sale price. When the team member assigned to work in the Kidswear department discovered the same problem she advised the assistant store manager and the sale signage had to be all taken down. Another Myer needs to get their shit together moment!
The pile of MW individual cutlery on the backcounter still has finished being relabel since the last time I was working so I try to continue this. I separate the cutlery into different piles according to what they are and their styles and when I left the counter told other team members not to touch the piles or mess them up!
I went over to the Electricals department to do something but while I was there was rudely interrupted by an elderly couple who complained that they had been waiting to be served for half an hour and someone had bern called to come over asnd assist them on more then one occassion but still have not come over so I advised them that I will assist them however I am not actually from this department but from Homewares. So the elderly gentleman wanted to know about a radio and a Bose bar speaker both on display. He asked me about the radio and I read and told him about it. I said if I could not answer his questions I will go over and ask someone after tgey finish with their customers to come over and help him. Tge elerly man had no intention of buying the Bose bar speaker he just wanted to know why it had such an old manufacture date stamp on it - I had to tell jim that it was 2016 not 1916 which misread ( how could he make such a mistake - a sign of dementia possibly?) He kept asking me if the cord came with the radio. I said I would check for him and was advised by one of the team members that it should be - it didn't actually say on the information only that it was battery operated. A team member from electricals finally came over to assist him but I noticed tgst his wife was holding onto a stack of kids clothing so I asked her if I could put them through on the register for her whilst her husband was being assisted with the radio and let him know tgat I will take care of his wife while he looks at the radio. I process the kids clothing for the elderly wife and find out that her hands have never been the same since getting them caught in a printer and that her husband had a stroke previously which may explain his grumpiness from frustration. I think they were both ok in the end all I had to do was listen and calm them down.
The cash till had not been reconciled yet by 3 pm and a cash clearance had not been done. The office manager rings up just as a team member I was working with was in the process of reconciling the cash till. The office ma anger also advised how much to clear from the till. The team member could not reconcile the cash till and took the draw out to check if there was any money stuck behind it. I looked as well and there was nothing. She must have recounted at least twice before she got me to check her calculation and found the shortage mistake in her calculation. It was her American math I told her.
I was going to go log in for her to do the cash clearance but it was decided that I couldn't as I was about to finish my shift and it was too close to the end of my shift therefore could not do in the event something goes wrong we would both be accountable. The other team member that was working with us co logged in instead to do the cash clearance. Done.
By 4.30 pm I was still serving a customer therefore finishing past 4.30 pm yet again. I left as soon as I finished as I didn't want to get accused of doing "overtime" but I don't want to be accused of "clock watching" as well and leaving on the dot at 4.30 pm as I have already been accused of this already in the past by the customer service manager ( I have been accused of everything possible to date all false and how long have I worked at Myer to date?, barely 2 months.)
I catch the next 280 bus back to Chatswood and head straight home on the 144 bus. I was so tired and had so much to do on my day off tomorrow, I fell asleep in between replying to an ex bus buddy's response to my text messasges.
Wednesday 7th October 2020
Day off today but I have so much to do I am behind in everything. I was awake by 3 am in the morning. Breakfast was caramelized pineapple yoghart with banana and a whole punnet of rasberries and rolled oats.
I did a bit of YouTube watching, blogging and went back to bed until around 7 am or 8 am .
I then took the rubbish out, make my marinated chicken wings I had prepared last night asnd did my 2 loads of laundry was and dry.
Lunch was part of the huge fruit salad I prepared this morning of strawberries, yellow kiwi fruit, lime juice, passion fruit, orange, mandarin, apple & pear with manuka honey.
Tried to purchase a ticket to see Van Hough Alive out at EQ for the 1 pm session on my birthday Wednesday 4th November but when I put my payment details through I didn't get any error messages or confirmation. it just disappeared off the screen and returned to a home page. I have messaged the organisers via their website to see What's going on. I went back into my account history in Ticketek and there is nothing there. Not happy. About to check my bank account to see if the amount for the ticket has bern presented. If things go wrong at this stage then the exhibition itself will be shit as well.
Just in case the first ticket did not go through put through a second ticket and paid the additional refund option fee of $3 in case I end up with 2 tickets. I did check my bank account and both amounts of $39.85 and $42.95 have not been deducted or presented from my debit card.
