Cashiers/Job Hunting

Not sure if this is the right place to post this? But. I guess it does relate to disability employment.

I am from Canada so not sure what this forum really about other then disability employment so my bad if wrong place.

I'm just curious to what some people's experiences have been with restaurant/retail/cashier etc. Those kind of jobs.

I'm not going to school until September for graphic design so thus why I'm looking for a job.

Small note: I have bilateral cochlear implants. And I'm oral - so I can communicate with others / read lips if possible - but sometimes I do speak quietly and that people don't often understand me right away and I don't realize it sometimes.

So Around 2 months ago, I left my job as a Busser/Support (hostess) to look for more hours to work (they only needed bussers from Thursday to Sunday) and a few other reasons that I wasn't too happy with. I left on my own terms, but as last resort will probaly ask to come back - as I worked there for 7 months.

Now I'm still job hunting, and I've tried places like bakeries in grocery stores but no replies. I've tried a few places like Tim Horton's and Kitchen Helper for one restaurant chain. Still no reply.

Now I'm looking into some job positions I never done before, but not sure if it will work out and I'd be left job hunting again.

So for one, I am looking into cashier/retail positions. I never done cashier before and not sure how I would fare because of things like background noise, not understanding what someone is saying etc.

So I was wondering if anyone here work as a cashier and what is their experience like? Mornings/Nights? Communication? Do you explain a lot that you're HOH/deaf?

I'm hesitant to do retail though because of one bad experience with a store I used to work for. And then to get complaints from a co-worker that I didn't do what she asked aka "miscommunication". The funny thing though is I did ask, but she did a poor job explaining. And to have to speak with manager about that sucked. :roll:

And I don't really know if I want to go through that again. Maybe those who do retail might have experiences? I might give it another try.

Not sure what else is there besides cashiers.

Has anyone done waitressing in like the mornings? Because I've had a few people ask me why I didn't become a waitress and I just wasn't sure if it's for me either. I wouldn't be able to do it at night haha.

Or any other experiences in general?

Any cooks in restaurants too? There was a guy who's hard of hearing training as a cook where I worked (young guy too) and didn't even think that it would be possible due to it being "fast paced" (but I guess it's possible) - not sure how he fared but seeing people try stuff like this just gets me inspired lol.

Thanks!

My son's gf is hoh, and is oral, and worked p/t as a cashier for several years at a grocery store (he met her there as they worked together). She didn't have any major issues, and would just ask customers to repeat themselves if she didn't catch what they said first time.
She's working in a library now around her university schedule and enjoys it a lot.

I'm a cashier and customer service representative. I'm single sided deaf and in the other ear I have mild/moderate progressive hearing loss. I struggle to understand customers often, some will repeat themselves with no problem but others get moody. Some customers will yell if I say I'm deaf/hoh.. I get tired of explaining my deafness, I've had better luck blaming my hearing troubles on allergy clogged ears.. seems that customers can relate better to that. Anyway, the busier it is in the store the harder it is on me to understand customers due to all the background noises. The rest of the time it's not so bad.

Hi i am full deaf and can't read lip all i was work at gas station i work there for 5 years and i was work cashier, maintain, and stock. long time ago

I've met deaf cashiers at Target and Wal-Mart in MD (Frederick and Columbia)

Miaou said:

I'm a cashier and customer service representative. I'm single sided deaf and in the other ear I have mild/moderate progressive hearing loss. I struggle to understand customers often, some will repeat themselves with no problem but others get moody. Some customers will yell if I say I'm deaf/hoh.. I get tired of explaining my deafness, I've had better luck blaming my hearing troubles on allergy clogged ears.. seems that customers can relate better to that. Anyway, the busier it is in the store the harder it is on me to understand customers due to all the background noises. The rest of the time it's not so bad.

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Yeah we have this problem a lot around the Chicagoland area. We have a lot of employers hiring disabled people in positions they shouldn't really been in for the Tax Credit. I know most advocates are trying to shut down Workshops. I know one store with a disabled guy who screams at the customers and had five more who literally drooled into customers bags.

The rest of the employees were felons who were tax credit hires so no more teenagers they ended up closing the store for good for horrible performance and loss of customers go figure with huge protests by crooks and disability adovocates who believe a business is meant to support employees not to try to make money from customers.

It's sort of like the ADA Bus Program where you pay three dollars for a bus or taxi ride that really costs 80 dollars eventually the funds dry up.

