Work Update: Re-Tales

So, work. Not a whole lot to say about it, but there are a few things I thought were worth mentioning:

• In some ways, the machine that prints out the receipts is much more advanced than others I've worked with. It automatically separates the receipts so you don't have to rip them, and the register tape is easy to replace. What's weird is that it waits until after you're finished with an order to print the receipt, yet it still includes mistakes. For instance, if I accidentally scan an item twice and then use a void to correct my error, the second scan and the void both show up on the receipt. Since it doesn't print as it goes, shouldn't it be able to filter out those unnecessary slips of the keyboard or scanner? It can only be confusing to the customers, and it's kind of embarrassing to hand someone documented proof that I still haven't totally mastered scanning.
  
• Every Wal-Mart I've been into in the past few years, including the one where I work, has what they call a carousel of bags. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. While probably introduced to make bagging faster, since you can start packing another bag before the customer grabs the one you just packed, it mostly just seems to be confusing. People are always forgetting to take what they just paid for. I've done it as well. The rational explanation would be that this is a result of some of the relevant bags facing AWAY from the customer due to the nature of the carousel, but I have to suspect that there's also something about that device's construction that impairs the thinking of anyone around it, customer or employee.
  
• Bags in general can get a little crazy sometimes. I don't like to bag an item all by itself unless I really think it's hard to carry otherwise, but I ask the customers to make sure. And it strikes me that some people drastically overuse bags. I know I've heard some people say they have to catch a bus or something, in which it probably really IS easier to keep track of things when it's all in bags. If you're just going straight home, however, putting some items in bags just creates extra work for everyone involved. You also get people who think they need a bag to prove they paid for something, when that's actually the purpose of the receipt.
  
• The photo department is apparently a totally different culture localized in the middle of Wal-Mart, like an Indian reservation or something. When someone brings pictures to the front, there's usually no barcode on them, and even when there is it rarely works. What the cashier then has to do is to look through a series of sheets with photograph barcodes, and then make sure to choose the right one, even though the photo sleeves have next to no information. Fortunately, I don't have to ring up pictures that often, probably because most people pay in the photo reservation itself.
  
• It still doesn't look like the managers have work out the scheduling. In fact, this past Tuesday, I was scheduled to work from 6:30 AM to 12:30 the next day! I knew this had to be wrong, since it brought my total hours for the week over forty, which I don't think is allowed for part-time employees. Not to mention that I had class that evening, so I couldn't do the evening hours even if I wanted to. Even after I called and asked about my hours for that day, however, the messed-up hours still appeared on the schedule right up until the actual day. While this has only happened once so far, I've been scheduled again for time when I'm going to be in class, so I'll have to discuss that with someone.
  
• I'll never get over the number of customers who are totally excited over the "As Seen on TV" items that are up near the register. Dudes, do you REALLY think a Shake Weight actually works? There's another line called Pillow Pets, for which I've never seen the commercial, but I hear people quoting it all the time. Apparently the jingle is something along the lines of, "It's a pillow! It's a pet!" They're basically stuffed animals that you can use as pillows, which isn't a bad idea, but I really don't find them at all appealing.
  
  At least I can kind of see why kids want these, though, while I'm baffled over children begging their parents for Snuggies. Really? You find a backwards robe to be an exciting concept? What's wrong with kids today? Then again, as a kid, I used to like to wear my robe a lot, and my house got really cold in the winter. So maybe I would have been interested in these things if they'd come out a few decades earlier.
  

I don't work tomorrow, but I really do have to gather the articles for my literature review, and I'm still not sure what my topic should be.