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[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Dear Customer

Hello there, your local cashier here! Just writing a PSA of all the things I’d probably get yelled at for saying in person. First off, I understand your frustration when I tell you I can’t accept the two week old expired coupon but maybe could you not scream at me? I’m just doing my job, trying to follow my responsibilities. So, when I say, “sorry I can’t,” I’m not personally attacking you. Also, please don’t complain to me about prices like it’s my fault they are that way. For god sake, I’m not the damn CEO, I can’t change that shit. Okay, feels good to get that off my rest.

Now, let’s get to more of the customer do-nots. If I hear “That must mean it’s free,” to when something isn’t scanning one more time, I think I might cry. You are not being original, I hear that like 5 times a day and it makes me want to die a little bit more each time.

Oh god, or what about, “It is such a beautiful day outside. Too bad you are working all day,” now you are just being an asshole, I mean seriously! Oh, I’m on a roll now. Try this one on for size; when you decide it’s totally not rude to be on the phone the whole time I’m helping you. I mean, come on, didn’t you mom tell you it’s rude to not pay attention to what’s going on in front of you? I shouldn’t feel like I’m interpreting your meaningless conversation with my customer service.

Seriously, these are things to think about the next time you decided to wander into a retail store. As a retail vet, I highly recommend you take my advice and the transaction between you and the worker will be fair better.

Sincerely,

The cashier you cursed at earlier today 

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Got any good stories from working in retail or only bad?

My coworkers are what really made working better. To give you an idea of the ridiculously great people I worked with, I’ll describe some of them. When I started the job my trainer give me the advice, “Don’t fuck with old people, if you see one walking in the store, run.” He goes on to tell me they are for the managers to help. Another coworker would run to the stockroom and hide the bins just for giggles. Someone would ask me where he was and I’d have to climb up to the top and ask him to go down. I’d climb up and ask him to help someone and he’d say “Please don’t make” and we’d laugh. My managers didn’t made us joking around as long as we did our work. Coworkers make or break your retail experience, customers come and go but it’s your coworkers who you are spending 8 hours a day with.

Thank you for asking. I have many good days working in retail, but for some reason it doesn’t make for something people want to hear. There have been nice, understanding customer that make my day go better and coworkers a big help too.

One day that comes to mind was at my old place of business, the local small store. It was back-to-school season, so it was pretty busy; all of the my fun coworkers were scheduled that day. And this specific day was the solar eclipse. Even though, it would get busy here and there, all my coworkers and I would goofing off would the store would empty. One coworker, brought in the special sunglasses to use to look at the eclipse and we all took turns going to the back room, out the door to look at the eclipse. We had a computer in the stockroom that we used to look up inventory. But that day, we had the Nasa coverage playing. During my break, I just ate and watched them interview people and update us on the solar eclipse. It was a lot of fun.

My coworkers are what really made working better. Honestly it was like working with the characters from The Office sometimes. To give you an idea of the ridiculously great people I worked with, I’ll describe some of them. When I started the job my trainer give me the advice, “Don’t fuck with old people, if you see one walking in the store, run.” He goes on to tell me they are for the managers to help. Another coworker would run to the stockroom and hide the bins just for giggles. Someone would ask me where he was and I’d have to climb up to the top and ask him to go down. I’d climb up and ask him to help someone and he’d say “Please don’t make” and we’d laugh. My managers didn’t made us joking around as long as we did our work. Coworkers make or break your retail experience, customers come and go but it’s your coworkers who you are spending 8 hours a day with.

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Gamestop employee again. So not really a vent story but more of a interesting/funny story. I once was help these to people out who where genuinely nice people. For once I enjoyed helping someone. They had told me that they had just come from a con and when I asked what con they said furrfest or something along those lines. I stopped dead in my tracks and just looked at them and said “furrfest? As in furries?” To which they said yes. We all laughed about it but it was interesting

I’m glad you submitted this, I was afraid that this blog was getting a gloomy with all negativity. This reminds me of the reason we stay at our jobs. Of course, the money is a huge reason we work. I mean, we gotta pay those bills, am I right?