Just got a message from the customer service manager asking me if I can work until 7 pm tomorrow night instead of finishing at 4 pm - it is 3.30 pm when I received the text message. There goes my grocery shopping plans tomorrow afternoon after work!
I prepare my lunch for tomorrow in the same bento box of noodles in miso Manuka honey soy and sesame spinach and rocket leaves shallots coriander and chopped up chicken meat from the marinated drumettes I made earlier , and a bit of the fruit salad I made earlier adding a black forest biscuit with the mock cream removed, some fruit leather sticks cheese and brown rice crackers
So tired I watched a YouTube video and went to bed. My blog from Sunday is still not quite finished - photos still to be uploaded from the other phone.
I forgot to write about a product I purchased. OK I used to get these lovely individually wrapped country cookies whenever I stayed at regional hotels and motels during my travels around Australia which were complimentary with the tea and coffee offered in the room I was staying in. They used to be so buttery, crumbly and homemade with a nice jam filling in the middle. They were true country style cookies with no artifical stuff in them like colours or flavours. When I saw this in the supermarket at $4 a packet I decided to give them a try as they were the same brand as the country biscuits that I missed. They were unfortunately no where close to the original in terms of looks, feel and taste. They may still say that they are made in Australia and are Country Cookies but if you look on the back of the packet, the list of E numbers and artifical flavours colours and preservatives is enough to make you put them back on the shelf. Unless there has been a mistake all the E numbers and artificial colours flavours and preservatives are near the top of the list. They certainly looked artifical with a very yellow colour instead of a nice pale golden brown colour and tasted artifical. Even the texture feel and look of the biscuits are completely different with mismatched bottom and top biscuits sandwiching a rather sweet jam filling. Not nice at all. No wonder they are hidden on the bottom shelf of Coles. Not recommended rating 3/10.
Thursday 8th October 2020
I have an interview hopefully before 10 am this morning with What's Cooking Chatswood the kitchenware store for a Christmas casual position. It is getting to the point where all the travelling and effort I have to put into just working for Myer is no longer worth it. I don't need the stress. My hair is turning greyer faster from working at Myer since I started. I didn't want to waste a part of my day off yesterday to attend an interview as it is not worth that much effort and I wanted to have a sleep in DONE, take the rubbish out DONE, look for jobs, do my laundry DONE, do a proper grocery shopping HAD PLANNED TO DO AFTER WORK THURSDAY BUT NOW WORKING THEREFORE POSTPONED, do my filing/ diary DONE , read and respond to emails NEVER COMPLETELY DONE , text messages DONE, my blog ALMOST DONE , YouTube DONE, prepare for work again tomorrow DONE, cook and eat properly DONE, wash/organise the dishes WASHED BUT NIT ORGANISED, clean the apartment DIDN'T GET TO DO and have another life admin day to catch up on my day off.
I am working at Myer today from 12 noon - 4 pm only . Total waste of my afternoon. A 4 hour shift, why can't it be until 5 pm to make my time travelling to and from work worth it? ( post script this part of the blog was written before yesterday's blog, now I'm working until 7 pm tonight)
Well what can I say - today I spent most of my time VM with the customer service manager and not on the floor assisting customers with purchases although I did manage to make a few sales ie maybe only $200 worth of sales today. No orders and no Myer One sign ups although I asked every customer I served today. I did not bother at all asking for donations from rounding up of purchases from customers as well.
I even answered a phone enquiry today from a customer that purchased a nutribullet online and had to return it to Myer at the Chatswood store as it was faulty apparently it shattered so she received a refund for it. At Myer Chatswood a team member suggested she purchase a Ninja instead as it was better. She phone the Electrical department of Myer Warringah asking if she could return it here and how she had used it and did not like it but had all the packaging and receipt still. I advised her of the returns refund exchange policy and how she could not return it as it was used and a change of mind is not a valid reason under the return exchange or refund policies. I also advised her that she should return it and take it up with the original store ie Myer Chatswood that she purchased the Ninja from. She also gave the excuse that she does not work near the Chatswood Myer hence wanted to return it at the Warringah Mall Myer . I apologized and advised her that I was unable to assist her with her return and refund. She did not seem that annoyed with my response by the end of the phone call. Taking the time to listening to a customer is a very important customer service skill to have - along with lots of patience!
Speaking of Nutribullet, I sold one to a customer today - a 900 W one which was on sale for $99. I seem to spend most of my time in the electricals department. I even tried to offer customers the option of extended warranty ( care plans although I don't know anything about them).
