Working retail will change your life. When I first started working in retail, I used to love answering customers’ questions. Meeting new people was the best part of my day. However, soon enough I started to get annoyed out of my mind by stupid little things that happen way too often like questions that have obvious answers or even just rude people. Thankfully, I have learned of a great coping mechanism: laughing it out. Unfortunately, I can’t educate everyone on how our particular store works or what it’s like to deal with rude comments and ridiculous questions when you’re only getting paid $8 per hour; however, laughing it out makes it a lot easier to look past the negative aspects of my job. Without further ado, here are the 10 things that make working in retail a pain in the butt.
1. “Can you check the back?”
There’s literally nothing in the back, but yeah I’ll still go check for this ridiculously ugly shirt that I’ve already told you we don’t have. I mean, why not?
2. Why is the most asked question “where is the bathroom”?
No joke, I get asked this about 10 times on every shift, and I’m pretty sure people come in just to use the bathrooms.
3. When your managers rush you to get stuff done while they’re sitting in the back watching Netflix.
The audacity.
4. Sugar-high spawns running around the store
Where do these children come from that have parents that allow them to act like crazies?
5. The “I own the world” customers
These are my favorite customers. They walk in the store, wreak havoc on our neat piles of clothes, and then get to the cash register and act like the cashier is their personal servant. Why are they my favorite? They are so easy to mess with. I ask these customers twice as many questions and I’m extra nice to them just to annoy them.
6. When customers trash-talk you in another language
I know you’re talking about me, I just don’t know what you’re saying….
7. “Hello… Maria, how are you today?”
It’s freaking creepy when you read my name off of my name tag and read it to me. Then the customer looks at you with this smile like “I know who you are”… Stop. No, you don’t know me and no we are not bros.
8. Watching customers throw apart freshly-folded piles of clothes
This used to make me want to scream. Now I just shame people by staring at them and then going right over to fix what they messed up.
9. “Well, I don’t want it if you can’t honor what the sign says”
I understand some signs are confusing, but it’s not my fault. So maybe don’t yell at me?
10. When customers stay past closing time
I saved the best [or worst] for last. There are people out there that will stay hours past closing time or that will walk in 5 minutes before we close the store and stay for as long as they please. Then they get to the register and they say “Oh I didn’t realize you closed!!” Right. So you didn’t realize the store was empty, the music stopped, and the lights were off?
*Special thank you to Giselle Ramirez for contributing to the content of this article!