Well first day on the job and in a word "tiring". I had to report at 10:30AM for orientation and paperwork. Which is where they go through many rules and regulations about working for Wall Drug and the family that owns it. I also had to sign several documents dealing with things like code of conduct, withholding taxes, direct deposit, dorm rules and regulations, etc... We also met and got a nice introduction from one of the founding family members. He gave us a very nice history of Wall Drug and his family's connection with Wall South Dakota. Everyone that talked to us during orientation was very nice. We also got some insight on how the store has been affected by the Corona Virus. The first thing is that staffing is down by a third, but then so is tourist traffic. They have no indication when tourism will pick up to the average Wall Drug traffic or if it will ever pick up for this year. But indications are that by 4th of July things should pick up and maybe by Labor Day things should look a lot better.
After orientation we were taken on a tour of Wall Drug. The place consists of 76,000 square feet of retail space broken out in major sections. Not all sections are open for business and some that are open are doing reduced services, such as the restaurant. The place where employees are to eat is different and the way employees get their food is different this year. Needless to say I will have to pack a lunch and drinks everyday as I really don't have time to go somewhere to eat, but I will get into that later. The tour was nice but I really don't think we even came close to seeing the whole place. As there are upstairs and basements in the place and maybe before I leave I will get to see all these places.
After the tour I was taken to where I will be working, there are pictures below. The area I will be working in is called the Mall Area and the section I will be working in is the moccasin and belt area. Yes you heard me right, the moccasins and belt area. I did not have any say as to where they would place me, but if they ever ask my opinion in the future I would request a more testosterone area, such as camping and knives. :) My schedule so far is I will be working from 11AM to 7:30PM Sunday through Thursday, with Friday and Saturday as my days off. The work day consists of 2 ten minute on the clock breaks and one 30 minute off the clock lunch break that must occur at 3PM. So basically it is an 8 plus hour day. Personally I don't like the hours as it will really mess with lunch/dinner. Because of my acid re-flux issues I can't eat anything past 6:30 and lay down to sleep. So basically I will have to eat dinner at the 3PM lunch break, which I will have to bring myself. As the prices in the store for food everyday is too expensive and not really nutritious to be eating every day. I will really miss the split shifts of Yellowstone and the great employee dining room.
The people I worked around today were fantastic and very kind in having patience with a newbie. First days are tough as you get inundated with how to do the job while trying to work with customers doing the job you are learning. I can safely say after my first day I did not do anything stupid that required a manager to come and fix, but the new cash register system s very interesting. Also the way they do inventory and ordering is also very interesting. Definitely very different that Yellowstone's approach to being a cashier. The thing I do like here is that I do not get assigned a til of money and I do not have to count money at the end of my shift. They have a completely different system here. Streamlined very nice but very strange in how accountability is being done. Maybe before I leave I will get a more behind the scenes look as to how the accounting is done and how are people kept in line about cash discrepancies.
After the day was over I clocked out and walked back to the trailer. I got 10,700 steps in today, which is a lot less than Yellowstone, but almost normal for a day of walking for me. I will have to make sure I watch what I eat as I am not burning calories like I did at Yellowstone, where I averaged around 26,000 steps a day in grocery. I am hoping to lose around 15 pounds here but I will have to work hard on buying good nutritious food.
That is about it and I hope this blog finds you well. Thanks for reading.
My work area in moccasins and belts
The Mall area outside my work area
The employee break room.
Nice
ReplyDelete