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Properly Training People

Alright students, sit down and let me talk to you about how to properly train a new coworker. I want to bring up this topic because about a month ago I was being trained for a job. It wasn’t a manager but instead a coworker training me. This is normal because the manager has a lot more to handle then showing the new girl what’s up.

This co worker was nice, but they definitely weren’t fit to train someone. They wouldn’t really answer my questions and if I messed up a bit on something, they would cause a scene saying, “NOOOO, you aren’t supposed to do that!” in front of the customer, which of kind of embarrassing. Thankfully, this isn’t my first job because if it was I think I would of been humiliated.

So this brings me to some key points to remember if your manager ever comes to you and asks you to train the new employee. These things are to help the new employee feel more comfortable and are solely from my experience being the trainer and the trainee. First, be confident in yourself, if you doubt yourself or anything the trainee is going to be nervous and question if you fit to train them. Second, whatever you are training them on, don’t just explain it, make they do it. Yeah, they will probably be uncomfortable, but there is no better way learning than doing it yourself. If they mess up, make sure they know it is no big deal. We have all been the new employee and screwing up is part of learning. Whenever I trained people I always let them know of stories where I’ve messed up on when I first started there. It’s called being human. Third, always stop to ask if they have any questions. Even if they say no, it could because they are shy so maybe go over it again to make sure it is clear.

My last key pointer is get to know them, this is your new coworker and I’m sure it would be nice for them to have a friend at work; someone they can comfortably go to with any questions.

Class dismissed.

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

“Are you deaf or just stupid?”

TW: Swearing So I’ve been working at a local gamestop for about three years and when we do trades involving systems or phones/tablets we require that the person trading the items in sign a document stating that they have traded the items in. We have to see a license that’s not expired stating you are at least 18 in order to do the trade, no exceptions. So I get a family of regulars that come in (thankfully they aren’t regulars anymore) looking to trade some games and a tablet in. I say no problem and I start processing the games. This kid was trading in a bunch of old games that really had no value. A bunch of them were sports games and because a new one gets release every year there is little value. He is also trading in his old no name Samsung tablet. Given that he was in no way 18, his mother had to provide her id and agree that he was trading in everything. Technically and legally she was the one trading the items in I’m processing the tablet and I’m looking up all the information from it for the trade. The kid was only gonna get about $11 for it. I felt bad cause that’s really not a lot. I tell BOTH the mother and son that they’ll only be getting $11 for the tablet. The mother says ok that’s fine. I ask again just to clarify the amount and she says ok. I reset the tablet and I have her sign for the trade. Once all is said and done I hand over the money and I’m about to start labeling the trades games when all of a sudden I hear her ask “Wait how much did he get for the table?” To which I replied $11. Apparently she didn’t like that so she started saying how I ripped her son off, saying that I tricked him into signing something when he’s not 18. First off I told her and her son multiple times the amount they were getting (which she responded to so I know she was listening) and secondly he didn’t sign for anything because of him not being 18 . That’s why she signed for everything cause she was the adult in the situation. She was getting loud for no reason demanding I give her the tablet back. Keep in mind it’s around 8:55 pm and we close at 9. I told her that technically because she signed for the trade that she doesn’t own the items anymore and if she wanted them back she would need to wait the 2 week holding time and then buy them back and that there was really nothing I could do considering it’s the law. She started saying why is that a law and I said it’s because we are legally considered a pawn shop because we buy and sell used games/systems. She went on to say we’re not a pawn shop we’re a gamestop. I just explained why we’re a pawn shop. This went on for about 15 minutes of just back and forth and she was demanding I call the store manager . After a bit I humored her and called my store manager who wasn’t working at the time (technically I was the acting manager because I was the only key holder in the store at the time). The store manager was agreeing with me and said that we couldn’t do anything. This wasn’t good enough and was demanding for me to give her the district managers number. Lady it is 9:15 at night and we were supposed to be closed at 9. I’m not giving out the district managers number over $11 dollars. After a while I called my manager again and he just said “Fuck it, giver her the tablet back and take the money back. We’ll deal with it tmrw” to which I begrudgingly said fine and did so. She eventually left with her son, who was begging the mom the entire time to just let it go, and I have never seen them since. I later found out that the guy I was closing with that night knew her because she had cheated on his best friend with 3 other guys while he was at work and knew she was a shitty person. If you knew her why didn’t you step in and try and help me with the situation? I love dealing with white trash

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Has a customer ever hit on you or tried to initiate inappropriate contact? What did you do, or what would you do?

