What I Learned From Retail

Hey all!

I know I have been absent from here for a little but. Between moving into college and my last few days of work I have been busier than a bee.

I did just finish my job last week which was bittersweet because I only worked there for almost 2 months. Yes it was definitely a summer job. I thought I would talk about what I have learned after working in retail. Now keep in mind I am not complaining in anyway about my job or even bragging about perks or anything. This is just a post about what I learned working a first job and some things I picked up about retail and how things work.

So here we go!

People and customers. You meet interesting people. I already knew going into the job, where it was located, I was going to get some stuck up or snobby people. But it has also been rewarding to get customers who totally make your day and put a smile on your face and are SO understanding when you mess up. For example at least once a week our systems would go down and we couldn't make a sale. I had 2 people wanting to buy something little and I couldn't do anything because the computers wouldn't accept any kind of payment. 1 person got mad and stormed off. But the other waited almost 30 minutes until we finally got it straightened out. She was so nice and totally patient with everything that I just kept thanking her over and over for being so patient. But she just kept saying how she didn't have anywhere to be so it didn't matter. And then there is the bad side of people. One of the last days of work we were completely swamped. I'm talking a straight hour we had 3 people on register swamped. People are going to make mistakes when things like that happen. So this women comes up to one of my coworkers ( while she's in the middle of a sale) and starts yelling at her to give her socks to her. My coworker looks at the women confused as to why she demanded her socks when she didn't even buy them in the first place. She proceeded to yell at her for being the worst person at her job shes ever seen and then me for telling the person to calm down or I would get management. then she walked away and found my manager and told her what I said and we both had no support. My coworker went to the backroom and cried for an our then went home. So that was definitely an experience I will never forget.

Managers and coworkers. First off I am totally biased when it comes to my managers because the person I love more than anyone was Stacy. She trained me on cashier and everything and I loved the way she taught me. Making it fun and still about work at the same time. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of coworkers that are super nice but she was definitely more of a friend to me and 2 others who I still talk to but of course there's always drama. I had 1 coworker who basically tried to get me in trouble every second by telling me miss information. I also had a manager who every time she gave me a task to do she would make me ring people up while she was talking on the phone. So it was definitely a hazing process. When you're new in a work environment people who have been there longer definitely will treat you like a new toy they can play with. I had a hard time coming to terms with some people are just going to treat you like a 4 year old and not like you and there won't be a lot you can do to change there mind.

Last but not least the work itself. I actually almost fainted when I worked over a 7 hour shift at work. It was my 3rd day working there and someone called in sick so they kept me the rest of the day. I also thought the breaks weren't enough. you get one 30 min break if you work 5 hours. I would work 4.75 hours and they give you a 15 minute break. And it would be in the middle of lunch and I didn't know when I would be working that long or not so I never packed anything for lunch. So there were a lot of miss communication. There are so many times when I wanted to scribble off the price of something and make it cheaper. Honestly that's so frustrating when you work somewhere that is so expensive and even YOU think its outrageous. But you can't say it to customers either because you need to sell your product!

Overall I loved my job. People really make your day when they are genuine and really felt like you helped someone out today. OR you made a girl smile from putting a super cute outfit for her together. I just love to make people laugh or happy. :) Definitely can't wait to get another job and I am hoping its retail!!

Hope you enjoyed this post. Will be putting up photos of my dorm and the city tomorrow and then my first day of college outfit on Thursday! Stay tuned.

xoxo,
Malori