Let's face it. Until you're done with schooling, the jobs available to you aren't exactly the cream of the crop. Waitressing, hostessing, babysitting, and the quintessential college job: retail. After 3 and a half years working two different retail jobs, I've learned a little bit about what it's like to spend hours on end in a store. If you're a retail worker, considering getting a job in retail, or are a customer in any store, you should know...
1. Everyone knows how to do everything.
There are 600 things to do in the store at any given time, and there’s usually only three or four girls to do them. This means that each and every one of us knows how to run the fitting rooms, measure girls for bras, find stock in the back rooms, pull items from the floor, ring people up, keep the store organized, and put away everything customers decide they don’t want. All with a smile. If you aren’t an amazing multi-tasker when you get your first retail job, you will be within a few weeks of working it.
2. When I say something is out of stock, it's out of stock.
Few things are worse than telling a customer I don’t have the item they’re looking for, but I promise it isn’t because I just don’t feel like looking. Before saying an item is out of stock, I check the floor, then the stock rooms, and finally the computer system to see if it’s something I can order. So if I tell you something isn’t available, please don’t treat me like I have some personal vendetta against you, just let me help you find the next best thing.
3. The job can get pretty physical.
It won’t be in the job description when you get hired, but in addition to always being on your feet, you’ll probably spend a good amount of time on the floor cleaning, on a ladder filling merchandise, and climbing shelves in the stock room in search of something for a customer. I never knew a box of clothing could be so heavy until I started working retail, but after a tough shift, I definitely don’t feel bad about skipping the gym.
4. If you snap your fingers to get my attention, it won't work out well for you.
I am a sales girl, definitely not a dog. There are so many good ways to get my attention or seek out my help, but snapping, whistling, or screaming at me won’t work. I may come over to you because you’ve made it impossible for me not to, but you won’t receive the warm greeting and above-and-beyond effort given to customers who treat sales girls with basic respect.
5. Not every employee started out outgoing, but we all learned how to be.
There’s no way to be quiet while working in retail. As someone who started out pretty shy, I can say working in sales cracked my shell wide open. If you don’t talk to a customer, they won’t talk to you. And if they don’t talk to you, you can’t help them or sell them anything. You’ll become an expert in small talk, as well as listen to the life stories of the 50-something-year old women walking around the dressing room topless asking for a bra fitting.
6. The discount is amazing!! (Until you blow your whole paycheck using it.)
Most retail positions come with a killer employee discount, which is awesome!!! Until you spend your first five or six paychecks taking advantage of it. The company might as well pay you in gift cards for the store. And while you’ll eventually learn to stop using your discount as an excuse to buy everything in sight, it will never stop coming in handy.
7. The bond between sales associates is strong as hell.
Working together for hours on end makes for some pretty good bonding. You’ll laugh at the crazy requests and how hectic things can get, and cheer each other up when things get a little too tough. Sometimes, when a shift is just too much, or a customer makes you cry, so one can understand and console you like your co-worker who’s been through it just the same. Plus. everyone gets a little weird when we're stuck at the store until 4 a.m. There's just no hiding it!
8. Nothing feels as good as making someone's day.
Through the blood, sweat, and tears we shed in our store, nothing makes it feel more worth it than making a customer's day. If your strapless bra broke and I’m able to find you a new one hours before your senior prom, or if you’ve always been self-conscious in bathing suits but we can work together to find one that makes you feel beautiful, or even if you’re just shopping with your mom for your very first bra, my goal is to put a smile on your face above all else!
So while it isn't glamorous, and it can get grueling, most of the hours I've spent at work I wouldn't give up for anything. (And not just because of the paycheck)!
