Retail Worker Venting Thread. (insurance, 100,000, money, business)

[oreillypartshatred]

has anyone thought of how is life for someone that works at an auto parts store? I live in a border town, and it is pretty damn horrible. I get these mechanic men, missing teeth, sweaty, armpit smell, HORRIBLE breath, mostly smells like rotten mexican food...from the night before, also people asking for a part and they dont know what car they drive, or they just point at it expecting you know the fricken year, make, model, AND submodel. Also not just that, people that order parts and the depot messes up or is late or something like that and they wanna chew your head off because they have to work the next day, or have something to do. Also they bring the most bizarre parts and expect you know how how the part is named. At my work place we are forced to say hi to EVERY single customer that walks in, and there are MANY insensitive customers that just walk by without even acknowledging your existence, AND a minute later they go to you and ask you some question. Also some customers expect you to change their battery, or put oil in their car. ALSO we must answer the phone before it rings 3 times... it rings VERY OFTEN and you must answer it even when you're busy helping a customer. I cant wait to get the hell out of the automotive business. Im already looking for another job, one that I like, and YES I am definitely DONE with fricken customer service jobs.

[davecj]

I worked at an old navy for just under a year after I graduated college.

I had a person ask where the women's section is (left half of the store)

I had a customer berate me over an employee that accused her boyfriend of stealing. The employee was part of our mentally handicapped outreach program.

After folding and organizing 500+ pairs of jeans, one adult tears the shelf apart because she can't find what she's looking for.

At 6am on Black Friday I had an adult say something very awful to the high school aged girl in front of them in line because she took an extra three seconds to get her money out.

I stopped two people from stealing several hundred dollars in clothes and almost got fired.

I was accused by corporate of stealing money from the registers. I resigned in disgust with the company. Money continued disappearing until they found an employee had a register key in his locker.

Women would bring clothes into the dressing room to use as tampons.

People would return items all the time from other stores. We don't accept Abercrombie clothes.

People would load up a cart with items, come to the register and say they were returning half and want to exchange for the other half. Management let this go on forever. Our return policy on old navy branded items was a joke.

[himain]

As a server, you have to love the people who come in and eat all of their meal except two bites and then say they didn't like it and get it comped off their check. WTF??? At least my manager at my last place used to say this "I could have helped you the first 2 or 3 bites in but not after you ate the whole thing" Their faces were priceless!!! I loved it, lol. I'm so tired of people getting shyt for free that they shouldn't.

I'm going to try walking into Ruths Chris and pulling that on a $45 New York Strip.

[veuvegirl]

Some of these stories are fantastic!

Some are seriously? That is part of your job!

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by davecj

I worked at an old navy for just under a year after I graduated college.

I had a person ask where the women's section is (left half of the store)

I had a customer berate me over an employee that accused her boyfriend of stealing. The employee was part of our mentally handicapped outreach program.

After folding and organizing 500+ pairs of jeans, one adult tears the shelf apart because she can't find what she's looking for.

At 6am on Black Friday I had an adult say something very awful to the high school aged girl in front of them in line because she took an extra three seconds to get her money out.

I stopped two people from stealing several hundred dollars in clothes and almost got fired.

I was accused by corporate of stealing money from the registers. I resigned in disgust with the company. Money continued disappearing until they found an employee had a register key in his locker.

Women would bring clothes into the dressing room to use as tampons.

People would return items all the time from other stores. We don't accept Abercrombie clothes.

People would load up a cart with items, come to the register and say they were returning half and want to exchange for the other half. Management let this go on forever. Our return policy on old navy branded items was a joke.

You know ... Store should do a better job at organizing the folded items ... How can a customer locate their size if it's buried underneath a pile of jeans? I know it is frustrating to have to refold all that stuff so why can't the items be sorted by size and type versus having multiple sizes in the same pile?

Regarding the rest ... Those customer behaviors are ridiculous!

[veuvegirl]

Originally Posted by Chatteress

You know ... Store should do a better job at organizing the folded items ... How can a customer locate their size if it's buried underneath a pile of jeans? I know it is frustrating to have to refold all that stuff so why can't the items be sorted by size and type versus having multiple sizes in the same pile?

Regarding the rest ... Those customer behaviors are ridiculous!

The way the store is merchandised is usually dictated by corporate, not the individual store. That said, there are many stores don't mark the jeans/shirts whatever effectively enough to make it easy on the customer.

[thebunny]

Corporate's answer to that is there should be an employee available to assist every customer, so there is no issue with the customer's making a mess or being unable to find their size.

Then they give a store enough payroll to only have 2 people working at a time. And one of them is required to be at the cash register at all times, or at least in the general vicinity of it, so there is essentially only one person on the sales floor. 2 customers walk in, and all of a sudden the store is a mess as corporate's brilliant "every customer should be helped" plan falls by the side the minute one person is attempting to help 2 customers.

I was in retail management for a number of years, for companies I guarantee you have heard of, and all of them have this philosophy.

