Working Retail is A Character Development Arc.

    As somebody who worked retail for a year and a half, I can safely say I got out at the last possible moment before my sanity snapped. For context, my first retail job was at a chocolate shop in a mall. For legal purposes because I am about to bash on this shop, we will call it Rookie’s Mountain. I worked there for an entire two days before I quit during training. Sure, I felt like a failure for it, but there were a lot of red flags. However, I didn’t have any unpleasant experiences with customers, although one guy made a show of giving me a large tip but he accidentally put the money in the trash cup instead of the tip jar. After quitting, I applied to a chain petstore and was accepted pretty quickly based on my experience with animals. 

    Thus began my journey of realization, where I came to the conclusion that the average American is very, very dumb. I was actually treated better than my coworkers, since I learned quickly that a chipper and cheerful attitude kept some of the more feral Karens of my heels, but I was still subjected to a delightful show of animal abuse and inability to read signs.

     Here are a few nice examples. A man kept his red slider turtle in a three gallon tank and couldn’t figure out why the water was dirty. A woman kept thirteen goldfish in a ten gallon tank and refused to believe they were dying because of her. A woman yelled at me for telling her that  two goldfish in an unconditioned half a gallon tank would die, and then tried to get me fired. There were more examples, but I don’t feel like reflecting too long and crying in the shower tonight. The point is, retail workers have it rough. The amount of people I came across who refused to believe that they could be wrong about anything was astounding. 

   Retail isn’t all bad. I had several respectful, friendly customers that I do miss talking to. If you feel like the employee in Walmart seems to enjoy talking with you, there’s a good chance she actually does! All of us have favorite regular customers in retail. But, the amount of smooth 

brained, melted crayons for dinner, ego tripping maniacs that you meet is astonishingly high. 

    The point of my article is that there are ways to improve retail, but the only way to do that is from the top down. The customer is often wrong, and management needs to understand that it’s their responsibility to stand up for and defend their employees when they’re being verbally or physically harassed. Also, I find it bizarre how people can demand a service, while simultaneously insulting those who provide it. For instance, Mcdonalds workers and garbage men are usually looked down on, yet the same people who make fun of them will go out for a Mcflurry at 2 am. 

You should always treat others with compassion and understanding, and I find it disturbing that I even have to say that. Props to those who can work retail, but it was a matter of time before I leapt across the register and punched some pompous jerk in the face. For now, I’m going to stick to things that don’t involve constant customer interaction, and leave an extra fat tip for my waitress at Denny’s.