For most of my adult academic career, I have worked as a nanny. It is the best job, for many reasons! But this past semester I had a schedule change and was unable to nanny. I spent the first few months of my senior year enjoying not working to the fullest. It was great to focus entirely on classwork or take a nap at 3 PM if I wanted to. However, all my hard earned cash from the summer quickly started to dissipate.
I needed a job and I needed one quick.
I applied to a few positions around campus but wasn't having much luck. I then remembered how a couple years ago, I had been told “If you ever need a job don’t hesitate to call!” from an employee at a store I had often visited. I had a friend from High School who is a few years younger than me that attends IUPUI, and I knew she was one of the managers at the store. I texted her asking if they were hiring and she said yes! I had an interview within the week from the store manager. I was excited but nervous- this position was really a sales job. It wasn’t a typical retail store, we only sold one item. Out of respect, I won’t be sharing the name of the store, so I’ll just call it "Pillow Palace"
This store is a worldwide company, but our specific store was one of the few million dollar stores. There was a lot of pressure from the get-go, especially since my previous work experience was teaching music and Nanning. I possessed great people skills and I love talking to people, so I figured with proper training I would be able to do a decent job. At my interview, I made it very clear that I live in Muncie during the school year, and was mostly looking for work during the holiday period. I knew I would be home, which was conveniently located 10 mints from this store. I knew I would have to dip my feet in the water before jumping into to Black Friday and Christmastime, so I asked to work no more than weekends. It was agreed and I was hired! But almost as quickly as I was hired, so was that agreement.
Somewhere along the line, my schedule switched from two nights a weekend to Wednesday-Sunday.
After about a month of working, I started to notice I was working every Thursday, Friday night closing, Saturday night closing, and all day Sunday. I was confused why- I felt as though I was really getting the hang of the job and I became concerned it was because maybe they didn’t feel I was doing well so I had to come in more to get more experience. I came to find out it was actually the opposite- they really liked me so I was switched from holiday hire to parttime. However, my hours were getting up as high as the managers in the store! I was a full-time student, the last thing I needed (or wanted) was to be working almost a full-time job. I have to add an hour for commute both there and back, in addition to 4-6 hour shifts. It was just too much to be doing while having a full semester.
Scheduling was my biggest complaint.
I get it, we all have lives and we all have things going on. Strike one was me getting all these extra days and hours I didn’t sign up for. But Strike two was when I would ask for time off and wasn’t granted it. I understand I won’t be able to get every single day I may ask for, but there were several days I didn’t understand why I was asked to work and not granted the day off. I only worked at “Pillow Palace” for 3 months, but I missed several important family events including Christmas Eve. I was not alone in the upsets of scheduling- so many times someone would need a day off but couldn’t have it and it just felt like even if you asked, it was forgotten or you were only given a half day. It was really frustrating!
We were forced to sell to every customer.
Part of “Pillow Palace”’s procedure is that you have to interact with every single person who walks into the store. I have no issue greeting people who come in, but I really did not care for us having to push sales on everyone. There were times where I was yelled at, cursed at, and once I even had someone rudely wave their hand in my face followed by a “zip it, I don’t want to hear it.” This is not a large store, so it’s not like I can go off to another area while they browse. I just had to stand there and stare and try to find a way to get into a conversation with them that could lead to buying a “pillow”.
On the one hand- 95% of the time this method worked! And it was a fun part of the job. I love fashion, so getting someone into a “pillow” that was perfect for them was a lot of fun. But the fact I had to push sales on every single person did not always sit well with me. Because our store was a million-dollar store, we sold a lot of brands of “pillows” that other stores in Indiana did not. Some of these “pillows” cost $600!! If someone walked in and went straight for the clearance “pillows”, it was hard to try and push a $400 “pillow” on them. If we did not interact, we would be criticized by management. It was frustrating to lose sales, or to make a sale but to feel like it wasn’t good enough because it wasn’t a pricier item. The sales pressure was too much.
Clocking out/in never worked. I had never had to do that before, so that was an adjustment in itself! But it hardly ever worked!! So much of the time I would enter my employee ID and password, click “clock in” and it would say “time stamp created.” Two weeks later my paycheck would come, and I was missing some payment. This happened three times during the three months I worked there. That is not normal. Upon my leaving the store, I was told my management that it was a constant problem they had with me. But it truly was not my fault! Other employees struggled with the clock-in/clock-out as well, and so often we had to go in and adjust our hours by hand. I hated their system and I really hope it gets fixed!
I learned a lot from retail, but most of all I learned it is not for me. As much fun as I had with my managers and the customers (the nice ones!), retail just wasn’t a good fit for me. I struggled with not making my store goal and constantly having scheduling problems. I did not like the hours and the attitudes of many people who came in. But, I gained a serious respect for retail employees. I pay attention to how I treat retail employees extra nowadays. I am sure to put things back where they belong and to not “put things on hold” and never come back for them. (That’s a lot more frustrating than it may seem!) I was grateful for the job while I was in need, but I’m much happier to be back nannying and finishing up school!
Retail, you taught me much but I’m glad our time together is over!