I’ve had the creepy comments made here and there, nothing too crazy. I guess, that’s what happens when you are a female in the workplace, some guys think because you are talking to them (cause ya know, it’s you job) that you are so interested in them. In situations like that, I normally try to be nice and awkwardly “mhm” them to death until they get the message. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Here I go again telling more stories of my old jobs. This one is from the trendy-chain company I worked for. There was a homeless man that would spend hours in the store, everyday. We couldn’t really kick him out because the policy was you can’t stay if you don’t buy something, every once in awhile he would get something cheap. He was a little out there and would continuously hit on and harass the female coworkers. It was harmless stuff, like he would call them his princess and say that if he could, he’d marry them. Thankfully I didn’t really get that harassment; sometimes he would say I was very pretty, again harmless but made me a bit uncomfortable. I’d be nice but after a few hours of him hanging around the store, I decided it was best to ignore him so I wouldn’t give him more reason to talk to me.

Now, bare with me as I start to sound like a broken record when it comes to answering these questions. If you feel extremely uncomfortable or threatened by a customer hitting on you or being inappropriate ask help from your manager. Also I want to make sure I cover this, if who you feel uncomfortable by isn’t a stranger but your own coworker, do not stay quiet. Tell your manager and go to HR [Human Resources], they handle sexual harassment in the workplace and are there to help you. You should never fear speaking out. If either of these were the case for me, that’s what I’d do.

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Every person who has ever cashiered retail understands.

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Store: *closes in 2 minutes*

Customer:

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Part two kids!

This is part 2 of : “Has a customer ever gotten violent, what would you do in that situation?”

In the first post that I answered this question, I answered it as if anyone has been violent to me. Now I want to talk about if it was witnessing something, like a customer being violent to another customer. I have one story, there wasn’t any serious physical violence but this story popped in my head when I read the question.

This was about a year ago when I worked as a cashier for a trendy company. One day, during one of the busier hours, a couple came in and ordered. Right from the beginning something was off about them. There was a lot of tension between them and girl was very quiet. Maybe it was my judgement but the presence of the man was unsettling. After they ordered and it was time for them to leave, the man got anger with the girl and was yelling at her in a way that was trying not to get people’s attention but I noticed. The girl came up to me and asked if she can borrow the phone and the man kept saying “ no, let’s go.” Then he grabbed her arm.

This just made me uncomfortable, so as they started making their way to the door, I went to my manager in a discrete matter and told her about the couple and that something just seemed off. She stopped them before they could leave and talked to them. I’m not sure what they were saying, but after a couple of minutes they left. My manager said the man told her his girlfriend was drunk and he was just getting her home. I don’t know if I ever really believed that story, I wish I could of done more. Looking back on it now, I think I should of been more assertive with my actions and explained in full to my manager why I thought it was fishy and been with her when she talked to them.

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Has a customer ever gotten violent, what would you do in that situation?

I’m going to answer this as you are asking if a customer has ever been violate with me then in a second post I’ll answer if it’s a customer with another customer. So if you mean physically with me, thank god no. A Customer has not hurt me in a way, expect maybe my feels. But, ya know sticks and stones amiright?… So in more situations, when a customer starts screaming and yelling at me, I try my best to stay calm. I’ve had people in my face, yelling over something so stupid and my best advice will always be staying calm. It will only get worse, if you feed into this angry.

