I Work(ed) in Retail, and Now I Understand...

[DSTRen13]

Please don't get mad at the cashier for trying to sell the stupid rewards card or other ridiculous incentive thing you don't want - they HAVE to do it or they'll lose their job. At least, when I worked retail, if I didn't say that pitch every time, I would get in trouble, and if my numbers on selling those things wasn't high enough in a shift, I would get in trouble, and we were on a three strikes policy

[Benzgirl]

I never grab the display for a gift because so many husbands / boyfriends do that the week before Christmas, and I had to rebuild so many displays every night.

[kappa_dancer]

From working in retail, I have become painfully aware that more people than I ever imagined are rude, inconsiderate, and feel as if they are entitled to something, just because they are the customer.

I've also learned just how cheap people can be. Today I had a lady ask me if she could have a discount on a dress because it was missing the belt (that she didn't want), on top of her 40% off she was getting. Seriously?

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by kappa_dancer

From working in retail, I have become painfully aware that more people than I ever imagined are rude, inconsiderate, and feel as if they are entitled to something, just because they are the customer.

The customer is always right

[PhoenixAzul]

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.

[SWTXBelle]

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.

[lovespink88]

I worked at Victoria's Secret for two summers and a winter break. After that experience, I'm now always extremely careful when looking through pile of jeans, shirts, whatever, as to not destroy the display. I LOATHED working in Pink because you'd get a bunch of idiots who would destroy the panty bar (yes that's what that table with the 5 for $25 panties is called). I would spend 20 minutes making sure that panties were laid out with the right number of sizes, in the right order, etc. It seemed like someone would always come by within a minute of me finishing a row and then pull a panty out from the center of the row and just destroy what I had just cleaned up. I'm not sure why, but I was really set on keeping that thing in order, so that always drove me CRAZY.

I also try my best to not get frustrated when the sales people ask if you need help 943577465203845038 times. I know at VS we were required to ask every person (unless you were already helping someone) who walked through your section if you could help them find something. It's just a part of the job, they're not trying to annoy you.

Same things goes for the credit card thing. No, I don't need a credit card for every store that I shop at, but the sales people are required to ask. At VS, we had to open up 2 credit cards every for hours. If you didn't make the requirements, you'd get some sort of punishment. For example, the people who closed who had the least amount of credit cards for the day had to take out the trash, which sometimes was a HUGE chore, especially if we got lots of inventory that day.

I also NEVER take out my anger on the salespeople when there's something not in stock. It's not their fault!!! I had a few people yell at me on CHRISTMAS EVE MORNING about being out of stock on a few things, and not having any more gift card holders. MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE YOUR SHOPPING 3 WEEKS AGO!!! And if I ever try to return something but don't have the receipt or something, I will promise not to yell at the salesperson for only allowing me to have store credit for the sales price. I know they did not make up that policy themselves just to piss me off.

However, I do have to say that I have found one place where the customer is not always right: bra sizes.

Ladies, if you've gained weight, ACCEPT IT. Size is just a number that will help you find something that looks flattering on your body. I can't fathom why women are so stuck on being a certain bra size that they would rather wear that size that is too tight, uncomfortable, and makes them pop out everywhere, than wear one that is the right size at makes them look good! I don't know how many times I've measured someone, told them their size, and then they give me a dirty look and tell me I'm wrong. Excuse me, I have the measuring tape in my hands, I would know.* I had one woman who insisted she was a 34D. I measured her and she was in fact a 38C. She looked at me like I was nuts and refused to believe me. I gave her 38C bras to try on in addition to the 34Ds she grabbed. She called me to her fitting room when she had the 38C to check the sizing. As I knew it would, it looked like a perfect fit for her. However, she insisted it was "too big" and bought her 34Ds anyways. That's fine, you can walk around with back fat sticking out from under your bra because you're insisting on wearing the wrong size, just so you can say you wear a 34D. Have fun looking horrible.

*From experience, the measuring tape system is not a perfect system. With all clothes, you really just have to try them on. However, it certainly does get you very close to your size, so don't tell me you're a 34D when I just measured you and got a 38C!!!!!!!!

[Kappamd]

Never underestimate how cheap people can be.

I worked seasonal retail at Macy's one year (PURE HELL). I cannot count how many people would come to the register with a huge pile of whatever, whip out a stack of coupons, and then have me ring up a dozen individual purchases just so they could use all their coupons. UGH. So annoying for me, and the 20 people behind them in line who would then take out their frustration ON me.

[Xidelt]

I worked at Rich's/Macy's on 9/11. I would've thought people could have showed some compassion that day. Nope. They still trashed the dressing rooms, argued with me about prices, etc.

[BraveMaroon]

Originally Posted by Xidelt

I worked at Rich's/Macy's on 9/11. I would've thought people could have showed some compassion that day. Nope. They still trashed the dressing rooms, argued with me about prices, etc.

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.

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.

[Matsimela]

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!

[MasTNX]

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!

[jennyj87]

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.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by jennyj87

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

This is the funniest part of working in fast food. Rude people tend to assume that because you work at _____, you're a moron and you have nothing else going for you in life.

I was in high school at the time, but I had a co-worker who was a 2L at a local university. One time, Law Student took an order and ended up accidentally giving the guy hot wings instead of mild. When he came down to get the correct items (which were free due to the mistake, he said "My God where do you find these morons who work here? I doubt this guy even graduated HS because he can't even take fast food orders."

We all just kind snickered.

Because of the stereotype associated with the area my store was located in, people also assumed that I was some ghetto girl with multiple kids, stuck working at Pizza Hut to make ends meet (and would imply that when they got mad about stuff). That was always fun.

[RaggedyAnn]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

- I know we're in a cell phone society, but the world will not end if you put your phone down for 2 minutes while you check out.

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.

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

We had kids take a crap right on the carpet and the moms just laugh. (We went out and bought a special vacuum cleaner just for these type of incidents.) Nasty.

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.

Originally Posted by Alumiyum

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.

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.

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

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.

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

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

This is the funniest part of working in fast food. Rude people tend to assume that because you work at _____, you're a moron and you have nothing else going for you in life.

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.