The Incorrect "Customer Is Always Right" Philosophy

Hi sweeties,

It is more of a casual discussion type of blog post today, since I wanna mention one of the current thoughts which originated from my job - the "customer is always right philosophy" being incorrect!

I recently had a lovely customer with whom I had a pleasure of having a little conversation about upset and mean clients. Now, firstly, I would like to mention that I sympathise with any type of concern and I do my very best to try and address it with my management. I also think that I (and all the other cashiers) must be polite and respectful to our customers, and we should recognise that sometimes they act the way they do just because they are sick or had a bad day. It brings me to the conclusion of an irrational judgement that some customers might have.
As cashiers, we are at the frontline of the establishment we are working with, and we do the most communication, and WE are the first faces the customers see. We should be pleasant; we should be professional; but we are people, and we do make mistakes. Although I think that even if we had a bad day, we should keep our composure due to professionalism, but sometimes we get blamed at something we have nothing to do with (and the concerns vary from location to location). Customers should recognise that we are people as well, and that certain things don't depend on us.

Here is an interesting thing: nobody is ever always right! Why? Because we are all people; and the customers are people as well! Saying that they're always right is the same things as saying that they are non-human, which is not the case. And I am all for open-minded communications between a cashier and a client, but respectfully! It is the best way to solve problems!

P.S. I really love 99.9% of my customers!

10 Things To Do Before Starting Your Freshman Year

Hi guys!
I thought, why not write about 10 things I think it is very important to get done during the summer before freshman year. For the majority of us, it is the beginning of our adult lives, our careers, or it is a stepping stone towards professional or graduate schools. Never-the-less, here we go:

1. Clean Up and Organize Your Electronic Devices
This is a very important step for a few reasons:
- free up some storage space
- relive those moments captured in pictures
- update the software

2. Set Goals
It's nice to go into the first year knowing what your specific goals are; and it doesn't have to be grades, necessarily. You can make a little list of 5 goals or so, and draw down a brief plan of achieving them.

3. Try Something Completely New
It's crucial to gain new experiences and learn new skills from it. Even if you won't like the activity as much, you will still be enriched with certain usable skills.

4. Finish Up The Forgotten
If you didn't finish reading a book, or perhaps, didn't apologize for something you did - it is the perfect time to do that. You will feel free and accomplished and that is the best feeling you can experience!

5. Go To The Vacation/Visit Places
Sometimes humans need a change of atmosphere, so it's great to create a nice little memory by visiting places and learning more about their culture. You will also become a little more well rounded since you will see (or even experience) other, unusual to you living conditions.

6. Learn About Yourself
There are a lot of things you can plan on learning about yourself, and here is a short list I came up with:
- Productivity Levels
- Endurance
- New Skills
- New Interests

7. Try Something You Don't Think You'd Like
I actually never thought I will enjoy being a cashier, but I truly do. In my last blogpost, I've described 10 things I learned while being a cashier, so I'm very grateful for my job. Having said that, I think you should try breaking some borders of your predictions, and do whatever it is you thought you won't like. Be safe, though.

8. Earn Money
Money, even in small amounts, will boost your confidence since you get the capability to afford something by yourself. If you feel up to it, you can also save up some money to donate to certain establishments in need, or buy a gift for your parents or your special someone. It is also a fabulous idea to just save, because trust me - there is never enough money.

9. Spend Time With Your Parents and Friends
Those few months you will spend living with and enjoying your parents may be your last opportunity to spend that much time with them (especially, if you're moving out). Make sure you appreciate their presence and give them as much attention as you can during your summer break.

10. Celebrate!
The way you celebrate is very relative, but celebrate he fact that your adult life is right around the corner as hard as you can. My celebration will certainly be going to a vacation with my boyfriend and visiting some new places in Canada!

Good luck, loves!

10 Things a Cashier Job Will Teach You

Hi sweeties,

I got my first job this summer, and I am a customer service representative at a local bakery. Even though the cashier position is generally viewed as a plain and simple one, I dedicated this blogpost to 10 things a learned while having this job. Now firstly, I should mention that I though it will bring me nothing in terms of anything I needed for Medicine - wrong! And lastly, despite some difficulties arising at work, I take it as a priceless experience, and I will continue working there during the school year!

