Fix It.

 So. In our store there's 4 registers.

Only the 4th register we've basically....never used.

Like if we did have four registers working at any point during my tenure at the store....it would have had to have stopped working in the first two or three years of me being there. Because I really don't remember it ever working. 

And like for the past...idk 4 or 5 years maybe 6 or 7 years honestly because I feel like it was three managers ago....that there was talk of taking out Register 4.

I know the head manager before my current head manager was really gunning for it to be taken out so that he could expand out the grooming salon and make that bigger.

But then that head manager left and the current head manager came in and the topic of expanding the grooming salon was dropped....but there was still a plan on the docket to get register 4 taken out.

Only like it's never happened.

And in the meantime... we've kinda used Register 4 as a source for extra parts.

Something breaks? Take it from 4. Something else broke? Take that from 4.

So the end result is that Register 4 has a ton of things that probably don't work well because we've used it to replace so many things over the years.

Which again. No big deal because we're supposed to be getting rid of it.

Only.

That's apparently not the case anymore?

As Head Manager got word down the pipeline that they want us to have ALL our registers up and fully running before the holiday season starts. 

And by ALL the registers....they mean our frankenstein 4th register that hasn't seen customer action in ages.

Like we've been using it the past 2ish years as a prepping zone for all the curbside orders.

So like....it's just a waste of space.

Not anymore.

My head manager tasked me with the job to figure out what all needed to be fixed on the register to get it up and running again.

Which....can be quite the lengthly list.

Among them being: 
The pin pad doesn't work -it says maintenance required which according to the IT dude means that it's basically gone bad. It got 'wet' or whatever but it's 'maintence mode' is a bad sign and it needs to be replaced.
The handheld scanner doesn't work -IT thinks it's just a dead battery that needs to be replaced but we won't know for sure that's the problem until the battery is replaced because it could be a different issue with the scanner or it could be the cradle itself isn't working or it could be both halves aren't working....but until that battery is replaced who actually knows. 
The receipt printer wasn't working -Which was easily fixed in that I needed to plug it in. But along with the receipt printer....it's unknown if the check reader on the thing is working or not -we'll have to actually get the main computer up and running to test the checks and see if they work.
The keyboard needs to be replaced -the area that requires a manager key to do overrides and such is stuck in an unhelpful position and won't move so the entire thing needs to be replaced.
And lastly
The register itself won't fully load. There's an error where it won't connect to anything. 

So yah.

There's a lot going on with 4.

And my head manager was like "Figure out what's wrong then call the Solutions Center and have them put in a work order to get the broken things fixed."

Easy right? No big deal? 

Ha.

I wish.

Honestly from the other work orders I've had to place in recently I really expected it to be a "Here's the problem. Oh you've opened up a ticket to have someone come look at it? Great. We'll see them when they get here. Bye." 

But nooooo.

Computer things are different apparently in that the dude who answered my call actually was proactively trying to figure out what could be fixed over the phone and what needed a ticket opened up to be fixed in person.

And he was very Not. Happy. with me. 

As I called towards the end of his 12 hour long shift. I was his last phone call of the day. And the fact that he spent basically an hour on the phone with me had him rather miffed. 

As apparently their metrics are screwy in that if a call lasts longer than like 7 minutes it basically equates to one of our "red surveys" that we get in the store.

-Said red surveys mean we have to get like 5 green surveys to overcome the 1 bad survey.

And it's doubly bad for this dude's metrics if the call lasts longer than 7 minutes and he has open ticket orders on top of that.

It can mess up his entire week apparently.

And so me calling towards the end of his work day and telling him I had like 12 different things wrong with a single register.

He kinda just 'went off' on me -in a polite way- to say "Tell your Store Leader that they should NOT leave everything last minute and if something breaks it should be fixed RIGHT AWAY and not left until the problems are compounded on top of each other."

and I was like "Wow, dude, chill. This register was scheduled to be taken out of our store. We've been told for years that we weren't going to have it anymore, but today they dropped the bombshell that we need to get it fixed ASAP for the holiday so we're being proactive and trying to get it fixed, but like because we didn't think we'd need it it's basically been used as spare parts for the other registers hence why so many thigns are broken"

Which calmed him down a little in the "oh...you're using it as spare parts...you thought it was going away....yes I see here that that was a plan and I totally understand you using it as spare parts as I would have done the same thing in your place. Yes I understand. I'm not happy but I understand." 

So yah.

I spent like a good hour on the phone with this guy trying various little fixes because his computer wasn't showing register four pinging the network at all so we were trying to figure out what the issue was.

And it was only at the end of the call that the dude realized what the actual problem probably was.

It's the fact that recently....like a month or two ago....we had all our register systems updated network wise. (and there's apparently a plan on the docket to give us compeletely new registers at some point in the future) 

But when the people came in to update our register systems....they didn't update register 4....because at that point in time 4 was supposed to be taken out. So like....why set up a network connection to something that was going away?

So we have to get register 4 connected back to the network before the dude can figure out what the actual issue with said computer is if there's any further issues beyond no network connection.

But since it was the end of his work day....we basically had to put it all on pause until tomorrow.

So tomorrow, if he gets the timing right, I'll be talking to him again to try and figure out all what's going on with Register 4.

*exhales*

So yah. Fun times. *shakes head* Gotta love it when a 'simple thing' gets complicated. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi