Stock Clerk / Glossary : HELP

HOW TO: BROWSE the GLOSSARY

Scroll, or click on items under “« ... » Entries” or “« ... » Keywords” at left. To regain a full page view, click on a page headline (“Stock Clerk / Glossary: ...”), or a TAB in the blue banner. TAB-left, -right using “<” or “>.” “^” is INDEX. [MORE...]

A Sample Entry, Explained

Here's a sample entry with explanation:

Sample Image …

Sample

v. To pick from a group: “Would you like to sample some of this?” —n. 1. What was picked. 2. A trial or taste—usually small, often free: “Care for a sample?”

NOTE: We say “sample” casually, but statisticians know it's important to follow special rules to avoid introducing BIAS and to truly characterize the larger POPULATION being Sampled.

Explanation: In this example, the bolded term (Sample) is what's being defined. As you can see, it is both a verb (v.) and a noun (n.). Both uses are demonstrated in quoted phrases (“...”). Plus, the noun form has two slightly different meanings (1. ... , 2. ...).

As above, offset notes (NOTE: ) may hold related information or in some cases additional comments. I've done my best to always make it clear whenever I'm expressing a personal opinion.

Any words of phrases you see set in small caps (e.g., BIAS, POPULATION) are defined elsewhere in the glossary. Ideally, these CROSS-REFERENCES would all be active hyperlinks. However, for the time being, you can easily use the letter TABS atop every GLOSSARY page and the ENTRIES menus on their left-hand sides to quickly and easily find any term you want.

PHOTOGRAPHS and illustration thumbnails have a small magnifier icon in their lower right corners. Click on them to see larger versions. A caption ending with an ellipsis (…) indicates there are additional comments associated with the enlarged view. When you're done viewing any such graphics, simply use your browser's BACK navigation feature to leave the GALLERY and return to the GLOSSARY.

Some real entries, like MAKE A BALE, include my personal How-To instructions, which are simple and easy to follow, but can be quite lengthy to describe. Help or nuisance? ...You decide.

In addition, at the bottom of every genuine ENTRY, there are also COMMENT and KEYWORD fields (see below).

You can click COMMENTS at the bottom of an ENTRY to see and/or contribute comments related to that particular ENTRY. If you have more general comments, please use the COMMENTS TAB (") instead. You'll find it atop every page.

Clicking on a KEYWORD brings up one or more ENTRIES the AUTHOR has decided might be useful to access together, as a group. In essence, you may think of them as pre-defined SEARCHES. Just remember that, like SEARCHES, the scope of the KEYWORD lookup is limited to the TAB you're currently on.

Vertical change bars along the left side of ENTRIES indicate they're either:

NEW
- A single, solid, thick bar means ENTRY was not in previous edition, or
CHANGED
- Hollow (thinner, double lines) bar means updated since last edition, or
UNCHANGED
- No bar means no changes since the last major edition was released.

Thus, as you can see, this overall ENTRY has been revised, while the Sample ENTRY within it is marked as “new.”

adj.

-. See ADJECTIVE, below. Also “—adj.” when not given as the first definition.

Adjective

n. A word or phrase that clarifies, describes, or otherwise modifies a NOUN. For instance, PART-TIME (as when it modifies the NOUN, EMPLOYEE).

adv.

-. See ADVERB, below. Also “—adv.” when not given as the first definition.

Adverb

n. A word or phrase that clarifies, describes, or otherwise modifies a VERB. For instance, SOLID (as when it modifies the VERB, BUILD).

“ALL” TAB (::)

n. A collection point intended to duplicate all regular GLOSSARY ENTRIES currently found in the non-alphabetic (“#”) and alphabetic (“A” - “Z”) TABS to the “ALL” TAB'S left (27 TABS, total).

The “ALL” TAB is not intended to duplicate the ENTRIES under the three other TABS to its right, namely the NEW (“+”), COMMENTS (“"”), or HELP (“?”) TABS. To individually search or keyword any one of those additional categories, first go to their respective pages, accessed via the usual navigation TABS, above.

NOTE: The “ALL” TAB'S purpose is to allow SEARCHING and KEYWORD lookup for the entire GLOSSARY from a single, convenient point. Otherwise you'd have to do so in each TAB, and combine the results manually.

So, why not just have the “ALL” TAB? Who needs all those others? Well, I liked the idea of thumbing through the GLOSSARY letter by letter, and since there is no Blogger facility for hierarchical KEYWORDS or limiting the scope on SEARCHES, I thought I had to do it this way.

(TechNote: To avoid any potential penalties for massive amounts of redundant text, <meta content='noindex,nofollow' name='robots'/> is used to prevent web crawlers from scanning the “ALL” TAB'S duplicate ENTRIES.)

That said, why do two colons (“::”) represent “ALL”? Well, following my own backwards logic, it's because I used “+” to represent “NEW.” In the negative spaces among the four colon dots I saw a plus shape. Thus, “ALL” standard ENTRIES “plus” all “NEW” ENTRIES would yield a solid square block, or in other words, completeness. A stretch? All I can say is, it seemed to make sense at the time.

Author

n. The person responsible for the creation, collection, and/or reorganization of a body of printed work. —v. To produce such work.

NOTE: Mostly my authorship has involved taking a few hasty notes while on the job, and then spending hours upon hours of my personal, free time to turn those few scribbles into what you see here.

My basic Authoring process is:

Quickly gather STOCK CLERK-related words and concepts while on the job
Organize the collected terms and information
Compose appropriate definitions
Incorporate my own experience and things learned from others
Occasionally, as necessary, create new terms, definitions, etc.
Publish it all on the Internet
Print everything out, duplicate and then circulate hard-copies to gain additional input
Continue gathering info while revising and expanding new editions

Wherever I've invented new vocabulary, it was to describe something where the answer to the questions, “What's this?” or “What do you call this?” was either a literal or metaphorical shrug of the shoulders. SHARK-CUT is one such example. I couldn't find any other name for it, it's pretty descriptive, and so, there you go.

