I work at Target Canada. This is my first retail job, and like every job there are a lot of things to be disliked. Since I have officially been at Target for a year, I figured I share with you how my experience working retail has been so far; so here is a list of the top 10 things I hate about retail.

10) Cleaning up after people.
I get it, a lot have people haven’t had the chance to work retail to realize how irritating it is when people put things in a spot right beside where they go. But seriously, it’s not that hard to put something away when you’re in the same isle. Same with your kids; teach them some decency and have them put things back where they belong.

9) Screaming Children.
I understand that sometimes your kids are going to cry, and there is nothing you can do about it. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t drive me crazy.

8) Friday nights.
When I was a teenager, the way I liked to spend my Friday nights was playing stupid games with my friends, hanging out and drinking at the skate park, or having a campfire at the beach. But that could also be that I grew up in a small town where malls didn’t exist.  However I still don’t see the appeal of hanging out at the mall. They also like to play “pranks.” I remember this one time some kids took an entire box of chocolate bars and left them in random places around the store… seriously? That’s how you want to spend you’re Friday night?

7) Crazy Couponers.
Ok, I do understand the appeal of saving insane amounts of money. But some people just get out of control. I once watched a crazy couponer let her child run bare foot through the store, and left her in charge of her baby, please have some decency. Also, please understand that ringing through your items takes a lot longer when you have coupons, and sometimes our machines don’t agree; and don’t get bitchy when your read the coupon incorrectly and I point out your error. Thankfully I am not a cashier and I only have to deal with this occasionally, but still. Overall, just be nice if you are couponing, I’m already not pleased that I have to deal with your coupons, please don’t make the experience any more unbearable.

6) When products are sold out.
Alright, you need to understand that yes, we are going to sell out of products. It happens, and no there is not a secret stash of magical products hidden in the back, nor will any amount of complaining you do suddenly make the product appear; and no, just because it’s on sale, it doesn’t mean we will have an unlimited supply. Sorry. Also, threatening to shop elsewhere because we don’t have a product in stock doesn’t bother me either. I recently had a customer say to me “Well I guess you’re not getting a sale from us” because we didn’t have the product they wanted in stock, and were not willing to consider a different product; this also will not make the product magically appear, so by all means, go somewhere else. I will try to help you the best I can by trying to find another product to suit your needs; but at the end of the day it doesn’t affect, I am not on commission.

5) Opening products.
This I also understand; some people need to see the whole product to be able to decide if they like it or not. However there is a right way and wrong way to do this. The right way is to gently open the packaging and try to avoid destroying it so that the product can be put back in its packaging, if you do not do it yourself; which as much as it annoys me to find random products unpackaged, it doesn’t bother me as much as people who open packaging the wrong way. The people who do it wrong way make me think I live in a world of savages. These “savages” like to violently tear open the packaging (seriously, its only tape not vice grips keeping it sealed) ultimately destroying it making it nearly impossible to assemble the scraps you left me with into something that kind of looks like the packaging that once contained the product. It’s almost like the get their joy from tearing packages to unrecognizable shreds of cardboard. Please, channel your destructive urges into something else… please….

4) Yogurt in the towels.
Alright, I do understand then while shopping you do change your mind sometimes. I get it, I do too. But seriously, please don’t leave refrigerated or frozen products elsewhere in the store so they can sit and go bad. It’s a waste because we can no longer sell them after they have been sitting out for some questionable amount of time. You can simply hand it to an employee you pass by while shopping, or even keep until you go to check-out and tell the cashier you don’t want it anymore (as well as with any other product) and they will ensure it is promptly returned to is proper place. It’s really that simple. No one likes finding a container of spoiled yogurt hidden behind some towels…

3) Target Canada vs. Target USA
My Target is in a border city, so we experienced this more so. Customers were always complaining and comparing our prices to those at am American Target. I’m sorry that we are in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY and our prices are not the same, the costs to run a business here are a lot different than in America. Just because we are a company that originated in America, does not mean we will be exactly like it is in America.

2) Complaining about prices.
Yes. I am aware that Target’s prices are not as low as Wal-Mart’s. However we carry better quality products, and if you’re not willing to pay for good products, then go to Wal-Mart. No amount of complaining about our prices will allow me to change them or make them magically lower.

1) Wal-Mart vs. Target
I hate when people say “Fine, I’ll just go to Wal-Mart.” Seriously, go right ahead. If you like trying to shop in poorly laid out store, with random shelves in the middle of the main isles and you feel like waiting in line for half an hour, or having to walk across half the store to find someone to help you only for them to tell you that they cannot help you with what you need help with; sure, by all means, go to Wal-Mart