Having a year’s experience of working in retail, I have seen all of the behind the scenes work that goes into making a store what it is. Looks simple and effortless, but an under-appreciated amount of hours and work is dedicated to everything customers see in the store on a daily basis. Countless hours are spent prepping, replenishing, rearranging and setting the floor of the store. Only people who work in retail would be able to tell you they have a 7pm-3am shift, in most minimum wage jobs, hours like that are unheard of. There are also the processing shifts, where employees get to the store at 5 or 6am and spend 6 or even 7 hours censoring, folding and pushing merchandise onto the floor.
If you see an employee not dressed in appropriate attire for work, putting new products onto the floor while the store is open, don’t be alarmed if you ask them a question and they don’t answer in the most-friendly way. These people have likely been awake for hours now and the last thing they want to do is be disturbed while they are trying to get their work done.
You also don’t realize how easy it is to be that annoying customer. When you first start out in retail you see customers doing things that really bother you and then you realize, before you started to work in retail you would do that same exact thing. For instance, digging through beautifully folded piles of shirts to find your size and then walking away from them all a mess. Looking through hung clothes and knocking some off of the hangers and simply leaving them on the floor to be picked up later. These situations are a salesperson’s nightmare. Then at the register if you’re the one to say “oh actually, I don’t want that” after the cashier has already rung up, uncensored it, and put it in the bag, they wouldn’t be too happy. Or when you have a difficult return because you have no receipts and no tag to work with. But all of that is part of your job when you commit to working in retail. Working crazy shifts, spending countless hours organizing and rearranging the merchandise of the store, dealing with some difficult customers and keeping a big happy smile on your face while you do all of that, that’s all you can expect when you work in retail.
