'Knuckle Buster'

8:07 am - Friday - 50º F, humidity 91%, wind 3 mph out of the east southeast...sunny....no clouds....forecast high for Gardiner is 83º F....for Mammoth Hot Springs it is 78º F.

Once again we had our 'MID' shift beginning at 11 am and finishing at 7 pm.  When I inquired of our co-workers whether it had been busy the two days we were off and the replied that it had not been very busy, which only confirms what I have noticed over the past week......the crowds are getting thinner already.  Thursday was no different, and thank goodness it was.  

Around 11:30 the first of four registers crashed, then rebooted leaving us with no way to accept credit cards electronically.  By noon only one register was still able to process credit cards electronically so we had to begin processing credit cards using the old 'knuckle busters'.....you know, the ones where you place the credit card on this manually operated machine, along with a two part transaction receipt then slide the arm over it all creating an impression on the transaction receipt.  I haven't seen one of these 'knuckle busters' since the

70's!!

  

Yee olde 'knuckle buster'

Normally it takes about 10-15 seconds max to process a credit card purchase electronically, but using the manual 'knuckle buster' it takes anywhere from 3-5 minutes for the uninitiated.  Amazingly, when we advised our customers of our dilemma cash magically appeared in their hands.  We went from processing credit cards about 50-60% of the time to only 5% of the time......whew!

Within 90 minutes 'IT' had debugged the system, and life returned to normal......but wait, there's more!  A week from Thursday the 'IT' department is going to update our 'POS' (point of sale) software and it is possible this will happen all over again.....it did last year.....oy vey! Well, at least we had a dry run, so to speak, and will be somewhat prepared for next Thursday if worst fears are realized.  You don't realize how much computers do for you, and how much time they save you until they don't work.....I feel a fever coming by at least next Thursday.....:-)

Once the computer malfunction was rectified the rest of the day went swimmingly well.....we would have brief bursts of activity at the 'Fountain', but for the most part it was a slow afternoon.....no complaints from me!

Another change introduced Thursday was a brief tutorial by our 'Fountain' supervisor Brian.  Apparently we have been scooping ice cream too generously and headquarters wanted to refresh our memories as to what a 'single scoop' and 'double scoop' look like.  Apparently our single scoops have been running about 8 oz, when they should be about 4 oz.  The result is we have been plowing through ice cream at about twice the rate as the other stores.  Personally, I thought from the beginning we were scooping too big, but when everyone else is giving large scoops it won't work to have one person scooping way smaller, so I just adjusted my scooping to whomever I was working with that day.  Amazingly, the customers are still quite happy just getting their 4, or 8 ounces of ice cream!

The day went by quickly, and pleasantly.......once again we were sliding down the Gardiner River Gorge in our Beetle to our home for the evening.....life is good, and we are in a good place mentally, physically and emotionally.  We are sooooo thankful we rolled our wheels and changed our view 7 weeks ago.

Thanks for stopping by!

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