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Bookshop training
As the bookshop gains more volunteers - two new ones this week - we've got to the point where we can no longer remember exactly what each person knows how to do. eg. I hadn't realised that 'A' already knew how to price DVDs (Richard had taught her on a day I wasn't in)
So, we've drawn up a detailed list of pretty much every single job in the shop, from selling greetings cards to cleaning the sink.
There's a lot of detailed oddities in charity shops. Just something like gift aid requires four separate skills to be learned: customers with gift aid key fob; customers with a printed card with their number ( these were issued before key fobs were introduced - no bar code); customers who have never gift aided before and customers who have gift aided before, but who have lost their number.
Each of these gift aid options needs to be learnt separately and then revised several times.
We have a high gift aid rate, largely because we make the effort to teach the volunteers all the ways of handling it.
The new training list seems to be going down well with the volunteers. As well as telling us what they already know, it allows them to know what new areas they can gain skills in. I spent part of Saturday teaching two people how to price vinyl records. No one has to train in areas they aren't interested in, ('D' would never want to go on the till, for example, and 'F' has bad knees and can't run up and downstairs to do shelf restocking) but people can ask to learn new things and from the reaction so far, they seem keen to do so.
The other thing the training sheets highlighted was who had had proper training in fire procedures and who had not. So I also spent part of Saturday on fire training. I try and go a long way beyond the basics ("Get out of the shop and go to the fire assembly point") and teach them stuff that may be useful in other buildings. The key thing is always to avoid becoming a casualty, so getting out the building is generally the correct action. In the case of really tiny fires, it may be okay to use a fire extinguisher to put it out, but the principle function of a fire extinguisher is to help you reach the exit alive.
It's been interesting to see what people know about different types of fire extinguishers. Most people correctly worked out that CO2 was safer than water for electrical fires, but only one volunteer worked out the risk to avoid on CO2 extinguishers (apart from the obvious one of not taking in lungfuls of it). Gases get cold when they expand - touching the metal cannister of a CO2 extinguisher can cause a freezer burn.
Also, people tend not to think of alternative ways of escape. I asked people what they'd do if trapped upstairs with the stairs on fire. No one so far has spotted the option of breaking a window at the back and climbing down onto the roof of the shed below. (A CO2 extinguisher would be a very useful tool for breaking double glazing)
Next week, I'm going to see who knows the shop address. If you're calling 999 the first thing they will ask you is the address of the premises: 32 South St, Dorchester.
So, we've drawn up a detailed list of pretty much every single job in the shop, from selling greetings cards to cleaning the sink.
There's a lot of detailed oddities in charity shops. Just something like gift aid requires four separate skills to be learned: customers with gift aid key fob; customers with a printed card with their number ( these were issued before key fobs were introduced - no bar code); customers who have never gift aided before and customers who have gift aided before, but who have lost their number.
Each of these gift aid options needs to be learnt separately and then revised several times.
We have a high gift aid rate, largely because we make the effort to teach the volunteers all the ways of handling it.
The new training list seems to be going down well with the volunteers. As well as telling us what they already know, it allows them to know what new areas they can gain skills in. I spent part of Saturday teaching two people how to price vinyl records. No one has to train in areas they aren't interested in, ('D' would never want to go on the till, for example, and 'F' has bad knees and can't run up and downstairs to do shelf restocking) but people can ask to learn new things and from the reaction so far, they seem keen to do so.
The other thing the training sheets highlighted was who had had proper training in fire procedures and who had not. So I also spent part of Saturday on fire training. I try and go a long way beyond the basics ("Get out of the shop and go to the fire assembly point") and teach them stuff that may be useful in other buildings. The key thing is always to avoid becoming a casualty, so getting out the building is generally the correct action. In the case of really tiny fires, it may be okay to use a fire extinguisher to put it out, but the principle function of a fire extinguisher is to help you reach the exit alive.
It's been interesting to see what people know about different types of fire extinguishers. Most people correctly worked out that CO2 was safer than water for electrical fires, but only one volunteer worked out the risk to avoid on CO2 extinguishers (apart from the obvious one of not taking in lungfuls of it). Gases get cold when they expand - touching the metal cannister of a CO2 extinguisher can cause a freezer burn.
Also, people tend not to think of alternative ways of escape. I asked people what they'd do if trapped upstairs with the stairs on fire. No one so far has spotted the option of breaking a window at the back and climbing down onto the roof of the shed below. (A CO2 extinguisher would be a very useful tool for breaking double glazing)
Next week, I'm going to see who knows the shop address. If you're calling 999 the first thing they will ask you is the address of the premises: 32 South St, Dorchester.