I think you really get to know someone's personality by the way they treat the people that are assisting them. I’ve been a sales associate for a good year and anyone who has worked retail will know that there is so much stuff we all have to deal with.
- Getting the question, “Do you work here?" Right after greeting them and telling them the store promotions. Even when you are holding a walkie, name tag, and offering to help them, you still get asked the question.
2. Getting asked to go check a size in the back already knowing that we don’t have it. Yet we all know the reason we do decide to go back there is to just take a break from the nagging customers.
3. Feeling the glaring eyes of customers when the sensor takes a little longer to come off than usual.
4.The customers that casually walks into the store two minutes before closing but they don’t need any help because they are “just looking."
5.Trying to remember promotions that get changed around the store constantly especially during holiday season when every little item is changed overnight and it’s all news to you.
6.Happy Inventory Day, is like every retail associate's worst nightmare, it’s a never ending night filled with coffee and “SKU check"
7.Lets not forget about FloorSet nights, when you realize that half of the products they are asking for haven’t even been delivered to the store so you have to use your imagination.
8. Greeting a customer, and being ignored. My all time favorite because it really does make me feel appreciated and more likely to help you.
9.Walking in on customers in the fitting rooms because they didn’t answer the knock you beforehand.
10.Getting handed a $100 bill first thing in the morning and being expected to break it.
11.A fixed and organized folding display has never been the most important thing in my life until I see a customer reaching for the XXL on the bottom.
12. When you realize you have been working at the job for more than you intended to stay. Which of course happened to me.
Working retail has been a crazy adventure and I only dealt with it for a year. Yet it has been a good learning experience for me. I honestly believe that everyone should work retail at least for a small portion of their life, even if it’s for a month because one month and you will go through all these retail problems and much more. Retail isn’t just about the craziness and pickiness of people, it’s about having to handle and deal with different types of people in the world, as a job. After working retail for a while, an unfolded shirt on the ground makes you urge to pick it up even if it’s your day off.
