Working Retail: Stories of the Underpaid - General

[QUOTE=Pocket Medic;32540507]Reading this thread makes me feel like I'm being judged whenever I go into anywhere retail.[/QUOTE] Have you worked retail before? If not, then it's hard to describe. Retail workers deal with so many different people, both good and bad, that it's very easy to become...hardened. We have a band of regulars in our store whose presence alone makes the job worth keeping. But, for every job-affirming customer, there are fifty customers who we are completely indifferent about and there's always one utterly contemptible jackass who ruins everyone's day. Really, as long as you're treating the employees with respect and a measure of patience, it helps us out a lot. Even if you don't want to buy the added warranty or the subscription, have the decency to hear me out and politely refuse. If I come out onto the floor to see if you need help, either accept it or politely decline; don't give me the "No thanks, I know what I'm looking for" and then spend 20 minutes trying to find it. We're here to help, as much as we can, and we also have a lot of work that is not customer-related that needs to get done. Just let us do our jobs, and don't look down on us for it. Minimum wage workers, and retail in particular, are looked upon with such disdain and for no valid reason.

[QUOTE=Ven Kaeo;32504179]You haven't worked with my manager then. (While mocking a customer to me) "Excuse me, do you have any batteries? I think I need a battery. I used to have a battery but it stopped acting like a battery which makes me think that I really need a battery."[/QUOTE] Oh, my boss does that all the time too. "Eh, do ye boys have some video cables?" "NOPE, GO AWAY" "This store is baffling, its completely stupid, I'm going to report you to the manager and get you fired now good day and goodbye bye bye" like an old man

[QUOTE=Pocket Medic;32540507]Reading this thread makes me feel like I'm being judged whenever I go into anywhere retail.[/QUOTE] You are.

My brother works as a cart pusher at Wal-Mart. There was a thunderstorm during his shift, and the policy is they can't have workers outside during thunderstorms (I guess they're afraid of being sued if an employee gets hit by lightning). My brother was stuck being a greeter, when this lady comes in with a Razor Scooter, New in Box. They have to scan all items brought into the store for returns. The item doesn't show up in the database. So they head over to customer service. They confirm that the item is not in the database, meaning the store is not selling that item. "But I bought it here last week! Don't tell me I can't return it!" It turns out that not only was the item currently being sold in the store, but the store had [B][I][U]NEVER[/U][/I][/B] carried that particular model of scooters. The lady bought it online for a rediculously low price and was trying to return it to get some extra cash.

After following this thread for a few days, it made me feel bad that I paid $5 in quarters for my food the other day. :v:

But it would only take a couple of seconds to verify that it's five bucks of quarters, it's only 20 of them or so. It's worse when you say "Oh I have the change" after I've already punched in how much you gave me, I mean I can take it and it won't fuck up the balance of my till, but I generally don't like doing it because it's just asking for people to start trying to fuck you up with their extra numbers they are magically adding.

I work as a cashier at a local grocery store for $8.55 an hour. The job is relatively easy... But there are alwaysjackasses who might come and ruin your day with a complaint. And naturally, being a lowly cashier, it's your word against their's... It's not a bad gig for a college student, but I really want to get out of the industry once I graduate.

[QUOTE=-GTFMiika-;32528622]So, this happened yesterday... Me: Thank you for calling Party City of Newnan where nobody has more Halloween for less. This is Molly, how may I help you? Caller: Hello? Me: Hi, how may I help you? Caller: Who is this? Me: My name is Molly, ma'am. Can I help you? Caller: Yeah, hi. Can you tell me who is working tomorrow? Me: I'm sorry, ma'am, but we're not allowed to give out shift information to customers. Is there anyone in particular you'd like to speak with? Caller: Oh. Well, could you just tell me how much a yard of y'all's fabric is? Me: We don't carry fabric, ma'am. Caller: Oh, alright. Well, you you just tell Howard that Gina called for him? Me: Howard? No one by- Caller: You're welcome. -hangs up- No one named Howard works at our store. I have never been so confused[/QUOTE] I read that, and I honestly am batshit confused. Like, you don't even know.

I work in a small town 3rd party liquor store (meaning we aren't owned by the government). Great job, everyone in town is nice to you, no annoying children. And I get to card minors. Pretty much all the regulars know how we operate our transactions so if they have a chip they put it in the machine, if not they hand it to us to swipe. The only problems I ever encounter in my two years of working here are American tourists. They will bitch and moan about every little thing and if we don't carry their particular brand of beer/wine god help you. We also don't accept USD here which causes quite a lot of "This is unamerican!"-esque behaviour. That has become so common I have a little Canadian flag I wave whenever that happens.

[QUOTE=Wolfmatyr;32548596]I work in a small town 3rd party liquor store (meaning we aren't owned by the government). Great job, everyone in town is nice to you, no annoying children. And I get to card minors. Pretty much all the regulars know how we operate our transactions so if they have a chip they put it in the machine, if not they hand it to us to swipe. The only problems I ever encounter in my two years of working here are American tourists. They will bitch and moan about every little thing and if we don't carry their particular brand of beer/wine god help you. We also don't accept USD here which causes quite a lot of "This is unamerican!"-esque behaviour. That has become so common I have a little Canadian flag I wave whenever that happens.[/QUOTE] How many times a day do you wave it? I take it you're extremely close to the border?

[QUOTE=notrabies;32484084]Let me save you some time since we already covered this. In conclusion, I make $3 an hour without tips which would be impossible for anyone in America to survive on.[/QUOTE] I think people are payed much higher in Aus because the average is around $10/hour working as a junior in a shop ,resturant etc. But everything is so god dam expensive average meals at a resturant would be $20-$40 for one meal, $4 for a cadbury chocolate bar coming from the uk it seems insane here

[QUOTE=psp401.com;32548781]How many times a day do you wave it? I take it you're extremely close to the border?[/QUOTE]During summer, three to five times a week. And not all that close. From the border you have to drive all the way through Vancouver to get here.

I had some joker try to pay for a $13.90 purchase in quarters. Mind you, they were in rolls, but still. What the fuck. I've been told by my manager we cannot take rolls of coins, no matter the denomination, because then we have to take them to the bank to get them changed into bills, which is a waste of time, and we can't deposit them because our bank doesn't accept coins for deposit. Bills only. It's corporate policy not to take rolls of coins, as well, since it wouldn't be that hard for someone to put a couple of coins at the front and back of the roll and fill the rest up with metal or something that weighs the same. A couple weeks ago we had some jackass try to pay for something with 10 rolls of pennies for a fucking $5 purchase. 10 rolls of goddamn pennies. 500 motherfucking pennies I mean seriously dude come on. Just give us bills stop fucking with us. Why do you even have so many rolls of pennies.

Some old guy who I've never seen before just stole my tip jar. I hope he enjoys his 58 cents.

[QUOTE=Wolfmatyr;32550534]Some old guy who I've never seen before just stole my tip jar. I hope he enjoys his 58 cents.[/QUOTE] i'm guessing he was in the mood for a couple sticks of gum?

[QUOTE=Wolfmatyr;32550534]Some old guy who I've never seen before just stole my tip jar. I hope he enjoys his 58 cents.[/QUOTE] YOU'VE BEEN ROBBED! Wait. A robbery in [I][B]CANADA[/B][/I]? But Canadians are so nice! Except for the guy at customs, He wasn't very nice this year. Kind of a dickhead actually. I mean I know he has to make sure nothing bad comes into the country, going into Canada is usually a pleasant experience, but this time, Goddamn take a chill pill dude.

[url]http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/mn-renaissance-festival-fire-sept-30-2011[/url] Shits on fire, yo. Most of area 700 is fucked, many booths were independent too and they need all the money they make.

Introducing myself here as a Retail Rookie, I only have a little over a year of experience under my belt. So, I work as a Part-Time Cashier at Pet Smart. I also worked for a few months at a Chick-fil-a, which was total hell. (But that story is for another day.) Both the Manangement and my Co-workers are very laid back and understanding, We all make nasty comments about exceptionally nasty customers we didn't like behind thier backs. Now, the customers usaully aren't that bad, but you will get the crazy Cat/Dog person from time to time. But anyways, getting to the point, I have a few things that piss me off when I'm working: One, I almost always work closing shifts, so at the end of the night, I'm responsible for re-arraging all the items in the first eight alsies, so when I see people screwing around with crap such as yanking it off the shelf and leaving it on the floor or purposley putting something out of place because their to lazy to take two steps to the right and put it back on the right shelf, it gets me a little annoyed. Two, the number one thing that really gets on my nerves is when I have a customer yell at me as if it was my fault that prices are so high. I constantly tell them that A) I have no control over the prices which are set by Corprate and that B) The Economy is complete shit, so deal with it. I have this old guy who comes in once every few weeks to buy a bucket of bird seed, and every damn time I tell him the total he goes into complete hysterics, going off screaming about how much it used to cost, why its so high for a small bucket of bird seed, that he can't get anything else becuase his Bird loves it, and that 'It-cost-me-50-cents-to-get-a-candy-bar-when-I-was-my-age' bullshit. Even after I tell my usual response about how I don't control the prices and that the Economy sucks, hes still throwing a fit and then I have to get my one of my Managers to get him to leave. We always have a good laugh about him later.