The submerged part of this Titanic-style iceberg is the aspect of Internet publishing. In case you didn't know, Blogger was not designed to host online GLOSSARIES. The architecture is all wrong.

Well, almost. I found just enough stuff that I could co-opt through my own personal stubbornness and truckloads of HTML and CSS brute force that I was able to get up what you see here. I imagine that, among others, the Blogger-dudes and -dude-ettes themselves are going to be somewhat pleasantly surprised. At least, I hope so.

Along the way, it's certainly been a lot of fun figuring out how to “MAKE IT GO!”

Blog

n. A contraction of “Web Log.” That is, a personal log, journal, diary, newsletter, or other such writings which the AUTHOR has put online for perusal by all and sundry. Blogs may include graphics, photos, links to other websites and/or various other assets. A characteristic of Blogs is that they are easy to start and maintain, and are thus likely to have more frequent updates than most websites in general.

NOTE: In case it's not obvious, this GLOSSARY has been implemented as a series of interconnected Blogs on a Blogging service named “Blogger.” Blogger is part of the Google family of internet companies, and it offers free and easy Blogging to the masses. If you're new to Blogging and want to try it, I can't imagine an easier way to begin than using Blogger. I highly recommend it!

TRUE STORY: It was the “free” part of using Blogger that first attracted me, and it was the “easy” part that got me started. I was able to throw the first edition of this GLOSSARY together very quickly. I followed a very simple approach where I composed ENTRIES in the default WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”) Posting editor, and for each letter of the alphabet I created a single POST of many ENTRIES all squished together. The good news: all I had to do was some basic typing. The bad news: it worked like a charm, but I wasn't satisfied. I wanted more control, more features. I wanted to make the GLOSSARY of my dreams—one I wanted to use. I figured if I could satisfy myself, others might like to use it too. Which meant I needed to kick it up a level.

This second version is the result. How'd I do?

Comment

n. Written feedback from BLOG readers, who may respond with constructive criticism, or contribute additions, changes, or corrections, or offer personal stories about their own experience or opinions, or ask questions, make suggestions, and so on.

NOTE: Ordinarily, BLOGS are all about POSTS and Comments. The AUTHOR POSTS something as a BLOG ENTRY, and then—if the AUTHOR chooses to enable it—people have a chance to respond by making Comments.

Here, the same is also true. See the COMMENTS (") TAB for how to view and make your own Comments.

However, if you're looking for discussion, that's something a little different. Comments will typically deal with GLOSSARY-related issues only, and are kind of like “Post-Its®.” You know, you stick a little note up there, and folks read it, maybe, as they're passing by. But, by comparison, discussions are much different. Discussions are all about dialog. Give and take. Conversation.

Well, to converse, Comments are not the way to go, in large part because they (Comments) are moderated, and there's therefore a built in delay before they appear.

What you want for conversation is the Stockclerk Google group. Check it out by clicking on the link below:

Stockclerk
Visit this group

Contact Info

I sincerely welcome your feedback, your comments, corrections, input, or just about whatever you'd like to send me. Just keep it G-rated, and lay off the spam. However, please note that anything you do submit becomes my property, to do with (or to ignore) either in whole or in part, entirely as I please.

Thus, don't hassle me about rights, payment, credit or compensation of any kind. If I like it and use it, I'll make a reasonable effort to provide suitable acknowledgment so you can have bragging rights. I've certainly done plenty enough around here that I don't need to hog anyone else's glory.

There are three easy ways to contact me:

For something specific to a particular ENTRY, please use the COMMENT link at the bottom of that individual ENTRY
For something relating generally to the GLOSSARY as a whole, please use the COMMENTS TAB at the top of any page
For other matters, such as something you'd prefer to discuss privately, please email me directly.

I'm always looking for good feedback, so I'll keep an eye on the COMMENTS venues, believe you me! However, things being what they are, I'm sure you'll understand the need for those venues to be moderated. That means your COMMENTS don't show up right away. I have to first read them and approve them as worthy.

To email me directly, please use the address at the bottom of this ENTRY. I've “spelled it out” in a way that's intended to let you easily figure it out, but discourage web crawlers. If appropriate, and to save time, please be sure to include links to any specific ENTRIES of interest. I'll try to get back to you in a timely way.

And finally, if you like what you see hereabouts, and perhaps think “Hey—I'd like to talk to this guy about doing some work for me along these or perhaps similar lines,” that would be great. Besides being a part-time stock clerk with an interesting hobby, I've also got many years of experience as a writer, trainer and training designer. (Perhaps you can tell?) Again, just drop me an email to get the conversation rolling.

All best wishes,

David G. Smith, aka:

S T O C K C L E R K _{^{(ª †)}} G Μ A Ι L _{^{(Ð Ο Τ)}} C Ο Μ

Contribution

n. Any worthwhile suggestion or nomination of informational content to the GLOSSARY. Contributions might include, but not be limited to:

TERMS
Definitions
Usage
Notes
Tips
PHOTOGRAPHS
Illustrations
How-To Procedures
Reference information
Etc., etc.

In other words, just about anything on-topic, such as you see throughout the GLOSSARY, would be appreciated.

Contributor

n. Someone who provides informational content to the GLOSSARY.

NOTE: Original Contributors are those who helped me get started on the job. I've done my best to list them all under THANKS!

Likewise, I'll strive to ensure any other Contributors also get appropriate acknowledgment of any of their CONTRIBUTIONS that may get incorporated into the GLOSSARY.

