Chapter 156. An Assassin’s and Friend’s First Day of Work (2/9)

It was right then that a customer approached the counter with their goods in hand. We’d been whispering quietly back and forth the entire time so they hadn’t heard our rather lengthy conversation.

“Did you find everything you were looking for today, sir?” I led off with that question. This customer was one I’d seen in the store only a few times before, it wasn’t their first time here, but I’d noticed them looking around the store a bit before they came to the counter. It felt like they hadn’t found something judging by their body language, so I asked them that pretty standard question first.

“Almost everything. I noticed online you sold motor oil, but I couldn’t find it. I’ve never seen it here on any of my previous visits either.”

“Oh, motor oil, we do have some in stock actually. What type were you looking for?”

“There are different types? I thought motor oil was motor oil.”

“Yes, there are different types. There are four general motor oil types; full synthetic, synthetic blend, conventional, and high mileage.”

“Oh, I see. Uh… I’m not too sure what my car would need. How would I know?”

“You should choose an oil with the vehicle manufacturer's recommended viscosity rating. You should be able to check your owner's manual in your car for that information.”

“Viscosity?”

“Viscosity is an oil's ability to flow at different temperatures. The two most common viscosities are SAE 5W-30 and SAE 10W-30. The lower the number, the thinner the oil. More likely than not, you’re probably going to need one of those two, but it would be best to confirm with your owner’s manual.”

“Is there a problem if you pick the wrong one?”

“Well, yes, there can be big problems. For example, in winter climates like this city’s, using thicker oil can make it more difficult to start your car as the engine won’t be able to turn over. When it gets as low as minus fifty, even with your car plugged in constantly, you probably won’t be able to get your engine to start if the oil thickens too much.”

“I see. Thank you very much. I would have just picked up a random one and dumped it in if you didn’t tell me. You really saved me from making a mistake. I can only imagine how awful it would be if I selected really thick oil.”

“Your welcome, I’m glad I could be of assistance. If you’d like, you can always bring in the owner's manual from your car and I can help you select the correct one.”

“You’d do that? Hahaha, you’re the best man! The few times I’ve come by before you’ve never said a word, it’s always been that girl talking. I thought you were a mute or something. By the way, did she quit or something?”

“No, she hasn’t quit. She’s just been transferred to a new location that we recently opened up.”

“Oh, is that so? Where is the new location?”

I took out my phone and typed in the address then pointed out the exact location on the map.

“It’s actually not too far. It’s here, right on the corner.”

“Oh! That’s even closer to where I live than this store. If it’s that close I might as well make that one my go-to instead. This place has always had lower prices than the other convenience store I frequent near me.”

“Did you want me to ring you up for everything here and get the oil after checking the manual?”

“Uh, is it okay if I just grab the manual and get it all on one bill?”

“Sure, that’s not a problem at all. You can just leave your stuff here on the side.

“Thanks, I’ll be right back.”

The customer left and went to his car parked outside. After two minutes he returned to the counter with the manual in hand.

He handed it over to me and I found the section about engine oil in the vehicle care section of the manual. It stated to use engine oils that meet the dexos2 specification. The manual indicated approved oils would have a dexos2 approved logo on them as well. In this case, the specification corresponded to oils with a 5W-30 viscosity.

I led the customer to the section where we had all the motor oils. Rosa who’d been silent the entire time followed closely behind and observed the entire interaction carefully without interrupting.

“Oh! So this was where they were. I feel so blind, I walked right past them. But I guess it was a good thing in a way. I might have picked the wrong one if I did find them.”

“It’s easy to miss them since they’re on the bottom shelf in this aisle. Besides, you’re not the only one we’ve had who wasn’t aware of how to pick the right engine oil for their car and I’m sure you won’t be the last. When I first started, I didn’t know anything about engine oils either and I was completely clueless. It wasn’t until a customer with the exact same problem came and asked me about them like you that I learned about how to select the correct one. You learn something new every day.” While I talked with the customer we returned to the counter with the correct engine oil. Thankfully, we had one the manufacturer recommended.

I rang him up for everything and bagged the items appropriately.

While doing so he continued to chat.

“So, is this girl new and in training right now to take over for the girl who used to work with you?”

“Yes, I am new and still learning at the moment, but I’ll be moving between the two locations every other day.” Rosa took the initiative on her own to converse with the customer.  

“Oh, does that mean there will be another trainee then?”

“Yes, there is. She’s in a similar position as I am. There are a lot of new employees because of the new store that just opened up.”

“I see. Is it just a coincidence that this store always hires attractive people or something?”

“If that was the case, would I have been hired?” I joked.

“Ah. My bad. My bad. I said something weird, didn’t I?”

“Not at all. It’s not unusual to have that misunderstanding. It’s just a coincidence that the majority of staff are attractive. People are chosen based on their personality rather than appearance.” Bullshit they were, it was all about looks.

“If you ask me, he’s pretty attractive though,” Rosa said while touching her lip with her index finger.

“Oh? You’re into guys like him?”

“Yeah, I am. They’re my type.”

“Woah, aren’t you lucky? You’ve got such a pretty girl to work with and she says you’re even her type. Good for you man.” The customer played along.