1. Team Work
I'm not gonna lie, I was never the greatest team member at school or sports, just because I was never tolerant to disengaged people - I would do all the work by myself. As a part of my job, I had to memorise a lot of different items' codes, nuances, and the different procedures, and I quickly came to realisation that without my cashier mentors, I'd never succeed. I currently really enjoy the team work and all of its benefits: the efficiency, the quality of work, and the fun.

2. Responsibility of Handling Paycheques
Before the job, I'd never think about how I want my money organized; but as soon as I got my first paycheque, I realized that I have to learn how to use them. I've created a little system of envelopes all dedicated at of them to something different (vacation, school supplies + furniture, gas, gifts etc.) and I deposit money into them in cash regularly. I know it's not the safest way to store the money at all, but that way I see and control exactly where everything is at a given moment. I have also realized that in terms of pocket money (on coffee, little gas, etc.) I only need $50 CAD bi-weekly.

3. Responsibility of Handling the Store's Profit
At the end of the shift, all cashiers perform a "cash-out" - the evaluation of profit. I can say it puts a lot of responsibility on one to keep track of all of this money. One also has to be careful with all of the transactions being approved and valid, as well as changing the money from cash reg. 1 to cash reg. 2&3 without losing any of it.

4. Working Long Hours
It depends from the establishment to establishment, but my shifts can last anywhere from 5,5 hours to 10 per day. It will also turn out that I will be working multiple times in a row, so the feet and the spine gets tired. The good thing is that I got used to that, and now it's not too big of a problem at all. I also motivated myself by knowing that in Medicine I will also have to work super-long hours and be on my feet all the time.

5. Patience
There are a lot of different people you will encounter in your day, and all of them are different: some - nice, some - not so nice. You, as a cashier, unavoidably have to deal with all of those people patiently, despite some of the personal circumstances you might have. You will also encounter people from different age groups and with different accents, which will make your job a tiny bit harder, but you will have to learn how to appreciate and respect the diversity.

6. Conflict Resolution
Whether that would be your fault or not, there might be conflicts between you and your customers/colleagues/boss etc. As a professional, you will have to learn the conflict resolution. It's quite easy actually. There are 3 things that will help you avoid the conflicts:
1. Honesty
2. Respect
3. Apologising (if appropriate)

7. Asking For Help and Informing
For me personally, asking for help was never very comfortable until I understood that if I do something wrong, I might harm something (profit, conflict resolution, etc.). I find it extremely important to ask for help, since it will eliminate a lot of potential mistakes.

8. Learning From Customers
There is actually a lot of things you will learn from your customers: from the price of the item (if not registered by code) to the soccer team who's winning, to politics, to something else. I love communicating with my customers, and I appreciate that they take their time to smile and respond. I've learned how different people are, and I learned how not to judge them based on anything.

9. Professionalism and Ethics
Unavoidably, you will have to remain professional at your job. The word "professionalism" covers lots of things like promptness, respect, conflict resolution, honesty, etc. and those qualities are what you will carry throughout your life. You will also learn ethics, from confidentiality and prioritising to critical thinking by dealing with different situations at work.

10. Multitasking and Working In a Fast Paced Environment
Multitasking is key on Saturday morning when you have 10+ people in a line with all different orders. Not only you have to correctly complete the orders (transactions, actual orders, packaging, etc.) you will also have to remain patient and professional. It's hard, but I love it!

So, hopefully you will be able to draw the parallel lines between my 10 Things a Cashier Job Will Teach You and practicing Medicine. As you can see, I didn't include any physical skills I had to learn (slicing the bread, etc.) just because it will very greatly from place to place. I really love my job, and despite occasional difficulties, it taught me all of those things and I'm extremely grateful for them!

Procrastination Solved!

Hey guys!

There were multiple blog posts dedicated to procrastination and productivity, but this time I took some time to analyse what procrastination really is. This post will include my definition of procrastination as well as the ultimate solution to this problem. I will avoid little tips on how to improve procrastination, because these you can find here and here. 

Okay, so procrastination...is it the cause or effect? Its the EFFECT! It doesn't come out of nowhere. Let me just state, that the level of energy you are predisposed to is almost entirely genetic. It's still the effect, though - because the cause is the genes. There is no reason why, though, you shouldn't be able to greatly alter your levels of energy.

