This month I hit three whole years at my first job, where I’ve kept working even after I went to college. Few people my age have had any job for three years, and I thought my advice to others would be valuable. I can still remember being incredibly nervous for the first couple of months, so I made a list of advice that I wish I had heard.
- Customers are kind of terrible. Don’t take it personally.
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Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some wonderful people at work, but far and wide, the people you will be serving at work can be mean. Sadly, you’re just another person catering to their whims during their day, and they don’t have nearly as much knowledge about your store as you do. Do not take it personally. Not to flex too much, but I’ve only had one customer make me cry at the register, and looking back, she was simply angry and I was the person she could direct it at. Through working retail, I’ve been able to be more supportive of sales associates at other stores and understand that work is not the only thing on their minds and that they are humans, just like me.
- You will only keep learning!
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Despite three years at my store, I learn something new every shift. Whether it’s dealing with gift cards, returns, taking inventory, I have to learn something new every time, and it really keeps me on my toes! When Coronavirus hit, I eventually went back to work packaging online orders from our store’s stock, which had been something I had never done before. Since then, I’ve started to help with unpacking new stock, doing deep cleaning of the store, and countless other things. There are truly infinite things to be done in a store, which leads to a constantly exciting workplace, but little down time.
- Holidays really are… like that
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I have now worked three different Black Fridays and they are truly the strangest day. You get customers who seem to want to buy the whole store, someone who came for a few very specific things, and somehow always someone who forgot it was Black Friday and wants to do a return. The workload is heavy on weekends in November and December, and your store may have a holiday playlist filled with your least favorite wintery songs, but if you can make it through the weekend before Christmas, you are ready to handle literally any and everything life can throw at you.
- You will meet so many great people!
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I started working at my store junior year of high school at 16, and got to meet so many people who also went to high school with me that I had just never interacted with. As of right now, I have friends who are still in high school, people who just graduated from college, and even a few coworkers who could easily be my parent. Retail can be an incredibly stressful working environment, and having some shoulders to lean on (while socially distancing!) is not only expected, it’s inevitable.
Despite its ups and downs, I wouldn’t trade my retail experience for the world. I ended up growing so much at my store, and I would recommend it to anyone willing to! Retail jobs are ever-changing because of COVID, but once things settle, a retail job is truly wonderful.