Does it brighten your day if a customer gives you a massive tip?

[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;32540754]Have you worked retail before? If not, then it's hard to describe. Retail workers deal with so many different people, both good and bad, that it's very easy to become...hardened. We have a band of regulars in our store whose presence alone makes the job worth keeping. But, for every job-affirming customer, there are fifty customers who we are completely indifferent about and there's always one utterly contemptible jackass who ruins everyone's day. Really, as long as you're treating the employees with respect and a measure of patience, it helps us out a lot. Even if you don't want to buy the added warranty or the subscription, have the decency to hear me out and politely refuse. If I come out onto the floor to see if you need help, either accept it or politely decline; don't give me the "No thanks, I know what I'm looking for" and then spend 20 minutes trying to find it. We're here to help, as much as we can, and we also have a lot of work that is not customer-related that needs to get done. Just let us do our jobs, and don't look down on us for it. Minimum wage workers, and retail in particular, are looked upon with such disdain and for no valid reason.[/QUOTE] This. I couldn't agree more. What I don't get is why people look down on those working retail. I loved my job so much, the store I started at was amazing. Everyone I worked with liked each other, we were literally a big family, not that forced walmart cheer in the morning bullshit. Even after our store closed and people were redistributed to different stores we still got together monthly for a dinner. My job with Kroger was perfect for me and any other college student/young adult. I've humped carts in from the lot, I've cleaned bathrooms, worked a register, supervised the sales floor, and even on the worst of days when I could finally sit down in my car and take the long drive home listening to my favorite songs made it all worth it in the end and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

I'd trade it for winning the lottery. Had some guy come up to our door last night 11 minutes after we closed and insisted on yelling questions through the glass. I told him like 5 times he'd have to come back tomorrow but he wouldn't fuck off. Apparently "I saw you guys from the parking lot so I parked" is justification to bother me after hours. Fuck dude when I'm off the clock I'm off the clock. Leave me alone.

[QUOTE=Ven Kaeo;32578265]I'd trade it for winning the lottery. Had some guy come up to our door last night 11 minutes after we closed and insisted on yelling questions through the glass. I told him like 5 times he'd have to come back tomorrow but he wouldn't fuck off. Apparently "I saw you guys from the parking lot so I parked" is justification to bother me after hours. Fuck dude when I'm off the clock I'm off the clock. Leave me alone.[/QUOTE] Customers can be incredibly selfish. I have people constantly asking me to help them when I'm on break or when I'm clocking out for the day, even though they know damn well that I'll get fired instantly if I do anything more than point them towards someone who -can- help.

I had some asshole open the backroom door and stare at me while I was eating lunch. I asked him "uh can I help you" and he asked in a really shitty tone "yeah can I get some help out here? God". I told him I was on lunch and he got pissy and left after I told him I'd be out in 15 or so minutes. I was estimating I had like 20 minutes to go. I come out after he leaves and find out via my coworker he fucking timed me then got mad when I didn't come out.

I think most young people work retail at some point, but man, I don't feel sorry for anyone working past there mid 20's in retail without school or some type of career path going on in the background.

The most confusing thing I have ever had happen while at work is having some random ring and ask why his printer wasn't working. Seems a pretty standard question for IT support, but still had to tell the guy that we don't do support over the phone (because it's a fucking nightmare.) None the less he continues and after 10 minutes of somewhat incoherent rambling, figure out his printer is a photocopier, that the said photocopier is located in a business somewhere, and the photocopier isn't working because it's a company ID swipe-card system and he's using his credit card as the ID. After explaining to him that I can't help him and that he should ring his company's IT department, he continues to ramble on to which I politely hang up the phone on him. He responds by calling as many times as possible in the next hour, to which my boss tries to tell him to stop that shit. We ended up having to call the company to get him to stop. Did I mention he had a Slavic accent sounded like Roman (COUSIN!) and that I had to suppress laughter from the expectation that he was going to ask me to go bowling?

