Reflection on Process as a Whole: I think it was beneficial. I think that it’s one of those skills that everyone needs to know because it’s something that will be used throughout your life. I also think it was beneficial because most of the people in the class have had a job at some point, therefore had to have a resume but through this process were able to improve their resume and make it more professional in terms of format, style, setup, etc. With that, we had workshop which was nice because we got to see other people’s resumes which helped bounce ideas off everyone because others would see something they liked in someone else’s resume and they wanted to incorporate whatever that was somehow into their own resume to make it better.
Anecdotes are referred to as personal stories to illustrate your skills and attributes, as a leader or a problem solver. They can be very useful to consider before going in an interview.
An anecdote that would be useful to use during an interview will be proving that I know how to diffuse a situation. When working at a coffee shop customers have many customizations and accommodations to meet with their orders. This makes you open to having more opportunities for mistakes. When those mistakes happen customers became upset because they pay a lot to have their orders made correctly. When dealing with these situations all you have to do is remake the customers drink and apologize.
Another anecdote I would consider using is meeting a goal within a workplace. While I was employed at Concord Pools we would have a monthly quota to meet. The best way we would meet that quota is by selling pool cleaners. These were expensive cleaners and they were hard to sell so whenever someone was walking near them I would gladly give them information. I worked there when I was very young so I tried to be as knowledgeable as I could or else no one would buy the cleaner. Somedays I would have to go to my coworkers for help if I needed it. I used teamwork and perseverance to meet this goal.
I feel like I would spin my two anecdotes differently depending on the job I’m applying for. The stories would likely be the same but the emphasis I put with each story would be different. I would have one anecdote which would be about working with people in customer service. I may talk about how someone was being relatively unpleasant to me. Rather than stoop to their level I would keep my composure and do my best to help them. Eventually after I’m able to help they would calm down, take a breath, and typically they’d apologize and explain they had a long day. I’d talk about how frustrating it is to be spoken to that way but I know that many of them don’t mean it personally. This way I could highlight my customer service skills and my ability to keep my composure. My second anecdote would be about working with coworkers/bosses. If I’m applying for a food service position I’d likely talk about how I overcame a conflict with a coworker as an RA. If I’m applying to a legal position I’d likely talk about how I’ve grown comfortable working under multiple bosses and departments as a go between as many legal firms are looking for this.
Anecdotes are important to share during an interview because they provide some insights to how an individual reacts to a situation and how they can deal with certain issues. One anecdote I would share during an interview is how I am able to assess a situation and assist with coming up with solutions that would best dissolve it. For example, at grocery store where I currently work, a customer was not satisfied with the products they received regarding produce since it was not picked with care. I suggested a refund or receiving a discount the next time they ordered on our app, and my manager agreed to give a refund since the produce was a huge chunk of her order. My manager and the customer were very happy with the solution I provided since it deescalated the situation. Another anecdote I would share is being able to power through the workday, even if it is stressful and busy in the department. I would use another example from my current job at the grocery store, since we receive a lot of orders that leave us being busy for the whole day with no down time. This would show that I am able to focus and assist my coworkers with completing orders in a timely manner which is beneficial for the customers and the department. These experiences relate to the current position I would like to apply to because the internship I am working towards requires being on your feet most of the day and having organizational skills in a busy environment, while being able to work in stressful conditions if needed.
The first anecdote that I would share is regarding an article I wrote during my junior year of college. The article, which was an opinion piece about UNE remaining open during an active manhunt within close proximity, received significant pushback from the administration. Here’s a general outline of how I would tell that story: “My time as editor of The Bolt was not without challenges. During my junior year, Maine experienced its largest mass shooting, just an hour from campus. While most institutions statewide closed during the active manhunt, my university reopened after one day. Many students and faculty were upset, and I felt a duty to voice their concerns. I sought comments from the university president, security office, and administration. The response was a chorus of ‘no comment.’ Undeterred, I dug in and found sources willing to go on record. The day after the article ran, the administration tried to pull it. I refused, unwilling to let the school silence those who voiced their opinions. Balancing journalistic ethics with maintaining bridges to my university’s administration wasn’t easy, but it was crucial.” This story fits with the position I would be applying for (something concerning investigative journalism) because it shows tenacity, an understanding of how to push back on those in power, and other basic skills required for journalism. The second anecdote that I would discuss is a time I failed— The editor of the first paper I wrote for told me that I would never be good enough to be a journalist; she told me I was too shy and anxious to make it in the field. This was because I was unable to get a quote from someone at a live event who was surrounded by other reporters (I tried to push to the front but couldn’t get their attention.) I felt defeated and stopped writing for that paper. As hard as it was to hear that, I respected the editor’s opinion and, after taking time to collect myself, was determined to prove her wrong. I started writing for my university’s student paper and, within one year, became an editor-in-chief. This story demonstrates that I am passionate about what I do, so much so that I’m willing to work for it. It shows that I can bounce back from failure and take unprofessional criticisms professionally.
