I've had luck gesturing at my head and saying "I'm sorry, I have trouble hearing" because

1) it's 100% true that I am having trouble hearing people these days even though I don't have any physical hearing problems

2) apparently people can grasp "oh, this person has a hearing problem" way easier than they can grasp "wow, it's hard to hear when my voice is muffled in a loud building" and

3) it puts the problem on me instead of them which makes their brains say "the solution is speak louder" and not "the solution is THEY NEED TO LISTEN" because brains are dumb lazy fuckers.

Also, you are not bothering your coworkers. We were all young once, we were all new once, and we were all exactly the same. Anyone who gets irritated needs a reality check. You are entitled to assistance when you're learning something new!

I took pictures of the register. For the most part that really helped, it just takes a lot of time to learn. I’m a few weeks in now, it does get easier every day you work. Tell the customer you are new, and they generally slow down and are a lot more accommodating and friendly.

If it makes you feel any better, i just had a roundtable with my regional manager. The overwhelming concensus was that the training for new employees is done way to fast with not enough labor to help get employees ready to go. And they all said memorizing drinks and The POS was the hardest part of training. Ive been one for about a month and i still dont know but maybe where 2 drinks are on the pos system. You will get it, and we as a company see an issue there. So your struggles are very valid!

You’ll get the hang of it :) do you have specific questions on the POS? I’m sure we could answer them for you 😃