Working in retail is definitely not the easiest thing that I have ever done. In fact, it is actually one of the hardest things that I have ever done. While working in retail for the past two and a half years, I have learned a lot of valuable life lessons.

Being a sales associate, I have learned how to become more of a “people person.” Retail has definitely taught me to work for the customer, not the company. A lot of people think that retail sales associates only have one agenda: to make sales. However, because I work for a company that does not allow us to make commission, that is not my agenda. I always say to my customers that I will not allow them to leave with an item that does not flatter them. If the item is not the best for them, I do let them know, in a nice way of course. This just proves that stereotypes for retail associates are incorrect. Like I said we do not just work for the company, we work for the customer. We like to make people happy.

I have learned that sometimes you really do have to kill people with kindness. While working in the clothing industry, sometimes I meet some people who woke up on the wrong side of the bed, people who think the whole world revolves around them, and people who are just plain rude. The best thing to then is to just smile and try your best to do what you can to help them. One thing that I have noticed is that most people will be nice to you, if you are nice to them. So that is exactly what I try to do. Sometimes it doesn’t work but I have found that if you treat people with respect while working in retail, they won’t leave you bad reviews and they will most likely come back to your store.

Another thing I have learned is that sometimes you have to work with people that you don’t really care to be around. This is something I am still trying to figure out a better solution for. Sometimes you just aren’t going to like everyone, but that is something you just deal with and learn to get over. It is just not very likely for someone to be liked by everyone.

All in all I have learned to be pretty good with people, all because of working in retail. Even though I want to quit my job from time to time because of the difficulties, I have definitely grown as a person because of my job. If you aren’t a “people person” you probably shouldn’t work in retail, unless you are really good at “faking it until you make it.” The truth is, customers like real people who are going to actually care about what they want, not just about making a sale or two. However, if you show that you actually care, you could potentially make more sales.