Back in my primary school days, I used to be pretty strong in Mathematics. In fact, it was my favorite subject, but somewhere down the line, during my high school, I started to detest and fear mathematics and it has been so ever since. I flunked my 12th standard math paper and had to sit out a year. I had taken up the supplementary exam and had done well enough to guarantee a pass, but I still had to wait for about 8 months before the new academic year started. I just couldn’t sit at home all day. I set out one fine day, looking for a job. I went to the posher side of Bangalore (my home city). First stop was Nike Sports Station. I walked in, asked for the supervisor and told him that I was on the lookout for a job. He politely told me that the did their hiring through some agency and not in any other fashion. So much for the first try, but I was not going to be upset over that. I hit another couple of shops on Brigade Road, but without much success. I then went to Music World, where I seemed to have better luck. The supervisor there even gave me an interview (I had gone prepared, and even had my Resume with all of six or seven lines about myself!!!). I could have easily landed the job, but for the fact that the supervisor observed that I was not yet 18 (Dang, I was just a couple of months short of that magic figure that supposedly meant a lot of things!) but he politely told me that he was obliged to follow the rules and he offered to take me on after a couple of months (whether he meant it or he was polite, I cannot be sure, but I feel it was the former). Whatever it was, I was still without a job and was running out of places to go to.<div text="What I did next..." class="ljcut">Type your cut contents here.I decided to head back home and when I was quite near home, I saw this huge red board that proclaimed ‘Food World’(a famous supermarket chain). I went in and repeated my carefully rehearsed lines. I told the super that I would be free to work for at least the next six months or so. The manager was impressed. I also told him about my age, but he was apparently undermanned and was willing to overlook my age. He in fact just asked me to mention that I was 18! My heart was pounding! On one hand, I was happy that I had landed a job while on the other hand, I was feeling like a criminal! The super said that it was just a formality and that he would take care of it. He explained the job profile and the dos and the don’ts. I would be in charge of manning the fruits and vegetables section (FnV) and would be responsible for the cleanliness of the stands, removing of stale vegetables and fruits from the racks, replenishing stocks, indenting for fresh stocks and the like. I would also be required to assist with the unloading of stocks when they arrived. My shift was in the evenings from 4.30 to 10 and would be paid a INR 1300. The stocks would invariably come at closing time and we would often be busy unloading the stuff till about 10.30. I started my job and learned the ropes really fast. Before long, my boss felt that I was being wasted in the fruits and vegetables section, as the customers would pick up what they wanted to buy without really requiring any assistance. At that time, the cafeteria in that outlet was registering losses as it was not all that popular and the super thought that with my English skills and smooth talking, I would be able to do better than the guy who used to man it. This meant that I had to receive cashier training as the cafeteria was a one man operation. I had to take the order, heat up the stuff or hit the coffee or tea button and serve the cup, collect the cash and tender the change. Now, I had a fear of math and this job essentially meant that I had to do a lot of counting and mental calculations, but I still managed to learn the ropes. However, I was going to harshly tested during the weekend when the crowd would be large. And it was the first weekend of the month. First weekend=biggest crowd in supermarket terms for obvious reasons. I was swamped by what seemed to be like hundreds of customers, though in reality, they were about fifteen to twenty of them! I was struggling to keep track of who ordered what, who had paid and who had not and what not! The super saw that I was not in control and sent the regular cashier back to assist me. He quickly brought the situation under control, but it was quite a blow to my ego! Later in the day, I would get a further shock when I counted the day’s take. It was short by more than a hundred rupees. Apparently, in all that rush, I had forgotten to collect money from a customer or a couple of customers. I was totally crestfallen. The shortfall meant that I had to pay up from my pocket. My colleagues consoled me and told me that it had happened to them initially too, and that I just needed to learn to be more careful. Over time, I not only became more careful but increased sales tremendously and succeeded in building up my own list of repeat customers! It was fun. During the day, I signed up for computer classes for which I paid for myself, from my salary and worked the evenings. Before long, the six months were up and my boss was not at all happy to lose me, but when I told him that I was heading back to college, he was quite happy and sent me with encouraging words. A couple of my regular customers even wrote me farewell wishes on tissue papers and signed them for me!!!! I still have them. Sigh…. and that was what my first job was like and thanks to <div class="ljuser">peeyush</div>, I got an opportunity to relive all that!
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