A day of challenges

This past Wednesday was a day for some errands, and it ended up being a day of challenges. Still, I was happy about how I navigated the challenges—spread over two days.

First of my errands was a (very) long-delayed haircut. I’ve always hated getting a haircut under the best of circumstances, but with the all the holidays and kids off school over the past couple months, the last place I wanted to be was Te Awa The Base, the shopping centre where the barbershop is located. Tuesday was the day I finally went, and I got the barber I often got in the past, but she was clearly a bit grumpy. I tried my usual friendliness, she didn’t respond in kind like usual, so I just kept quiet figuring she’d prefer that.

As she worked, I tried to think of something positive to say to her, and when she finished and asked how the result was, I said it was good and added, “you always do a great job”, and she thanked me. When I paid, I smiled and thanked her (despite the charge being a third higher than it was a few months ago…).

Next stop was The Warehouse because I needed a few things, and the first Tuesday of the month is Super Gold Card day and I get a 5% discount for having reached 65. Going there that day was the main reason I got my haircut done, too (the barbershop is nearby). If I’m honest, that Warehouse is always a bit of a gamble: Sometimes it’s totally disorganised (or worse…), sometimes terribly understaffed, or the workers are grumpy or indifferent. But when I walked in that day, I was surprised by how cool it was (I don’t remember any Warehouse ever having air conditioning). It was a good start.

Shopping was fine, though I found one thing only by wandering around because their App no longer says what aisle and bay an item is located in (maybe because it was often wrong?). Things became more difficult at the checkout: There was an older woman (and, fact, she may have been not much more than 10 years older than me…) who was struggling with what she was buying, including how her gift card worked. The young worker was very patient with her, and never showed any sign iof irritation. Even so, she wasn’t exactly friendly.

What struck me about all was that there were times in my past when I would’ve been seething at how long it was taking, but around the time I turned 65, I suddenly realised that chronologically I’m often no longer that far behind an older person who’s frustrating me. So I decided to simply accept their reality, and try to work out what their difficulty is so that maybe I can avoid something similar happening to me when I reach that age.

My next stop was the supermarket closest to my house, and I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love how close it is to my house—10 minutes or so even when I get stuck at the traffic lights. I hate everything else about it (yes, I’m joking. Mostly.).

What I dislike is how untidy and under-stocked it often is, but what I really annoys me is how understaffed it is, including at after 3pm when mums arrive after picking up their kids at school. I was ready to pay and leave around quarter past three, and there was one checkout open, with five people wainting in front of me. They opened another checkout, and the queues for both continued to grow. Part of that was because the checkout operator I was waiting for turned out to be unusually slow, abd there were queues waiting at both checkouts (the self-service checkouts also had a queue, but they aren’t for trolley-sized orders, only small ones).

Once it was finally my turn, the operator wanted me to move things, like one thing to the end of my stuff, not at the front where I’d put it. I have not idea why, and at first I wasn’t sure what she wanted because she mainly gestured. She did the same when she wanted me to put one my shopping bags (which she’d over-stuffed) into the trolley. I’ll admit that this was very nearly my breaking point, but I breathed, and thought about the fact it was her fault that the company constantly had the sotre understaffed, nor even that they apparently hadn’t given her thorough-enough training. So, I continued with my usual “please” and “thank you” politeness, though my voice probably sounded as tired as I felt by then.

I should’ve known it was going to be a bad trip when I arrived and saw a bunch of trollies gathered on the carpark and waiting to be taken to their usual parking right near the entrance to the store. I grabbed one from the stack (one with a wonky wheel, no less…), and I headed to the entrance—only to find there was one trolley there, when even on buys days before holidays there are usually dozens sitting there.

When I was leaving, the better part of an hour after I’d arrived (much of that waiting to pay and leave…), there was still only one trolley at the entrance, and the stack of trolleys I spotted when I arrived was still there, untouched. Understaffing throughout the store’s operations, apparently.

I got home to a very happy Leo, and got on with my evening. And that was that—until the following morning.

When I checked my email Wednesday morning, there was an email from the comapny asking for feedback on the store, something they do from time to time, and I ignore them. But not that time.

I answered the questions honestly—they asked!—and was even brutally honest when talking about their chronic understaffing and how the stre is so often untidy. I explained that included when items on shelves are low in stock no one pulls what’s left to the front, especially on lower shelves. I said that they ned to give more time and attention to presentation because a mostly tidy supermarket creates an impression of freshness, and an untidy one makes customers unconsciously wonder about freshness. I don’t know that anyone at the corporate offices will take any notice of what I said, but I honestly told them what I thought of their store, and as far as I’m concerned, that was the end of that. However, I think that from now on when I’m going to a supermarket in person, I’ll probably go to the other one in the area.

Despite all the incentives to lose my cool that day, I didn’t, and that made it a good day. Other days may not go as wekk, but Tuesday did, and that’s enough.