I had a really awesome retail job (with REI) just before I got my new job, to help supplement my income. It was a great place to work and I got paid and compensated well.

BUT.

- I will always fold and hang clothes up.
- I will always put things on the cart if there is one.
- I will NOT leave random things in random parts of the store.
- I will be uber patient if the salesperson is helping more than one person.
- NEVER on the phone. NEVER. I would never approach a customer who was on the phone. Just wouldn't even begin to help them. It makes my job too complicated, it's annoying, it's rude, and I don't want to hear your conversation. I'm trying to fit you for hiking boots, I have to actually have a conversation with you.
- I will never use the phrase "you people".
- I will never talk to a salesperson like they are stupid or uneducated or "beneath" me, just because they work in retail. That was what got under my skin the most...don't treat me like crap because of where I work. You're not my superior just because you have money. That's not how that works.

Same here. And when I take a shirt or jeans out of a stack I refold them and put them back again. Even before I worked in a clothing store my mom told me stories about working in a shoe department and how many people would leave things out, move things, etc. She always made a point when I was little to put the clothes she tried on back or on the rack by the dressing rooms and would make me help, so it's been drilled into me.


It doesn't bother me if the person can put the call on hold for a second. There are the people that will say, "Hold on a sec" to the person on the phone when they get to the counter, finish the sale, then talk again. No problem. But I totally understand about people having full on conversations when you're trying to check them out.

I worked in a clothing store that sold girls' clothing. Their training video was 90% about shoplifting, mostly in really odd ways. We were required to wear clothing without any visible label or logo as we couldn't fit into little girls' clothing...but we had to look nice, too. This was when a lot of my clothes were left over from high school and I didn't have any polos or button downs without a label of some kind. It was such a pain. They would also put you on call constantly. I had to get up at 6, get dressed, then call in at 8 and get there in 30 minutes which was hard to do. And then they'd call me. I told them the day I was hired that I had told my second job I would work nights and I always needed to be out of the store by 4 so I could get the in time. I also made it clear I couldn't be scheduled from 4 on since I would be working somewhere else. They called me almost every day wanting me to come in, and would seem all put on when I repeated, every single time, that I had told the manager on day 1 that I could not work after 4pm. It wasn't the manager's fault...she had told me it was no problem, and told the assistant manager who was making out the schedules, but THAT girl obviously never ever listened.

The worst customers were the ones that think their children are so adorable that everyone will be delighted when they pull clothing off of racks, run around in circles screaming, or in a couple of cases, start loading the little gimmicks by the cash register into their pockets. Also the harpies with 3 inch talons and gigantic hair that would come in on tax free days. The STATE had a tax free shopping day before school started that year, but of course there were still city and county taxes. They would argue me down and some would scream at me, which would always result in my bringing the manager in to further attempt to convince these jello for brains that we weren't trying to cheat them. And these were always the women dripping in Yurman wearing actual designer brands, screeching their Hummers out of the parking lot.

That didn't bother me as much, either. As long as I could say what I needed to say, I was good. I worked at a location in an upper-middle class suburb, though, so the customers rarely did this.

I haven't had any conversation that was SO important that it HAD to continue while I was checking out of a store. If I get a call while in the store, I will stay out of the line while I'm talking. If I get a call at the register, it'll wait until I get outside. If there are life and death situations going that require me to be glued to my phone, then Blockbuster is probably low on my list of priorities.

Aw, I worked there too - when it was just Rich's, then Rich's-Macy's then finally, sadly, just Macy's. I started at North Point, left there, then got on several years later at Perimeter. Loved it. I would still be working retail if it paid the mortgage. I worked there evenings/weekends to make a little extra money and joked that my 9-5 job was just so that I could support myself working retail. :D

But - here are just a few of my favorites:

The mother of the groom buying an ill-fitting all white dress for her son's wedding. I showed her the same dress in blue a size larger, and she looked stunning. Nope, she bought the white one. Even though it made her yellowing gray hair look yellower.

A repeat offender compulsive shopper returning wrinkled, smoke-scented, cat-hair covered clothes from six months earlier.

Several young things trying to pull one over on me by switching tags on clothes and taking them out of Juniors to have me ring them up. Sorry kids, I may look un-hip, but I know a denim BabyPhat jumpsuit isn't $19.99. I always told them it wouldn't scan and I'd just go grab another off the rack. Funny, they were never there once I got back.

The couple that decided to get it on in the lingerie dressing room, leaving...er...evidence of their assignation.

The anonymous soul who left a trail of poo balls en route to the bathroom. The MOD was frantically paging housekeeping who pretended not to hear him. He got a pair of gloves and had to deal with it himself.


The incessant Christmas music from October on. I still haven't started enjoying it again.

But honestly. I loved it.

In high school and college, I cashiered at a place called Harry's Farmers Market, and that was my favorite job ever. Seriously.

My backup plan these days is that if it all goes tango uniform, I'm going to apply at Trader Joe's.

As someone who talks on the phone a lot, it is not that the phone conversation is SO important, it's that the transaction is not. There's not really a reason why I couldn't stop talking, and usually I do, but I don't always.

I worked in Macy's - started off in Men's with a seasonal job which I was told would become full-time if I did well. I was the top salesperson every week, but when I asked for my new i.d. the manager hemmed and hawed. December 24th he gave me the news that the full-time job had been eliminated. He hadn't told me earlier because they didn't want to lose me.

