Day 21

I got my first pink slip today. Which, in Wal-Mrt culture, doesn't mean you're fired, it means you messed up. Last Sunday, the business office figured that I came up $9.89 short for the day, meaning that my bag had $9.89 less than what my receipts said it should have had in it. Somewhere along the way, I must have either given back someone too much change, or been short-changed by someone when they paid. I really don't know. $17,000 changed hands that day, so it's a little hard to say.

On the slip, I had to fill out why I thought it happened, and what actions I was going to take to correct the problem in the future. I basically wrote, "I don't know," and "Try harder," but with bigger words and a superior tone. In other words, I acted like I was writing a graduate level lit paper. But I didn't know what to say. Getting the stupid slip, in an enevelope with my name on it at the beginning of my shift, ruined my whole night. I had no idea what went wrong, let alone when it went wrong. And then there was the fact that it was a godamned memo. I hate memos. Someone should have taken a few minutes with me, explained what had happened, and what the normal course of action is when these things happen. For instance, I have no idea how many pink slips it takes before you get disciplined. I have no idea how much difference between the receipts and total in the bag that it takes in order for a pink slip to be issued. I didn't even know what a fucking pink slip was until tonight. No one ever bothered explaining any of this to me.

I'm really down on this job right now, and how my lack of training is paying off in spades. Tonight was the first night since my training days that I took CBLs on the cmputer, too ("Risk Control" & "Workplace Violence Prevention - Hourly"). According to my orientation materials, I was supposed to be issued a sponsor for my training period and a cashier's handbook that basically tells me everything I need to know. Instead, I get no one, and most of my training has been on the computer or with fellow cashiers, who have never been trained to train in the first place.

Wal-Mart, you've got some explaining to do.

Today's Sales: $6,000