Cross-Reference

n. An indication that a definition (and possibly additional information) is provided elsewhere.

NOTE: Cross-References in the GLOSSARY are indicated by SMALL-CAPS (sic). That means that for any such word or phrase, you may look up its meaning by using the usual TABS at the top of any GLOSSARY page to view to all ENTRIES beginning with the same first letter. From that point, you may scroll the page, if necessary, to bring the definition into view. Alternatively, you may click on one of the LINKS provided on the left side of the page, to go directly to that ENTRY alone.

Note that SMALL-CAPS in ITALICS indicate an ENTRY that is found on the HELP (?) TAB, and not among the definitions of the STOCK CLERK GLOSSARY itself.

DISCLAIMER

Disclaimer

One thing needs to be perfectly to be clear: this is a purely personal project. With the exception of hastily scribbling down a few quick notes every once in a while as I'm working—I've done everything entirely on my own time.

Both my immediate manager and the management of my store have been very generous in giving me permission to pursue this. They've even allowed me off-hours access to take occasional photos and video at my own time and expense.

However, our entire arrangement is that they tolerate my “hobby” just so long as it does not infringe upon nor interfere with any customers, nor with my nor anyone else's work. Which is all very reasonable, if you ask me. They are not sponsoring this effort, and I have not and do not expect to receive any compensation of any kind.

Throughout this whole thing, I have been very “above board,” and have at my own expense printed and distributed about 30 complete, 65-page copies of the first, and only previous edition of this glossary to store managers, co-workers, union representatives, and just about anyone else I could think of or who happened to ask. I was looking for constructive criticism, and got some. Thanks to all.

That said, it should be clearly stated here once again that this is a 100% personal project, based on my own personal experience. If I got something right, I got lucky. If I got something wrong, not so lucky.

This is in no way an official document. It does not represent nor is it intended to represent any official policies, procedures, views or opinions of the store, the company, or the people I work with. Like I said, it's just a personal hobby—something I've taken on for my own entertainment.

There is absolutely no claim or warranty made here of any kind. In fact, I strenuously disclaim any and all suitability, merchantability, or fitness for use of any kind whatsoever for the information you may or may not find herein, and will not be held liable or accountable for any claims of losses, damages, or harm of any sort, regardless of negligence or any other cause. The information herein is presented entirely “as-is,” for your individual, non-commercial entertainment purposes only.

If you like it—fine. If you don't—that's okay too.

There are surely plenty of errors, omissions, and other mistakes in here, and if you want to help me fix them, I'd appreciate hearing from you. But, this is a pastime, not a profession, so please be patient and understanding.

I may or may not continue to make updates and improvements. If and when it ever stops being amusing, I'll probably just let it sit.

Edition

n. See VERSION.

Entry

n. Synonymous with POST. That is, a single missive from the AUTHOR. Here in the GLOSSARY, each of these is generally dedicated to an individual TERM or phrase of interest pertaining to STOCK CLERKS.

Gallery

n. A collection of images presented in a common setting for convenient access and/or easy sequential or random-order viewing. See also PHOTOGRAPH.

NOTE: When I began this project, out of necessity I was planning to create my own Gallery. However, as things progressed, Google brought Picasa Web Albums into their family of products, and I was spared the trouble. Whew!

As of this writing, not all TAB Galleries are populated. Pictures take time and trouble to prepare, so they were lower down in my list of priorities. However, you can check out Gallery B to get a general idea of what I had in mind.

As you can see from the SITE MAP, the (obsolete) original gallery page remains. If nothing else, it demonstrates an early test version of the GLOSSARY'S TABBED interface. I may still find an appropriate use for a Gallery page of some kind, so I've not yet deleted it.

Glossary

n. A list of words relating to a specialized field or area of knowledge, often arranged alphabetically, and which may contain supplemental information, references, verbal and/or pictorial illustrations, and/or other notes.

NOTE: You'll often find a section in the back of a book labeled “Glossary” and defining various specialized terms used therein. But what about when there's no other front part of the book? Nowadays, there are many specialized dictionaries that somewhat blur the line between Glossary and dictionary, having titles like Dictionary of Mathematics, etc. Are they really just Glossaries on steroids?

A Glossary is generally acknowledged to be different from a dictionary, as dictionaries typically have much broader scopes, covering, for example the vocabulary of an entire language, and including background information about word origins, and so on.

So, if you care to ask, “Is this really a Glossary or a dictionary?” my answer is: “Is that really important?”

I'm choosing to call this a “Glossary,” and to my mind, that's that. If you want to argue about it, please don't bother me. Go to college. I hear that's what they do there.

How'd You DO This?

The short answer is, the hard way.

This is a Blogger-based website, but Blogger is not set up for anything like what you see here. So why choose Blogger? Well, because it was free, provided adequate resources, and it came with just enough flexibility to allow me to accomplish what I wanted to do.

The “secret,” here, if there is one, is that each TAB you see in the GLOSSARY is in fact a completely separate BLOG. What holds it all together is a lot of careful interlinking, and a common base of CSS—Cascading Style Sheets—to uniformly apply a shared look and feel across all the otherwise unrelated components. It's my headache, so I get to name it, and I call it “polyblogging.”

Even within each of these separate BLOGS, the LINKS and ENTRIES are by and large all managed entirely by hand. But, not because I like it that way. Because I had to. For instance, can you believe it? Blogger has no option to sort posts alphabetically. But, GLOSSARIES are all about alphabetically. So how do you do it? Again: the hard way. You figure out that you can go in and adjust the dates of each ENTRY (post) manually, so they sort the way you want them to. Sometimes that means also tweaking hourly timestamps to determine intra-day sorting, for example, if you have to insert a few new ENTRIES in a cluster.

