Anyone her ever worked in retail? Any horror stories?

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liloleme
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11 Sep 2008, 12:11 pm

I worked at a little grocery store in the mountain community where I lived. The owners would watch me on camera and call me back to the office all the time. "you need to smile more"......"you are not talking to the customers enough"....."you are staring off into space". Talk about being paranoid, knowing someone is staring at you and judging everything that you do. I finally said to them that if they gave me some postitive feedback it would be helpful and they told me that they had nothing positive to say about my work perfomance....I quit.



Triangular_Trees
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11 Sep 2008, 8:05 pm

liloleme wrote:
I worked at a little grocery store in the mountain community where I lived. The owners would watch me on camera and call me back to the office all the time. "you need to smile more"......"you are not talking to the customers enough"....."you are staring off into space". Talk about being paranoid, knowing someone is staring at you and judging everything that you do. I finally said to them that if they gave me some postitive feedback it would be helpful and they told me that they had nothing positive to say about my work perfomance....I quit.


I think I would have picked a strange customer I was sure they didn't know who didn't come in to often and when they chastised me about not smiling/chatting with him, I'd say something like "I wasn't smiling because I didn't want to encourage his behavior. he kept commenting on my cleavage and asking if I'd like to go out to his car with him. " of course with my luck, that guy would probably be the owners out-of-state brother who had decide to stop in on his way to visit them


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Eggman
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12 Sep 2008, 3:18 am

yes. no.



hale_bopp
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12 Sep 2008, 4:28 am

Most places have horror stories.

Some of the bosses don't like me here, but it really is their problem. The head chef hates me because I'm rude to him even though he talks to me like i'm dirt. People shouldn't have to put up with him, the stupid pricks is going to really get it when I'm in a bad mood.



ScottF
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12 Sep 2008, 6:55 pm

I used to work pizza delivery for 10 years. Try these little tid bits on for size. The husband yelling at his wife that she gave me too much money( tip), the 400lb guy that answered the door in nothing but tighty whities, Oh, anyone remember the February 2007 Ice Storm??? I drove in that. The people that make comments on how the "feel bad" that you have to pay for your own gas, and then "tip" you 50 cents. Oh, then there is the white trash who don't tip you and THEN ask if they can have a couple of YOUR cigarettes, huh?? Or having a car accident on the way to a delivery because the 18 wheeler was making an improper turn( totalled).


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AJGeni
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15 Sep 2008, 2:40 pm

Damn some of these storries are pretty bad, but it dont suprise me what with the way we live in everything having to be politically correct. Pollitically shite i say.

I hated retail with a vengence, just cant deal with face to face public. I still deal with the public now but over the phone from a comfy office where i dont have to see there nasty ass faces. Im a debt collection specialist so am dealing with conflict with just about every call but you learn to deal with it and have an answer for everything they throw at you. Its a borring job and quite emotionaly draining but i deal with it cause it pays pretty good.

If you wanting a story about retail humm let me think there were quite a few.

There was one were i was working at the local super market and i was on the till (register) on my own and it had gotten pretty busy. I had just had my toungue pirced so couldnt speak very well, I had put a little note up next to me saying " Sorry im not being rude i just cant talk right now it hurts too much" which was working just fine, if the customer would ask me somthing id just point.
So Im working there and this but ugly lesbian that used to come in decedes to try walking out with beer right infront of me so i shout out in front of long line of customer waitting to be served " ouhhh arnt ust ork out iv out aying or it" feeling very stupid lol and haveing to argue that you have to pay for somthing before leaving not later when they feel up to it. More of a funny story when i look back on it but at the time i was pretty annoyed.



Joe90
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20 Aug 2010, 12:45 pm

I work in a charity shop at the moment and I get very anxious when I'm put on the till for more than half an hour or so. I don't like to say no, because the managers have a lot of paperwork to do and very little time to do other things, and we don't get many other volunteers in either, so it's always left to me to sit on the till. I feel afraid that customers might take advantage of my unconfidentness because of my lack of confidence to ''speak up''. One time a woman came in and I saw that she had scribbled a lower price over the given price, and I said, ''that's supposed to be 4.99, not 2.00,'' and the woman just said, ''no, it must have been reduced.'' I don't like starting arguments with people I don't know, so I said, ''all right, it's 2.00 then.'' I knew I'd get in trouble if the managers knew I was letting the customers get away with having things for less than what they were.
It's all very well to tell me that I should try my hardest to speak up, but my AS holds me back from doing this. That's why it's advisory for me not to work somewhere where I've got to deal with people, because I let them get away with murder.
It's my low self-esteem too. Customers can see I'm a shy, nervous mug just by looking at me, so they know to take advantage of it.



