This is my attempt at chronicling different points of significance in my return to work, especially since it's a job I've never done before. My last full-time job was 6.5 years ago working for myself. My last full-time job working for someone else was 20 years ago.
It's Kind Of Like A Chick Being Booted Out Of The Nest
Grandpa Gotta Work is officially out of the training stage. Or at least I think I am. While Thursday and Friday last week saw me taking off on my own for a few stops, today, for the first time, I ended up alone from start to finish.
I'm learning that you never know what's going to happen in this job until it actually happens. Friday I left the main office believing I would meet the general manager somewhere on my own route and that we would go around together collecting machines. Or something like that.
While I was waiting for that to happen this morning, I got a text from him basically asking me to come into the office (a 40-ish minute drive), because he wasn't going to be able to leave as early as he had hoped. And, I was going to be on my own.
Thankfully, I was ready ahead of time and was able to get into the company van and go. As far as being alone is concerned, as I said, they'd kind of eased me into it towards the end of last week.
Once I was at the office, we went over my route for today and tomorrow, so I'd know how much 'product' I needed to load up on. Product is a general term to describe what amounts to prizes—large and small plush animals for crane machines, toys in capsules for other machines, along with candy and an assortment of other stuff.
However, today was a collection day, so the product was basically to replenish what might have gone out over the weekend to keep it full and appealing to anyone who might want to play. We end up doing a major stocking on Fridays or so to gear up for the weekend.
Which meant I would basically be doing a number of things at once. Filling machines with prizes. Collecting coins. Collecting Cash. Checking for mobile/credit card amounts. A lot of machines have an old fashioned meter of some kind inside the machine, normally where the cash or coin is. Others, you have to go into an onscreen menu to fish out. All are different, and since I'm still knew to all of this, it's a discovery each time.
So, are the keys. I've mentioned those before. There's one that is used quite a bit, but there are also two other versions of that key also used. The lock pretty much looks the same, so it's really just a matter of getting familiar with which locks go to each machine. On top of a lock on a door to get to the money, there are also padlocks and metal barriers to get through. Thanks to folks who can't leave well enough alone, I get to go through two padlocks and two door keys just to get money and look at counters.
The Route
By the time I got back up to the start of my route, it was already after 11 AM. Thankfully, the large pizza place I started at did not have a bunch of kids running around it. While today's stop was not to collect, but to make sure things were working and so forth, I did have to fill up some empty bins for prizes (and still need more), along with making sure everything was still working. One machine was not, and has had intermittent issues for weeks. I didn't try to fix it, since I was kind of on the clock and know the least about the machine.
From there it was on to the first collection point, another pizza place, but different company. Things went well there for the most part. I was left by myself again to work, and I managed to get all of the monies retrieved, and then went through and put in all the numbers.
Except I did something I hadn't done before, and that was, I closed out the app I enter the information in before I'd saved what I'd input. Bam! All the numbers were gone!
So, I had to go and open up all the machines again and put all the numbers back in. Rookie mistake. I guess I won't be doing that again.
I got a little lost getting to the next place, because I thought it was in a different location. It turned out to be not so far away from the second pizza place so I had to loop back around. The only thing there was a jukebox machine. I like those. One key got me into the cash receptors, but I needed to also see the mobile pay amount. The machine was off, and I don't remember being told how to turn it on. So, after what seemed like minutes of searching around for an on switch on the inside and around the sides of the box, I texted for assistance. Turns out, the on switch is underneath the jukebox and somewhat recessed. Since the jukeboxes are all mounted on the wall and the casing is black, you can't see them without sitting on the floor with your back against the wall and looking straight up.
With the juke box turned on, I was able to get the amounts I needed, turn it back off, lock it up and move onto the next stop.
The rest of the route went relatively smoothly. I got into nearly every other machine without assistance, until I came to the third and final pizza place (yet another brand). The machines I was there to collect from were all in working order, but a change machine that I didn't have change for (and wasn't there to collect from), was out of service. After taking care of the other machines, I made sure it was one of ours, and was told to go ahead and get it up and running.
Apparently, it had been a while since it was last filled, because it was completely out of change. I used quarters out of another machine to fill it and then made sure it worked by putting a dollar into the money receptor. It worked! Hopefully, it stays that way.
Payday
I got paid for the first time, too. It wasn't a whole month's worth, but it was a substantial amount, and bigger because my starting pay is a dollar higher than I was previously told. I didn't know what to say other than thank you. I don't know if that means I'm doing well, or their expecting me to pick up things quickly, or it was just them being nice. All I know is, I want to makes sure I live up to what feels like trust in me and my abilities.
My wife also got paid today and so it's nice to see both amounts in the checking account. This is what she's been wanting to happen for a while now. It's been cutting quite a bit into my time on STEEM (since I've been working longer days so far), but I believe this job is good for me and us. You do what you got to do, right?
On To Tuesday
Tomorrow, I don't need to go into the office (unless something changes), so I'll be starting a different part of the route from my house. I'm not sure exactly what sequence I'll follow, since different places open at different times, but I will probably start at the northernmost spot and work my way back home.
Need to get some gas before I go, though. Otherwise, I won't make it very far.
All images come from Pixabay