Well, there's more. As if that weren't enough of a headache, Blogger has no in-line headlines option. So, if you want to save vertical space and look like all the real GLOSSARIES all do, then you have to turn off Blogger's headlines feature (again using CSS) and manage all your own headlines manually. And of course, headlines are LINKS, so you actually have to turn headlines back on whenever you add a new post, so you can find out where Blogger put it, copy the LINK, and then paste it into your hand-rolled headline and turn the Blogger headlines back off again. Fun, fun, fun.

And what about those convenient alphabetical directory lists of ENTRY titles? Yep: manually. Tallies of posts, photos, and so on? Manually. Alphabetical INDEX? Manually, all the way. ...And so on and so forth.

Cross-references? Be happy I took the trouble to at least attempt to set them all in SMALL CAPS (sic). But making them all LINKS? Fuggedaboudit.

So, with all the time and trouble it took (and you don't even know the half of it), you might wonder, why bother?

Ah, well,... That's another story!

Key

n. See KEYWORD.

Keyword

n. Keywords—sometimes also called “flags”, “labels”, “tags”, or simply “keys”—are a way to identify groups or collections of one or more GLOSSARY ENTRIES. Just click on a Keyword and you can instantly select, extract, and inspect the whole bunch.

The Keywords listed in italic fine print underneath each ENTRY tell you to which Keyword groups that particular ENTRY belongs. The slightly larger Keywords listing at the upper left side of each page tells you which Keywords are in use on that particular TAB, along with a number in parentheses that is the tally of how many ENTRIES on that page are in each Keyword group.

Note that Keyword usage is limited to the current TAB. For instance, if you click on one of the active Keywords you see in the upper portion of the left panel on this page, it will gather related ENTRIES from to this page only! Thus,...

IMPORTANT: To pull Keyword-linked ENTRIES from the entire GLOSSARY, you must first go to the “*” (“ALL ENTRIES”) TAB.

Which words are in which group headed by which Keyword is initially determined by the AUTHOR. However, Keywords may also be suggested by interested CONTRIBUTORS. The relationships among Keyword ENTRIES is arbitrary. This is A Very Good Thing, and differs from the results of using a simple search because it brings into play the intelligence of the person creating the KEYS. For an example, see the discussion on CUTS under the heading, “Topical Keywords,” below. To us, CUTS and BLADES are clearly related, even though a simple search would not put them together, since the entry for CUT does not mention BLADES, nor vice versa. It's only by the power inherent in defining arbitrary relationships using Keywords that they are so easily brought together. Viva KEYS!

NOTE: At one point in time (when there were 438 ENTRIES in all), these were all of the Keywords in effect across the entire GLOSSARY. They are shown here to demonstrate underlying organizing principles, even though it's certain details, such as the tallies of occurrences across all TABS, have long since changed. More about the table headings and curious looking entries, below.

(NB. Keywords listed in this table are not active.)
Regular-		Meta-Keywords
TOPICAL		STRUCTURAL		ALPHABETIC		SPECIAL
#	Keys	#	Keys	#	Keys	#	Keys
12	3RD PARTIES	13	~c:caution	5	~~?	1	~~~CONTACT INFO
32	ACRONYMS	42	~c:edits X	12	~~#	1	~~~DISCLAIMER
80	ACTIVITY	11	~c:graphic	7	~~A	1	~~~HELP
23	CARTS	1	~c:invitation	48	~~B	1	~~~LICENSE INFO
53	CASES	127	~c:note	48	~~C	1	~~~WHAT'S THIS?
13	CLEANING	5	~c:steps	23	~~D
20	CUTS	13	~c:story	9	~~E
63	DISPLAYS	6	~c:table	10	~~F
33	EQUIPMENT	16	~c:tm	18	~~G
38	EXPLANATIONS	109	~c:usage	9	~~H
31	HOW-TO	3	~c:warning	9	~~I
1	HUMOR	6	~c:weblink	4	~~J
21	MARKS	88	~d:multi	3	~~K
15	MATERIALS	324	~d:single	14	~~L
16	PA	23	~i:adj.	21	~~M
25	PAPERWORK	9	~i:adv.	14	~~N
37	PEOPLE	49	~i:multi	9	~~O
69	PLACES	365	~i:n.	39	~~P
6	PROCEDURES	3	~i:other	0	~~Q
12	REFERENCE	86	~i:v.	27	~~R
24	SECURITY	50	~r:changed	60	~~S
43	SIGNAGE	99	~r:new	19	~~T
85	THE SHELF	289	~r:unchanged	7	~~U
17	TOOLS	146	~r:update	4	~~V
2	—	46	~r:wip	15	~~W
				3	~~X
				1	~~Y
				0	~~Z
				438	~~ALL

Topical Keywords are those that relate to a particular subject, for instance CUTS. There are many kinds of CUTS (e.g., TOP-CUT, WINDOW-CUT, and X-CUT, to name just a few) as well as things (like BLADES, HOLSTERS, etc.) that relate to CUTS. The tally shown in the table is 20. Instead of hunting them down, you can just click on the CUTS keyword and they are presented to you. If you're on an alphabet TAB, you'll get all ENTRIES relating to CUTS that start with that particular letter. If you're on the Star “*” (i.e., “ALL ENTRIES”) TAB, you'll get all 20 of them (or whatever the current number happens to be).

Structural Keywords are meta-Keywords. That is, they provide an additional level of information about the GLOSSARY ENTRIES themselves. All meta-Keywords begin with one, two, or three tilde (“~”) characters to set them apart from regular, Topical Keywords.

The meta-Keywords' leading tilde character forces them all to be nicely separated in the sorting order. The following, second character further categorizes the KEYS, and the colon immediately following that visually offsets the name of the Keyword flag.

