Training A Refugee

 At my BigBox store, we have several new employees - and four of them are refugees from Afghanistan.  One of them is under my direct supervision, and I'm trying to train him.  But it amazes me how much has to be explained, how much of a difference there is in language and culture.  

It's amazing how much we assume because we have lived in America for most if not all of our lives.  Take for instance a bottle of Gatorade.  Here we can purchase it as a single unit, or a multipack.  How do you explain which is which to someone who doesn't know??  It takes time to explain that you can read the description - which often says "8pk" or you can do the math and think it all through.  One bottle might be 90cents to 1.50.  Then the 8pk is closer to $5.  But you have to be able to think that process through and know our monetary values as well!!     

Another example is explaining the difference between products we sell in the store vs the items we buy that enables us to do our jobs, like wheel weights for the Auto Center.  We don't sell them individually to customers, but we need them to balance a tire they may have purchased. 

Having to learn all the intricacies of a BigBox store in America while at the same time trying to understand the language, learn a new job and then learn all the slang that those of us in retail use as well must be difficult for these folks.  At the same time, it's no picnic for the rest of us trying to teach something that we grew up knowing (like those Gatorade bottles) !  

I guess the important thing this is teaching me is patience.  I dislike having to explain things that seem obvious to me, but that's my current status:   teach and train.   Every day I remind myself that this will be a good thing in the Big Picture.  Until then ..... .Lawd, give me patience!!!