Mindfulness & Thinking Creatively

Yesterday at work did not go smoothly. I work at Starbucks inside Target, and our register system is very old and finicky. In the middle of rush yesterday, it decided to go down entirely. When that happens, we need to take customers over to the Target Cafe and check them out there. The process is arduous because customers have to order at Starbucks, wait for their drink, walk to the cafe with their drink, and tell the cashier at the cafe their order again so that cashier knows what to input into the computer. Another problem is that the Target Cafe system doesn't have all of the specific Starbucks menu items, and customers aren't able to pay with their Starbucks app or card, or redeem/collect rewards. Overall, its a situation which sets up for very unhappy customers. 

To make matters worse, I'm still a new employee, so I don't have the full grasp of even the Starbucks system yet, and adding on another system which isn't entirely formatted to handle Starbucks orders is difficult for me to navigate. When I was at the Target Cafe counter, I couldn't get the Starbucks items to scan and the system kept denying the transactions because it didn't recognize the unfamiliar drinks. The Target Cafe is also next to the order pickup station, so while I was standing at the register waiting for Starbucks customers, I would have several customers waiting for online orders from Target approach me and ask to pick up their things. This is a department I don't work in at all. Additionally, the Target Cafe was actually closed for the morning, but obviously seeing someone standing behind the counter (even wearing a Starbucks uniform) customers were attempting to order cafe items. 

In the midst of all this shaping up to be a very bad day at work, I decided to implement some techniques from class. First, I took a moment between customers to breathe. I reminded myself that in the grand scheme of things, this was just one day at work, at a job I won't be at for my whole life, and I was unlikely to ever cross paths with any of the angry customers again. This helped me to get into a much more positive mindset for dealing with the customers. 

Then, I started to employ some observation techniques. I noticed when I scanned the barcodes for Starbucks items at the Target Cafe, they wouldn't go through the system. But in the book of barcodes there were also tiny numbers underneath and to the side of the barcode. Instead of scanning the barcode, I decided to try typing the numbers in. This allowed them to be read by the Target Cafe computer! 

However, this only worked for certain items. From there, I tried to think non linearly. Instead of continuing to scan the barcode or typing in the numbers, I tried doing both. I tried using the codes for similar items from the front of the barcode book and adding modifiers to the price. In the end, nothing worked very well, but I was proud of myself for remaining calm, explaining the situation to the customers, and at least attempting to figure it out instead of just putting a "Closed" sign up at Starbucks.

To help deter customers from the Cafe so they wouldn't wait in line and be frustrated when at the end they couldn't order cafe items, I put a closed sign up at the cafe register and I made sure to explain to customers I saw waiting in line without Starbucks cups in their hands what was going on before they had to wait too long. To help with customers at the order pickup, I was able to radio for help from someone who works that department. This involved some non linear thinking as well. I've seen other Target team members using walkies, but I'd never been trained how to use one. So initially when I radioed for help it didn't connect. I literally just started pressing all the buttons to see what did what. First I figured out that my walkie wasn't on because I saw there was a little light which was not flashing. Then I realized to page over the system that I needed to depress the middle button, and then I found I could go to a private channel to talk instead of talking to the whole store. I figured this out from pressing the + and - keys which I initially thought were for volume control. 

I've learned in jobs, especially retail and food service entry level jobs, that no one is really going to take the proper amount of time to train and show you around everything you need to learn to be a successful employee. This used to give me lots of anxiety in the past and it would keep me from seeking out new job opportunities, often tethering me to positions which I hated because "at least I KNOW everything here." 

Learning these ways to creatively problem solve and take some time to recenter myself in class has helped me to feel more prepared for new risks and challenges, especially in the workplace. 

Lo and behold, our register system came back up eventually! And over the course of it being down, I had several customers comment on my positive attitude instead of being upset with me. So I think it was overall a successful day.