Sometimes when the customer sees they can’t get a rise out of you, they will either stop... or get more angry. If they get more angry, again just remain calm, because they want a reaction from you and honestly they aren’t worth it. Sometimes, the customer might make personal attacks at you to get that rise. Don’t take it personal, this person doesn’t know you, they only see you as a something in the way of getting what they want. Just remember it’s a job and if anything you are there to do your work and get paid.

The best thing I do in situations is try to fix the solution myself but it never hurts to get a manager involve, especially if you feel you are being threatened. Once a manager is involve, you can remove yourself from the scene. Maybe go into the backroom. It’s important after that happens, go to the manager and explain what happened so they don’t think you are the wrong. Most managers understand.

If the customer is aggressive, I would try to keep my distance, making sure we aren’t in each others personal space. And if anything got physical, not only does the manager need to get involved immediately but definitely the police too. I hope that I’m never put in that situation and I guess I wouldn’t really know how I’d react unless it happened.

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

There is this one customer that I feel like knows my schedule because whenever I work she comes in and gives me a hard time. She buys a few things and then the next week she comes back returns those items and then buys more stuff. Then she comes in the next week, returns the stuff from the week before and buys more stuff and so on and so forth. She always tries to bargain with the price and every week I tell her the prices are as marked but she makes me check with my manager every time.

Oh god, we have all been there. Those customers are the worst. This reminds me of a customer at my old place of business. This woman would come in with her bunch of kids and be a pain to everyone.

The kids would be screaming and she wouldn’t do anything about it. If she asked for a certain product and you brought it out, she would always find a problem with it. Why isn’t it on sale? Are you sure it’s suppose to look like that? Let me tell you, she always tried to get a bang for her buck. Any time I would try to help her, I’d end up getting the manager involve because she would always try to get me to do something against policy. It would always make me uncomfortable. Getting the manager involved would go one of two ways. He sometimes would tell her the same thing I just said, which is the most satisfying feeling ever. But sometimes he would go another way; I guess my manager would get fed up with the customer and just give her what she wanted, I always hated that. She would look back at me with a big smirk on her face. Just thinking of that smile right now is making my skin crawl! That’s where customer service turns into, just give them what they want so they will shut up, which I don’t agree with.

So I guess the question is, what can you do? The best thing I can say is talk to your manager, communicate to them about your issues with the customer. Maybe, there is a way when the customer comes that the manager just handle it because they are going to have to get involve either way. Or the next time have the manager make extremely clear they can’t/won’t bargain with her. Unfortunately, sometimes those customers will never get it and you just got to deal with them.

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

I love getting yelled at!

Let me tell you one very interesting day of an old job I used to work at. My old place of business, I’m going to keep anonymous for reasons. I will say this, it’s a small-town retail store in a semi wealthy area. It was back-to-school season, so parents are rushing in and out the store trying to get everything they need for their children.

So during my shift, I see a mother and her two children walk in. I ask nicely if there is anything I can help them with. The mother says yes, and explains a specific product that she is looking for. Because we are a small local business, of course we don’t carry EVERYTHING. So, I explain to her, no we don’t have that but we have possible similar options. Now, what throws me off, is that she was so nice and said, “Okay, can you show me what you are trying about.” I go to the back and gather what I can in my hands and walk back out of the sales floor.

Somehow the mood of this lady flips. She starts telling me that this isn’t what she asked for, that I’m trying to scam her into buying something she doesn’t want. I was in utter shock when she angrily said to me, “I am a DOCTOR, I can’t be fooled by your tricks!” I didn’t even know how to react. Why would I want to trick her? I am an employee that’s making minimum wage. I’m just trying to make time pass until I can clock out. She continued to scream at me, making a huge scene in this tiny store, so I just turned away, picked up my boxes and went to the stockroom. I guess she wasn’t satisfied yelling at me and went to my manager and continued her banter at him. Thankfully my manager didn’t side with the woman and knew I was right. It just moments like this that baffle me that people think it’s okay to treat another human being like that.

[lifeasateenageretailworker-blog]

Let’s get this started

I’m launching this blog off with my very own story. So let’s get this show on the road!