Merry Christmas!

I came back working in the Bridal Registry. "Bridezillas" is missing a bet - they should film the goings-on in Bridal. I was in charge of crystal, and the buyers would come and ask me what I needed. "Iced tea glasses for my Baptist brides!" I answered. They looked at me as though I had two heads. What a shocker - a few years later Macy's ended up leaving Texas. They are now back - wonder if they learned anything . . .

Now I understand -
- why etiquette dictates you should send the wedding gift before the wedding. You don't want your guests running through the store an hour before the wedding.

I worked at Marshalls and people amazed me by how cheap they could be. One particular instance that I will never forget. A woman comes to my register trying to buy a very nice set of china. It was already marked down at least twice. And she says she wants an ADDITIONAL discount because ONE of the dinner plates has a chip that is smaller than a centimeter on the bottom (not even a noticeable place like the rim). When I told her there was nothing i could do she proceeded to cuss me out and then insist that she wasnt leaving my register until the manager came and marked down her item. Mind you the line has quietly snaked its way all the way to the back of the store and I am the only person working the register!

SN: one of my biggest pet peeves working at Marshalls was people who had items with no price tag but would wait until you had already gotten halfway through ringing up their (sometimes quite literally) 50 other items. If an item doesnt have a price not only do i have to send someone out to find a same/similar item, i also have to go and print up and attach a price tag!

I also use my phone quite a bit, but again, it comes off as rude IMO if you can't spare a minute or two to acknowledge the person who is assisting you.

And, like I said before, a lot of the people who were "OMG I MUST FINISH THIS CONVO" were slower and thought there were problems with the transactions. Those things could have been eliminated with a simple "Hey, I'm checking out. Let me call you right back."

When in a book shop, particularly B&N.....

*I always put the book back in the right spot and, if I don't know where that is, I drop it off at the Info desk.
*If they say "We have one left" I understand there really aren't any because that "one" in the system is the one no one can find.
*I know to put back what I don't want BEFORE I get to the counter and to never take back a book with bent/dirty pages.
*I know to never leave my trash or empty cup on a random bookshelf (I can't BELIEVE how many Starbucks cups get left in random places).
*And most importantly, if I ever need a book, I never come with less than the full title and details of the cover art. Because I have had my fair share of "I don't know the title or the author but I know the cover is blue" or "It's a series about horses.....I think."

BTW they were "Something Blue" by Emily Griffin and the "Heartland" series. I was just that awesome.

I acknowledge and say hi, but if i'm not in the mood for a conversation with the cashier, and more interested in continuing to talk on the phone, then I'm not going to feel compelled to stop.

Usually I just toss the phone, still on, in my pocket anyway so it's not like I'm even hanging up. I'm a multitasker and it works for me. I'm never rude unless simply being on the phone is rude, in which case people can deal with it. ;)

I don't try to fold anything and put it back because I used to hate when people didn't fold things the right way. Each store I worked at had a specific way shirts and jeans were supposed to be folded. It was more annoying to go through the denim wall and re-fold and re-order the jeans that the well meaning customers tried to stuff in.

However, I do not grab a shirt from the bottom of the pile messing up all the other shirts in the process. I used to hate that!

On the phone issue, I worked at CVS for four years, specifically the photo department. It was annoying when I would ask the people their last name so I could get their order and they would look at their phone like "Hello I'm on the phone" like I was the person being rude.

I hated when people would assume I'm an idiot because I was working at CVS. I got talked down to a lot.

Now I work at a college and I've learned that everyone thinks its someone else's department that handles things. I work in the maintenance area, answering the phones, and I've gotten phone calls transfered to me about withdrawing from the university and how to use our online class add/drop system.

I worked at a drugstore/pharmacy and was amazed by how:

- People steal. A lot. From make-up, to tooth paste to candy. So many people steal it's ridiculous!

- People assume you're stupid when working in retail/restaurants

- People are cheap. Wanting a discount on something that is allready 70% off and in perfect condition... seriously?

- People with kids think their kids should be free to do whatever they want. Even is that means breaking things, chewing on stuff and then not buying it. Worst thing: kids putting things in their mouth and the parent handing you said drool-covered item demanding a clean one. *sigh*

I completely agree. Staying on the phone while someone is trying to help you is basically telling the other person they are not important. I remember asking for some help on a registry item from an associate in a store. My cell phone started to ring and she actually asked if I was going to get that. I looked at her and said no and that I asked for her help and that person can wait. I could have knocked her over with a feather.

When I started my first management job, the DM told me to always check the dressing rooms after each client, because she once had someone do their business in a tube sock in the fitting room.

When I was working in a 4 room lingerie store, we had a customer with a leaking colostomy bag. Yeah, we didn't notice right away and there were dribbles all over the carpet. We had a cleaning company come that night.

I once had a kid run in from the mall and clear off a table full of ties. There were probably at least 300. Dad came in and laughed. I did not.

Ah, yes. Andy and I refer to that as the carrot.

The funny thing is that in the first store I managed, every one of my employees had a college degree or were in the military and getting a college degree. They all just needed that little extra cash to get by with, or with my management team, the pay was just better at the time.