For instance, all Keywords beginning with “~c:” are Content flags, which tell you things you can “see” (the pun is to help you remember: “c” and “see”, get it?) by looking at the kind of content and structure the ENTRIES display.

Here's a complete list of Structural KEYS current at the time of this writing:

(NB. Keywords listed in this table are not active.)
CONTENT FLAGS
Key	Meaning
~c:caution	Contains an important CAUTION:
~c:edits X	Contains previous EDITS/version(s) (= ~r:changed)
~c:graphic	Contains GRAPHIC element(s)
~c:invitation	Contains INVITATION to contribute
~c:note	Contains at least one additional NOTE:
~c:steps	Contains instruction(s) or procedure STEPS
~c:op-ed	Contains OPINION and/or EDITORIAL comments
~c:story	Contains a true STORY
~c:table	Contains data in a TABLE
~c:tm	Contains TRADEMARK(S): i.e., ®, TM, or SM.
~c:usage	Contains “quoted examples of USAGE”
~c:warning	Contains a very important WARNING:
~c:weblink	Contains an external LINK to another website

DEFINITION FLAGS
Key	Meaning
~d:multi	Definition is MULTIPART
~d:single	Definition has only a SINGLE part

PARTS OF SPEECH
Key	Meaning
~i:adj.	Is an ADJECTIVE
~i:adv.	Is an ADVERB
~i:multi	Is MULTIPLE parts of speech
~i:n.	Is a NOUN
~i:other	Is something OTHER than a keyed noun, verb, etc.
~i:v.	Is a VERB

ENTRY STATUS FLAGS
Key	Meaning
~r:changed	CHANGED (= ~c:edits; i.e., has back version(s) X )
~r:new	NEW ENTRY
~r:unchanged	UNCHANGED from previous edition
~r:update	⋅UPDATES (= ~r:new, or (+) ~r:changed)
~r:wip	WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Alphabetic Keywords are the second category of meta-Keywords. Their main purpose is to provide a cross-check tally, or count, of the number of ENTRIES listed under each GLOSSARY TAB. See the first table, third column group for the tallies current at the time of this writing. Notice that for each TAB, the tally of all ENTRIES, e.g., ~~X = ~r:unchanged + ~r:update, providing a convenient cross-check on those particular status flags.

Special Keywords are the third category of meta-Keywords. Their sole purpose is to provide a kind of safety net for anyone that somehow manages to miss other opportunities to access the indicated information.

PLEASE REMEMBER: All of the examples shown here are just that—examples. For the actual lists of keys and tallies, be sure to consult the appropriate GLOSSARY TAB themselves. Its a near certainty that the “live” information will be more current than these static explanations.

Known Issue

-. Yep. Some things I already know don't work the way they should, are incomplete, or are otherwise less than expected. No need to pile on complaints or COMMENTS for any of these items. I'll get to them as soon as possible.

NOTE: At this time, Known Issues include:

Why is the “::” (ALL Entries) TAB not yet populated.

Sorry—we haven't yet quite gotten to a point where that makes sense. See: what has to happen first is all the additions and updates (including attaching appropriate KEYWORDS and META-KEYWORDS, proofreading everything, and making corrections) need to be made to the rest of the TABS, A-Z, etc. Only then will the ALL Entries TAB get attention. That's because of the way we're doing things to “work around” Blogger's pre-disposition to date-oriented posting. We're using (hidden) dates to sequence the entries, and every one of them has to be entered manually. This means that to avoid going completely crazy, the ALL Entries TAB has to be filled in reverse sequential order. And that won't make sense until the rest of the GLOSSARY is stabilized. Otherwise it would be counter-productive.

“Patience, please...”

Known Issues would already be fixed except for the fact that yours truly, the AUTHOR hasn't yet found the time to get to them. So, please bear with us. Again, you needn't comment upon Known Issues unless there's a compelling reason, such as volunteering to help! Thank you in advance.

Legend

n. A small reference area within a larger map, graphic, or other such work which explains embedded symbols of other notations.

NOTE: Here in the GLOSSARY, every TAB includes a brief Legend at the top of the left column.

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons (CC) Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Please see the Creative Commons link at the bottom of any of these pages for guidelines and details on appropriate use.

As I hope you can plainly see, I've put a lot of work into this. I'm happy to share it, but if you're planning to republish it in whole or in part, or use it for training or for any other commercial or business application, you should first contact me to make a suitable arrangement.

Link

n. 1. Any ordinary web browser Link that, when clicked on, will either take you to a different web page or to a different location on the same web page. 2. Specifically, within the context of the GLOSSARY, designates a Link1 whose destination remains within the confines of the STOCK CLERK website. Contrast WEBLINK. 3. A KEYWORD category used to label any such ENTRIES: ~c:link.

Meta-Keyword

n. KEYWORDS that are not about the GLOSSARY'S subject matter (i.e., STOCK CLERK vocabulary), but can rather about the GLOSSARY itself. Sometimes thought of as “stepping up a level” to deal with the surrounding context. See also KEYWORDS.

NOTE: As a practical example of the difference, compare...

CUTS — a regular KEYWORD, that pulls together ENTRIES about a genuine STOCK CLERK concern—namely, the various kinds of cuts you can make, plus terms for related things like the tools used to make them.

vs.

~c:note — a Meta-Keyword that brings up GLOSSARY ENTRIES with supplemental notes (like this one), plus how many such ENTRIES there are. Clearly this is not something a STOCK CLERK cares about (that is, unless he's making this GLOSSARY, heh heh.)

n.

-. See NOUN, below. Also “—n.” when not given as the first definition.

Navigation

n. To move with ease and directness of purpose towards a known destination.

