Mastering Use of The Till

Truegho

Has anybody here started a new retail job and - due to lack of previous experience - had difficulty mastering the till, coping with constant customer build up, varioius queries etc?

This problem often occurs due to whatever firm you have started work with not offering proper, in depth till training before they even put you out on the sales floor. Instead, they often put you with a colleague, whom you have to keep asking have I pressed the right button etc.

In short, would you recommend a career as a checkout sales assistant?

PasturesNew

I'd last about 4 minutes ........

mildred1978

Truegho wrote: »

Has anybody here started a new retail job and - due to lack of previous experience - had difficulty mastering the till, coping with constant customer build up, varioius queries etc?

This problem often occurs due to whatever firm you have started work with not offering proper, in depth till training before they even put you out on the sales floor. Instead, they often put you with a colleague, whom you have to keep asking have I pressed the right button etc.

In short, would you recommend a career as a checkout sales assistant?

I wouldn't call working on the checkout a "career".

Does this relate to the job you said you were starting in June?

(PS - how do you manage to always make everything someone else's fault? It's quite a skill. Not a useful one, but still...........)

Takeaway_Addict

OP I am not sure what you expect regarding training, do you expect every company to have a till out the back and fake customers?

Till training is best learnt on the job where you will encounter the normal problems and you will need to ask questions regularly to start with.

However I feel you should be able to pick up most of the till operations within 1 weeks constant use maximum

MissSarah1972

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

OP I am not sure what you expect regarding training, do you expect every company to have a till out the back and fake customers?

Till training is best learnt on the job where you will encounter the normal problems and you will need to ask questions regularly to start with.

However I feel you should be able to pick up most of the till operations within 1 weeks constant use maximum

Then there should be a supervisor or manager training on the shop floor not a 'staff member' who probably don't care if you get it wrong all the time.

Till are easy and I had my first experience of one when I was 14 where you had to press a key for £1, one for 20p and enter all at the same time for it to ring up then the draw just used to open and you had to work out the change.

Then when I went to Superdrug as a saturday girl there were no such thing as bar codes so every item keyed in induvidually. Tills and cashier jobs are easy today.

bluenoseam

I've been in two jobs where till training was showing me the basics then sticking me on a till in Central Glasgow to get the hang of it - it's like learning to drive, you don't learn mucking around in car parks you learn by going on the road. Till work is easy these days given the fact they tend to be computerised, you no longer have to figure out how much change to give.

In all my years of retail I've only ever seen one person struggle with till training in the shadow a member of staff & ask them questions if you get stuck method - fortunately for them they happened to be excellent with serving customers.

paddyrg

Each system is different, and most people are terrible at training, so you may have to self-learn a bit. The basics will be basic though - scan something/touch a button/enter a code/enter a price, continue until done, press 'subtotal' and tell the customer how much to pay, enter the amount they pay and the button for the type of payment card/cash/etc, give change as appropriate (the till will tell you how much to give). Make any mistakes, call your supervisor.

greyteam1959

And then your till drawer pops open & the customer says after fiddling in his /her purse for 5 minutes 'would 19 pence save your change' !!!!!
:mad:

westv

mervyn11 wrote: »

And then your till drawer pops open & the customer says after fiddling in his /her purse for 5 minutes 'would 19 pence save your change' !!!!!
:mad:

His purse?

purple.sarah

I work as a checkout assistant so I know the till (and the queue of customers) can seem daunting at first but you do get used to it. It is very repetitive so eventually it will become routine. If you feel you need more in depth training, be proactive and ask for it. Shadowing or being supervised by a more experienced colleague can be an important part of learning but you should also receive support from a team leader.

Would I recommend a career as a checkout sales assistant? No, is the short answer. However the longer answer is that I wouldn't recommend quitting your job without having another one lined up either. Working on a checkout may not be what you want to do forever but it will help you earn money and learn skills such as customer service while looking for another job. Also if you are interested in a career in retail there are normally opportunities for promotion within the company, our store manager started on the tills.

MissSarah1972

mervyn11 wrote: »

And then your till drawer pops open & the customer says after fiddling in his /her purse for 5 minutes 'would 19 pence save your change' !!!!!
:mad:

What's wrong with that? If it came to £23.19 and the customer gave you 2 x £20 notes then says 'oh hang on I have the 19p' it's easy. £7 change.

Everyone who works on a till should be able to do that.