I had a but of fun with another customer who purchased a set of 3 pairs of boxed mens underwear where each pair had a security tag on them inside the box. After removing the security tags ( luckily they came off without any difficulties) and processing them aslong with other items purchased I advised the customer
" Now you know for hygiene reasons you can't return underwear?" of course he and his shopping partner did - they both had a bit of a giggle about returning it used. I added "Now that I've touched them I suggest you wash them before you wear them" - of course they would but you never know some customers just wear everything before washing! Yuk think of who has tried things on before them or where the garments have been in the factory or what chemicals they still had on them from the treatment of chemicals of the materials.
Speaking of which, a team member working in Homewares today had a customer return for refund who claimed they purchased the incorrect size of quilt cover set. It was out of the packet but all pieces the 2 pillow cases and quilt cover were present. The team member asked me to help her fold it up to be put back into the packet and back onto the shelf to be resold however she suspected that it had been washed. She asked me and when I sniffed it I could smell a very strong smell of OMO laundry detergent - yep I advised her it definitely has been washed - she agreed it smelt very strongly of OMO. I would say powder not liquid. She continued to fold it up and put it back into the packet but agreed it has been washed therefore can't be resold - may have to be written off or discounted for resale. The customer claimed she didn't check the tag for the size before she put it into the washing machine. I thought it was the customer I sold the ame quilt cover set I sold to a cuztomer notong ago which was a queen sized one I had to strip from the display bed and repack for her to purchase. No it wasn't as it is a different sized quilt cover set and purchased online.
I managed to find the last 2 Bodum glass replacement inserts for a customer for his French press on the shelf. He was lucky the last 2 were exactly the correct sized he required.
Most of my day as mentioned previously between 12 noon and 7 pm was spent with the cusyomer service manager with VM. So what exactly did I do all day for 6 hours ( I had a 1 hour break around 3. 15 pm today) today? Loads of moving stock around and some searching and moving of stock from the dock to the floor as well as tidying up stuff other team members keep leaving behind on the counter creating a mess!
My day started off with moving all the "green friendly" cookware off the back L shaped shelves to hanging and displaying them on the front of the L shaped shelves.
Next was replacing all the Tefel loose cookware back onto the back 2 Tefel stocked shelves which required some moving around of stock to make room for them.
Then it was consolidation of green Esteel boxed and individual boxed cookware stock onto one island bench and displaying the Stubs ( I think that's what it is called ) $60 mini cast iron boxed pots into the middle of the display island bench and moving all the 4 piece and 10 piece boxed brown Esteel cookware sets as well as redisplaying and consolidatong all the loose pieces of Esteel cookware to fit onto the display island bench.
Moving onto the next task moving and consolidating all the roasting , bakeware and cake decorating accessories from the back wall and another display island bench to the back L shaped shelves. This took a little longer as it needed more effort displaying it all in some sort of order where different sizes went together and also what would fit on what shelves due to shelf height restrictions. I also had to hunt around for square and round vessels to hold cake decorating accessories in. I stole a small square acrylic container I found in a cupboard in the Electricals Department - they don't miss it ( they are all guys with very poor tidying skills asnd where the Homewares department team members are constantly cleaning up after them) , there was a larger one underneath and it only contained junk in it so I emptied it all out. Done display looking pretty good. We got one of the guys from the Electricals Department to reach up and remove the Bakewares display block signage from the top of the back wall to the very top of the back L shaped shelves. The flow is now pretty good between cooking utensils and roasting, bakeware and cake decorating accessories.
Next Consolidating and reorganising the back walls full of drink bottles, food flasks, Thermos, reusuable coffee cups etc so all the same products are together and not in multiple spots.
Finally I a tidy of the Bodum coffee shelves on the back wall and returning products back to the correct departments.
The customer service manager was free to organise the now empty display island bench with an alternative "story" of products She wanted Joseph & Joseph but I didn't think we had enough product and she was keen on doing a Ladell display which I wasn't keen on either so she settled on my original idea of a "resusable storage products " display. It looked fantastic and didn't take her long at all. Sometimes managers just like a second opinion and often it's mine when it comes to visual merchanising. The customer service manager now realises that I have a talent for VM and can now use me ( literally).
