People Who Work at Convenience Stores②The Job Responsibilities at Convenience Stores

I mostly work the register, but I also refill the coffee machine with beans, take out the trash, and handle various other tasks. While working the register, I also have to fry food during downtime, so I collaborate with other staff members. Sometimes the owner would ask me to decide how many fried items to prepare in advance.

Convenience store work can be divided into 3 main areas. The first is what Muskan just mentioned: prep work behind the counter and operating the register. The second is restocking merchandise on the sales floor. And the third is back-office tasks like managing orders.
Part-time staff mainly handle the first and second areas. Especially for prep work, people who handle customer service on the floor often have a better sense of how much will sell. That’s why sometimes, like Muskan, we have part-time staff decide the quantities.

The store I worked at wasn’t open 24 hours. So when I came in early in the morning, I’d spend the first hour stocking shelves before customers arrived. After opening, it was mostly customer service, but I’d panic if I couldn’t answer a customer’s question during busy times. Like when they asked for a specific brand of cigarettes I didn’t know...

Cigarettes are tricky, aren’t they! Some customers even ask for old product names, and I struggled with it at first too.

Some customers point to the numbers on the display shelves, but most ask by product name. We’d go back and forth —“Right!” “Left!”— while trying to find the right cigarettes.

Since many of my coworkers were a lot older than me and my shifts were short, we didn't really chat outside of work. It felt more like they taught me the job during breaks between serving customers.

The store I worked at had strict rules; we were instructed to avoid chatting. But during breaks, I often talked with the manager. He was kind and even introduced me to rental properties. He also gave me his phone number that I could use as an emergency contact, which I really appreciated. I always carried an electronic dictionary with me and looked up anything I didn’t understand right away, so maybe he thought I was “motivated.”

Actually, when I first started working, I didn’t get along well with my Vietnamese coworkers. Maybe because I was the oldest, I couldn’t join their conversations and sometimes felt like I was being bullied. It was tough. These kinds of things are about people, not nationality. But as time passed, we got to know each other better, and eventually we could talk normally.

I thought the rules were strict. Even at the register, since we handle food, we had to keep our hair neatly tied back, and after selling items like steamed buns, we were told to always wash our hands. The store I worked at seemed especially strict.

Back when I lived in Nepal temporarily, I went to a supermarket and the customer service style was completely different. I’d ask a clerk, “Where’s this?” and they’d reply, “Over there.” It felt much more relaxed. Japan is all about prioritizing the customer, right?

That’s what I thought at first too. China also has a friendlier atmosphere in customer service. Japan is polite but stiff, right? It’s not that one is right and the other wrong, but sometimes I think it would be better if both sides were more relaxed.

Vietnam also has many shops with friendly service like Nepal or China, but Japanese convenience store chains operating in Vietnam seem to have inherited Japanese culture, providing more attentive service with more smiling faces than other stores, and they seem to have a good reputation.

Speaking of Japanese culture, working at a convenience store really helped me understand Japan’s seasonal customs. Things like, “Oh, everyone starts reserving Christmas cakes around this time,” or “Once that’s over, it's time for osechi (New Year’s dishes).” You wouldn’t know these things without actually working there.

When I was new, there was just too much to remember. After finishing at the register, I had to go straight to the sales floor. It felt like I was constantly being chased by something, and it was tough until I got used to it.

I get flustered when I’m under pressure too. Like when the coffee machine runs out of milk, and there’s a line at the register... That’s when I feel like I can’t do the things I usually can.

I totally get it. It’s so stressful when delivery services show up to pick up packages during busy times, right?

They also tell you to call out promotions, but this is quite a high hurdle for beginners learning Japanese. Calling out promotions means when staff shout things like, “Today this item is 30% off! Please take a look!”

I wasn’t confident in my Japanese either, so I struggled with speaking out loud. I could only manage to say “Please take a look!” after my senior colleague would speak.

In Japanese, product names are tricky too, right? Even when customers ask, “Do you have XX?” I can’t understand them. Even if I can read the characters, if the pronunciation in my head doesn't match the actual pronunciation, I’m lost. And just when I think I've finally memorized them, new products keep arriving one after another.

I struggled with stocking shelves early on for similar reasons. It really tests your sense of organization. You have to keep meat and vegetables separate, but I didn’t know Japanese cuisine or ingredients at first, so it was tough. With rice balls, you can’t see the filling inside, so I just had to look at the picture and guess.

Sometimes when asked about “products without pork ingredients,” I’d get scared thinking, “What if I get it wrong?” In those cases, I’d make sure to recommend products that were purely vegetable-based.

Regular customers who come every day feel like friends, right? When I took a day off, they’d ask, “Are you okay?” It made me feel really happy.

It’s fun when you can connect with people, right? An elderly regular who couldn’t use the self-checkout once told me, “I managed it today!”

Chatting with regulars is always fun, isn’t it? Also, I was really happy when the manager said to me for the first time, “It’s nice to have Jo here today, so I feel at ease.”

What I like about convenience stores is that they offer all kinds of services. You can get your residence certificate issued there, and they have printers and bank ATMs too. I think they’re incredibly convenient places.

I love how wide variety of products convenience stores are. When I’m at work, just looking at the merchandise makes me happy.
But food waste is something that bothers me. Things like rice balls and fried foods—I have to throw them out myself when the time comes. I often think, “But they’re still edible!”

I’m concerned about food waste too.
But I think the company’s effort to introduce new products every week is amazing. I’ve worked here for years, and even now, I still get excited and thrilled when new products arrive weekly.