NOTE: Most Navigation aids are included in the blue page banner, the large-print page headline, or in the bold-print table-of-contents and KEYWORDS references in the left column.

For this:	Click on:	Where?
Browse through the GLOSSARY	TAB-Left (<) or TAB-Right (>) TABS	in the blue banner atop page
Contact the AUTHOR	“Contact” link	in small text under "Stock Clerk / Glossary: …" page headline
Correct a mistake you've found	“# comments”	at bottom of any individual ENTRY
Find a particular word or phrase	HOME (^) TAB (to see INDEX)	in the blue banner atop page
Find ENTRIES related to a given TOPIC	TOPIC category	Under “«…» Keywords” on left side of any page
Get HELP in general	HELP (?) TAB	in the blue banner atop page
Get HELP on a specific TOPIC	HELP (?) TAB; Select TOPIC link	Under "«…» Entries" on left side of HELP page
Get printer-friendly PDFs of GLOSSARY pages	HELP (?) TAB; Select "PDF"	Under "«…» Entries" on left side of HELP page
Make a general suggestion/COMMENT about the GLOSSARY	COMMENTS (") TAB	in the blue banner atop page
Other ENTRIES related to one of interest	A predefined link listed after "Keywords:"	at bottom of any individual ENTRY
Reload a full page/TAB (after viewing e.g., SEARCH results)	“Stock Clerk / Glossary: …”	The big page headline below the blue banner atop page
Review most-recent additions to the GLOSSARY	NEW (+) TAB	in the blue banner atop page
SEARCH for a word or phrase the current TAB	“SEARCH BLOG” text field; type, press return	in the blue banner atop page
See an INDEX of all ENTRIES	HOME (^) TAB	in the blue banner atop page
See only PHOTOS, Illustrations, etc.	“Gallery” link	in small text under page headline
See slideshow of PHOTOS, Illustrations, etc.	“Slideshow” link	in small text under "Stock Clerk / Glossary: …" page headline
Suggest a new word or phrase for the GLOSSARY	COMMENTS (") TAB	in the blue banner atop page
Understand KEYWORDS	HELP (?) TAB; Select "Search vs. Keyword"	Under "«…» Entries" on left side of HELP page
Understand META-KEYWORDS (those beginning with "~")	HELP (?) TAB; Select "Meta-Keyword"	Under "«…» Entries" on left side of HELP page
Use the GLOSSARY in a business setting	“License” link	in small text under "Stock Clerk / Glossary: …" page headline
View/Make COMMENTS about a specific ENTRY	“# comments”	at bottom of any individual ENTRY
View/Make General COMMENTS about the GLOSSARY	COMMENTS (") TAB	in the blue banner atop page

Finally, clicking on an individual ENTRY'S title, or TERM, will open a page devoted to that ENTRY, which page includes the exposition of any COMMENTS made concerning it.

Noun

n. A person, place or thing. For example, ASSOCIATE, BACKROOM, or MILK CRATE

PDF

n. “Portable Document Format,” a cross-platform standard electronic document format established by Adobe Software Inc. that functions somewhat like “digital paper,” allowing electronic documents to be viewed and printed in a consistent, fixed format across various computers and printers using a free, downloadable application called Adobe® Reader®.

NOTE: The main idea of a PDF is that everyone sees the same thing. Web pages may vary in appearance from one computer to another, because the web is a dynamic format. Things can move around, and fonts may vary, etc. Just resize your window to see why dynamic text is good! ...most of the time.

But, when printing, you'd like a “printer friendly” version, where layout and fonts and everything else is assured to be as the AUTHOR intended. With a PDF, everything “stays put.”

So, the good news: PDF versions of these pages are available! (Yea!)

The bad news: Google (who owns Blogger, etc., where this web site is hosted) doesn't yet have open sharing of stored PDF documents. (Boo-oo.)

So be it.

I've got PDFs, and you can get them for free, but to do so you have to CONTACT me and send me a valid email address so I can enroll you as a registered viewer of my stored PDFs.

At least for the time being, that's just how it works.

(And by the way—Scout's honor, cross my heart, and all that—without your explicit permission, that's all I'll ever do with your email address: just enroll you and enable you to view and download (and thus print out) nicely formatted PDF versions of these pages.)

For more information about PDFs and Adobe® Reader®, see:

^{^{http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html}}

Photograph

n. An image recorded by a camera, and provided in the GLOSSARY as an illustration to help clarify or illuminate a definition.

NOTE: In the GLOSSARY, photographs (and other graphics such as charts and diagrams) are reduced to black-and-white thumbnails so pages load faster, and printouts look better. Yet, all are “rollover” images, meaning that when you place your cursor over them, you'll first see a color version, and if you click, you'll get the full-color, full-sized version of the image displayed as a Picassa Web Albums page. (Picassa is one of Google's sister services to Blogger, where the GLOSSARY is hosted.) To return to the GLOSSARY, just use your browser's BACK button.

Images whose captions end with an ellipsis (…) have additional notes attached to the full-sized image in the Picassa Web Albums COMMENTS field. These additional notes are not in the body of the ENTRY, since they pertain to aspects of the image that are not readily visible in the thumbnail.

All thumbnail images are overlaid with a small magnifying glass icon in their lower right corner, to indicate a larger version is available upon clicking. All full-size images are overlaid with a “watermark” in the lower right corner that says “Stockclerk.blogspot.com.” Please always be sure to give credit where credit is due.

Contributions of relevant, good quality photos are always welcome! However, per the notes under CONTACT INFO, if you provide images to the GLOSSARY, you are thereby agreeing that they become my property, to do with as I see fit, without any expectation or compensation whatsoever. That said, I also will make every effort to give credit where credit is due, and will put a reasonable photo credit in the image's Picassa Web Albums COMMENTS field.