If I were given an interview and needed to come up with some handy anecdotes that were worth discussing during the interview process, there are two which immediately come to mind.
The first would involve my time as an assistant manager at Flagship Cinemas, specifically the Wells location here in southern Maine. Toward the end of 2019, a little bit after I had been promoted to an assistant manager, an employee named Nick (real name changed for anonymity purposes) was promoted to the general manager of the location. For reasons which are still not clear to me six years later, one week after Nick had been promoted he suddenly quit without notice, and stopped showing up for work. This left us, effectively, without a general manager in any capacity. This happened to coincide with the really bad rainstorms that hit York County in 2019, and the building got flooded the same week that he left. During this period, although I was only an assistant manager, me and the other two assistant managers essentially had to perform all the duties of a location general manager during this time. This included taking care of all the finances for the location, including deposits, managing nightly money counts, among other responsibilities. Flagship Cinemas wasn’t able to replace the general manager for an entire month until they eventually hired a girl named Haylee (name also changed).
The second anecdote would be about my person story and path, about how I worked for a couple of years before starting college, and was given the opportunity to pursue college because of Maine’s FAFSA program that began in 2021. I would talk about how I had occupational and career experience (Corning, Majestic Regency Resorts) prior to being a student where I pursued my education. During this time I might also talk about some of the accomplishments I’ve had since beginning my college career.
One experience I would draw from when discussing challenges in an interview would be my experience as a Social Media intern for the UNE Department of Communications and Business. As an intern, I interviewed members of the community and attended events to promote and highlight the campus. One thing I learned during interviews is to leave plenty of time for the filming and questionnaire process. As a student and employee, I often balanced my time between this and school work, which sometimes resulted in close windows of film time. Between preparing questions, finding people to interview, and capturing a good image, I realized it takes time to collect good work. From this realization, I was able to strengthen my time management, practice clear and effective communication, and allot time for previous preparation and background research. Another point I would make is how I developed skills in overcoming challenges in a leadership role as a rowing coach. As a coach, I’m responsible for a wide age range of athletes on the water and indoors. Working outside during a strenuous sport has taught me to be respectful of an individual’s strength and how to manage and promote teamwork in the work field. For example, I frequently work with youth beginner rowing groups during the summers, which calls for hot temperatures in an unfamiliar setting for many kids. I often find myself balancing a fun, engaging environment while encouraging respect for fellow teammates and instilling self-confidence in a young group setting.
This is a very difficult question to answer, but I think I have an idea on what two anecdotes I would bring up.
The first anecdote that I would have handy is to discuss the first time I was hired for a paying job. I was only 14 when I acquired my first job, and I went through a very similar interview process at the time. Being evaluated in all aspects, from my appearance to the way I spoke to the manager, I have learned how to handle myself in very stress inducing situations. I acquired a job as a Store Clerk at a local Star Market in Newton, Massachusetts, and it was a major adjustment. My autism and my social anxiety can sometimes make it harder to adapt to new scenarios and situations at times, but here, although I was off to a somewhat shaky start, especially at such a young age, I found a silver lining that I walked by. Being able to manage new workload with the experience in being in an environment I had yet to been exposed to, especially at such a young age, shows how resilient and willing I am to take risks. Although my combativeness can make it hard to adjust to things, I have developed a dedication for workload because of my choice to start at such a young age, and I think sharing this story will show how many hurtles I have overcame to achieve the desire I have inside of me right now.
The second anecdote I would bring up is my volunteer work experience at a local soup kitchen in Newton, Massachusetts, as well as leadership organizations I volunteered for throughout high school. My whole life has been about going outside of my comfort zone and achieving new skillsets through experience. Reaching out to local communal organizations and volunteering to assist in the goal of bringing people closer shows my morals as a human being, but also my eagerness to help others. I am someone that always tries to put others before myself, as I really enjoy helping people, and in every career, you need to be willing to help other people. I think sharing this side of me will help show the employer how selfless I am and how much of a team player I can truly be, and I think that is super important, no matter where you are working.
