The holiday season is tough on most people; there are finals, shopping, cold weather and overall madness. No one suffers during the holiday season more than retail workers. Here are a few things I’ve learned after working my third Black Friday weekend in retail that make any retail worker’s day so much worse.
Messy Stores
No matter what store you work in, retail workers know that the holidays spell trouble when it comes to closing. There are never enough workers to clean up after a long busy day. When thousands of people have tramped through your store, and there are only 4 people to clean, and only an hour or so to do it, things are going to get left for the openers to take care of. I’d relate working in a big store close to the holidays to having three finals on the same day and then coming home to find that there is no room for you in your bed. There is just so much stuff, and nothing will ever be in the right spot.
Call Outs
When the weather gets cold, it is officially Christmas time. But the cold brings more than holiday cheer. They bring germs and diseases. There is nothing worse for a retail worker than coming into your shift only to find out that 4 people have called in sick and now you have to close with half the amount of people usually required to close in a timely manner. Being a decent person, you want your coworkers to get better, they’re your friends and you hate that they’re sick; as a worker, part of a business, you really wish they could have sucked it up. At the same time, if you come to work when you’re sick-- especially during the holidays—you risk contaminating the entire store. Basically, it’s a lose-lose situation.
Loud People
This one is annoying at any time of the year, but can be amplified during the winter holidays. Because of the sheer amount of people in the store, it will always be so much louder than any other time of the year. It becomes particularly difficult to do one’s job when one cannot hear what is being asked of them. In stores with a customer service desk, it becomes difficult to answer phones because it’s hard to hear. Just be patient if someone asks you to repeat yourself, it's not their fault.
When Multiple People Try To Talk To You At Once
In normal social situations, when people talk over each other to get your attention you might be okay with it. It's sort of flattering that people want to talk to you period, let alone more than one person at the same time. When you’re a retail worker, it is not flattering at all. It’s actually pretty overwhelming. With people coming from more than one direction, clambering over each other to demand something of you, it is easy to get stressed out. Normally, people will realize there is more than one person talking and that you cant help more than one person at a time, so they’ll arrange themselves into some sort of order. Sometimes they just keep talking. You just have to hang in there, and get really good at letting customers know that you’ll be with them in just a second.
Grabby People
This is the absolute worst thing about the holidays in my opinion. During the holidays, people think its OK to grab retail workers as they walk past. In no world is it socially acceptable to physically seize the arm or shirt of a passing stranger. I do not care if you are dying, or if you just really need to find the latest Harry Potter book: DO NOT TOUCH ME. I would literally rather be yelled at through a megaphone than be bodily snatched as I attempt to walk to somewhere I need to go. There are better, safer, nicer ways to get someone’s attention, so utilize them.
Shop responsibly my friends, and try to remember that retail workers are people too. People that are just trying to do their jobs.
