A friend referred me to the Modell’s sporting goods store located at 89-59 Bay Parkway in Brooklyn. After deciding that working there could be a great opportunity for me to gain experience in the retail field, I applied. After being interviewed, I received a call about a week later and was told I got the job.

Before starting to work I was required to attend a long and boring eight-hour orientation. I had to read, fill out, and sign tons of paper work. During orientation one of the mottos employees were told to follow was “the customer is always right.” In other words, the managers wanted us to always have respect for the customers. Then I went through training. Training was unpleasant because I felt I was always under pressure to learn within a week the tasks and responsibilities of a cashier. There was also a written test that I had to pass. If I failed, I would no longer been able to work as a cashier but would be put in a different position such as apparel or footwear.

The Modell’s store I worked in had a giant parking lot around it with other superstores such as Toys “R” Us, Kohl’s, and Best Buy. Modell’s only had one floor but was nevertheless very big because of its length. It had a supermarket and warehouse look to it. Once you entered the store, you could see that most of the store had sections. A few of the clothing brands Modell’s carried were Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. Behind

the long aisles of men and women’s clothing, which practically ran down the whole store, were sports gear and equipment and then came the footwear section. Next to the entrance on the left was a long aisle of registers where you would see me ringing up customers, along with other employees standing side by side.

Being a cashier was one of the most important jobs in the store. This was because the cashiers were most likely the last employees the customers would speak to, and sometimes the only employees they would speak to, before leaving. What was fun about working at the register was that most of the time I was never alone. I would always have a co-worker next to me ringing up customers. I would also interact with the customers. I remember one customer who happened to be a mother. She came with her daughter, who looked like she was my age, and was very attractive, in my opinion. After the basic “hey, how are you?” which was “the famous line” that indicated the customer knew English and seemed pleasant, the mother asked, “Are you single?”

I responded, “Yeah.”

She smiled and said, “Well, my daughter is single.” She looked me in the eye, expecting a response. Before I had a chance to answer, she asked, “How old are you?”

I told her I was 18, which I was, and after I nervously finished up her transaction, I handed her a large Modell’s plastic bag packed with the clothing items she purchased. “Thank you, have a great day.” As she and her daughter walked towards the exit, they smiled at me and they both said, “You too.”

Another transaction I had was with an FDNY (fire dept. of New York) worker. He was wearing a shirt with the FDNY logo on it. While he was purchasing his items, he asked, “Do you guys do discounts for city workers?” and I replied “Yes, we do.” Although it was only 10%, it was still something. Towards the end of the transaction, I asked the firefighter, “Is it hard to become a firefighter?”

“No, but the best way to become one is if you take as many civil service exams as you can, or, better yet, become a paramedic and be promoted to a firefighter.”

I was confused, so I asked, “Is that the way you did it?”

“No, but I wish I had.”

I enjoyed working with the customers, and because I did, I would always treat them with as much respect as possible. But sometimes customers, usually the ones that didn’t understand or speak English, would give me, and sometimes the managers, a hard time. Once a Chinese woman who didn’t speak or understand English placed her items at my register. I scanned them and told her the price. She stood there nodding her head yes while smiling. I repeatedly told her the price and even wrote it down for her. All the while the other customers waited “patiently” on the line. I called a manager through the intercom. Once my manager showed up, so did the Asian lady’s partner, who was male and happened to know some English. He chuckled once he understood the situation, and then he eventually gave me cash for her items.

I really didn’t like customers who looked like they had had a bad day and were ready to bring their negative energy over to me. One time, a customer asked me a question about her items, “Is this on sale?” and I replied, “No, sorry, it is not on sale.”

“Well, on the rack where I got this from there is a sign saying that it is on sale.” This was a common question asked very often by customers. Eventually this exchange would lead to them asking if there was a way I could give them a discount. If I didn’t give them one (because I wasn’t allowed to unless they had a coupon or were a city worker), the customer would give me attitude.

As a cashier working up front, I had many responsibilities. I picked up hangers, which were on the floor next to my register from clothes that were purchased, and then I placed them in a bin, which every cashier had under their register. I organized items on the shelves behind the registers to make everything behind me look presentable, and I also returned items that were brought to the register by the customer but not purchased or were not wanted by the customer because he or she changed their mind. The shifts were usually six to eight hours, and I was standing the whole time. During these long shifts I would feel like I was going to collapse. The hardest days were when things were on sale or a sports team made it to the playoffs or was in the championship game at the end of its season.

Last year, for example, when the Mets made it to the World Series, Modell’s was flooded with die-hard Met fans that were so eager to get exactly what they wanted in order to be considered a fan that they would spend whatever they thought was necessary. There were customers on the floor asking for a specific baseball cap or shirt and I would receive calls from customers asking the same questions about the same items (which were usually out of stock). Things were hectic in the store. Kids would come in and once their parents left them for a second, the kids would take advantage of their freedom. They would throw balls and run around the store while their parents yelled at the managers about how stupid they thought the return policy was for the swag-way hover board. I thought the policy was fair and made sense.

Customers were always being watched, not only by the cameras in the store but by managers, employees, and of course our security guard, who would stand by the door most of the time. Some customers looked suspicious coming in carrying empty bags waiting to be filled and or even pushing empty strollers and no kids in the strollers or with them either. But my main concern as a cashier was to look out for credit card scammers. As a cashier I knew there were three method of payments: cash, credit, or debit. When a customer paid in cash, I was to mark bills larger than $10.00 with a special marker to check for counterfeit money.

During my time working at Modell’s I only came across one person who tried to do a credit card scam. He looked suspicious from the beginning. He was so nervous his hand was shaking as he tried repeatedly to swipe his “credit card” over and over again. And we rarely received customers who would buy three $400.00 swag way hover boards during one transaction, which he was trying to do.

As an employee at Modell’s I learned you should always assist the customers to the full extent. No matter how wrong or weird the customers may be or may seem to be, arguing with customers or treating them with disrespect should never be considered a solution. Just remember the customer is just as human as you are, and in some cases you are a customer as well, which is, in my opinion, why the customer is always right.