“Sir, I’m Not Retarded. I’m A Trainee”

A surprisingly large proportion of customers seem to be under the false impression that if you work somewhere, you know everything. Nevermind the fact that it might be the clerk’s first day…

There are for all sakes and purposes four kinds of workers in customer service:
Those who have worked for some time, be it a year or 35 years, and know the job like the back of their hand.
Those who have just started several weeks or months earlier and are still getting the hang of the job.
Those who are still in training.
Those who are either temporary workers, seasonal helpers, or students doing a short stint at a place of work for school.

Everyone starts out a new job practically clueless as to what to do. Some more than others, obviously. These people are known as trainees, because, well, they’re being trained on how to do the job. (Pretty self-explanatory, right?)

There are also varying levels of trainees, depending on attitude and prior working experience. Some people get with the program from the very beginning, while others may take a bit longer. Some, unfortunately, never get the hang of it.

For the consumer, dealing with trainees is a necessary evil as you will come into to contact with them quite often. The service industry has a huge turnover of workers, as most young people get their first proper taste of the working life and of customer service here, be it as a cashier at their neighbourhood grocery store, as a telemarketer for the shopping network, or standing behind the cash register at a fast food joint.

In the interest of cutting costs, many stores limit the amount of training new workers receive and usually assign another worker (as opposed to a manager) to handle the training. For example, in the first three weeks as a regular worker I’ve trained 4 temporary workers for about five hours each. Having been a temporary worker myself for the last two years doing what these trainees will be doing, I was immediately deemed to be the best person to train them. (Yay…)

I’ve compliled a short list of tips and hints for the consumer to help them make their shopping experience go a little smoother when faced with a trainee. Cue drumroll please!

• 1. If you’re in a crappy mood, try to stay away from the worker who is wearing a name tag that clearly states them to be a trainee.
  The said trainee will be slow, won’t know everything, is very likely to make a mistake, and all the other things that will piss you off when you’re in a pissy mood. Please move to another cash register, when applicable.

• 2. If there are two clerks at one cash register, one of whom is a trainee, don’t ask the other clerk to open another cash register for you.
  That other clerk is training the trainee and most probably can’t leave them alone. Furthermore, it’s not that simple to open another cash register, as go training cases there’s probably only one cash drawer between the clerk and the trainee.

• 3. If you have a difficult question or need help with something, don’t ask the trainee.
  You will not get an answer from them that will satisfy you. Why? Because they don’t know all that much yet. They’re in training to get to the point when they can serve you properly. That been said, you can ask a trainee a question if you realize that there’s a good chance that they will not know the answer to it, and will merely direct you to a co-worker. Helping customers and answering their questions is an integral part of all customer service positions so asking a trainee is a question will help the trainee go showing them a glimpse of what the job will be like. But no stupid questions and no extravagantly difficult questions, please.

• 4. If the trainee makes a mistake, be patient.
  Everyone makes mistakes. The newer one is at their job, the more likely it is that they’ll make a mistake. As one is supposed to learn from their mistakes, it’s actually a good thing for a trainee to make a mistake. Just DON’T start screaming at a trainee for making a mistake, no matter how severe the mistake was. There will be someone more experienced to fix any problems that might arise.

• 5. If the trainee doesn’t know how to do something, be patient.
  It is impossible to know everything on one’s first day. They’re not stupid or slow, they’re merely inexperienced. Every clerk you run across into whilst shopping has at one point been in the same situation as that trainee who doesn’t know all that much. It’s part of the circle of working life.

• 6. Don’t, for the love of Christ, start screaming at a trainee.
  What better way to put someone in an unfair and uncomfortable situation. “You must be new here. Allow me to welcome you by screaming my head at you for a rookie mistake.” Just grit your teeth and take a chill pill.

• 7. If you’re in a hurry, avoid the checkout counter with a trainee manning it.
  By default, most trainees will be ssloooowww. Checkout counters manned by a trainee usually have the shortest lines, but they’ll take as long as a line twice or three times as long. Enough said, I guess…

• 8. Don’t start changing your mind about your order or transaction while faced with a trainee.
  It’s hard enough to take in all that new information and how that new cash register system works and what all the store policies are. With all that cluttering up your mind, try to keep up with a customer who changes his or her mind every 4.8 seconds. Make up your mind BEFORE you get to the checkout counter.

• 9. Be understanding.
  If it’s someone’s first day, they need all the help from you that they can get. Patience is a virtue. Give the trainee some space to learn and do their brand-spanking new job.

• 10. And finally, a few lines to avoid saying when dealing with a trainee:
  -Do you know who I am?!?
  -I’m supposed to get a discount.
  -Why are you so slow?
  -Hurry up!
  -@&%€£§#}¤*%/<#&+@¥$@&%!!!
  -I’m a regular here and I ALWAYS get a discount/special treatment.
  -You should start looking for a new job because you suck at this one.
  -Are you retarded or something?

If you have a story relating to this post, from either side of the counter, or anything to add to this chapter of The Consumer Etiquette Guide, let’s hear it!

The customer is NOT always right. If you agree with this, or wish to know what to do and not do as a consumer, please subscribe to this blog’s updates by the way of the RSS feed or email subscriptions. Thank you for shopping at The Consumer Etiquette Guide, now go and make someone have a nice day at work!