Working Retail Sucks!

[vlame]

Sears here too. I actually made better
Money at walgreens. Just don't let shit phase you.

[dsheinem]

I'm also a Sears grad - I worked in the electronics dept at two different stores in two different states from 2001-2005 or so. It could be soul sucking, but I didn't actually hate it as I had decent managers and a lot of opportunities to make sweet commissions. Once they cut commission rates by 3/4 or more, I got the hell out of Sears.

[gennss]

welcome to the real world, and it sucks.

Smile. Its the best advise to anyone who works in any kind of customer service. Smile, take things in stride and don't stress anything.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I wasn't able to get a teaching job this semester so i had to go hunting for anything i could find.

The only thing that turned up was a retail cashier job.

I started earlier this week. I have only ever been a teacher and tutor, so this is quite a learning process for me. Still i figured I had to at least try. Can't just do nothing.

The first day was orientation, pretty useless.

Second day i do a lot of shadowing and a tiny amount of computer training. The training had nothing to do with my specific job, just their code of conduct rules. At the end of the day I did a bit of running the register under supervision.

So on day three, a Saturday when the store is utterly packed and every cashier is on deck, they decide i should do one hour of comp training and then man a register solo.

I have literaly had about 30 min of training for ringing up things other than completely normal transactions, so of course i get the gammet of special situations.

By the end of the day ive had to call for help about a dozen times. and somehow get through it.

When i go to end my shift we do the count and found that im over, i have more money than i should. So im written up. I really don't think this is fair cause i was basicly thrown to the sharks. Even the manager writting me up was surprised they put me out on my own.

I ask them for a print out of the manual so i can study the procedures, but they dont have one, and say that they will try to figure something out for it.

So now im thinking this was a mistake.

For those of you out there in this field, what kind of advice can you give me.

This is something so foreign to me, but I want to do the best that i can.

As always any help will be appreciated.

I know what you mean about being thrown to the sharks. When I worked at Staples, I had to manage a register on my own on my second day of work. It was Black Friday, and I was the only register open. Bad times.

I would ask if you could shadow another employee for one more day.

[bmoc]

I have literaly had about 30 min of training for ringing up things other than completely normal transactions, so of course i get the gammet of special situations.

By the end of the day ive had to call for help about a dozen times. and somehow get through it.

Whoa whoa! You actually got training? My only experience in retail was as seasonal help for a Toys R Us about 10 years ago. I was shown how to do one transaction (cash) and then I was on my own. I was constantly having to call for help much like yourself. I guess they preferred that method to real training. I can't say the customers preferred it.

To make matters even better, one of the managers hated my guts despite my best efforts to be professional and play nice with her. She actually got chewed out by another manager for yelling at me in front of customers.

After about 2 weeks of it, I was tired of her crap. I had made up my mind to quit and I was going to call to let them know after eating breakfast. However, before I could finish eating, they called my roommate (who also worked there) about a change in his schedule and they told him to tell me that I did not need to come in anymore. They couldn't even fire me in person...

To this day I have only been in a Toys R Us once since then and it was only because my wife insisted because she wanted to buy some things for our newborn.

[gtmtnbiker]

For those of you who worked in retail, I would love to hear some of your favorite stories regarding customers, co-workers, or managers.

I worked as a grill chef at Ponderosa (discount steakhouse) for a few years during high school. I enjoyed working with the people (customers, managers, and co-workers) but disliked coming home feeling like a french fry. I had a lot of good times pulling pranks, flirting with the girls, etc.

[wootcube]

Have you ever been to notalwaysright.com? They have user-submitted stories about working in retail or customer service. Some of them are obviously made up but for the most part they're funny, especially if you've worked in that industry or hear a lot of stories from someone who has.

[Luke]

In related news, you need to breathe air in order to live.

...disliked coming home feeling like a french fry. I had a lot of good times pulling pranks, flirting with the girls, etc.

I worked with some of my best friends at a BBQ joint while in high school, and know exactly what "feeling like a french fry" felt. Once a week we did what was called "doing the nasty" where we changed the oil and cleaned under the fryers. Even if you were the head cook, you still went home feeling and smelling like grease.

We pulled some great pranks, from the usual extra soap in the dishwasher gag, the rubber band on the nozzle, to pouring 10 gallons of pickle juice on a co-worker.

For the pickle incident, I climbed the side of the building, and a co-worker passed me two 5 gallon buckets of pickle juice. Our mark was asked to come outside while my accomplice started to hump the air saying "fuzzy bunny, fuzzy bunny". While our friend stared at him, dazed, I dumped the pickle juice all over him. It smelled horrible, but even the bosses approved of the pickle bath.

I also dated a chick at the same time who worked at a Captain D's. She smelled fishy. I'm not kidding, nor do I intend to be gross. She just smelled liked fried fish almost every day. She was soooo cute too; it was a shame.

[wootcube]

One of my personal insane-customers story:

I was working as a temporary hire over the holidays at a cafe while I was in high school. One customer came in and tried to load more money onto his gift card/store debit card with his store debit card. Not only that, but he wanted to put more money on it than what was currently loaded onto the card. He was not intending to pay the difference either. When I told him that was impossible, he got all angry and started yelling. The manager on duty had to come out and tell him that I did not have the ability to magically make money appear out of thin air (but she said it more nicely). He left really angry.


Also, I always felt like a pastry when I came home. My hands would smell like those powdered gloves and it was really weird.

[dlmvii]

I worked in Retail at a Gamestop for a few years. I have a lot of stories.
It may not be great, but at least you will have an appreciation when you shop for the people behind the counter