September 2014 - Page 8 of 18 - I Hate Working In Retail

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The 11 Worst Things About Working In A Supermarket

No matter how many people tried to warn you, you’ll often find yourself stuck back in your part-time supermarket job after graduation.

Not exactly what you were hoping 3 years of hard work would result in, and time goes on with still no sign of that dream job you were hoping to land.

“Well at least you’ve got a job”, “Think of the money!” come the cries of your friends and family. Though they make valid points, you can’t help but feel a little disappointed. Especially when you find yourself hating certain details of your supermarket job…

1. You walk into work and see this:

Mount Doom

2. The soul-destroying overtime

You find yourself accepting more overtime than you intended to, because you could do with the extra money.

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3. The interrogation you face from your family

Their questions are endless and near-impossible to answer. “How’s the job hunt coming?”, “Have you applied to any jobs recently?”, “So, when are you going to get a real job?” A real job? Back. Off.

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4. Graduate schemes

The moment the Managers come up to you and say “You’ve worked here a while now, have you thought about getting on the Graduate Scheme to become a Manager?” is the moment you soul completely leaves your body. You know you’ve worked there far too long.

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5. Your years of service

And it gets worse when you’re handed that new work badge informing you just how many years of service you’ve clocked up.

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6. Seeing old friends

Is there anything worse than seeing an old friend from School who you’ve not seen in a while? Two choices cross your mind: I could greet them with a big smile, or run and hide. Of course, there’s only one option:

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7. Realising that they will always shop at your store

You can’t avoid them forever, as much as you try. So you casually assure them that you’re only there part-time while you find a job relating to your degree (do such things exist?).

Meanwhile, they tell you how well everything is going in their life.

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8. Seeing them again, months later

You lock eyes, they see you’re still working there, you see that they’ve seen you’re still working there and you just accept the emptiness you’re left feeling.

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9. Your Co-Workers:

Everyone has annoying co-workers, but Supermarkets have a particular brand of annoying co-workers. And there are so many of them, like:

Smelly Pete

Every Supermarket has a smelly Pete. Name interchangeable.

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The one who thinks they’re hilarious

They will not leave you alone until you acknowledge this hilarity in some way.

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The co-worker who just loves fancy dress days.

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The couples.

Is there anything more annoying than a workplace romance? Nobody wants to know, everyone has to listen.

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10. The Customers:

Customers are the single worst part about working in a Supermarket, whilst also being the whole point. Generally they’re fine and pleasant, but you’ll always remember the ones who weren’t.

Like the ones who complains about everything

Like you’re the owner of the supermarket or something.

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The drunk ones

They venture in at 10 AM looking for more alcohol.

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The old, obnoxious and inappropriate ones.

No, I don’t wish to listen to your outdated, narrow-minded, unfunny ‘jokes’.

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Or the incredibly good looking one

You can never flirt with then because you’re in a disgusting uniform.

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But the worst thing is being nice to rude customers

You’re never in the mood, but you have to do it.

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11. When friends leave

They’ve finally managed to bag themselves their dream job while you’re stuck there. You’re happy for them, but gutted they’re going – it’s one less person to keep you sane.

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But at the end of the day it’s all made worth it when your shift is over and you’ve got time off to do what you want. Definitely going to make the most of it, apply to some jobs, be productive… Blah blah blah.

Sourced from the dailytouch.com

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What Working At Walmart Taught Me

walmartIf you’ve been following my blog I’ve written about how I grew up in government housing and my mistakes with my finances when I finished college. During college my mother had moved to Texas for a year due to the high cost of living in Hawaii. I joined her in the summer and got a job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. I would go into work at 10am, work until 2pm and stay at the restaurant for “rest” between 2 to 4pm. I would then work again from 4 to 10pm five days a week, for that I would earn $2.10 an hour plus tips. With the tips and the 14 hour work days it averaged out to $8 an hour. It was hard grueling work, the kitchen was manned by all illegal Mexicans except one guy who was legal. I knew this because when the health inspector came around it was only him and the owner cooking, the rest of the crew was absent.

With my determination and strong work ethic I had a plan for the long hours and grueling work.  So I did what any determined American would do, I quit Before I quit I had gotten a job at Walmart as a cashier paying $7.25 an hour.  We lived a quarter of a mile from the Walmart and had only one car so I walked to work.  (When I have children and tell them this story the walk to Walmart will become a Lincolnesque 2 mile walk.)  Some of my coworkers who saw me walking would sometimes pick me up, a few of them felt sorry for me that I had to walk to work.

