Bev Bertrana, fountain worker/store clerk:
“When you first came here you didn’t even know how to dust right! I had to yell at you to wash the windows with Windex because you were going to use dusting spray!”
“You’ve really learned a lot. I remember what really got me going was you never cleaned up after working at the fountain--the malt machine was always a mess. You’ve gotten a lot better.”
“It’s fun to see you come through the door. I know I’ll always get a smile, you’re kind and thoughtful, and the customers like you.”
“I think you may have learned that the customers aren’t always right; you’ve learned how to deal with obnoxious people with a smile.”
“You’ve really met a variety of people--that will help you when you go to school.”
“When you first started working here you didn’t know anything about this place; you’ve really learned to interact with people.”
Michelle Steiger, Pharmacist/manager:
“If we had an award for you, you would get ‘most improved’ out of all the other employees.”
“You’ve come a long way chicky.”
“You’re a valuable, valuable employee!”
“You’ve gotten a lot better: you take your own initiative to get things done; you’re good about finding things to do and when you run out, you usually ask me what you can do; customers really like you.”
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Performance rubric
Documentation of time and learning:
I didn’t keep logs of my work hours as well as I probably should have and I am willing to take the consequences for that. I hope however that you take into consideration that I have worked an average of 51 hours a month at my job for over two years. Don’t let the absence of documented hours keep you from understanding the huge amount of life lessons and skills I have learned at Henderson Corner Drug. I can take a lot of what I’ve learned and apply it to my future and my career.
Tasks:
Sometimes on days when I knew there was a lot of stuff that needed to be done I would make a task list. It helped me keep on task in between customers, and people working the next day would know what else needed to be done in the store. Sometimes I would make a checklist to keep track of my specific monthly/weekly assignments, such as over stock and dusting.
Project Quality:
Working at Henderson Corner Drug gave me an opportunity to work in the pharmacy as a registered pharmacy assistant. I consider this position a post high school graduate position, because pharmaceutical students probably work as an assistant before they become a pharmacy tech or pharmacist. This high school experience will look great on resumes and college applications if I decide to pursue a career in pharmaceuticals.
Resources:
My main resources in this project were people. Bev taught me basic clerk stuff--how to run the cash register and ice cream fountain, how to do orders. The pharmacy workers, Pete, Michelle, and Tammy, taught me all I needed to know about counting pills, doing nursing home orders, and putting bottles back on the shelf. Even though I don’t have three different resources, I had some great understanding people teaching me and working with me to do the best I could at my job.
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If I’d never worked at Henderson Corner Drug I would have never learned. . .
1. The difficulties and frustrations of waxing a floor
2. Accidentally watering a huge pot of petunias with lime solvent will destroy them in approximately 10 hours
3. Charged water comes in handy when attempting to remove ice cream and topping stains from clothes on a daily basis
4. Not all customers are honest, even the most innocent looking ones will steal if given the opportunity
5. Just because a customer doesn’t like me shouldn’t keep me from giving them a smile and giving them the same friendly service as everyone else
6. I have a talent for making killer banana splits
7. Malts can spray in all directions within a five foot radius of the machine
8. It’s only been an “ice cream rush” when everything is still being done triple time 30 minutes after the last customer left the fountain
9. Many people are at the drug store for a reason, kindness can do wonders on a sick, elderly, or injured customer
10. It’s possible to make 85 single cones for a bus load of elderly people in about 35 minutes
11. Breaking glasses are okay but breaking a malt cup while mixing a malt is disastrous
12. A smile is the most important thing to take into work
13. The customer is not always right
14. How to scoop soft, hard, crumby, and sticky ice cream
15. The basement will always be as creepy as the first time I went down there
16. Seniority is to be respected
17. To make sure I know the work schedule so I don’t show up late or don’t show up at all
18. To take responsibility for mistakes I have made and take my own initiative to make it right
19. Offering a glass of water with ice cream increases chances of a tip
20. Henderson corner drug is a great place to work, meet friends, get involved in the community, and learn lessons you can’t learn anywhere else
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Ownership:
I didn’t have much of a say in how things are run at my job. I didn’t have many opportunities to express my ideas and creativity. I worked independently under authority; however my occasional suggestions or concerns were very respected and often times applied to the store and staff.
