Working retail is one of the most stressful things, but at the end of the day you realize how much you've learned from working the job that you do. From dealing with obnoxious customers to the traffic you hit heading to your morning shift on Black Friday, there are certain things you come to understand and just accept about your job.
1. How to deal with your frustration.
Inside.
Outside.
There have been many times at work when I've been screamed at by customers, pushed, shoved, and told that I wasn't doing my job, and no matter how frustrated I've gotten, I've just killed people with kindness, and made sure that no negativity was seen from my end. As much as it stings to give the person who just cursed you out a coupon, or to be nice to the woman who asked you for a size after pushing you out of the way, your job is to make sure that customers leave happy. Sometimes, the best thing to do is call over a manager and walk away. It's not the easiest thing to do all the time, but my mother always told me that patience was a virtue.
2. How to do daily life tasks.
Although I had some experience cleaning and folding before this job, folding, sweeping a store, cleaning windows, dusting keyboards, and vacuuming have become a much quicker task now. If you learn anything from working in a clothing store, it will definitely be how to fold a pile of laundry, and at a decent speed for that matter.
3. How to manage your time.
Between writing for the Odyssey, working a part-time job and going to school full-time, time management skills have become crucial. I invested in a planner and without it I would be lost. Also, learning how to read your schedule and making sure that you're at work at the right time is really important. Getting a phone call from your boss saying that you were supposed to be in two hours ago is never fun -- you only make that mistake once.
4. How to deal with different management styles.
We've all heard of managers doing things different ways and one manager telling you to do one thing and then another asking you to do another; the reason we have is that this happens very often. Although managers all work for the same store, the way they operate daily tasks can vary. I can honestly say that I lucked out with my managers and they are not completely different in the way they do things.
5. How to work in a management position.
From when I first started my retail job, I was always assigned a department in the store. Whether I was in women's, men's, kids or on register, that designated area became my responsibility. When I received my promotion, my area was not my only responsibility, but I also became responsible for the other people working at that time. Working in-between the managers and sales associates, my job has taught me basic management skills, without the ability to control much of what happens in the store. However, learning to take responsibility for my actions and instructing those around me on what to do are skills that can help me in future careers.
6. How to help people, even when you really don't want to.
In the retail world, the customer is always right -- even though 99.9 percent of the time they are actually wrong. But we retail employees are hired to keep customers happy so they spend more money and come back to the store. I know that you probably don't want to be asked a million questions when you're checking out at the register; similarly, we don't want to ask you a million questions. It's our job to help customers as much as they need in from the moment they walk in until the moment they walk out. We don't do this for our personal enjoyment and more often than not we don't make commission for helping you, we just do it because it's our job.
7. Weekends and holidays don't exist for everyone.
What it's like trying to get to the weekend.
Although we knew that weekends and holidays are the busiest when we signed up for these jobs, it really stinks when you have to be at work for Easter Sunday, or Fourth of July, or Thanksgiving night to be there for Black Friday shoppers. Although holidays are a time that many get together with family, they have become more of a time for sales and people shopping. You do you, but all we ask is for some consideration when we say we're closing early. We take time away from our families to accommodate customers, all we ask in return is for a little respect.
8. To have respect for other stores when I go shopping.
From walking in the other person's shoes, I am much more careful when shopping in other stores. I've even found myself cleaning the men's t-shirt wall in Walmart for about a half hour because it was such a mess. I also work with a woman who was approached by security in Kohl's because she cleaned one of the departments in the store. We don't do this because we want to, it becomes almost habitual to put things back where they belong and avoid making a mess because we know what it's like to clean it.
9. How to be a human calculator.
When you are constantly asked prices of items, you quickly learn how to take off discounts and give prices. In my store, we usually wear lanyards that have a conversion chart on the back, but from referencing it so often I've come to memorize some of the discounts on things. Out shopping with my boyfriend's family one day, I knew the precise cost of something and even what it would be with tax. It's kind of weird, but whatever works, right?
10. A general understanding of what it's like to be a retail employee.
When people take things out...
When you make that dash to clock out before someone asks for help...
When you're working with your whole squad...
You hate your job, sometimes, and you want to scream back at the customers who are trying to tell you that you're doing it wrong, but at the end of the day you come to terms with it all and know that you are there for one purpose: to do your job and make money. You realize that what you are learning from working this job and the friends you are making is worth the aggravation it may cause you.