Jobs are hard to get but as someone who works with people who are disabled I cannot for the life of me understand why they allow businesses to profit for hiring disabled people and then the programs that get them hired for jobs that are honestly not right for them those programs get a finders fee.

If you have horrible customer service perhaps you should not be in a field that demands dealing with customers and providing them a service.

These employees like at stores like goodwill often back talk their managers because they know they are tax credit hires and that's why these stores are almost as bad as the dmv or post office.

What's really bad is the teenagers who need the experience are being replaced by tax credit hires. Also the next coming generation is not as well off as the previous since they can't get hired so all these amazing ADA Cadillac service are not going to be around for long because who is going to pay for it?

HisShadowX said:

Yeah we have this problem a lot around the Chicagoland area. We have a lot of employers hiring disabled people in positions they shouldn't really been in for the Tax Credit. I know most advocates are trying to shut down Workshops. I know one store with a disabled guy who screams at the customers and had five more who literally drooled into customers bags.

The rest of the employees were felons who were tax credit hires so no more teenagers they ended up closing the store for good for horrible performance and loss of customers go figure with huge protests by crooks and disability adovocates who believe a business is meant to support employees not to try to make money from customers.

It's sort of like the ADA Bus Program where you pay three dollars for a bus or taxi ride that really costs 80 dollars eventually the funds dry up.

Jobs are hard to get but as someone who works with people who are disabled I cannot for the life of me understand why they allow businesses to profit for hiring disabled people and then the programs that get them hired for jobs that are honestly not right for them those programs get a finders fee.

If you have horrible customer service perhaps you should not be in a field that demands dealing with customers and providing them a service.

These employees like at stores like goodwill often back talk their managers because they know they are tax credit hires and that's why these stores are almost as bad as the dmv or post office.

What's really bad is the teenagers who need the experience are being replaced by tax credit hires. Also the next coming generation is not as well off as the previous since they can't get hired so all these amazing ADA Cadillac service are not going to be around for long because who is going to pay for it?

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You really are a troll. Not sure what you are getting out of all these negative postings.

Bottesini said:

You really are a troll. Not sure what you are getting out of all these negative postings.

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I'm sorry I have Aspergers which is part of the Autism Spectrum it might seem I'm trolling or being rude but I'm not.

I was about to edit in a quote from the TC to recommend data entry. I find people who are not able to work with people are better off taking employment that does not require much contact with people.

Not everyone who is deaf that I have worked with are under the impression that the customer is meant to service the employee and can fit in a customer service roll. We also have some deaf people who feel they need a job that is retail or front end cashier because they feel they are being wronged by put into a position they are not fit for like being in front a customer.

It all depends on your prospective though or mindset. If you take a low level low skilled job like Walmart and expect respect and that the customer is evil your going to fail and make yourself miserable.

Find something within your skill set and shine!

I've applied for cashier few days ago. However the person interviewing me didn't really seem to understand when he asked me how I would do with noise - and I wouldn't know as I've never been a cashier.

I just told him - in very noisy areas - background noise could be an issue. He seemed to think that scanning noises/people talking would be an issue - and really I didn't know what to tell him lol.

However he asked me again - are you sure there are no other positions (even though the ad said they were looking for cashiers/overnight stockers) and I'm like well I could do stocking shelves and such as I've done that once before in a pet store. So he wrote that down...

If any indicator - I did work as a busser which is probably alot noisier with people talking/music playing for 7 months and I did fine.

I hate interviews sometimes.

Hockey94 said:

I've applied for cashier few days ago. However the person interviewing me didn't really seem to understand when he asked me how I would do with noise - and I wouldn't know as I've never been a cashier.

I just told him - in very noisy areas - background noise could be an issue. He seemed to think that scanning noises/people talking would be an issue - and really I didn't know what to tell him lol.

However he asked me again - are you sure there are no other positions (even though the ad said they were looking for cashiers/overnight stockers) and I'm like well I could do stocking shelves and such as I've done that once before in a pet store. So he wrote that down...

If any indicator - I did work as a busser which is probably alot noisier with people talking/music playing for 7 months and I did fine.

I hate interviews sometimes.

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You could tell the interviewer to give you a chance as a cashier, and that if it was better for you to do other job like stocking, that you would consider doing that. Most of the time it is fine, but there are some customers who are jerks.

I was a cashier for many years and I am deaf. I used to wear a hearing aid and that worked well for me for a long time, then I had to get a cochlear implant. I worked as a cashier at many places and most recently for Lowes.