confessions Archives - Page 7 of 8 - I Hate Working In Retail

Jan
4

Confessions of a retail worker

Category: confessions, Subscriber submissions Tags: confessions, Subscriber Submissions Leave a Comment

hand of young woman with multi-coloured bags with purchases

Inspired by the blog post on Elite Daily, “27 Things Anyone Who Works In Retail Wishes You Knew,” I have decided to come up with my own list to hopefully inform all you readers and help you become a more sympathetic shopper. Although the holiday season has already started, the frenzy of last-minute Christmas shoppers only grows greater day by day. As if Black Friday wasn’t terrifying enough, the prospect of working on Boxing Day haunts my dreams. Thankfully, I have not encountered many of the terrible shoppers depicted in the Elite Daily post, but I have come across a few customers who believe that it is my job to kiss their feet and bend to their every whim. Now, I know that none of you wonderful people are overly self-entitled and pretentious, but after reading this post you may find that you are not as innocent as you think. Here are some confessions that I have about working as a retailer.

I am not Customer Service, they are in the center of the mall.

I do not know how long the mall is open every day of the week. I do not know what time Santa Claus will be in the plaza. I do not know where “Store X” is. It is not my job to know any of those things. It is my job to know the details of my own job related to my shift. You are unjustified in getting mad at me for not being able to tell you when the elves will open up the play pen (even more so when I politely direct you to Customer Service).

I don’t know why the clothes are so expensive.

Just because I happen to work for a certain company does not mean I am told every single detail of how the company operates. Sure, that plain purple shirt may be $50 and made out of polyester, but I didn’t make the price. Asking me why the garment is so expensive is not going to make it any cheaper.

I don’t know why we don’t have a certain size, color, or style of clothing.

Should you feel that the brand needs sparkly purple legwarmers in their next line, feel free to email headquarters and make that suggestion. We are not trying to ruin your life or sabotage you by not carrying sparkly purple legwarmers.

I can’t return the item that you bought four months ago.

Where I work, we have a return policy of 30 days. That’s pretty generous considering most retailers give you between 7 and 12 days. If you were not told the return policy/did not ask about it, the receipt clearly outlines the details for you. It isn’t my problem that you live in Alaska and your second cousin three times removed bought you this present a couple months ago and just delivered it to you. The system will not accept your receipt and no amount of sheer will power will change that. Also, verbally abusing the cashier will not change that either. Just try selling it on Kijiji.

Speaking of returns, major holidays are not a good time for you to do a return at all.

It is fairly obvious that the store is busy when the person at the till has not moved for over 45 minutes and the line to the register is not getting any shorter. Thus, when you have waited in line for 15 minutes and there are a good number of people still behind you, it might be a good idea to wait until it’s not Boxing Day to return your item. You’ll get more money out of it anyways.

“I’m not going to shop here” or any variant of this phrase is an empty threat. Most threats are empty.

When someone says this to me, I’m not entirely sure if they believe that they are the only person who will ever shop here or what the mentality is. But unless you were planning to spend about $300 on your purchase, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. If I see you holding a $15 shirt in your hand and you’re complaining how we don’t have your size and then are unwilling to go to another store, it’s not our fault nor is it our company’s fault. There’s a slim-to-none chance that a threat will actually make us feel bad for you.

Chances are that if I can’t help you, there’s little my manager can do.

Though I may still be in the trainee phase to some degree, I’m not incompetent. If an item that is not marked as a sale item is not coming through as a sale item, then chances are that it’s not a sale item. The system doesn’t lie. Even if the item was placed with all the other sale items, you can’t just assume that the item is on sale without checking the price tag. My manager can’t magically wave her wand and give you a discount because you don’t know how to read or extrapolate information.

We understand that you’re in a hurry, the computer doesn’t.

If you literally have 5 minutes before you are supposed to be somewhere, maybe shopping around for the last 20 minutes wasn’t a good idea. No matter how fast our fingers are, there is no way for us to make the computer process something faster. The technology where I work is archaic and trust me, it annoys us more than it annoys you. Maybe try managing your time a little bit better when you go out shopping.

The freshly mopped/swept floor is not a good place for you to track your muddy boots through.

You saw me mop that section of the floor literally five seconds ago, and I’m also sure that you are aware of how dirty your shoes are. Making eye contact with me while I go back and mop the area you just walked through is not awkward for me but I hope that it’s embarrassing for you. It is especially frustrating when a customer only stays in that little area for a couple seconds and doesn’t even pick up an article of clothing. I wouldn’t mop if the store wasn’t busy, so maybe take a hint and notice how everyone else isn’t walking over the area of the floor which is noticeably cleaner than the other areas.

No, I will not get you a discount.

This one is mentioned in the blog post I initially linked, but I felt that I needed to stress the importance of this. If me telling you that I’m not allowed will not convince you to stop bothering me, maybe me telling you that it’s illegal and that we could both potentially get sued will. Yeah, it’s that serious.

Please note that this post is not meant to offend anyone, merely point out some of the annoying habits of human beings that we retailers have to put up with. We’re still humans, too.

