I have not worked in retail for all that long, probably close to eight months now, but that has not kept me from experiencing a variety of things that have either made me love my current job or made me want to quit. I will say during this time I have gotten to know some of my regulars pretty well, which can be a blessing and a curse. Yet, through all of this, I have gathered many stories to tell.
To start, I have been screamed at by a customer not knowing her password to her own account. Where I work, we use some coupons through our app and you need to have your account set up and need to clip them on your app to use them. This older lady needed help clipping the coupon so I walked her through the whole process and when it came to logging into the account to place the coupon into her account she went off. Somehow she made it seem like it was my fault she did not remember her password. I sat there for an hour before she told me she did not know her account information – all for her to tell me she’s “never coming back”, which I gladly did not protest.
Another experience would be I have been asked some very derogatory or invasive questions. For one example, I had a customer ask if I was even old enough to work because I supposedly looked fifteen. This was not the disgusting part, the issue was then he proceeded to say, “You’re very enthusiastic about your job… Are you that enthusiastic in bed too?”. It is safe to say I was pulled off the register pretty quickly that night. I have also been asked about my political opinions, been asked a variety of questions relating to women’s health care, and many many more invasive questions.
Some honorable mentions are the amount of oversharing that people do. They will tell you anything about their lives from family, relationships, all the way down to their health at that very moment. I get told about family fights, attempted to be roped into breaking up an argument between spouses, and told all about their bowel issues. Working at the front of a store that has a pharmacy means I get a lot of angry customers calling to yell about the pharmacy or yelling at me at the register about something or someone in the pharmacy. All I can really do is either listen and apologize and then have to transfer them back to the pharmacy or smile and nod.
However, with all of that, I would still say working in retail has been such an experience and one hundred percent helped me respect and empathize with other retail workers too. I think most people should work in retail or customer service for at least a short period because it teaches you so much.