We have had our fair share of retail nightmares, with the people that make your life a living hell as soon as you walk out onto the sales floor. You, of course, had the Karens, the boomers, and even the children whose parents seem to be gone in a blink of an eye. Being a senior in college, I had to make my pizza and movie money somehow so I have had my fair share of retail jobs and trust me, I have met my fair share of crazy. Now I am not saying that all of my experiences are bad, they aren’t, but you get those stories that stick with you, the stories that make you beg for when you are at your 9-5 desk job. Not that you ever really get away from the everlong curse of the rude customers. What I do want to look at is the different myths that I have run into.
One of the first ones that I run into is that only older generations treat the retail worker
poorly. That is so not true, it really just depends on the person. Working in many different places you get to see a lot of customers, and working at a grocery store I can tell you that I have seen college students treat my coworkers poorly. I have been snapped at because I did not know that a customer wanted paper and she was my age. At the grocery store, I work at, we offer a discount for college students, we were taught to see the student’s id or really anything that proves they are in school. I usually let this one slide, but if they have it within reach and show me it that is even better. I have had so many college ids shoved in my face, along with our rewards cards, I have been scoffed at for asking for an id. So do not think that the older generations, like the boomers, are the only ones who act like we are inferior to them.
The next myth that I hear a lot is that we don’t actually look when we go to the backroom. I don’t know if that is true for everyone, but when I go back I actually do try to find what a customer wants. Although I am not going to lie, I have had rude customers, and especially when you know that something is out, but you need a break from the floor, I at least try to check the back for the item. I think that you really have to understand that just because we look in the back for the item, it does not make the item magically appear. I have looked in the back for something for about 10 minutes just so I didn’t have to make the customer wait on me, and I get questioned if I am really out of something.
Another myth is that we know where everything is in the store, even in the little obscure things. I promise you that I have worked at my grocery store for about 2 years and I am still finding out where things are, I have managers where we have to walk around the store. So please be patient with us, we are just as confused as you are, we are just in a uniform. I have found so many things that I didn’t even know we sold and maybe it’s something I have been looking for as well.
While I am sure there are many more myths I can list onto this article and make it 30 pages, I am going to stop it at these three. Just remember that when you go into any retail store, or grocery store, treat the employees with respect. We are people too and are tired of the millions of things we have to worry about going wrong in a day.