Sourced from youthareawesome.com

Jan
2

By IHWIR Admin

You know you work at a Grocery Store and hate it when

Category: confessions, Life as a Cashier, retail lists Tags: cashier confessions, confessions, life of a cashier, retail lists Leave a Comment

This is kind of like a you know you work at a grocery store and hate it when. . . type thing. Please add to the list in the comments section below…

The List of Pet Peeves:

1) I find you irratating when you’re on your phone and I’m trying to talk to you and ask you questions. You’re a rude person.
2) I hate when people spin our little code bar that stands above our keyboard. It is not slot machine sir, you will not win but I might punch you in the face.
3) I hate it when you can’t believe that I’m carding you even though you’re this __ old. I do not care, it’s a law and I’m not breaking it for you.
4) I hate it when you give me a hard time about a price being ten cents off what the sign said on the shelf. Does it look like that’s my job? No I am a cashier, my name badge says so.
5) I hate it when I start bagging an order and they all of a sudden want paper bags, or they brought there own bags. Putting them at the beginning of the order or asking would’ve been nice.
6) I hate it when I get yelled at for forgetting to take the credits off for your bags. You get three cents a bag and only used two, wait I’ll give you six cents out of my damn pocket if it’ll make you stop crying about it.
7) I hate when I get through a whole order, the customer pays and then pulls out coupons that they forget. (Note: when you hear them go ‘Oh shoot’ as your back is turned to finish the order that means they forgot something and you might brace yourself for anger) because you then have to flash for a supervisor so they can put them in for you or tell them to go to the service desk. They think that’s taking time out of their valuable lives when really you could’ve just gone through three orders already if they didn’t hold you up.
8) I actually just hate reusable bags, I get that they are great for the enviroment but they are annoying to bag with and I believe the customer should bag their own order at that point.
9) I hate it when the customer needs to pay in ten million different ways.
10) I hate it when the customer comes through with a hundred dollar order and goes ‘shoot I only have 65 dollars.’ Guess you should’ve been keeping track of that now huh?
11) I hate it when a customer is in a hurry but they decide to go grocery shopping and then get pissed at you because of how busy it is. (Note: To those people who do that. How about you wait till after you get to wherever the hell it is you’re going to, to go shopping. Because I promise you the world hates you so much that it’ll be busy if you’re just popping in for one thing. It’s not like other people exist and need food.)
12) I hate it when people say something they think is clever but I’ve actually heard a million times. For instance: “Shoot I saved 10 cents, I can go far with that!” Ha ha. Pretty sure that’s been done before.
13) I hate it when people read my name tag and go. “OH like hopalong Cassidy.” Heard that a milllllion times (similar to number 12)
14) I hate it when people scan their own advantage cards. Whoa. This is my job, and THIS side of the register is mine, my bubble, get out.
15) I hateee it when people try to tell me how to do my job (when people give me the price of something that actually has to be weighed. . . that doesnt help.) or when they tell you that you scanned something in twice but you already caught it and voided it out. (There’s a line that goes right through it, it’s thin but visible. Just look.)
16) I hate it when people bring in their SCREAMING child and don’t do anything about it. Take them outside, tell them to shut up or just don’t bring them to a grocery store. I find it rude of you to wait in line with your screaming child and I can’t assit my customer because I can’t hear them.
17) I hate the fact that we have to tuck in our shirts. I have a bit of pudge, it doesn’t look so good with a tucked in shirt.
18) I hate that we can’t dye our hair because it’s unprofessional. I’m just a part time cashier and my hair should be the least of a customers problem, at least I’m not a bitch to them. In fact I’m the nicest and hardest worker in the store.
19) I hate it when I see a child eating an apple or banana that their parent gave to them. Those have to be weighed to be bought, so you basically are letting your child eat a stolen item in front of me and I’m pissed.
20) I hate it when people take forever to write out a check when you tell them that all they have to do is sign it and they’re going to get it right back.
21) I hate when people swipe they’re cards in a million times but the card doesn’t take and they get pissed, it’s because you’re going to fast and oh look at the screen it’s asking you to press a button. . . pay attention.
22) I hate it when people don’t use the dividers and I start scanning another persons order. Don’t fuckingggg get pissed at me because you don’t understand what these BRIGHT green little rectangular boxes are for. Oh and another tip. It’s called the Void button, *poof* the item vanished from your order. All better.
23) I hate it when people watch me press the subtotal button and they’re not finished with their order and freak out like the register is automatically going to think they’re done and pay for itself. Nope I need your cash or credit card to do that.
24) I hate when there are maybe five-six registers open and we’re starting to get lines and someone has the balls to ask me if we’re going to open another one anytime soon. We’re doing the best we can. We only have a certain amount of help during the day, there’s not a lot we can do and I’m sure you can wait. Why would you come to a grocery store and not expect there to be people?
25) I hate hate hateee when people ask me why I dont have a bagger. We literally have two baggers a day, express cashiers don’t get baggers and the two that are here have to go back and forth and bag for the 6 other registers that are open. Your arms aren’t broken, you’re not lazy. Bag your own damn groceries. The nerve of people.

Sourced from cassidydoris.blogspot.co.uk

Dec
31

By IHWIR Admin

9 SERVER CONFESSIONS AND COMPLAINTS

Category: confessions, Life as a Server Tags: confessions, life of a server Leave a Comment

9 SERVER CONFESSIONS AND COMPLAINTS FROM WHISPER

We already dug up the secrets of America’s servers, but what dark thoughts are brewing inside the mind of that lady who took your reservation? To find out, we turned yet again to the anonymous app Whisper for some host and hostess confessions. Based on these revelations, you should probably stop being a jerk to the person behind the podium. And bring bribes, just in case. Here’s what they had to share: