Today, I went into work expecting another long four hours of trying and failing to keep up my positive Target team member attitude. I had recently been moved to the sales floor. Now, what do I do on the sales floor, you may ask? Well, it's nothing special, I just stock shelves and help customers find things, but it's such a step up from cashiering because I get to use a walkie.
I walked into Target, coat and purse in hand, with a quarter in my pocket for my locker rental, as I said before, preparing myself for another normal day of work, but, almost instantly a coworker of mine ran up to me (he's always pretty enthusiastic, it's kind of sweet, almost) and informed me that I was going to be the day's GSA. You may be wondering what the hell a GSA is, and at that moment, so was I.
A GSA is a guest service ambassador. As a Guest Service Ambassador you circulate the store looking for anybody who looks lost or people who look prone to becoming lost, and ask the Target Inc. TradeMark'd words "Can I help you find something?". That is literally all you do. And when you do help them find something, you mark it on this little clipboard that you carry around with you. (Actually, it's not little at all; it's pretty normal sized, really. I don't know why I used that word. Just an adjective filler, I suppose.)
So (let's call him Jay) runs up to me and fills me in on what my day holds. He says that it's no sweat and he'll walk me through it. I go in, hang my coat, find a locker in which I put my quarter, and clock in. The lady at the TSC front desk instructs me on what to do. For that day I got to carry around with me, not only a walkie, but a PDA and a clipboard. I was all set to help people make their shopping experience more enjoyable and efficient.
And boy, did I feel all official, struttin' around in my new dark red button up work shirt, with a clip board, a PDA, and a walkie. I was pretty enthusiastic about my assignment. Plus, I was an ambassador. I had never been an ambassador before. The name alone sounded official.
My enthusiasm wore off as quickly as it came once I realized that the job was pretty tiring. You circulate Target over and over and over again repeating the same words. 75% of people you ask are going to reject your offerings of help and tell you that they're "just looking". A few people are going to feel offended, as if you're insulting their intelligence by offering your guidance. As the rejection piled up, I began praying for somebody to accept my assistance, if only to occupy me. Pretty soon, however, the store became busier and I found that sometimes as I was on a mission for one guest, another would stop me and ask me to help them with something.
So many things happen on the target floor. I had a couple who broke two jars of baby food, a man who asked me all about a 64GB iTouch that he was looking to buy, and a lady who put her arm around me as she asked me all her questions.
All in all it was an interesting, tiring, headache inducing, and ultimately a good experience of a day.
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