Post

n. See ENTRY.

Search

n. A SEARCH finds ENTRIES (POSTS) within a given BLOG that match the exact word or phrase you enter into Blogger's SEARCH field (“SEARCH BLOG”) at the top of any page. See also KEYWORD, SEARCH VS. KEYWORD, below.

NOTE: Search may pull up matches what are not otherwise currently visible at all, whereas a Web Browser's “Find...” function typically deals with only the page currently loaded, albeit inclusive of content scrolled off-screen. Bottom line: “Find...” is often more convenient, but limited, whereas Search is more far-reaching and powerful.

However, Search is still currently limited to a single BLOG, so in some instances, it may yet fall short of all that we might hope for. See further discussion under SEARCH VS. KEYWORD, below.

Search vs. Keyword

n. While SEARCHES gather any ENTRIES or POSTS that contain an exact string of specified characters, KEYWORDS are a little different. One might view them as predefined SEARCHES, that likewise operate within a single given BLOG, yet which will yield a harvest of POSTS that may not or may not contain any particular matching word or phrase. Instead, the results will all deal with the same topic, issue or characteristic identified by the KEYWORD. In essence, you've gathered all POSTS tagged with a particular identifier (KEYWORD) chosen my the AUTHOR.

NOTE: Always keep in mind that regardless of whether its a classic SEARCH or a KEYWORD lookup, the scope of both operations is limited to the BLOG you're presently in.

Thus, to SEARCH or KEYWORD the entire collection of GLOSSARY ENTRIES, you have to be on the “ALL” (::) TAB. Otherwise, you'll only get a subset of the wider range of possible results.

Site Map

n. A hierarchical listing of all major landmarks within a particular website, usually including active LINKS. Below is the Site Map for this website. The most developed area is shaded light green, and encompasses the Stock Clerk GLOSSARY you're viewing now. The rest is part of a bigger picture that awaits further development at some later date, and is listed here only for the sake of complete accuracy.

STOCK CLERK HOME PAGE
- STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: v2.0 = CURRENT GLOSSARY Home Page & INDEX
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: # = TAB for Non-Alphabetic Characters - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: A = TAB for Letter “A” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: B = TAB for Letter “B” + PDF + Gallery (25)
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: C = TAB for Letter “C” - PDF + Gallery (2)
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: D = TAB for Letter “D” - PDF + Gallery (7)
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: E = TAB for Letter “E” - PDF + Gallery (1)
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: F = TAB for Letter “F” - PDF + Gallery (1)
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: G = TAB for Letter “G” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: H = TAB for Letter “H” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: I = TAB for Letter “I” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: J = TAB for Letter “J” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: K = TAB for Letter “K” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: L = TAB for Letter “L” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: M = TAB for Letter “M” - PDF + Gallery (3)
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: N = TAB for Letter “N” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: O = TAB for Letter “O” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: P = TAB for Letter “P” - PDF + Gallery (1)
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: Q = TAB for Letter “Q” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: R = TAB for Letter “R” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: S = TAB for Letter “S” - PDF + Gallery (5)
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: T = TAB for Letter “T” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: U = TAB for Letter “U” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: V = TAB for Letter “V” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: W = TAB for Letter “W” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: X = TAB for Letter “X” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: Y = TAB for Letter “Y” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: Z = TAB for Letter “Z” - PDF - Gallery
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: ALL (::) = All Entries from # and A through Z TABS
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: NEW (+) = New, Provisional Entries
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: Comments (") = View/Make General Comments
  - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: HELP (?) = HELP Info - PDF - Gallery
  - GLOSSARY ARCHIVES
    - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: v1.5 = Obsolete, Unpublished Transitional Version
    - STOCK CLERK / GLOSSARY: v1.0 = Obsolete, Original GLOSSARY Version
- ANTICIPATED Future Site Development
  - STOCK CLERK / Tips & Tricks = Unimplemented; Many examples in Glossary
  - STOCK CLERK / Tutorials = Unimplemented; Some examples in Glossary
  - STOCK CLERK / GALLERY = Unimplemented; See examples, above, using Picasa Web Albums
  - STOCK CLERK / OLYMPICS! = Partially implemented; Quite an dream! Maybe some day...
- STOCK CLERK / Discussion Forum = A bulletin board style chat room in Google Groups

Stub

n. A GLOSSARY ENTRY that is virtually empty and serving as a temporary placeholder until the AUTHOR gets a chance to edit and/or expand upon it. Often marked with a WORK IN PROGRESS flag.

Tab

n. A user interface device that visually simulates a filing folder's exdented label area.

NOTE: Here in the GLOSSARY, symbols, each letter of the alphabet, and a few additional categories like HELP are accessible via labeled Tabs in the blue banner area at the top of every page.

Term

n. 1. Generally, a word or phrase that has or is given special significance in a particular context. 2. Specifically, in this context, the leading word or phrase in each GLOSSARY ENTRY. The Term is shown in boldface type, and slightly larger than the rest of the immediately following definition.

TO-DO:

n. (* WIP *). Things I'm planning to do whenever I get the time...

NOTE:

Create/verify KEYWORDS for all TABS, all ENTRIES.
Update all KEYWORDS/META-KEYWORDS lists with current info.
Continue adding new ENTRIES for META-KEYWORD categories.
Populate the ALL ENTRIES (::) TAB via cut-and-paste.

v

n. “Version.” See also VERSION NUMBER. Compare “v.” (with a trailing dot) for VERB.

NOTE: Depending on whether you're of the opinion that it's either an abbreviation or a single-letter acronym, it may be written either with (v.) or without (v) a trailing dot (.).

