Blog # 9

My first job

When I was sixteen and in High School I had my very first job. One day my mom and I were driving to the post office and we saw a now hiring sign in front of a store that was going to open in our town, called Vallarta Supermarkets. Vallarta if you don't know is a Mexican grocery store. My mom said I should apply for a part time job for the summer, so I did. I got hired as a courtesy clerk or a box gilr wat ever you want to call it, and started asap. The store would soon have its grand opening and never in my life did I think I would still currently be working there.  Been a courtesy clerk was a simply job, all  I had to do was help bag groceries tell the customer "thank you and have a good day". Since I was in school i would only work four hours a day after school for four to five days a week. As time went by my manager started letting me cashier so i would sometimes help on the register. When i turned 18 I was finally of age to be able to sell alcohol so i became a cashier. At first it seemed a little difficult, because i had to learn over 100 codes for the produce. I really don't know how but i guess i have a good memory, I was able to learn quickly and memorize all the codes. I guess after practice they just stay in your mind. After I had the codes down I quckly began to gain more speed at the register. If you've been to Vallarta you'll know how crowded and busy it can get on the holiday or on the weekends.


Vallarta doesn't have an employee of the month or of the year but they did have cashier of the week for a while. You were scored on produce tests, on your customer service and your productivity. I was cashier of the week for five weeks in a row. =) When you earned cashier of the week you would get a saturday and sunday off as a reward. So it was nice having weekends off for a while. I enjoyed cashiering and even though customers would sometimes not be the greatest to you I tried to make the best of it. What I have learned from working at Vallarta is to have alot of patience and obviously I've learned customer service. Let me tell you some people are just the rudest to you sometimes, I've had some interesting experinces as a cashier. But I will never forget this one lady who called me a "bitch." This woman got angry with me when I wouldn't accept her payment of a check when our company policy clearly said we ddint accept checks with p.o. box adresses on it. She became furious when I enformed her I couldm't accept her check I had to call my manager and he dealt with it. I really don't know how but I managed to stay calm and proceed with work . I must say though it took alot not to talk back to that woman!


Today I work in the Customer Service booth. I like my job it deals more with handeling larger amounts of money so its more responsibilty. In the customer service we sell money orders, calling cards, lotto tickets, scatchers, and we also do money gram transactions. The greatest responsibility though is counting the cashiers registers after their shift is over, we verfy their sales and add everything up at the end of the night. It can be stressfull and i must admit exausting at times, but i enjoy what I do. What I also like is that they work around my schedule wich is nice and gives me the opportunity to go to school.

http://www.vallartasupermarket.com/