#retailhell

I loved working with older people because they had such calm energy. Especially if they'd been there for years and saw all the changes and problems and knew they could deal with anything. Seeing them work was so much more educational than being briefly instructed by a confused "team leader" younger than me.

It was so sad to see them leave because their bodies could no longer sustain standing for long periods or lifting. Even if they didn't mind the rest of the work.

Retail being the domain of the very young makes the workplace feel like you're inside tiktok (how I imagine it, having never been) - chaos, energy drinks, loud laughs, hiding your phone from the boss's cameras, rushing around at the end of the day, irresponsibility, disregard for the subject of the work, general incompetence, unwillingness to learn now that you're fresh out of school where you absorbed the idea that learning is a chore that teachers need to force you into. Susceptibility to abuse from managers. General air of confusion since people are promoted beyond their abilities just because the business needs someone to manage it and there was no-one else.

I used to love seeing a middle-aged or even 30s person applying for a job at my workplace. They would usually quit fast.

The system we have now is unsustainable. The way high turnover is seen as normal, the way people who are talented at retail and would enjoy a career in an ethical workplace still leave as soon as they manage to snag an office job because of course you'd choose not to be incredibly stressed all the time, work with incompetent people and damage your body.

If you go to a store to make an Amazon return, and decide to argue with the associates about what they need to process the return, you will be wrong. The only exclusions are;

1) you actually work for the same company and do know better

2) you work for Amazon and do know better

So an older man walks up to me and asks if I can divide up a 4 pack Into two 2 packs.

Now because of covid-19, I tell the man politely that I can’t bring anything that was out on the floor into the bakery. He asks why, and I respond back “because of corona virus”

“Oh I won’t tell”, as if that’s the issues and not the possibility of spreading a virus.

So I look him dead in the eye and say “sir, I could loose my job and the store could be shut down if someone caught me doing that.”

“Well there’s no two packs out”

Also: this was her first “real” work day after two training sessions and she was also late for one of those (her reasoning for that one was that she forgot what time we had scheduled so she just didn’t show up????)

Me: thank you for calling [name of store], this is Sam. how can I help you?

Customer on phone: hi, can I talk to Anne?

Me: unfortunately, she no longer works here. Is there something I can assist you with?

Customer on phone: no.

Me: Absolutely! What's the book title?

*skip to me grabbing the book from our shelves.*