[QUOTE=Ese;32579372]I think most young people work retail at some point, but man, I don't feel sorry for anyone working past there mid 20's in retail without school or some type of career path going on in the background.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't judge people who are older working retail. A lot can't help it, in fact most older people I worked with were attending college right along next to me. Some people do it because it gives them something to do after retirement. We had a Courtesy Clerk who was 75 years old and still pushed in lot, cleaned bathrooms, and bagged groceries.

I'm happy that most of my horrible memories as a cashier at sears are starting to fade. I remember one time this customer loaded up there cart with about 600$ worth of clothes which is alot for sears and considering we had huge sales going on then. Throughout scanning she decides to randomly pick one of the items and say i no longer want this. Sears registers are the old shitty ones not touchscreen so it's hard to remember what item is what but we learned that you can scan an item see the stock number and then find it on the system to remove it off the sale. She thought i was trying to rip her off and charge her twice and demanded i call my manager. I said okay and he came down and did the same thing i did and the customer raged even more saying that we were trying to rip her off. So i openly just said "Our register systems are piles of shit where it's hard to tell what we scanned 20 items ago so we do this to do it" and she got mad and just walked away for us and I had to then deal with the 50+ items of clothing she decided to leave. Or the countless times customers bring a fuckton of items and ask the price on each one. Meanwhile there was literally a price scanner about 10ft behind them. I point to it and they are like no it doesn't work. I walk up to it with there item and say "Yes it does." refuse to scan anything else and then they make me call my manager cause I'm not wanting to do my job.

I sure am glad I don't work retail...

I had an interview for a cashier job at a local department store for christmas. Damn.

[QUOTE=smeismastger;32338125]I work in a small shop of the electronics-recycling company, which is inside this long building with all the storages, recycling facilities etc. Generally a good workplace with generally good people to work with. Before I begin I need to tell you a bit of the background for you to fully understand, people go a bit crazy when they work here long enought. And different people have different ways of dealing with it. And I am no exception to that unspoken rule. In the small shop I work with other fellow who has been about 2 years here, he claims to have practiced several martial arts which he is especially good at when fighting against himself, wants to become God, and says that he was a general in the army. Makes occasionally weird noises while making extremely twisted faces. Then we get the two other guys who come from the recycling side to bring us stuff and just generally talk with us (and browse the internet with out computers). The other one is a fucking computer wizard to the extreme. And the other one wants to go back in time when Scandinavia was feared and respected, as a viking. And me? Oh, I am communist, facist, natzi, muslim, and extreme-buddhist. We are brought the most bizarre stuff from time to time, old clocks, Amiga's, 'futuristic' clocks from the 80's, Commondore 64's (we have tons of those). We fix them the best we can, we test them if we can, and put them on the shelfs. So you can imagine what happens when our boss brings a box (saying "there ya go, you bloody commie") that has a Soviet-Era Officer's cap and a Flag of the Soviet Union. While my co-worker is on a coffee break, I put the cap on, hang the flag on the wall, behind the counter I am positioned at. And put the Soviet Anthem playing on the computer. Mind you, this was supposed to be something to make my co-worker choke on his coffee when he comes back. However before he arrives, a customer walks in. So you can probably imagine the expression of the black wind-jacket wearing man on his 60-70's when he opens the door while looking down, watching the little step. Hears the music, and looks up. And the first thing he sees is a vigorous man, with a Soviet-Officer cap on his head, with a Soviet Union's flag hanged on the wall behind him, who then proceeds to greet him by saying "COMRADE! WELCOME TO THE PEOPLE'S USED ELECTRONICS SHOP!" He freezes on the spot, just looking at me. What felt like a several minutes, he just looked at me as I proudly smiled, with this dumb-founded, confused, surprised,-mixed expression of his. He slowly turns around and closes the door behind him I didn't have long to think about what just happened before my boss opens that same door clearly wondering what the hell the customer had stood there for, and practically explodes into laughs as he sees the scene. Then my co-worker arrives clearly wondering what the laughing and the music is about, sees my boss, then me wearing the cap, and the red flag on the wall. Nearly choking on his coffee laughing, he tells me "You crazy son of a bitch" Since the boss was a humorous guy too, no consequences were suffered.[/QUOTE] Winner winner chicken dinner!