The term “clerk” originated from the Catholic Church’s control over record keeping. Today, it refers to various occupations such as retail, banking, and court clerks, file clerks, and administrative assistants. The job responsibilities depend on the specific job description.
Clerk derives from the word cleric and references the Catholic Church’s control over record keeping, mainly because in most cases only clerics, priests and some nobles could read and write. They may work in many capacities, recording marriages, births and deaths, working as church or royal secretaries, or illuminating manuscripts. Today, the term employee is used a lot and applies to many different types of occupations. Typically, you’ll see the employee attached to other job descriptions, such as legal, banking, sales, or filing. What you will do as an employee largely depends on your other job descriptions.
Clerks, for example, often work in retail stores, and when they’re good at their jobs, they help customers with product information, help find what they need, and often operate a cash register to record sales and returns. Bank employees can also be called tellers and are usually the point of contact for basic bank needs. They accept deposits, withdrawals, cash checks and answer banking inquiries. They usually need good math and counting skills to do this job.
Clerks are another type of worker, usually referring to the people who man the cash register in supermarkets. This differentiates you from other people in the store who might stock shelves, manage employees, or perform other necessary tasks in a supermarket. In theory, a supermarket clerk is similar to clerks, although they may be required to only operate the cash register and check purchases, rather than stepping away from the register.
Other forms of staff have secretarial or administrative assistant duties. File clerks may be responsible for filing documents, records, and maintaining an orderly file system. While this may be their primary job, they may also work the front of the office to receive visitors, may answer phones, and/or perform light typing or computer work.
A court clerk works in the court system to help keep trial schedules, file or have available documents needed by the courts. They can also prepare court reports, handle evidence at a trial, and provide necessary information to juries. People who train to be a lawyer often vie for jobs for multiple judges during the summer months when school is not in session.
The term scribe can also refer to singers of liturgical music. At the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, choir participants are called officials. In many large cathedrals, especially in the United Kingdom, people who participate in choirs can be called lay servants.
The term has many uses, only you, as an employee of one kind or another, can best define the parameters of your job. With the exception of lay employees, most employee positions involve some interaction with customers, some organizational experience, and possibly excellent accounting, filing, or bookkeeping skills.
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