Chapter 20: Getting to Know You

Working in my new store I am easily surrounded by numerous people, whom I don’t know, but they have the opportunity to already know each other and I am just one new person. It would be nice to just met one new person at a time instead of a whole store. It is particularly unfair when some people’s eyesight are better than other people’s or that some people wear their nametags more clearly than others. People I am working with can act as though we’ve known each other for a while, which only makes me feel stupid because I have no clue what their name is. I can’t ask them what their name is if they are already on a first name basis with me. I’m slowly picking up on it though and yesterday while I was working I had a personal revelation, getting to know people, takes time. Making friends, takes time. I just had to remember that at some point all of my friends were strangers. Some of my friends I wasn’t even trying to be friends with and didn’t care if we ever spoke, but now they are my friends. In the words of Ben Folds, “Time takes time.” …deep. With the whole name thing, I’d rather you not say my name then call me the wrong one. Just a note.
I was a bit flustered in my plans to acclimate to the store with an experience that I had yesterday. When I first started in the store the trainer I took the place of told me that I was allowed to go into the office and make copies for my paper work. I went to the back to make copies yesterday and I was standing by the copy machine when a woman I haven’t met yet comes up and says, “Oh I can do that for you.” So I back up a bit (it was 4 copies and the 3rd one was coming out of the machine). She kind of stood between me and the copier and looked back at me a little. Then she handed me the copies and said in a hushed tone, “we’re not really suppose to have anyone back here.” What the crap? One thing I was worried about with this store was that the copier was in Customer Service and I didn’t want to have to get someone else to make my copies. It’s a waste of their time, especially if there are customers waiting for them, and especially if I have had a busy training week. Luckily everyone in their customer service is actually nice and doesn’t have a problem helping me out It just makes me wonder, what title do I have to get in the copy to earn the trust to be allowed to use the copier? I get my own office, I used the community room for my training, I have a manager card, what more do I need to get behind customer service and get a copy of something, or pick up my store mail? I need to find out who this chick is in customer service who doesn’t want me back there. Then I need to find out how much authority I have so that I can know whether to comply with her or to tell her to shove it.