Working in Retail Sucks

     You know that. I know that.  No one ever walks away from a day of “customer service” without wanting to drink away all the demanding customers and angry managers with a six pack of cheap beer.  If you’re like me, you can’t wait until you finally have a real job, far away from the shopping complex, making enough money so that you can buy the store you used to work for, and replace all of your old co-workers with hot blondes in bathing suits. But until that day comes, you and I will be grinding away our shoe soles on the sales floor, making fun of customers behind the cash register, and taking naps in the stock room.

     Believe me, with almost ten years of experience working retail, I’ve done and seen it all.   I’ve played wall ball on the loading docks. Bartered my own products for cookies and Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. I’ve closed my store in the middle of the day so I could chase down Paula Abdul for an autograph, and sold sex toys to women twice my age.

     But I’ve also scored a 100% on a secret shopper evaluation, earned promotions and raises, and have been kept on to work after the holidays.

     I have created this blog in order to share my stories with you, the low man on the totem pole, the guy or gal working fifteen hours one week, and four the next. Why? Because you and I are exactly alike.  We clock in, and clock out. We do our job, collect our bi-weekly paychecks and leave. But every so often, something happens during the shift that can’t possibly go unshared. We have stories to spin, adventures to tell, and we’ll be damned if our voices aren’t heard, even though they usually aren’t. We have also come across tips and tricks in order to make it through the day, and impress our supervisors with only a smidge of brown on our noses.

     Expect new tales, tips, and even “promotional” tale-tip combos every other day, as you come to my blog to read my retail yarns, and take in my advice. But just like the store manager and the employee of the month, don’t let me be the only one talking. Share your own words! I’m only one person, and although I have a wealth of tales and tips to share, I’m positive you do as well. So do not be afraid to comment on my posts and let your voice be heard, because if there is one thing us retail employees enjoy more than our lunch break, it’s reveling in other peoples misery.