$7.25 an hour at that time was a dollar over minimum wage.  Just showing up on time and not stealing anything put me in the top 15% of cashiers.  The biggest theft at retail isn’t from customers, it’s from the employees who let friends and family steal.  I would often bring lunch from home which baffled my coworkers as they would all eat there.  It didn’t make sense to me that they would spend $10 a meal which was nearly two hours of work. If you worked 8 hours with lunch, snacking, and the driving associated with the job you would net only 5.5 hours of pay once you paid that all out.

Working at a nearly minimum wage job meant devoting your entire life to it.  My schedule was made weekly, so I didn’t know what shifts or time I would be working .  I would often work 39 hours on various days so they wouldn’t have to pay me benefits, although when they were short I would sometimes get 60 hours.    Since I was in college couldn’t care less about health insurance, but for others they had to get several part time jobs to survive.  Here’s  some of the sad truth:  Someone in their 40s who makes minimum wage there is a reason why they make that.  Often not the smartest person and even simple tasks like scanning was a struggle.

There were two girls I would try to flirt with.  One was receptive, but since our schedules didn’t match up we couldn’t hang out.  Plus I was always physically tired so I wouldn’t even know what to do ( I don’t know how some guys can do the unhook the bra with one hand, that takes talent)  The other told me to ask her out only after I finished college and got a “real” job because I was actually worse off than anyone there because I had negative net worth with my student loans.  She was right,  if I dropped out of college with my at the time $18,000 in student loans I would be worse off than the average Walmart employee.  I couldn’t find love in Walmart.

Some of my young coworkers were going to college, while most had no plan.  They were actually more concerned about getting a new car, rims or saving to go on a nice vacation.  That summer I had never worked so hard in my entire life.  I was extremely grateful for that experience, because that reminded me that the world is full of shitty jobs and busting ass as a poor student wasn’t one of them.

I’m blessed that I now make more in a day than I made in an entire week at Walmart. When I need to work 50-60 hours a week at my job I remember that it’s more rewarding than working those hours at Walmart.  My experiences there is a major reason why I’ve stayed with my company for 15 years, I’ve come out farther ahead job hopping for higher pay.  With tenure and demonstrating my value I’ve been fortunate never to have been laid off, something that could’ve happen if I job hopped.    If it wasn’t for my Walmart job experience I most likely would slack off and take my job for granted, or worse constantly complain about my job.  My colleagues think they have stress, stress is trying to live on $7.25 an hour.

What job shaped your work experience or define you? How exactly does someone find love in Walmart?

Sourced from gettingarichlife.com

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26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

1. #JustASale #CalmDown

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

CW / Via youtube.com

2. #DontActuallyCare

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

AMC / Via pandawhale.com

3. #DidntNeedToKnowThat

#DidntNeedToKnowThat

4. #KnowEveryWord #Top40IsRuiningMyLife

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

Miramax Films / Via aoidos.tumblr.com

5. #DontHaveAnUnlimitedSupply

#DontHaveAnUnlimitedSupply

6. #NeverEnoughCaffeine

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

7. #ThisIsMyHell

Who the hell poops on the salesfloor? Like literally on the salesfloor. #kmartproblems @Kmartproblems @Kmartprobbss#retailproblems

8. #MoreBandaidsPlease

#MoreBandaidsPlease

9. #ThatDisplayTookMeTwoHours

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

Sony Pictures / Via youtube.com

10. #OhGod #ThatsWhyIKnocked

#OhGod #ThatsWhyIKnocked

Sony Pictures / Via nydailynews.com

11. #NotYourBabysitter

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

12. #NotYourMaid

#NotYourMaid

13. #WhatsAWeekend

14. #TooEarlyForThisShit

15. #MostHorribleTimeOfTheYear

#MostHorribleTimeOfTheYear

16. #StockRoom #WhatNightmaresAreMadeOf

17. #ShouldBeObvious

#ShouldBeObvious

18. #BlackFriday #WhatHaveIDoneToDeserveThis

#BlackFriday #WhatHaveIDoneToDeserveThis

Matthew Peyton / Getty Images

19. #Oh #YoureNotJoking

#Oh #YoureNotJoking

20. #SmileLikeYouMeanIt

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

FOX / Via reactiongifs.com

21. #RequestedThisDayOffWeeksAgo

#RequestedThisDayOffWeeksAgo

NBC / Via youtube.com

22. #IDontSetThePrices

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

23. #YourBitchingDoesntWorkOnMe

#YourBitchingDoesntWorkOnMe

CBS / Via izismile.com

24. #Returns #ThereGoesMySalesGoal

25. #NotACostumeShop

26 Shamelessly Honest Retail Hashtags

Sony Pictures / Via youtube.com

 

Sourced from Buzzfeed.com