Ringing Up Sales Can Be Wringing Experience : Veteran Retail Employee Keeps Her Cool as Hectic Holiday Season Begins
It was Friday morning on the busiest shopping day of the year, and Margaret Cisneros looked out from behind the lingerie department counter at Mervyn’s in Glendale. It was not a pretty sight.
Although the 40-year-old department store supervisor and four other employees toiled at the cash registers, a line of bargain-hunters clutching marked-down flannel pajamas grew to more than 20 and overflowed into the next department.
Customers began to get edgy, and one woman at the register complained to Cisneros about the wait. Without missing a beat, Cisneros asked the woman “cash or charge?” and handed her a complaint form. “Thank you and have a good day,” she told the customer politely after ringing up the sale.
Keep your cool and the cash registers ringing was the rule of day for Cisneros and retail store employees across the nation. The day after Thanksgiving sees customers flooding into shopping malls and testing the patience and endurance of employees behind the counter and on the sales floor.
Department stores had prepared for the day with extra help, special promotions and additional store hours. It’s a day when all employees are called in for duty--about 200 at the Mervyn’s in the Glendale Galleria--and are mobbed by customers seeking bargains and answers to questions.
Early Hours a Challenge
“On a day like today you have to gulp your coffee down,” said Cisneros who has spent the past five years waiting on customers the day after Thanksgiving. “But I’ve gotten used to it. It’s kind of exciting just looking at the crush. People realize that they have only one month to shop before Christmas.”
Although most customers are polite, Cisneros, a former teacher’s assistant, said some can be inconsiderate. “People don’t know you are on your feet all day. You meet some customers who are not so nice. It’s a challenge.”
On Friday morning, the challenge was getting the store ready to open at 8--two hours before normal. Mervyn’s had guaranteed that the flood of shoppers would be an all-day event when it advertised special bargains available only from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. For employees, that meant arriving for work at dawn.
“I made sure I went to bed early last night,” said Cisneros, who awoke at 4:30 a.m. The night before, she said, “my daughter did the dishes so I wouldn’t be so tired.”
While dance music played on the store’s public address system, Cisneros and employees spent the two hours before opening moving boxes of marked-down merchandise from storerooms into the sales area. She reviewed computer printouts to make sure what merchandise went under the sale signs.
Flannel pajamas marked down 50% were tagged as a fast seller, and a cold and rainy morning ensured that sales would be brisk. “It’s cold and they’ll want pajamas,” she said.
Normally, only two people work the lingerie department in the morning, but on Friday, five were on hand. Four would work the registers and one temporary employee would replenish the shelves.
New and temporary employees wear down the fastest during the high-pressure holiday season, said Cisneros, a resident of Silver Lake. “They are not accustomed to it. You just tell them to hang in there.”
Chirping Registers
About 10 minutes before the doors opened, the dance music on the public address system faded out, and store manager Tom Buehner came on with a pep talk of sorts. He advised employees about special parking, gift boxes and sales prices. “I guarantee you it will be busy today,” he said before signing off. “Everybody have a good day.”
Less than five minutes after the store opening, customers had bounded up the escalators and were picking through the pajama displays. The area around Cisneros was filled with the chirping sounds of electronic cash registers and the rustling of plastic bags and packages.
“Can I help the next customer,” Cisneros kept calling out politely again and again as her fingers rested at ready on the cash register. “You have a nice holiday.”
Workers get two 15-minute breaks and an hour for lunch, and they seemed to be a necessity on Friday. Harried workers on break said they often remove name tags just to avoid being sought out by shoppers. Over lunch, they would chit-chat about the chaos and talk, for instance, about the customers who ambushed a cart loaded with towels even before they got to the housewares section.
Quiet Evening Planned
And there were some problems in Cisneros’ department as well. One employee called in sick and the cashiers found themselves struggling to find price tags that the manufacturer had tucked way up inside the sleeves of the pajamas. “They just want us to work a little harder today,” Cisneros remarked.
By 10, the early-morning sale was over, but the work was far from done. As employees started removing sales signs and display tables, they knew that many customers were just driving into the parking garage.
After her shift ended, Cisneros waited outside the store for her son to drive her home through the traffic-choked streets surrounding the shopping mall. She had plans to spend a quiet, uneventful evening at home and prepare herself for what looked like a long holiday shopping season.
“The sales floor was a mess--I think this year was more busy than usual,” said a weary Cisneros after her day was through. “I’m tired but I have to go to work tomorrow. It will be another busy day.”