The first anecdote I would tell is a story about my basketball career. I’ve always been a passionate athlete who takes my competitiveness to extremes, and basketball gave me a platform to tap into that part of myself. In high school, I was a part of an excellent basketball team which made deep playoff runs each year leading up to my senior year. I was a crucial part of the varsity team sophomore year through senior year and we always fell short of our goal of winning a gold ball. I worked hard each off season to put myself in a better position to help the team be more successful and achieve our goal, after a long, hard-fought season, my senior year, we finally reached the state championship game after a couple of nail-biting wins. We ended up losing that state championship by a single point because the other team made a 3-pointer late to take the lead. This felt like the end of the world to myself and my senior teammates. We had worked our butts off to lose by one point. This game was played in March of 2020, and soon after COVID took full effect and we were all quarantined in our houses. I had lots of time to sit in my room and reminisce about how close we were to winning and it ate me up inside. Instead of crumbling up and drowning in my sorrows, I chose to play for a college called SMCC. This was an exciting new step for me that gave me another opportunity to play for a championship despite not winning a gold ball in high school. My freshman year got cancelled entirely due to the pandemic, but this didn’t stop me and my other few teammates from working out on our own, preparing to play the next season. Long story short, my teammates and I worked super hard and trusted the process at SMCC and we ended up being the regular season champions, conference champions, and winning the school’s first ever national championship. I believe this anecdote is a great representation of my willingness to never hang it up and quit. I could’ve chosen many different routes for myself, but I wasn’t content with how things played out in the past, so I kept at my goal until I won a championship with my basketball team.
The second anecdote I’d be willing to share with any employer would be the story I have of getting hired as a part of a very successful pest control company out of Charlotte and Orlando. Before my freshman season at SMCC for basketball, I was offered a sales position that had the potential to make me lots of money going into college. I went down, enjoyed the scenery in Orlando for a while, trained, knocked a bunch of doors, and never made a single sale. I was miserable during my time down there. In hindsight, I made a great decision for myself. The problem wasn’t that I sucked at sales and had no hope within the company, the problem was that I had split priorities towards two things that required my sole priority. All I was focused on was bettering myself at basketball and winning a championship, and the pest control company wanted me to dedicate myself to selling for them, and I never felt like it. The point of the story is that I am the type of person who chooses to commit myself to something and give it my full ability. I ended up leaving the pest control company because I wasn’t ready to commit myself to that. I believe that the way a person does one thing, is the way they do everything and I didn’t feel righteous half assing the pest control job. I ended up leaving to commit myself to my college basketball career, and that paid off well as I won a national championship and earned a scholarship to a division 2 school. Now that I’ve accomplished all my goals for college basketball and am about to graduate, I am returning to a solar salesman job to hone in on a goal from that past that I still haven’t conquered yet and I know that I’ll reach my goal because of how relentless I am towards my passions.
The first anecdote that comes to mind is a time at Target when someone was trying to scam me. It happened earlier in my time at Target, and I hadn’t been given explicit training as to what to do in this situation. Someone went to my register to buy some small items like gum and paid me in cash. He tried to confuse me by telling me I put in the wrong amount of cash into the computer, giving me more cash to get a different amount of change, and asking if I could re-open the cash register once I closed it. Even though I knew I could, I told him no. He then tried to give me some money and kept insisting when I said no. A line was forming behind him, so I firmly told him I couldn’t accept it and to have a good day. Thankfully, he left after that. I was able to stay calm and recollect my thoughts in a stressful situation that I wasn’t prepared for.
Another anecdote I could talk about is also at Target and about someone stealing (lol). This time I was working the self checkout when my manager came up to me and told me they suspected someone was trying to steal by getting our employee IDs and to discreetly keep an eye on him. Some context: there is a “store mode” meant that’s accessed by inputting your ID number in order to remove items or edit prices, hence why someone might want that info. I was also not trained for the situation either. I had to stay calm and act normal while I watched him check his items out at a self checkout register. At one point he asked for help from my manager with deleting something he scanned twice. After helping him, she left it in store mode (which I wonder if she did on purpose to see what he’d do) but thankfully he checked out like normal and I never heard of/saw another incident like this again.
