Working at Dollarama comes with its difficulties. As a cashier, you have to deal with a lot of customers who don’t know much about anything. I realize they do not have the same inside knowledge as employees, but I’m always surprised when regulars ask where things are. Now, not all customers are like this, but a few are, and I, specifically, find it annoying when they ask the same things over and over again. 

I often get customers who don’t know where anything is, which means I have to leave the cash to walk down an aisle to show them. It doesn’t matter if I just tell them where it is, they’ll leave, come back to cash, and say they couldn’t find what they were looking for. Then, I have to go find the item for them, even though I have more important things I should be doing. However, I have to do this sometimes because other employees aren’t available. Similar to this, I get customers who, as I’m going to find what they’re looking for, will say, “Oh, I didn’t go this far. I only walked half-way and didn’t see it.” I laugh along but think, “Maybe, if they had walked down the rest of the aisle, they would’ve been able to find it, and wouldn’t have to disrupt me from my other work.” 

Some people’s thoughts and questions are really just kind of, well...dumb. You may think this is mean, but it must be said. Before I started working at Dollarama, I had no idea of the ridiculous things that come out of people’s mouths. I’m sure anybody who works retail can relate to this. People say a lot of dumb things. The silliest question customers ask is, “Excuse me, do you work here?” while I'm stocking shelves. All I want to say is, “No, I’m just stocking these shelves for fun. Of course I work here.” However, anyone who works retail knows that you can only reply with, “Yes, I do, how can I help you?”

There's a few cash registers we hardly ever use and I usually stack boxes on these counters to price items. Customers ask if I can check them out at the cashes covered in boxes when there's a totally clear cash right next to me. Why would I check someone out where I'm pricing six boxes of chocolate bars?

Please, think before talking.

Tiffany Cuddy

Tiffany Cuddy is a second year Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. Writing realistic creative fiction stories is her passion whether it’s short stories or someday a novel. She loves watching TV and movies whenever she gets the chance. She doesn’t like watching documentaries; she finds them boring to watch and will fall asleep (also loves sleeping). 

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