Task Completions:
Deadlines are a huge part of running a store. Tasks always need to be completed as soon as possible--that was part of my job. A lot of times I had to take my own initiative to finish an uncompleted chore or clean something up after someone else. Mondays the fountain needed to be cleaned, and Tuesday the magazines needed to be put on the shelf. Dusting had to be done monthly, and daily orders needed to be priced and put on the shelf. The whole store ran way smoother when tasks were up to date, so it was a very important part of my job as an employee.
Comprehension:
It was very important for me to completely understand how I was supposed to do my job and what was expected of me. If I didn’t understand something it was at the expense of the store or the customers. I think my comprehension level was pretty high when I was at work, because I couldn’t function as well if I didn’t know what I was doing.
Competency:
Whenever I learned something new at my job I had to apply it right away, so I could work more efficiently.
Leader & Organizer:
Four girls have joined the staff at Henderson Corner Drug since I started working there. A lot of times I had to help train them in and get them used to how the store is run. Many times I would keep myself busy and on task to teach my co-workers not to sit around just because there wasn’t a customer in the building. I think throughout the years of working at Henderson Corner Drug I’ve kept pretty organized and on track. When a customer walks in the store and the workers are sitting at the counter eating ice cream, it says a lot about the store and how it’s managed. I learned quickly that that’s not acceptable on the job, so I made sure to keep on task a lot so other employees would as well.
Mediator & Negotiator:
Problems have always come up since working at the drug store. Problems included anything from a messed up ice cream order, a messed up prescription, difficulties with customers and other employees, or other mistakes and mishaps. I personally had to deal with problems often in critical situations. If I made a mistake, I would take full responsibility for it. When I killed an entire pot of petunias by accidentally watering them with lime solvent, I made several trips to greenhouses looking for ones to replace them. I knew that it was my job to get new flowers and replant them myself. There were many situations like that that I knew I was the only one that could solve store problems, whether I had caused them or not. When I first started working I had a lot of problems adjusting to some customers, the boss, and others employees, and I had to figure out solutions to those conflicts and problems by myself. When some of the new girls joined the staff, I helped them find solutions to some of their problems and concerns.
Coach and facilitator:
Encouraging people was kind of a big part of my job once new staff joined. One girl in particular made a couple mistakes when she first started working at Henderson Corner Drug; she always felt bad when she didn’t feel she had met employees’ and customers’ approval. She would talk to me quite often about her concerns, and I would make sure I listened to her and encouraged her to keep on trying or not worry about anything else but her job and what she needed to do.
Advocator and supporter:
When working in a pharmacy you’re handling medication that is very private to some people. Sometimes it’s embarrassing to come into a drug store and pick up a product; it’s important to build a trust there so they’ll keep coming back to the store. There are a lot of other confidential situations I ran into at the drug store, and it really taught me to be responsible with the information that I had because it was sensitive to some people.
Implementer & performer:
When I first started working at Henderson Corner Drug there was this lady that came in frequently; she was very rude to me, she would always yell at me for something. Even today she doesn’t care much for me, but her words and evil looks don’t effect me so much anymore. When Michelle wasn’t in the pharmacy, people would call or come in looking for her to get their prescriptions, I would politely launch into my speech and give my apologies for her absence, and often times I would have people storm out the store or have people hang up on me. I made a double dip cone one time when I first started working there, and I must have made it too big, because the guy walked out of the store in disgust with me standing there still holding the cone. After almost three months of working at Henderson Corner Drug, I was having one of those days where I was doing a lot wrong, a guy at the counter asked me if it was my first day! I can name many more similar situations with other customers, as well as co-workers--I took it all as criticism, and I took it hard. It affected my job performance, and it made me dread going to work. After awhile I didn’t care anymore, because I understood that I’m going to run into people like that my whole life. Learning to not let people drag me down is an important life lesson that I am glad to have learned at an early age.
Problem framer/solver:
See “Coach & Facilitator.”
Innovator & Designer:
I take credit for bringing peanut butter malts to the fountain menu!
Producer & contributor:
See “Project Quality.”
Student learning in small schools: an online portfolio © 2003