We have all had (and loathed) a retail job. One you work just to pay some bills or let's be honest, to have some money for the bars. You spend every day with the same people, and you often have the same customers. While it is often mundane work where you get blamed by bosses and customers alike for everything that goes wrong, I have found that humor is the best medicine. Here are 10 times the cast from "The Office" has perfectly mirrored your feelings about retail.
1. The way you have to react to every customer when they first arrive.
Retail workers always have to put on a happy face and treat all customers -- even the terrible ones -- like you're thrilled to see them.
2. How you look when customers insult you, but you still have to act nice.
We have all had those people who seem to go shopping only to tick off as many people as possible. Thanks to the "customer is always right" mindset, we often have to bite our tongues and just keep grinning.
3. The way you react when a difficult customer leaves.
Your smiling face fades away pretty quickly after your customers are gone, especially the ones you spent 30 minutes suggesting paper to, only to have them choose the first one you showed them, 25 minutes ago.
4. The things you wish you could say to your customers.
Working in retail is really just one long test of your patience. If only we could all say this to our customers!
5. How you wish you could react when your manager sides with you.
Difficult customers come with the job territory, but when an especially annoying customer insists they should get to use their year old coupon and won't listen to you, it's a little victory to have your boss side with you.
6. When a customer tries to stop you when you're on the way to lunch.
Most people only get one small break for their whole shift, and we certainly don't want to spend our precious time talking to you about which pen you should buy.
7. How you wish you could respond when a customers card is declined.
It's always a little awkward when a customer's card is declined, and you always have to be polite and try to swipe it again just to make sure. If only we could all react like Michael Scott, then the retail world would be a much more entertaining place.
8. When you become friends with your coworkers, and some friendly pranking begins.
Working in retail means you have a lot of fellow employees who don't last very long, but for the ones who have been there a while, you all become pretty close. And what better way to show affection than putting things in jello? At my store we shrink wrap everything, including individual pens!
9. When your manager asks who cause a problem, you all (somewhat playfully) blame each other.
It's very similar to a sibling rivalry, because whether you like it or not, your co-workers become like a second family to you.
10. How you feel when you are finally leaving your job.
No matter how bad some days can be, we will always look back on these crazy retail stories with rose tinted glasses.