I was so tired by 7 pm that I did not go shopping or have a snack on my way home. I knew it would take me at least 1.5 hours to get home and even longer as the last 280 bus service to Chatswood direct stopped at 7 pm and to get to the bus stop takes at least 15 minutes via the staff entrance exit located at the back of the mall through the mall. By the time I took the lift to the staff floor, punched out, got my stuff out of the staff locker, had my bags checked then walked out of the staff entrance exit back through the mall to the bus stop I have missed the last 280 bus so had to walk acrosd the car p ark out the front of the mall, up the stairs or lift to walk acrosd the pedestrian overpass bridge to ca tech the next B Line bus or Manly bus to catch a connecting 144 bus home. The first bus to arrive was a B line bus so I hopped on it and took it to Neutral Bay Junction to connect onto a 144 bus home ensuring I did not fall asleep asnd miss my connecting bus stop. Home by 8.30 pm. Straight to sleep as I have my trial shift at What's Cooking tomorrow afternoon from 1 pm - 4 pm ( unpaid) .
Friday 9th October 2020
I almost forgot to pay my weekly rent so paid it before I did anything else.
Bloody organisers of Van Gough Alive were no help with my missing ticket inquiry. They kept asking me to contact Ticketek or go to their ticket office on site at EQ just to get a ticket which is so far away. Very poor customer service. I advised them that I still have not received a response from them and how they didn't have a number for Ticketek
I had a day off today but I slept in and caught up my blog most of the morning. I then had breakfast before heading off by bus to Chatswood after lunch. I return my empty bottles to be recycled making me a little late for my trial shift at What's Cooking Chatswood starting at 1 pm.
I wasn't very impressed with the way they operated at What's Cooking. The store was a mess and very disorganised including the staff that worked there. There were boxes and boxes of deliveries everywhere. The manager was stressed out and I finally found out why half of the store is MW stock - the manager's mother is a MW rep for the store.
So I unpacked the stock and put it on the shelves which were crammed full of stock. Visually the store is not very nicely merchandised. It is just floor to ceiling bulk stacked with stock. There is no style yet there were people constantly coming into the store to purchase things possibly because almost everything was on sale.
I don't particularly like the people working there and I can see the mansger is a bit of a control freak. I have decided that after 3 hours trial that it's not for me even if it is closer to home. The person I was working with wasn't very intelligent.
That's 3 hours of free labour to help them sort out their stock. I made sure I didn't stay over the 3 hours as I was a already tired. I even think if I didn't show up they would not have noticed.
A customer approached me for help and I had to advise them that I didn't a actually work there and was just there to do stock eventhough I wore an apron from the back room which was actually a little disgusting.
I grabbed my stuff from the back room, there was no way I was going to do any more work st 3.50 pm, I needed to go grocery shopping at Aldi then Coles. Unfortunately my grocery shopping was cut short. Just as well I purchased as me any groceries as I could from Aldi as I made my way to the Coles in Westfield it had closed and it was barely 5.30 pm which I thought was a little odd to be closed so early was there a COVID outbreak, a stocktake?. I decided to head home and watched the news when I arrived home - breaking news Coles had had a major national register outage and it is unsure what had caused their IT issue - was it malware or just a major glitch in their POS systems? Whastever it was all stores had to shut and customers had to abandon their shopping until this malfunction was sorted out.
End of a another day. I have dinner and watch the news, The Living Room before going to bed as I am working again tomorrow.
Saturday 10th October 2020
I am working again at Myer 11 am - 4 pm today.
Such a long day today as it is not that busy. No customers wanted to sign up for Myer One and 1 order for a customer put through for a Queen sized quilt and it was sucessful. I didn't bother to ask any customers again for purchase rounding for donation to the current charity ( I think it is still the local women's shelter but who knows still no information coming up on Myer Metrics)
Did a cash reconciliation today but was short $100.05 . Balanced in the end as the $100 note and a 5 cent piece had fallen behind the cash register draw. Another team member had to help me get it out and a innovative team member from the Electrical department advised her to put a piece of sticky tap on the end of a pen so she could not only reach it but grip the $100 note to pull it out.
I hate the cash clearance machine as you have probably read as it is like the Cookie Monster and today it was acting like the Cookie Monster as it kept spitting out a crumpled $50 which I had to try and straighten up turn the other end and re insert into the cash clearance machine. Cash of $650 balanced & accepted. On my way I had to remind the cafe to do a cash register reconciliation before going on my break 30 minutes before I finish my shift.
