Papyrus is a greeting card retailer notable for their beautifully embellished cards as well as the go to store for stationery, gift wrap, and other merchandise that will make lasting memories and impression. Despite being a simple card store, there are many struggles that Papyrus employees go through that make them realize that their jobs is not just stacking cards.
1. Working 24/7, all 365 days
Papyrus is one of those stores that are open around the holidays, especially during Christmas and New Years which are their busiest times. Therefore the company has a strict policy on vacation time during the holidays, which is understandable but does it have to apply to all holidays? I don't think the store will fall into chaos without me on Halloween or Father's Day.
2. The Stress from Gift Wrapping
There’s always something stressful about gift wrapping: whether it be a new skill to you, or you’re not as great as your store’s master wrapper, or the time crunch you face who needs a neatly wrapped present in the next 5 seconds - even though you stated that gift wrapper will be a “10-15 minute wait." But hey, at least you won't have to pay someone to wrap your presents anymore.
3. Being Asked to Wrap Weird Objects
Papyrus employees only have knowledge of wrapping boxes and not any other shape unless you’ve got years of experience. And I encourage customers not to stress employees by requesting employees to do so.
4. Trying to multitask between gift wrapping and the register
Not much an issue when you work in a large store with plenty employees, however this may be a common struggle for smaller stores with only a few employees and sometimes you’re unfortunately stuck running both the register and gift wrapping--both holding up customers
5. Learning Custom Printing Inside and Out
Being required to learn all the different card styles, ink, printing methods, various cards for specific purposes, the best designs for particular themes, etc. like the back of your hand. Custom Printing honestly convinces you not to have an expensive wedding--or at least spend $1,000+ on fancy cards.
6. Organizing All the Cards
It's not just stacking and there's a certain way to organize these cards based on popularity and size that will catch the customer's eyes. Not a terrible situation, but it’s the one task you would love to do all day instead of actually helping customers or dealing with their ridiculous requests or complaints.
7. Always Scrounging in the Stockroom
This may vary per store on how tidy the stockroom is. Some stockrooms may be spacious and organized. But others may just be a small supply closet with shit thrown everywhere since you don’t got time to waste in that cramped space. But you will always be making trips to the back for specific merchandise--just hope you won't be taking too long or customers start stacking up at the register.
8. Going through boxes to find the right product
It’s really time-consuming since you need to check all the boxes that are labeled to the correct photo frame or music box that the customer wants. Even worse if the back room is a mess or if you’re the only employee currently in the store and have other customers waiting on you.
9. Browsing Through Merchandise to Kill Time
Usually, that means the store is dead and you got time to spare and goof off before more customers barge in. So indulge yourself in a funny book about farts or play with fuzzy pens with fellow co-workers before the rush hour dives in.
10. RUSH HOUR
A form of hell that you need to face twice a day at work, particularly if you live in a busy area. Many customers will stop by to buy a last minute gift and card or just simply browse to kill time. Hopefully not during their lunch break where customers are on a time crunch as well as the employees who gotta cater to dozens of customer needs. After-work hours aren’t as hectic but that doesn’t equate to fewer customers to deal with.
11. Just General Complaints Over Cards
“Why are these cards so expensive?” “I could just buy a card at CVS!” “You don’t have cards for dogs graduating obedience school?” I’m sorry Janet that we don’t have cards that are tailored specifically to your life events!! And by all means please go buy a generic $2 card at the nearest pharmacy! That will save you money, your time, as well as my own time!!
12. Sometimes You Can't Even Explain Why The Cards Are So Expensive
Sure Papyrus cards cost more than your average pharmacy card (most cost around $6 to $8) because they have more details which make it more intimate to the receiver. However, I just can’t explain why a small baby shower card with a laser cut baby carriage costs $20. It might as well come with a real carriage.
13. Funny Requests for Cards
Unfortunately, we don’t have a thank you card featuring fuzzy handcuffs on the cover for your mysterious needs. Nor do we have a “Sorry you got beat in the face and had to get surgery and you still look terrible” but I sure wish we did. Honestly, these requests get me through the day.
14. Guarding Niquea.D Merch
Niquea.D merch is a treasure to Papyrus created by the CEO of Papyrus. And despite being low quality, the jewelry comes at expensive prices. Therefore, Papyrus employees have sworn their lives to protect these goods from robbers. Just more work for us to handle that we're not getting paid enough for.
15. Getting Store Music Stuck in Your Head
Papyrus has a specific store playlist that plays the same songs every day. Eventually, you catch yourself singing all the lyrics to every song at work whether you like it or not. And you also can't get those annoying tunes out of your head even when you're off the clock. But in all honesty, I have searched some songs up and kept them in my own personal playlist.
16. Urge to organize or suggest cards to customers at a non-Papyrus stores
Strolling by Target or Duane Reade to pick up a few things but your eyes have become conditioned to fix up the messy pile of cards. And sometimes you might wanna help other customers looking at cards by pointing out the best sellers.
17. Having new found love for cards & stationery
Before Papyrus, you didn’t think greeting cards were that special and would just buy the cheapest ones at the nearest pharmacy. But after seeing how much detail is put into beautiful cards, you think it’s worth extra money to create lasting memories and impressions.