Acronyms are normally written in all-caps. However, despite the typically lower-case usage (as in, “v 2.0”), I favor the latter interpretation and choose to omit that dreadful dot!

Besides, how else would we differentiate between “v” for “Version” and “v.” for “Verb?”

v.

-. See VERB, below. Also “—v.” when not given as the first definition. Compare “v” (without a trailing dot) for VERSION.

Verb

n. An action word. Examples include, BLOCK, STACK OFF, or THROW.

Version

n. A completed body of work, usually to which no further alterations are made. The first such Version is termed the “original.” Subsequent additions, corrections, changes, and/or other improvements may be incorporated and “frozen” (i.e., no further alterations allowed) to create later Versions, also sometimes called EDITIONS. See also VERSION NUMBER.

NOTE: Below is a summary of the GLOSSARY'S Version history. The Version names are LINKS, permitting you to inspect their contents if you so desire.

VERSION 2.0 — The current version (i.e., what you're reading right now!), although still something of a Work-In-Progress. The addition of tabbed pages, with individual ENTRIES for each TERM, and the implementation of local and global KEYWORDS are perhaps its most distinguishing features.

VERSION 1.5 — An older, unpublished, transitional version, used to test and verify the changes necessary to implement v 2.0. Notable for the introduction and extensive use of CSS—the web's standard of Cascading Style Sheets—to enable a much more flexible and maintainable semantic mark-up. Translation: a massive performance tune-up took place “under the hood,” out of the reader's sight, while most of the outward text—a few new and changed ENTRIES excepted—remained identical to v 1.0.

VERSION 1.0 — The original and thus oldest version, used as a relatively quick and simple beachhead to get the project started, also distributed in hard-copy form to various friends and coworkers in order to gain insights and feedback.

Version Number

n. A numerical identifier—often having a whole number, decimal point, and fractional part—that is used to distinguish and differentiate among two or more alternative VERSIONS.

NOTE: The general convention is that major changes or revisions that introduce significant new content or features increment the leftmost, whole number portion of a Version Number, while less significant changes, like updates, minor repairs and the like increment the rightmost, fractional part.

Thus, GLOSSARY VERSION 2.0 is labeled as a major revision, whereas VERSION 1.5 was merely a stepping stone between the original VERSION (v 1.0) and its now current successor (v 2.0).

Wanna Speak "Grocery?"

Wanna Speak “Grocery?”

I work part-time on weekends as a stock clerk in a large, regional chain grocery store. When I first started a few years ago, I kept on having to ask my manager what on earth he was talking about. For instance, he'd say something like, “Shelf out the pickles 3-way and kill the pasta.” I'd then say something clever, like, “Huh?”

He was very, very patient with me, and slowly I learned to speak “grocery.”

Then, one day recently I wondered: Hey—has anyone ever collected all these special grocery words and phrases? I looked around, but couldn't find anything else on the Internet, so I decided to start my own list. And boy, oh, boy, it grew!

Every time I went to work I'd put a scrap of paper in my pocket, and whenever I heard or saw something new that was specifically “grocery,” I'd quickly jot it down. I thought I'd be done in a month, at most.

A year later, I'm still at it!

The specific area I work in is called “Non-Perishables,” meaning mostly cans, boxes, bottles, jars, and cellophane packages. However, I've tried to also include things from other departments such as Produce and Customer Service whenever I come across them.

Obviously, I'm having a lot of fun. Part of the fun is collecting the information. Another part of the fun is trying to present it so it's interesting, convenient and easy to use.

Hope you like it!

WebLink

n. 1. A contraction of “Web Link.” That is, a web browser LINK that, when clicked on, will take you out of the GLOSSARY, to another website altogether. 2. A KEYWORD category for gathering and enumerating GLOSSARY ENTRIES containing any such links: ~c:weblink.

NOTE: It should (but obviously won't) go without saying that no endorsement, affiliation, opinion, or any other relationship whatsoever is intended, expressed, or implied by the presence or absence of a WebLink on these pages.

Any and all such WebLinks are included herein simply in the hope they might supply you with additional relevant, interesting and/or useful information. That's all. By no means do we attempt to give the last and definitive word on anything. And that includes WebLinks. Feel free to use Google or any other search engines or methods you like to supplement and improve the quality of your visit.

That said, if you happen to know of or find a WebLink that you think is particularly relevant, please let us know! See CONTRIBUTION.

Who Cares?

-. Time will tell...

Why Bother?

-. The rationale or reason behind doing anything, something, and/or everything.

NOTE: Well, I should think the answer's obvious: for the fun of it!

Consider:

I like my job as a STOCK CLERK, and the people I work with.
I like to write.
I like to collect, organize, and present information.
I like to tinker with web pages, HTML, XHTML, and CSS.
I like to take pictures and prepare them for publication using Adobe Photoshop
I like dabbling in Adobe Illustrator, Apple's Final Cut Pro, and you name it!

So, I ask you:

What's not to like?

WIP

n. 1. See WORK-IN-PROGRESS. 2. Designates an ENTRY that is incomplete, in need of further editing, and/or is a temporarily empty STUB. 3. A KEYWORD category used by the AUTHOR to label any such incomplete ENTRIES: ~c:wip.

Work-In-Progress

n. One or more tasks that are already begun or underway but not yet complete. Abbreviated as WIP.

NOTE: Below is a very brief summary of the current game plan:

GLOSSARY Work-In-Progress:

Finalize Site Architecture
Finish v 2.0 Additions and Corrections
Tackle KNOWN ISSUES
Add Photos, Illustrations, more WebLinks
Explore AdSense Possibilities
Go Public
Continue to collect data for the next EDITION, v 3.0.

Stock Clerk / Glossary : HELP

Sample

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« HELP » Entries:

« HELP » Keywords:

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