Sept 6

Worked a full 8-hr shift Fri and a 4.5 hr shift Sat; and will work 4.5 hrs today. There is no sitting down at all so by Fri. night I hurt pretty bad. He's going to try to ease me into it as much as he can. Cannot believe how antiquated their procedures are -- items all have barcodes but we don't have scanners and the registers aren't tied into a system. Certain things (like gold jewelry) have to be closely accounted so we have to cut the barcode tag off and tape it to a paper form and write up the sale info on the form and in a binder. There are little forms for everything, which means a lot of remembering for clerks.

Have found out that Chuck (who's a real talker) was a homeless street bum alcoholic in San Diego until about 20 years ago. Don't know what made him get sober. He's about 5'7", seamed and craggy face, very energetic. Loves to sell and is good at upselling, not my best thing; I usually let the customers direct themselves with only a little nudging from me.

I hate feeling that pressure from clerks myself so I don't do it, even though I know that many customers don't even notice and like to be directed. My grandmother was a master at commandeering a customer's will and informing her of what she would buy (and what she would not). And the customers seemed to think of that as "being taken care of"! I find it intolerable.