10 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 15”
Reflection on Process as a Whole: I think it was beneficial. I think that it’s one of those skills that everyone needs to know because it’s something that will be used throughout your life. I also think it was beneficial because most of the people in the class have had a job at some point, therefore had to have a resume but through this process were able to improve their resume and make it more professional in terms of format, style, setup, etc. With that, we had workshop which was nice because we got to see other people’s resumes which helped bounce ideas off everyone because others would see something they liked in someone else’s resume and they wanted to incorporate whatever that was somehow into their own resume to make it better.
Anecdotes are referred to as personal stories to illustrate your skills and attributes, as a leader or a problem solver. They can be very useful to consider before going in an interview.
An anecdote that would be useful to use during an interview will be proving that I know how to diffuse a situation. When working at a coffee shop customers have many customizations and accommodations to meet with their orders. This makes you open to having more opportunities for mistakes. When those mistakes happen customers became upset because they pay a lot to have their orders made correctly. When dealing with these situations all you have to do is remake the customers drink and apologize.
Another anecdote I would consider using is meeting a goal within a workplace. While I was employed at Concord Pools we would have a monthly quota to meet. The best way we would meet that quota is by selling pool cleaners. These were expensive cleaners and they were hard to sell so whenever someone was walking near them I would gladly give them information. I worked there when I was very young so I tried to be as knowledgeable as I could or else no one would buy the cleaner. Somedays I would have to go to my coworkers for help if I needed it. I used teamwork and perseverance to meet this goal.
I feel like I would spin my two anecdotes differently depending on the job I’m applying for. The stories would likely be the same but the emphasis I put with each story would be different. I would have one anecdote which would be about working with people in customer service. I may talk about how someone was being relatively unpleasant to me. Rather than stoop to their level I would keep my composure and do my best to help them. Eventually after I’m able to help they would calm down, take a breath, and typically they’d apologize and explain they had a long day. I’d talk about how frustrating it is to be spoken to that way but I know that many of them don’t mean it personally. This way I could highlight my customer service skills and my ability to keep my composure. My second anecdote would be about working with coworkers/bosses. If I’m applying for a food service position I’d likely talk about how I overcame a conflict with a coworker as an RA. If I’m applying to a legal position I’d likely talk about how I’ve grown comfortable working under multiple bosses and departments as a go between as many legal firms are looking for this.
Anecdotes are important to share during an interview because they provide some insights to how an individual reacts to a situation and how they can deal with certain issues. One anecdote I would share during an interview is how I am able to assess a situation and assist with coming up with solutions that would best dissolve it. For example, at grocery store where I currently work, a customer was not satisfied with the products they received regarding produce since it was not picked with care. I suggested a refund or receiving a discount the next time they ordered on our app, and my manager agreed to give a refund since the produce was a huge chunk of her order. My manager and the customer were very happy with the solution I provided since it deescalated the situation. Another anecdote I would share is being able to power through the workday, even if it is stressful and busy in the department. I would use another example from my current job at the grocery store, since we receive a lot of orders that leave us being busy for the whole day with no down time. This would show that I am able to focus and assist my coworkers with completing orders in a timely manner which is beneficial for the customers and the department. These experiences relate to the current position I would like to apply to because the internship I am working towards requires being on your feet most of the day and having organizational skills in a busy environment, while being able to work in stressful conditions if needed.
The first anecdote that I would share is regarding an article I wrote during my junior year of college. The article, which was an opinion piece about UNE remaining open during an active manhunt within close proximity, received significant pushback from the administration. Here’s a general outline of how I would tell that story: “My time as editor of The Bolt was not without challenges. During my junior year, Maine experienced its largest mass shooting, just an hour from campus. While most institutions statewide closed during the active manhunt, my university reopened after one day. Many students and faculty were upset, and I felt a duty to voice their concerns. I sought comments from the university president, security office, and administration. The response was a chorus of ‘no comment.’ Undeterred, I dug in and found sources willing to go on record. The day after the article ran, the administration tried to pull it. I refused, unwilling to let the school silence those who voiced their opinions. Balancing journalistic ethics with maintaining bridges to my university’s administration wasn’t easy, but it was crucial.” This story fits with the position I would be applying for (something concerning investigative journalism) because it shows tenacity, an understanding of how to push back on those in power, and other basic skills required for journalism. The second anecdote that I would discuss is a time I failed— The editor of the first paper I wrote for told me that I would never be good enough to be a journalist; she told me I was too shy and anxious to make it in the field. This was because I was unable to get a quote from someone at a live event who was surrounded by other reporters (I tried to push to the front but couldn’t get their attention.) I felt defeated and stopped writing for that paper. As hard as it was to hear that, I respected the editor’s opinion and, after taking time to collect myself, was determined to prove her wrong. I started writing for my university’s student paper and, within one year, became an editor-in-chief. This story demonstrates that I am passionate about what I do, so much so that I’m willing to work for it. It shows that I can bounce back from failure and take unprofessional criticisms professionally.