[fallingwater]

Something about working in the service industry makes the general public think you are some sort of whipping post. Even before I started working retail it never occured to me to treat people that terribly. Teenagers could be a real joy. Its entertainment to go to a store and act an ass. I worked for a major retail store that is known for a particular trashy cliental. I actually had never shopped at this particular chain so I didnt get all the jokes until I started working there. I had seen customers come in half naked, dirty, smelly and just out and out crazy.

-Had a woman walk up to me and say, "where can I find this bra" and then proceeded to lift her shirt to show me the bra she was wearing. Which was extremely filthy ::

-Christmas was always fun. The husband's that waited until 9 p.m. on Christmas eve to get their wives something. Then are all pissed off because the selection is low. I had a guy ask me to help him find a sweater for his wife. I asked him what size she wore. He eyed me up and down and said that his wife was the same size as me, but not as fat. Wow...umm..thanks? Saw a few fist fights in the electronics dept. After awhile its entertainment while working.

-A woman was trying on swimsuits and it was quite obvious she was doing so without underwear on. Another employee mentioned the rule, so the customer urinated in the fitting room. Real classy.Fitting rooms are great for changing diapers, taking a dump or whatever else comes to mind. Stores with carpet scare me.

-Never saw so many thieves in one place in my life. Families that came in and worked together. They knew what dollar amount to steal without charges being pressed against them. Caught a woman stuffing merchandise in her baby's diaper in the rest room.

-Every night we had to repackage socks and underwear. Just amazed me how so many people would tear open a pair of socks to see what size they were. I mean seriously? You dont know what sock size you are?

Management could be down right crazy. They worked their way up to a decent wage and would crush anyone beneath them. Had one manager that would never say hello to anyone. On my first day I said hi to him, he gave me a look like who do you think you are and another employee said, "ohh...don't say hi to him. He doesnt like it." So every opportunity I could I said, "HEY, HOW YA DOING?!"

-very small children that are left alone and the parents almost act like they are trying to get rid of them.

As an employee you are always under suspicion for stealing. That bothered me the most. I rarely shopped there because of it but one night I was tired and needed to pick up a few things. On the way out, it was mandatory you showed your reciept to the gate keeper . Customers walking in and out but as an employee your bags were searched. Well low and behold at the bottom of the shopping basket was a single kitchen sponge I had picked up and wasn't rang up. I forgot about it and when I was on my way out the door greeter saw it and made a fuss. She called a manager over to report that I had tried to steal the sponge. I cant stand cheaters and stealers so to be accused of it over a freaking 1.20 sponge, I lost it. The manager told me to settle down and said he knew it was a mistake. The next day I came in and that door greeter had told half the store that I had tried to steal a sponge. I went to HR and had her hauled in. They told her if she kept talking about the incident they would write her up. I never bought another single thing from that store. The discount was useless to me.

I then moved into retail merchandising. Worked my own hours, boss was several hundred miles away, got paid mileage. Well...it had a whole new set of problems. Employees would get pissed that I was entering into their domain. I had a dept manager threaten to beat me up because I changed an end cap in his dept. Store manager apologized and said the guy was bipolar and off his meds again. Lovely. What most people dont know is Black & Decker and other manufacturers actually pay retail establishments for retail space. They rent end caps and certain sectors of the store so their merchandise is the first thing customers see. So refusing me ended up with a very peeved manufacturer and a call to the corporate office and then it would trickle down to the store manager. It was a delicate balance of making everyone happy.

Retail ages you. Your feet will hurt more than you ever thought possible. I had to buy new shoes every other month just to get that cushion. People I had worked with that had been in it for years had heel spurs and a host of other aliments. I developed tennis elbow working in retail. Every now and then its sparks up and I need to wear a brace for a week or two. My souvenir.

[NoMoreRetail]

I entirely agree with the OP. I'm tired of retail especially cashiers position. Now I want to apply to non-retail jobs and retail jobs outside the cash register but I'm always pushed into cashiers position. I'm sick and tired of that!

[LeisureMan]

I was carrying a 32" TV (CRT type, the one with the tube, so heavy ) one time and two college girls stop me and ask me to direct them to the womens dept. Without putting the TV on the ground, I directed them, and as they walked away, the dumber one of the two asked the other why I didn't point them in the direction or take them there. The brighter bulb told the dimmer one that I was carrying a huge TV, duh. The dimmer bulb said she didn't even notice.

I've had idiots standing in the middle of sporting goods asking me where they could find boys underwear. Uh, obviously over in chemicals next to the Tide, stupid. Seriously, if you are too dumb to figure out that stuff like underwear has to be somewhere in the store where clothes are sold and keep an eye out for that, then maybe you should stay home and hire a care taker.

Some woman was asking me about a tent, and in the middle of my speech, she rips a huge fart and acts like nothing happened. Come to think of it, alot of farting goes on by customers who think nobody is listening.

I've been off the clock making a quick dash to pick one or two items, not changing clothes, but carrying a hand basket, looking at or talking on my cell phone, and name badge off, only to have people stop me and get huffy, call me f'ing stupid, and threaten physical violence for informing them that I am off the clock and company policy forbade me from helping them. Again, if you are so stupid as to be looking for light bulbs in the candy aisle, you might want to voluntarily revoke your drivers license, hire a care taker and never leave the house again. Obviously too stupid to put 1+1 together.