Biggest sale today was a customer with his girl friend who purchased a heap of clothes. The team member in Menswear asked me to process his part cash part card purchase as she was a little busy over there. No he did not want a Myer one card and didn't even want his pieces of clothing folded. Just placed in a bag. His purchase included 4 t shirts however I had to manually discount each of them as they were not coming up as 2 for $40 on the POS so I had to item discount each one down to $20 each. Each piece had a security tag on them which had to be removed. The beeping became so annoying I put them on the back counter and removed the tags one at a time before scanning them one at a time. At the end I said to him I hope you wash all of them before you wear them ( particularly important due to COVID ).
I had a customer today who tried to return a blue pair of kids cord pants which looked as if it was very old Winter stock possibly worn but not wash and still had the label on it Besides not having a receipt which I advised the customer of the no receipt no return no refund policy, it was clearance stock which was also a no exchange no return no refund policy but it became a definite a no return no exchange no refund policy when I scanned the barcode through the POS system and it came basck no item found. I have not even seen that item on any Kidswear display.
Now onto the MOST ANNOYING THING I HAD TO PUT UP WITH TODAY - I could not even do my shopping at Coles without hounded about it. It began with this morning as soon as I arrived to vote for this week's Friday Favourite team member and to let the other team members know as well by the customer service manager . OK I said I will when I get a chance. Then as I was leaving work after punching off and grabbing my stuff out of the staff locker walking towards the lift I was hounded again by the assistant store manager and asked if I knew how to vote for the Friday's Favourite team member. Of course I do!!! And said yet again that I will do it when I get home. The assistant store manager then added not to just like the Friday Favourite but to send her a message. I usually like and write congrats (remember last time when I was hounded to do so and didn't even know the team member?) I was a little annoyed by now so asked "What should I write?" . Yes I will like and comment as I have worked with this Friday Favourite team member but when I actually find her on the community site and IN MY OWN TIME WHEN IT'S CONVENIENT TO ME NOT MYER! This was not the end of this hounding, I can't even do my shopping in peace without yet another Myer team member demanding to like and comment for the Friday Favourite - this time the message came up on the team group chat on Whatsapp from the team leader but not only about that but to endure we all read our MComs and that management is watching that we do. This is bordering on invasion of privacy laws.
I went grocery shopping after work at Coles Warringah Mall - how difficult is it to find certain grocery items? I will have to try again tomorrow. What's with the shortage of sweet spiced whole pickles in a jar? Large handled garbage bags? or chicken pieces with skin still on! ( Sorry my blog crashed again).
I found about 70 percent of the grocery items on my list, the rest I will have to search for tomorrow on my day off. I did find a limited edition chocolate hidden in a shelf if miscellaneous items at the back f the store. It was a box of Cadbury (Special Edition not Limited Edition) Birthday Cake chocolate bars. The description on the wrapper describes it well but what did it taste like. Curious I purchased 2 bars. I ate one on my way home on the bus and it was not bad at all and there were hundreds and thousands through it! I would buy it again - should really have kept it until my birthday on 4th November to have as I don't plan to make or have a birthday cake this year . I am giving the other one to someone as a gift for their belated birthday - if only I had found this earlier to post off with their presents.
I missed the 5.30 pm 280 bus but that's ok as the next one comes at 6 pm and it gives me time to catch up with writing about another shit day at work!
I make one last grocery stop at Woolworths metro @ Chatswood for some Salamanca Salmon before heading home.
Dinner is a whole spinach and cheese Dr Oetkers thin crust pizza fromnColes and some fresh raspberries as I can't be bothered to cook dinner. My batteries are low on my phone again so I switch it off. I fall asleep after I send an enquiry email to Q Station re tours of Q Station for tomorrow.
Sunday 11th October 2020
Day off today. I wake up at 5 am and there is already so much to do.
First thing is check my emails, then update my diary and filing then update what I still have to get on my grocery list plus empty the rubbish etc etc and catch up on my blog which crashed again last night!
I get yet another message to check Kronos at the last minute with change of finishing times for 2 x shifts AND a cancelled Tuesday shift. As well as only being rostered on to work 1.5 shifts the following week. Unless it's because of some new Christmas casuals starting then I'm not happy about it. I won't request for leave on my days off - I'll just go ahead and plan them, too bad if shifts are added after I've checked Kronos and after my plans have been made. Constantly changing the rostered shifts of casuals will not be tolerated especially the day before or on the same day or even worse at the very last minute. End of story. By the way I couldn't find the Vote for Friday Favourite so still have not done it.
