It should be a law that everyone should be required to work a year in retail before entering the real world as an adult. The things that people do (often without realizing it) are absolutely gut-wrenching to the people who have to deal with others' stupidity. The worst part about it is that you have to deal with all of the problems with a smile.

First of all, if you see that "can I speak to a manager?" haircut, you RUN. FAST. There is nothing worse than some middle-aged soccer mom telling you that she is entitled to her expired coupon. Bye, crazy. Secondly, people just cannot be bothered to put things back where they found them. God forbid they walk 20 feet to the display they grabbed that shirt from to put it back.

Customers are always going to give us a hard time, which is to be expected because they don't know much about what we have to do every day. I could go on for hours, but the bottom line is that you can't let yourself get too bothered or you'll drive yourself crazy.

Fortunately, working in retail isn't all bad. The people that you work with are the only ones who will ever truly understand your struggles. These people will be the ones that you can talk to about how rude people were to you, or how you just hate performing certain tasks with a burning passion. They will be the ones who you can count on to back you up in a complicated situation. They are the ones you jam out to your favorite songs with during floor sets. Personally, I think that one of the things that can make or break a job is the people you work with, and in this case, my coworkers make my experience immensely more bearable than if I didn't love them to death.

Working in retail has been one of the most interesting things I have ever done. It has taught me more people skills than I thought I would ever need, it has taught me how to look someone in the eyes and tell them they're not getting anywhere without them realizing my frustration, and it has taught me that the friends you make in that experience are some of the best.