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24 Aug 2010, 6:19 pm

I don't seem to have any problem speaking up, but sometimes I feel 'handicapped' by not knowing all of the things we are and ar not allowed to do. Especially if a customer is trying to use coupons that are kind of 'doubtful.' :?


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Erisad
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24 Aug 2010, 6:45 pm

I worked as a cashier at the Family Dollar and McDonald's. At the dollar store, I had a creepy 50 year old cuban man smell my neck and tell me how ravishing I looked. I was 18. He kept trying to get my number. My manager's husband ended up meeting up with the cuban off store grounds and held him at gun point. "I think you'd better leave her alone."

"Is that loaded?"

"Do you wanna find out?"

He never bothered me again and encouraged other guys to never hit on me. XD

I'll probably post some horror stories about McDonald's later. :D



hale_bopp
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24 Aug 2010, 7:26 pm

The main problem I had working in retail was the customers.

Losers most of them. Made my job compeltely unpleasant. I was just about to the point where I wanted to tell them to go and get an education.

Some of the employees I had no time for.



Io
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24 Aug 2010, 8:04 pm

It was rather infuriating watching people come up to me buying so much sodas and candy with their food stamps. At least we know our tax dollars are going to a good cause! :roll:



Metalwolf
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25 Aug 2010, 9:01 pm

Io wrote:
It was rather infuriating watching people come up to me buying so much sodas and candy with their food stamps. At least we know our tax dollars are going to a good cause! :roll:
Seriously! Or seeing them use WIC checks, and then right after having to ring them up 50 dollars worth of junk food. Whenever I see that, I think, "Why didn't you just use THAT money on the milk and eggs, and not have me feel like my tax dollars are being wasted on you. Especially as I am also LOW INCOME, and thus my pitiable little check is being whittled down yet further, just so you can get 'free' milk and eggs." :evil:


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nthach
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30 Aug 2010, 2:12 pm

I used to work at Hollister - yes it's NT land and people saw me as nice but odd but I managed to go to a few bonfires and dinners with my coworkers.

I was the only one that treated customers fairly, but I saw my fair share of irate soccer moms and weirdos.



spooky13
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30 Aug 2010, 7:20 pm

Retail hell, I've lived it. I had posted this a while back somewhere.

It was bad enough dealing with people normally, (I worked in a store similar to Walmart) but working in the toy dept. was a nightmare. Kids running around opening things, some trying to take off on the bikes, parents dropping them off like it was daycare, I'd found a few wandering toddlers alone.
The service desk. What a fun place, lol! You wouldn't believe some of the things people tried to return, and scream at me when we told them no. My personal favorite was a woman who tried to retun a shirt that had blood stains on it.

Best thing I found shoved into a shelf: A dirty diaper.


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CobaltBlew
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30 Aug 2010, 10:33 pm

Krickey wrote:
Retail sucks, but if you can find a job selling things you're passionate about, you'll be happy.


Really? All those negative comments were making me worry.



Last edited by CobaltBlew on 31 Aug 2010, 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

Sandee
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31 Aug 2010, 1:34 am

Sure, I had two. One in 1999 when I was about 24 - I worked at K-Mark in Milwaukee. (I did not know about Autism or AS until 2005). I also desired a job in retial back then.

I was accused of stealing $20 from the drawer. I know why. I didn't know how to do the rainchecks properly - I mean in the correct order - they did not allow anyone to have a cheat sheet. Like I'm going to remember all the steps needed to do something like that? I was at K-Mark for 8 weeks - in the summer of 1999 - before I went back to bible college. God - I can't stand retail.

The other job was a Burkes Outlet in Murrieta, CA. I was again, a casheir. I still did not know about AS since this was 2002. I remember having to do the dreaded RETURNS. Yuck. Again, I was not allowed to have a cheat sheet and I was told that I must remember how to do these returns. I quit the job after 2 or 3 months.

I will NEVER ever ever work in retail again. Well, not as a cashier. I'll stock shelves though - and I know Wal-Mart needs helpers since the customers always just put stuff any ole place. Hire me, Wal-Mart. You won't go wrong with an Aspie.