OK I decided that I had to venture out and ignore Myer stuff on my day off as I have so much to do still.
I was planning to go to Q Station to look at the sculptures before everyone else does however didn't quite make it that far. I made it Manly and to the information Centre for directions to Q Station. I just missed a 235 bus to North Head & Q Station which only runs hourly by a few minutes. The 144 bus schedule obviously does not connect with the 135 bus schedule. Do I decided to walk having no idea how to get there.
I just kept walking along the coastline until I reached Stuart St Manly and just followed the Street uphill until I reached Little Manly Beach and detouring off to take a closer look and take photos. I must return to this beach as it has a safe swimming area barricaded off with a white shark net type enclosure. You can walk along the top of the narrow white beams and dive into the enclosed swimming area. It is something I wouldn't do as I would probably lose my balsnce along it and fall into the deep end of the enclosed swimming area. It has no barriers along the sides of the white beams unlike the wider boardwalks at Balmoral Beach's enclosed swimming area with ladders for swimmers to get out of the water or get in without having to dive in.
With such beautiful views I decided to continue walking but I which direction. I did ask a few local teenagers who said kerp walking until you hit a bush track. Which one? Every intersection there were at least 2 street signs pointing to the Manly Scenic Walk in different directions. I did not stick to the main road and took yet another detour. It lead me onto a semi bush walking track and eventually into deeper bushland leading to not only spectacular harbour views but a narrow hiking trail with some stone steps and tgen into the National Park territory marked by a gate with a very large no dogs allowed sign. I open this gate and follow the rather narrow trail with often steep and rocky sets of stairs surrounded by bushland dodging bush ( brush) turkeys crossing along the trail along the way. I am a little scared of the bush turkeys as I am unsure if they attack humans in such close proximity to them. There were human traffic jams along the trail which is single lane only. I had to stop and stand aside on a few occasions to let other visitors pass. A final set of narrow rocky stairs with a hand rail thank goodness as I can see it become quite wet and possibly slippery at times leading to another cute little beach - Collins Flat Beach. This beach was just as busy as Little Manly Beach but people were very mindful of social distancing. It was not as packed as Manly's main beach though and there was space to breathe. I decided to stay here and have a bit if a wade in the water and get some Vitamin D from the sun. I did not venture up the other set of steep stairs as I had no idea where they led to. It was quite a hot but beautiful sunny day today.
Well so I didn't quite make it today to Q Station at North Head or Quarantine Beach but I make it to Little Manly Beach & Collins Flat Beach where not only was it the first time I visited this cute little secluded but very popular beach but went maskless for more then an hour and even had a little wade in the water! I have no sunscreen on but wore a long sleeved linen shirt and a hat and sunglasses. I hope I am having enough of a dose of vitamin D to relieve my ezcema but not too much to get skin cancer. I do have my black leggings on as well so I am not exposing a lot of my raw skin to the sun which by 3 pm is starting to disappear. It's a long walk back to manly Wharf. Better leave soon back through the national park and walking trail before it gets dark. No idea where the nearest bus stop or toliets are - there does not seem to be any on the map and a no dogs are allowed on this beach sign is on displayed which is about 5 times as large as the one on the entrance to the National Park gate. Looks like everything is byo and to be taken with you when you leave. There is no kiosk - Little Manly Beach is the closest kiosk for snack purchases and toilet/ shower/ change room facilities. Speaking of taking everything with you. There was a large black crow and bush turkey on the beach battling it out for a beach goers chip packet. The crow manage to snatch it off the bush turkey and fly off with it despite a visitor trying to get both of them away from it.
So many photos taken , time for me to leave and start walking back to Many as the sun is starting to disappear and soon it will get dark and it is a rather long walk back to Manly wharf and a wait for the next 144 bus back to Chatswood.
I board the next 144 bus but instead of a lighting at the closest stop near where I reside, I continue onto Chatswood where I try and get an SD card from JB HIFI for my phone and then head to Coles to get a few more groceries off my shopping list. I also manage to grab a bunch of $1.50 silver beet just as Fruitez was packing them up.
Home to finish my blog. It's 11.15 pm. Time for bed as I am working at Myer again tomorrow.
End of another very long week.
1164 COVID cases and 3 deaths overnight. I missed the rest of the announcements - it must have been really brief.
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