You stand in line. You put your shopping on the counter. It gets rung up and packed. You pay. You leave.
When grocery shopping most of us are on autopilot and we hardly take notice of anyone and anything else while doing so. That is, beyond a few pleasantries and platitudes. But all anyone really wants to do is get out of the supermarket to somewhere we can lick our spending wounds.
A supermarket is like a beehive. Cleaners, merchandisers, personal shoppers, butchers, bakers and cashiers to name a few.
Ditoro Sefoka has been in retail for well over a decade and is presently the front-of-house manager, meaning the supervisor behind the cashiers, at El Ridge Checkers on the East Rand.
She’s one of the many faces and personalities that make the whole retail ecosystem work.
Keeping the queue moving
Born and raised in Limpopo, she moved to Boksburg for schooling and completed an office administration course after matriculating.
Work in retail was never part of her grand plan, but once she started, she stayed.
“I began as a packer,” she said. “From there I moved to being a cashier and stayed in that position for three years before becoming a controller. It was not easy, but I managed.”
That was nearly 10 years ago. She has been at the same store the entire time.
“It’s not easy working with customers all day,” she said. “People have different personalities, but you must accept that. If someone is rude, I tell myself maybe they are having a bad day, and I help them as best I can.”
It’s a pressured environment and has its own rules of engagement that you’ll only get when you are in it.
Her mornings begin before sunrise, with a long day ahead.
“I am on my feet the whole day,” she said. “But if you enjoy what you are doing, it is easier.”
For Sefoka, the job is as much about managing people as it is about keeping queues moving.
“Every morning, I tell the team what kind of day it will be. If it is a busy day, I tell them to wake up, drink their tea and be ready. We are here for customers,” she said.
The best part of her day is when she sees the tills flowing smoothly.
“When it is busy, I push the team to move the queue faster. When I see that they are winning, I enjoy it,” she said. “Customers always want a smile and if you are not smiling, they feel it.”
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Dealing with difficult customers
Not all days run without hiccups. Customer complaints are the one thing she dislikes most.
“I hate customer complaints because it shows we are not doing our job right,” she said. “Even if the customer is wrong, you must empathise with them. You never know what else in their lives, perhaps, contributed to their state of being in the moment.”
There are also moments of humour.
“One day the team told me that when I get angry, I only speak English,” she said. “I didn’t even realise I was doing it until they reminded me. Most of them are Zulu-speaking, but when I am upset, English just comes out.”
Part of her role is making sure store policies are followed, even when people try to bend the rules.
Still common, teenagers attempting to buy cigarettes without ID cards. She said they are quickly sent away.
“I ask them how old they are, and if they don’t have ID cards, I tell them to bring an adult so I can talk to them,” she said.
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Outside work, she prefers a quiet life.
“I don’t have a TV set,” she said. And it’s by choice. “When I get home, I chill and drink tea. I just want to relax and unwind.”
She enjoys spending time with her teenage son, now 15. She has raised him as a single mother.
Sefoka is ambitious and she’s learning on the job, every day.
“In five years’ time, I want to be a store manager,” she said.
“Why not? I can do it.”
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