“Your total comes to $78.29 after tax, how would you like to pay?”

“Credit.”

“Please tap or insert when you’re ready.”

He moved the chip on his card over the top of the payment terminal. After a beep, the transaction went through successfully. 

I retrieved the store copy of the receipt, stored it away, and asked, “Would you like your receipt?”

“Yes please.” 

I printed out his copy of the receipt and handed it over to him.

“Thanks for everything man. You were a lifesaver today.”

Before he turned away to leave I responded, “You're welcome. Thank you for shopping with us today and have a great day, sir.”

“Thanks, you too.”

He left the store in a great mood.

After he was gone, I let out an exhausted sigh. If Yuna was here, I wouldn’t have had to talk so much. I’m already tired from just one customer interaction. How did that girl manage to do this every day with so many customers? I already miss her.

“I’m surprised you handled that so well.”

“Of course I did. I don’t talk often but that doesn’t mean I can’t do my job if it comes down to it. Though I’m already dead tired from talking so much. By the way, did you learn anything from that interaction?” I asked Rosa.

“Yeah. I learned my boyfriend is pretty good at his job despite how antisocial he is.”

“It’s just business. Is that all you learned from that though?”

“No, there were a lot of small lifting things. Starting from the conversation itself. You were always polite. You were knowledgeable about the product and were able to help him select the correct one. You made sure he didn’t feel like an idiot through several points in the conversation.”

“So you noticed that? How about handling his goods? Did you understand the process?”

“Yeah, when you were bagging the items you kept the motor oil separate from foodstuff. You also packed the heaviest items at the bottom of the bags and the lighter ones at the top to avoid crushing the more fragile items, right? Also, meat was kept in one bag as well.”

“Yeah, a lot of the job is just common sense stuff like that. It’s not that hard at all.”

“About the POS machine, you were going a bit fast and I couldn’t see very well, could you show me what you were doing just now?”

“Sure.”

“Actually, do you mind if I record it so I review it later in case I forget something?”

“You mean so you can show it to Alicia? Are you that worried about her?”

“Haha… yeah. I want to let her see it beforehand so she won’t be so nervous on her first day with you.”

“Well, it’s fine I guess.”

I went over everything I did just now while ringing the customer up and properly taught her how to use it. Simple little things from scanning the items to keying them in manually as well. Essentially all the ABCs.

She picked everything up very quickly with minimal effort.

Because of how fast Rosa picked everything up I decided to let her handle the next customer that showed up.

“Try handling the next customer on your own.”

“Okay~”

When the next customer put their items on the counter Rosa greeted her and asked, “Welcome, did you find everything you were looking for today, ma’am?”

“Yes. I did, actually. Thank you for asking.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

She only had two items. In that short exchange, Rosa had already scanned all of her items.

“Your total comes up to $10.59 after tax. How were you paying today?”

“Cash.” She handed over a $20 bill and fiddled around in her coin purse to pull out the small change.

Rosa received both the bills and coins, selected the payment as cash then entered the amount. The POS displayed the amount owed to the customer.

The tray at the bottom of the register opened up and Rosa sorted the money in the till. She retrieved a $10 bill then handed it back to the customer.

“Would you like your receipt?”

“Yes please.”

Rosa suddenly froze up. Well, I hadn’t gone over how to print the recipes when the customer paid with cash. I only showed her for debit and credit which the payment terminal printed the receipt.

I’d been standing behind her and watching over her shoulder the entire time. I extended my right hand around her and pressed the button.

“It’s this one. The receipt gets printed off here instead of out of the payment terminal.”

“Oh. Thanks. I should have asked about cash payments before but I forgot.”

“No problem.”

Rosa handed the receipt to the woman who gave her thanks when she received it.

Before she turned away Rosa responded politely, “You're welcome. Thank you for shopping with us today and have a great day, ma’am.”

“You as well, young lady.”

When she exited the store Rosa raised one hand over her chest and breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I was a lot more nervous than I thought I’d be. It was a much simpler interaction than yours as well. Being on the other end and having to treat people as customers is a lot harder than I thought.”

“You did really well though. Good job.”

“Thanks. Uh, do I just put the store copy of the receipt here?”

“No, don’t put them together with receipts for card payments. Keep them in a separate pile here.”

“Okay.”

After that lady left, there weren’t any other customers in the store. I took the opportunity to quickly teach Rosa the basics of spotting and restocking the shelves. I also taught her how to clean them up to make them look nice. Simple things like spacing the items out equally, turning them so the labels face the front, bringing all the items up to the front to make the shelves look more full.

There were all sorts of little minute details that affected a customer’s shopping experience on a psychological level. Even such simple little things.

When a customer entered the store, Rosa greeted them on her own before we both returned behind the counter.

From that point on Rosa actually took the lead. I was surprised by how little I had to do. I only occasionally had to step in and teach her a few small things here and there. 

I was actually able to enjoy my shift a lot more than I expected. Though Rosa still made me talk to her more than I’d like to throughout our shift.

Thankfully, we were able to make it to the end of our shift without any major problems popping up. It was a surprise how smoothly things had gone.

The two of us swapped out with the third-year business student and called it a day there.

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