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Listen to the podcast “Polishing Steel” on YouTube
I was somewhat dismayed yesterday at work seeing the store owner doing the same tedious fronting and polishing of the drink wall and hot bar. It’s almost as if he was looking for something to do to make him seem busy, or perhaps purposeful. It seemed like he came out of his office to be seen. Did a little of the polishing, joining in with us common folk. But, he looked a bit sad to me. He’s ignoring and missing some of the easy improvements that could help his profit. He wants to show up and look busy, just like the rest of us.
Busy for busy appearance.
Here in the corporate retail world we want everyone to look busy. Even if we’re not busy, if there’s no customers in the store, you need to look like you have a purpose. We polish the steel self-checkout lanes. We turn each can of soda so the logo and flavor is enticing for our customers. We walk in small circles around our assigned station. We become accustomed to the mundane, the compulsive straightening, polishing, looking busy.
I didn’t expect to see the top man at our store in the same dance. He was performing for us, I suppose. Showing himself to be a man of the people. I saw how bored he was. He wasn’t inspired by his store, looking to improve and upgrade performance. He was biding his time. Showing his bright smile and active polishing cloth.
Turns out I’m about an hour of UPT from being fired at the end of August. The third party that processes our leave of abcense denied my initial claim. I had filed it incorrectly. This is what my team lead was referring to with attendance. Yes, but… An hour later they accepted my claim and asked me to fill out some more paperwork that was being sent to me. I felt like I was in a scene from the movie office space, filling out my TPS forms for the machine. My TM had no current or relevant data when he “dressed me down” a few days ago. He was doing the minimal amount without looking into any of the actual information.
At the same time, yesterday, I was feeling dizzy and exhausted at my first ten-minute break. I didn’t have the available UPT to cover any more time off. I walked up to my team lead, the same man, and said, “I threw up in the bathroom. Must’ve been something I ate for breakfast, but I’m going home.”
Again, he was enthusiastic. Fist bumped me.
I went home and filed for four-and-a-half hours of protected time-off, “food borne illness.” I also logged into the third party account for an update on my medical leave of abscense case. Yes, they had denied the initial claim. And, yes, they had opened a new claim and it was in the winding approval phase that could still take a few weeks. That’s just how it goes.
I have two phone interviews today and one in-person interview. I also put in for my two days of paid vacation. See if I can’t cash in before I cash out of my cashier role.
See you beyond the checkout line.
[Listen to the Deep Dive explore the concepts of The Happy Cashier.]
The hope I see in others
becomes the hope I have for myself,
my life, and my own journey.
– The Happy Cashier
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ALT: Botisatva’s Bookshelf | The Happy Cashier Podcast
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