Harish's Morning Counter-Shelves

Tomorrow at 7am the rush hits, and the app already shows Harish, Vivek and Pooja who takes the counter, who restocks and who hands out ready bags.

Who this is for

Harish Kulkarni runs Kulkarni Stationers, opposite two schools in Hubballi, with Vivek and Pooja working mornings. Between 7 and 8, before the first bell, sixty-odd children and parents want geometry boxes, chart paper, brown covers and the exact long notebook the teacher named. At 9pm, pulling the shutter down, Harish has to decide who stands at the counter tomorrow and who is in the godown carrying up cartons.

How the job is done today

Right now nothing is decided until the shutter goes up. At 6:55 Harish looks at who has arrived and says you counter, you shelves, and the third person hovers. Restocking starts after children are already queued, so Pooja is lifting a carton of notebooks over their heads. What needs filling lives in Harish's head or on the back of a bill book. If Vivek is late, a WhatsApp arrives at 7:10 that nobody reads until 8. In exam weeks the counter means panicking students wanting a spare HB pencil and taking it out on whoever is there when clipboards run out, and Pooja ends up on it most mornings because Pooja is quickest.

The screens, in order

1. Who are you — Lets Harish, Vivek or Pooja pick their name once so the phone always knows whose morning to show.
2. Tomorrow's job — Shows the person holding the phone their one job for tomorrow's rush and what to do at 6:55 before the shutter goes up.
3. Set tomorrow — Lets Harish check at 9pm the jobs the rotation has picked, change any of them with a tap, and see a banner at the top for anyone running late or not coming.
4. Restock list — Lets Harish write tomorrow's list line by line with the shelf and how much to bring out from the godown, and lets the restock person tick each line off in the morning.
5. Running late or can't come — Lets Vivek or Pooja tell Harish the night before or early morning that they will be late or absent, so jobs are moved before 7 rather than at the shutter.
6. This week — Shows how many counter mornings each person has done, overrides included, so fairness is something everyone can see instead of argue about.

What it keeps track of

• People — name, whether they are Harish or staff, whether they can open the shutter
• Mornings — which date, who is on counter, who is on restock, who is on ready bags, whether Harish changed the rotation's pick
• Restock items — what to fill, which shelf, how much to bring out from the godown, which morning, done or not
• Changes — who, which morning, running late or not coming, roughly how late, whether Harish has seen it

The one decision that matters

Does Harish assign the three jobs each night, or does the app rotate counter duty so it stays fair? Assigning gives Harish full control, and exam weeks need judgment: the fastest person at the counter when board-exam students are queueing really matters. But it is one more chore at 9pm, and it is exactly how Pooja ended up on counter five mornings running. Rotating removes the chore and ends the grievance, but it can put a tired or slow person on the worst morning of the year. It should rotate by default and let Harish override any morning with one tap. Overrides count on the This week screen, and the rotation evens them out on the following quiet mornings, so when Harish picks Pooja three exam days in a row, everyone can see it and the next three counter mornings go to Vivek and Harish.

What to leave out of the first version

Leave out stock counts. Harish knows what is low by looking at the shelves at night, and counting cartons would take longer than the rush the app is meant to calm. Leave out afternoon and evening shifts, pay and leave records too. The whole test is the one hour between 7 and 8, and anything that does not make that hour easier can wait.

How you would know it worked

On a board-exam morning Harish lifts the shutter at 7 and nobody asks what to do: the restock person is already in the godown, the counter is staffed, and the ready bags are lined up by the door.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I run a stationery shop with two staff, Vivek and Pooja, and our rush is 7 to 8 each morning. I want a phone app where each of us picks our name once, and after that the first thing we see is our job for tomorrow: counter, restock, or ready bags, which is handing over bundles parents ordered on WhatsApp. The app should rotate counter duty fairly by itself, and I can change anyone's job with one tap. I edit tomorrow's restock list myself, each line saying the item, which shelf, and how much to bring out from the godown, and whoever is on restock ticks lines off. If Vivek or Pooja is running late or can't come, they tap it and I see a banner on my planning screen. A this week page shows how many counter mornings each of us has done.