When I was 16, I landed my first ever job at K-mart. I could go on and on about the intimacies of that place. Basically, I hated everything about that job but at the time, the paychecks were gold. Regardless of my distastes or my inability to fake a smile in the everyday corporate landscape, I worked hard and tried my best at everything that I did. Since then I have accumulated years of navigating the corporate world. I have came into contact with just about every kind of person imaginable. The one thing that I actually really enjoy about retail is helping other people. There is something so exhilarating in uncovering a genuine human connection with people whom you’ve never met before. The kindness of strangers restores my faith in humanity every single day. If I can make somebody else’s life incrementally better just by helping them tear through a wall of shoes to find their size, then so be it. I take pride in being one of those people.
I have learned that working in retail you will end up meeting some of the nicest people. I have also learned that there are no-good dirty rotten people who bounce around negative energy like they’re a Harlem Globetrotter and will make you want to set your own hair on fire. No doubt that aside from all of the rainbows and sunshine I have depicted in the above paragraph…there is a dark and stormy cloud underneath all of that shiny customer service stuff. If you’ve ever worked in retail, then maybe you too can relate to what I’m saying here. Complied below is a list of 30 very irritating struggles that almost every retail employee knows to be true.
1. The Stupid questions.
Customer: * looks at price tag* “Is this the actual price of the item?
2. The “double check”.
Can you double check to make sure that there isn’t anymore left in the back? No, sorry, there is NONE left…trust me…I KNOW.
3. Hearing this:
No price? It must be free then!
4. "Do you work here?"
I’m not standing behind the register for my health...and I don’t wear this apron for style, amigo.
5. The "silent bob"
When you put on your best smile to greet a customer and they don’t even acknowledge your presence.
6. Bad jokes.
“Oh, $18.48…that was a good year!”
7. Hearing the same music
You hear it so much that you find yourself belting the lyrics to songs you wouldn’t even listen to in your own bedroom. Alone. Locked in a closet.
8. The "Oh wait! I DO have change!"
When a customer tells you this AFTER you’ve typed in the amount they’ve already given you and now you have to dust off your 5th grade math skills.
9. The cheap snob.
“I’ll just go over to that store because it’s cheaper there”
10. When you overhear a customer giving your fellow BFF associate a difficult time.
11. When they try to return something that has clearly been worn and they think that you were born yesterday.
Whatever, I'm only allowing this so that you'll get out of my face.
12. As a female, being called pet names by men are literally the worst. My soul curls up into a microscopic ball and burns.
13. When you walk into the restroom after someone has been a complete savage and made an absolute mess.
14. When you’re friendly with the customers and they want to be your friend but you’ve really gotta get back to what you’re doing, hello.
15. When a customer starts throwing an adult tantrum for no good reason. Time for me to go bye-bye. Not putting up with that.
16. When you see a customer place an item in a random place where it clearly does not belong.
17. The customer who wants to return their item but “forgot” the receipt.
18. When the register decides to take a vacation into a black void of nothingness and you’ve got a line full of irritated adult babies.
19. Customers who think that just because you’re friendly with them that they’re exempt from store policy.
Yeah, good luck with that. Not about to lose my job just because you want your groupon fix.
20. For all of you people who come in 3 minutes before closing time:
21. Seriously though:
22. Parents who bring a stampede of children in with them and you know that they’re about to mess up the isles after you’ve straightened them.
23. When a customer throws a fit because they’ve left their coupon at home.
24. You check and the fitting room is an absolute mess.
25. They’ve just put the money on the counter instead of your outstretched hand.
26. When a customer likes to talk a lot so they decide to tell you about their problems and about their horrible week AND their life story.
27. When a customer needs their hand held throughout the entire shopping experience.
28. Half empty, lipstick encrusted coffee cups left on the shelf. Really?
29. People who ask your fellow associates the same question after they’ve already asked you. Like they're going to magically receive a different answer.
30. The customers who have a cart full of items that they “don’t want anymore”.