If I were given an interview and needed to come up with some handy anecdotes that were worth discussing during the interview process, there are two which immediately come to mind.
The first would involve my time as an assistant manager at Flagship Cinemas, specifically the Wells location here in southern Maine. Toward the end of 2019, a little bit after I had been promoted to an assistant manager, an employee named Nick (real name changed for anonymity purposes) was promoted to the general manager of the location. For reasons which are still not clear to me six years later, one week after Nick had been promoted he suddenly quit without notice, and stopped showing up for work. This left us, effectively, without a general manager in any capacity. This happened to coincide with the really bad rainstorms that hit York County in 2019, and the building got flooded the same week that he left. During this period, although I was only an assistant manager, me and the other two assistant managers essentially had to perform all the duties of a location general manager during this time. This included taking care of all the finances for the location, including deposits, managing nightly money counts, among other responsibilities. Flagship Cinemas wasn’t able to replace the general manager for an entire month until they eventually hired a girl named Haylee (name also changed).
The second anecdote would be about my person story and path, about how I worked for a couple of years before starting college, and was given the opportunity to pursue college because of Maine’s FAFSA program that began in 2021. I would talk about how I had occupational and career experience (Corning, Majestic Regency Resorts) prior to being a student where I pursued my education. During this time I might also talk about some of the accomplishments I’ve had since beginning my college career.
One experience I would draw from when discussing challenges in an interview would be my experience as a Social Media intern for the UNE Department of Communications and Business. As an intern, I interviewed members of the community and attended events to promote and highlight the campus. One thing I learned during interviews is to leave plenty of time for the filming and questionnaire process. As a student and employee, I often balanced my time between this and school work, which sometimes resulted in close windows of film time. Between preparing questions, finding people to interview, and capturing a good image, I realized it takes time to collect good work. From this realization, I was able to strengthen my time management, practice clear and effective communication, and allot time for previous preparation and background research. Another point I would make is how I developed skills in overcoming challenges in a leadership role as a rowing coach. As a coach, I’m responsible for a wide age range of athletes on the water and indoors. Working outside during a strenuous sport has taught me to be respectful of an individual’s strength and how to manage and promote teamwork in the work field. For example, I frequently work with youth beginner rowing groups during the summers, which calls for hot temperatures in an unfamiliar setting for many kids. I often find myself balancing a fun, engaging environment while encouraging respect for fellow teammates and instilling self-confidence in a young group setting.
This is a very difficult question to answer, but I think I have an idea on what two anecdotes I would bring up.
The first anecdote that I would have handy is to discuss the first time I was hired for a paying job. I was only 14 when I acquired my first job, and I went through a very similar interview process at the time. Being evaluated in all aspects, from my appearance to the way I spoke to the manager, I have learned how to handle myself in very stress inducing situations. I acquired a job as a Store Clerk at a local Star Market in Newton, Massachusetts, and it was a major adjustment. My autism and my social anxiety can sometimes make it harder to adapt to new scenarios and situations at times, but here, although I was off to a somewhat shaky start, especially at such a young age, I found a silver lining that I walked by. Being able to manage new workload with the experience in being in an environment I had yet to been exposed to, especially at such a young age, shows how resilient and willing I am to take risks. Although my combativeness can make it hard to adjust to things, I have developed a dedication for workload because of my choice to start at such a young age, and I think sharing this story will show how many hurtles I have overcame to achieve the desire I have inside of me right now.
The second anecdote I would bring up is my volunteer work experience at a local soup kitchen in Newton, Massachusetts, as well as leadership organizations I volunteered for throughout high school. My whole life has been about going outside of my comfort zone and achieving new skillsets through experience. Reaching out to local communal organizations and volunteering to assist in the goal of bringing people closer shows my morals as a human being, but also my eagerness to help others. I am someone that always tries to put others before myself, as I really enjoy helping people, and in every career, you need to be willing to help other people. I think sharing this side of me will help show the employer how selfless I am and how much of a team player I can truly be, and I think that is super important, no matter where you are working.
