July 23, 2016 will mark four years of me working in retail. I know the exact date because I was so excited to be moving on from a grocery store to the glamorous world of fashion as a 17-year-old bookworm. I couldn't wait to broaden my horizons and step into something new.
For $7.25 an hour, I began working at Hollister Co. at my local mall. I stayed there for three years until I moved on this past November. I loved my job as a stock employee at Hollister for the most part. The normal sales associates, called models, were responsible for keeping the store looking decent while employees like myself were responsible for replenishing every single item that was sold and keeping things organized in the stock room and on the sales floor.
The first thing that I caught onto was the fact that the stock employees are majorly underpaid. Replenishing sounds like an easy job, but if you saw the rolling shelves we had to climb (yes, climb) to get clothes down you would be mortified. One of my managers had fallen from the top shelf and broke his ankle and several of his teeth. I had fallen several times from the shelves coming unlocked and sliding apart while standing on them. If I'm going to receive a concussion once a week I'd like to at least make $8 an hour.
The second thing that I learned almost immediately and that stuck with me throughout my entire career at Hollister was that certain brands have a certain audience and I did not fit in with Hollister's. I am a perfectly healthy weight, but I was the thickest employee they had. A friend of mine that worked with me tried to laugh off this idea, but I told him to really think about all of the girls that worked there. He quickly realized that I was right: I was the fat girl at work. In other stores I usually wear a six or an eight. The best fitting pair of pants I own from Hollister are a size 13. The brand had a way of making me feel like I was a whale swimming in a pool of freaking minnows.
Since I enjoyed the job itself, I stayed for three years until I was offered a job at Michael Kors while shopping with my mom. I was excited to be working for a high end brand, and I quickly noticed that size didn't matter to my employers. Everyone was different shapes and sizes and I was immediately comforted by it. I was pleased to be working for a job with higher acceptance, higher pay and more hours.
I was hired as a seasonal employee, but I was asked to stay on as a regular hire. I stayed and quickly noticed a change in treatment. I also noticed that a lot of the people that had been working over the holidays quickly disappeared. A cashier that was a regular told me that the managers treated the seasonal employees super well so that they would keep working hard despite that fact that they were temporary. They also withheld the fact that most of the seasonal employees would be out of a job by the new year. That same cashier was recently told that she had an attitude that brings everyone down and that she was replaceable. This was my favorite coworker, but she has since moved on to other endeavors as a result of her treatment.
As a regular employee, I have definitely been treated differently. The managers have a way of saying things very kindly to cover up the fact that they are actually being pretty rude. They constantly undermine us during customer interactions and it makes me feel super inadequate. All of the managers are beautiful and bubbly, but will be quick to scold you for having on closed-toe heels instead of open-toe wedges. They are completely focused on making money rather than treating their customers and employees properly.
I enjoy my work in retail, as I love interacting with customers and coworkers and, as an obsessively organized person, I love that being organizational is a huge part of my job. Nonetheless, I have been made aware of the ugly side of business. When money is involved, all morals seem to dissipate. I have thought about being a manager a lot lately, aiming to set a different precedent for future leaders of these retail companies.
My biggest issue with the things that I have gone through working retail is not that I personally felt attacked, but that these managers do not realize that they are representing these companies. Therefore, if the company is being run by a bunch of mean girls that is the reputation that the company will develop. It seems that Hollister is meant for skinny people and Michael Kors is for people who put appearance over everything else. I love my job, but I often disagree with the way that my store is managed.
When it comes down to it, I do like and respect my managers. I don't even think they know how they're offending people. They are genuinely good people, but I think that they are an example of the importance of putting people over money.
Something to remember: in a leadership role, be it a job or a club on a college campus, you are setting the example. Your prejudices become your employees' prejudices. Your behavior impacts your employees' behavior. Your personality is a reflection of your employer. Use your leadership role to improve your working environment, not to build yourself up by tearing others down. Find a balance between being a boss and a decent human being.
