Hiring and Training Cashiers: A 30-Day Playbook

Week 1: Screen for the right traits

• Numeracy: simple mental-math test at interview. Not calculus — can they give change without the till prompting them.
• Composure under pressure: describe a time something went wrong with a customer. You're listening for de-escalation, not excuses.
• Ethics proxy: ask what they'd do if they saw a coworker pocket TZS 10,000.

Week 2: Shadow + microtraining

Pair them with your best cashier for 3 days. After each shift, 15 minutes on:

• One POS workflow (refunds, exchanges, holds).
• One payment method (M-Pesa, card, cash).
• One tricky customer scenario.

Week 3: Solo with supervision

Their own till, but your senior cashier is within earshot. Run daily reconciliations together at close.

Week 4: Review and decide

If shrinkage on their till > 1% of sales, OR refunds > 5% of sales, dig in. Either something's off or they're not the right fit.

Tools help but culture decides

A great POS reduces the training surface area. NinoPOS's guided refund flow, for example, means a cashier can't accidentally over-refund. But no software makes a bad hire good.