#working retail

UK folks: Boycott the book and stationery shop The Works

Here's why:

Before my previous job, the job I had before (in 2023) was at The Works. My very first job, years before that, was at a different branch of The Works when I was 18. So it's safe to say I've served my time in the trenches that are corporate retail. It is important to note that I'm a transgender man.

When I worked there - The Works proudly stocked Harry Potter merch. You name it. We sold it. We even had quotas for selling key items, such as bags for life, two designs of which were Harry Potter themed. We sold the books and paint your own Hogwarts Express and so much other terrible, terrible merch. But, having been on the front lines of retail in that place - that shit sold. Oblivious parents buying a plushie Harry Potter or Ron Weasley to give their 3 year old. A well meaning aunt buying the books and a Hermione keyring for her niece. And then of course you had actual Harry Potter fans who either didn't care about JK Rowling's views or were oblivious to them.

The point is - I know Harry Potter merch is sold in places other than The Works. Major supermarkets like Asda and Tesco etc. often stock the books and clothing merch in their stores. Even Lidl has Harry Potter merch in around Christmas. While it'd be nice if we could boycott all major supermarkets - this isn't practical for most people. People need to eat and buy groceries and due to a lack of major supermarket chains which don't stock Harry Potter merch, people have no choice but to shop at those supermarkets. But - The Works is not a supermarket. It is a perfect example of a shop that can be boycotted.

Even aside from them selling Harry Potter merch, The Works gets away with worker exploitation on a massive scale. I faced ableism that actively put me in physical danger at the branch near me when I worked there (story for another time - maybe if someone sends an ask I might talk about that story). But the fact that in order to survive and be paid, as a trans person I had to sell Harry Potter merch day in day out. It was gruelling and soul crushing. Every sale goes to JK Rowling - who has actively donated to the terfs who brought the case to the UK Supreme Court which has just taken away my - and all of my friends' rights.

That's why I'm calling for a boycott of The Works until they no longer stock Harry Potter merchandise.

If - and I'm aware it's a big if - if this boycott is successful, it will eat into the profits of The Works. The management of that company is so fucking money hungry they *will* notice, trust me, if their bottom line is being eaten into. If the management discovers that the reason for the drop in sales is because of their stocking of Harry Potter books and merch - they will be forced to consider not stocking them. (Still very sapient that this is a big if - but we have to try something - and this might just work. Even if it causes JK to lose some sales and have less cash - it's progress).

If you currently work at The Works - my advice to you. If you can, try and work somewhere else (big ask I know - and I know from experience it's not easy. That company doesn't care about you and even if you have nice managers (I didn't) if you need to interact with their higher-ups in any way you will be sorely disappointed to find they only care about you insofar as you make them money). If you can't work somewhere else - join a union NOW. I wasn't in a union when I had a whole bunch of illegal shit happen to me at work there and I wish I had been. I'd recommend Unite or Unison. Speaking from experience, regional managers will try to take it out on you if there's a drop in sales. But hold fast and don't let them bully you!

Thank you if you made it this far into the post 💜

Please reblog and share this - talk to people outside of tumblr about it. I'll get something more official out about this when I can - but for now I think one way we can protest the influence of JK Rowling in our lives as trans people is to hit her where it hurts - her wallet.

Goes without saying to boycott everything Harry Potter related in general too. If you already own merch. I don't care what you do with it. Just don't buy any more.

I’m not getting sick and tired of parents expecting retail workers to parent their kids: I’ve been sick of it. I got approached by a mom (accompanied by her 9-11 y/o son), asking if I would recommend Elle Kennedy for a teen. I told her no, I wouldn’t. I don’t read romance but I just personally don’t like how commonplace it’s becoming for teenagers to read adult-oriented romance but ultimately I’m not even interested in romance so I can’t say I’m comfortable with my recommendation skills in that area. I offered the YA romcoms but she said her daughter “had read them all”.

Goes on to ask of Elle Kennedy had explicit scenes. I explain that most romances do now. The lightest you might get (at least in YA) is fade-to-black.

“What’s fade-to-black?”

….

Ma’am.

I can’t say outright because the kid is there so the furthest I got was saying, “It’s when they cut away with the implication of. Stuff going on.”

“What stuff??”

….M A ‘ A M.

She keeps circling back to whether or not it’s explicit. I don’t know what she wants from me, I told her my opinion, gave her my reasoning, but it’s like she wants me to validate the easiest option, which is saying yeah sure go for it.

But here’s the kicker: While going on about what her daughter’s moved on to, she mentions Colleen Hoover.

Colleen Hoover.

Baby Balls Colleen Hoover. Graphic mature topics not handled in an appropriate-for-younger-ages Colleen Hoover.

At this point, it’s become apparent that this lady has no idea what her daughter is reading, doesn’t interact with anything, and sorta just. Relies on other entities to handle that part of parenting. If her main concern was about Elle Kennedy being explicit, it was too late.

I had to just ultimately go, “Well, you’re the parent. It’s ultimately going to be up to you whether or not Elle Kennedy is appropriate.” I recommend she at least skim the books to get an idea of what’s going on and only then does she walk off, son in tow.

Later on during my break, I googled whether Elle Kennedy’s books are “spicy” just to be sure.

They are.

And all it took was quick use of the pocket-sized computer I know she owned. The annoying part is that this happens all the time: Parents have no clue what they’re kids are getting into but expect everybody else to do the work for them instead of doing the bare minimum on their part of actually just going online to places specifically made to assist them on these things.

I’ve had way too many oblivious parents buy their freshmen daughters Colleen Hoover or Fourth Wing. I’ve heard way too many kids way too young talk about shows they have no business watching while the parents just stand there with no idea.

But most of all? I’m tired of parents asking for an employee’s opinion or recommendations, then completely ignoring them because they don’t align with the easiest option of just validating giving the kid exactly what they want.

(Actually, no: What I’m most pissed off about is that I work in a predominately WASC [white Anglo-Saxon Catholic] area with a loooot of customers having definitely voted for the current shituation. And they have the audacity to inherently assume queerness is sexual or that drag queens are sexualizing/exposing children. Meanwhile they have no goddamn clue what their kid is reading, so long as it appears to be hetero.

The publishing industry has both covertly and overtly been contributing to increasing pressures of making children grow up for no damn reason besides sexually. It’s never maturing in other ways: It’s always romantic and sexual.

But fuck it, it’s too early to get into that shit.)