The first anecdote I would tell is a story about my basketball career. I’ve always been a passionate athlete who takes my competitiveness to extremes, and basketball gave me a platform to tap into that part of myself. In high school, I was a part of an excellent basketball team which made deep playoff runs each year leading up to my senior year. I was a crucial part of the varsity team sophomore year through senior year and we always fell short of our goal of winning a gold ball. I worked hard each off season to put myself in a better position to help the team be more successful and achieve our goal, after a long, hard-fought season, my senior year, we finally reached the state championship game after a couple of nail-biting wins. We ended up losing that state championship by a single point because the other team made a 3-pointer late to take the lead. This felt like the end of the world to myself and my senior teammates. We had worked our butts off to lose by one point. This game was played in March of 2020, and soon after COVID took full effect and we were all quarantined in our houses. I had lots of time to sit in my room and reminisce about how close we were to winning and it ate me up inside. Instead of crumbling up and drowning in my sorrows, I chose to play for a college called SMCC. This was an exciting new step for me that gave me another opportunity to play for a championship despite not winning a gold ball in high school. My freshman year got cancelled entirely due to the pandemic, but this didn’t stop me and my other few teammates from working out on our own, preparing to play the next season. Long story short, my teammates and I worked super hard and trusted the process at SMCC and we ended up being the regular season champions, conference champions, and winning the school’s first ever national championship. I believe this anecdote is a great representation of my willingness to never hang it up and quit. I could’ve chosen many different routes for myself, but I wasn’t content with how things played out in the past, so I kept at my goal until I won a championship with my basketball team.
The second anecdote I’d be willing to share with any employer would be the story I have of getting hired as a part of a very successful pest control company out of Charlotte and Orlando. Before my freshman season at SMCC for basketball, I was offered a sales position that had the potential to make me lots of money going into college. I went down, enjoyed the scenery in Orlando for a while, trained, knocked a bunch of doors, and never made a single sale. I was miserable during my time down there. In hindsight, I made a great decision for myself. The problem wasn’t that I sucked at sales and had no hope within the company, the problem was that I had split priorities towards two things that required my sole priority. All I was focused on was bettering myself at basketball and winning a championship, and the pest control company wanted me to dedicate myself to selling for them, and I never felt like it. The point of the story is that I am the type of person who chooses to commit myself to something and give it my full ability. I ended up leaving the pest control company because I wasn’t ready to commit myself to that. I believe that the way a person does one thing, is the way they do everything and I didn’t feel righteous half assing the pest control job. I ended up leaving to commit myself to my college basketball career, and that paid off well as I won a national championship and earned a scholarship to a division 2 school. Now that I’ve accomplished all my goals for college basketball and am about to graduate, I am returning to a solar salesman job to hone in on a goal from that past that I still haven’t conquered yet and I know that I’ll reach my goal because of how relentless I am towards my passions.
The first anecdote that comes to mind is a time at Target when someone was trying to scam me. It happened earlier in my time at Target, and I hadn’t been given explicit training as to what to do in this situation. Someone went to my register to buy some small items like gum and paid me in cash. He tried to confuse me by telling me I put in the wrong amount of cash into the computer, giving me more cash to get a different amount of change, and asking if I could re-open the cash register once I closed it. Even though I knew I could, I told him no. He then tried to give me some money and kept insisting when I said no. A line was forming behind him, so I firmly told him I couldn’t accept it and to have a good day. Thankfully, he left after that. I was able to stay calm and recollect my thoughts in a stressful situation that I wasn’t prepared for.
Another anecdote I could talk about is also at Target and about someone stealing (lol). This time I was working the self checkout when my manager came up to me and told me they suspected someone was trying to steal by getting our employee IDs and to discreetly keep an eye on him. Some context: there is a “store mode” meant that’s accessed by inputting your ID number in order to remove items or edit prices, hence why someone might want that info. I was also not trained for the situation either. I had to stay calm and act normal while I watched him check his items out at a self checkout register. At one point he asked for help from my manager with deleting something he scanned twice. After helping him, she left it in store mode (which I wonder if she did on purpose to see what he’d do) but thankfully he checked out like normal and I never heard of/saw another incident like this again.