Stepping aside from genes, procrastination points at an underlying problem - fatigue. When you're pushing something away to do it another time, you're probably not even not motivated enough, but because you're just tired. I occasionally find myself procrastinating reading my MCAT books, but that's not because I'm not motivated....rather because I'm tired (from work, most often). Procrastination comes from the inability to focus on a certain task. The simplest way to eliminate those procrastination times is to sleep. Take a nap! Sleep initiates the processing of information in your brain, and solidifies memories. Sleep also refreshes your body functions and makes you capable of doing and learning new things. The effects of bad sleep can be explored over in this blog post. 

Anyways, rather than spending 2+ hours on hoping to get started on work, spend those 2+ hours on a nap that is going to energise you to start immediately. On a long-term note, work on improving your general levels of energy via exercise, nutrition, and regular, good quality sleep, just so you won't have to deal with overcoming procrastination too often. 

http://www.eattoperform.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/sleepbaby.jpg

Course Selection

Hey, guys!

Today I would like to discuss the actual course selection and all of the little nuances you might want to encounter. Before I go on to suggest you anything, though, I've posted my own schedule here, as well as a little explanation to it underneath:

So, the first picture is my 1st semester schedule, and the 2nd - is the second semester. Starting off from the 1st semester, you can see I have freed up my entire Tuesday. Now, I did that for a few reasons:
1. Studying
2. Clubs, Extracurriculars and Volunteering
3. Part-Time Job
A little into my first year, I'll post a schedule of how I'll study and work around my huge gaps in between classes. My only reason for that as of now, is that the breaks are the optimal size for me not to go back home (I live 15 mins off campus on bus) and procrastinate, but rather spend all this time studying on campus. I can also fit my club meetings in there.
Thursday is going to be my longest day, partly because of the lecture from 7-10. I'm not to worried for Thursday, though, because Wednesday and Friday are relaxed, and I won't be very exhausted.
By the way, my courses for the 1st semester are:
Chemistry
Biology
Physics
Psychology
Health, Aging, and Society (for my minor)
Speaking of the 2nd semester, it is a little bit more packed due to math appearing 4 times during the week. Other than that, you already know what I'll do with my breaks ;)
I also have that long class again, but on Thursday I won't have to wake up early at all.
My courses are:
Calculus
Biology
Chemistry
Neuroscience
Introduction to Health Studies (for my minor)
P.S. I will take the second portion of my Physics class in my 2nd year, since it's important to have a full year of physics with lab for the MCAT, but I needed to take the Intro to Health for my minor in my first year.
P.S. I really recommend making a visual schedule like I did, but don't forget to include the location and the name of the prof!
Okay, now I can go on to tips while selecting the courses:

1. Plan Way Ahead

Your university has a list of all courses available for you major. But in some universities, you can't choose your major until the 2nd year.
Make a list of all courses required and the list of your potential electives throughout your university career. Even if you won't stick to all of it, you will have a guideline for the 1st year subject selection.
The goal is to learn about what prerequisites are needed for some subjects, and what can you fulfil in your 1st year.
For example, I want to take a Homeostasis course in my 3rd year, but in order to do that, I need Cell Biology in my 2nd year, and I need to take Cellular and Molecular Bio in my 1st year to take it.
As you can see, I am planning backwards!

2. Know Your Productive Time

All of us should learn when our most productive time of the day and even day of the week is. In order to know that, you can just spend a few weeks tracking your energy levels onto a piece of paper and then, structure it in a form of a graph to have a visual of your most productive time. Now, the idea is that you have to schedule your most important or hardest subjects during that time period, just so you will have the capacity to learn the course to the best of your ability.

3. Optimal Spacing

So, many people hate spaces in between their classes, and that's fine as long as you know what you're gonna do with all of the time off. Knowing myself, I have to make those spaces larger for work, extracurriculars, clubs, and of course studying. Chances are, I will stay on campus during my breaks, because I hate busses too much to go back home. My aim is to be as productive as I can this year.

4. Ratemyprofessor.com

I heard that Ratemyprofessor.com is a useful tool to learn about your future/potential prof. Don't look at the rate only though. Also look at the descriptions to see if you might or might not be tolerant to certain aspects of his/her teaching.

5. Not Too Easy, Not Too Hard

If you have electives, don't go for the easiest ones, and don't go for the hardest either. I was deciding between Discover Immunology Today (super easy, seminar-like course with no exam), and Neuroscience (enough said ;D) and I chose Neuroscience because Immunology is not a prerequisite for anything in my upper years, and I'd rather choose a course which will let me take advanced courses in that field.


The best of luck!!