8 things that annoy me about working in retail

We have all been there, well most of us anyway. Whether you had to make some quick bucks on weekends or during your years at school, retail seemed like the place to be. You need little to no experience to get into it but sooner or later you realize that the life of a retail sales assistant is perhaps not as easy going as it seems to be . This is the reason why I decided to write this article and tell you  about the eight things that annoyed me the most during my work in retail.

1. Number one has to go to the statement "The customer is always right". During your years working at your favorite shoe retailer or well the only retailer around that actually was desperate enough to hire you as another staff member happened to have suffered a mental breakdown during their last shift, you stumble upon a very common statement that management tends to enrich you with "The customer is always right". So being as inexperienced as you are in the industry, you simply assume that perhaps the customer is always right however after months go by and by spending long shifts at you favorite work place something changes. You start noticing that most customers are actually always wrong, but as you are a mere sales assistant you can only nod and agree during which when your customer is convinced that they are a size 4 because of their so called "petite"feet when you can clearly see that those shoes are on the verge of bursting open. But hey just nod and smile, because the customers is always right even when they happen to be utterly retarded.

2. The second most annoying thing is the crazy cat lady or well the retail equivalent of that which is the crazy shoe lady. This type of customer will come into your store and try every single shoe on sight and sometimes just leave the place without buying anything.  She will mess up every single shoe stand you have and the shoes she is trying on will cover a 10 meters radius. She will keep trying on shoes repeatedly by using excuses such as "I have funny feet", "The brands I like do not come in half-sizes" or the more famous "It is really important for me to get a different sandal for each day for my trip to the South of France as otherwise I will feel so very under dressed for the occasion ". If you manage to stumble upon this type of  customer then may Jesus, Allah, Buddha or whatever you believe in help save your soul as otherwise you will get a taste of retail hell.

Weekends happen to become an alien concept for retailers, as they happen to be WORKING.

3. You just started at your retail job and decided to go out Friday night with your friends, oh well I suggest you cancel that as you will be freaking working weekends. This is probably the most frustrating factor of having a retail job as just everyone you know will brag about their weekend plans or what they did the past weekend whilst you will sit there at work serving a bunch of customers that also happen to be bragging about how awesome their weekend is going and the amount of shopping that they have done. 

A common way of dealing with your common douche bag customer.

4.  Douche bag customers are one of the most annoying things in retail and unfortunately they happen to be found in every corner. For some God forsaken reason, some customers think that they can get away with pretty much anything as they have graced you by walking into your store and have considered buying your absolutely cheapest item. They also happen to think that for some reason whatever happens to their order is particularly your fault even  though head office simply decided to write the wrong address on the item, but hey at least they do not need to deal with these customers directly as you are having the pleasure of doing that.

You after being asked to work Christmas.

5.  Growing up public holidays were always something that you gladly looked forward to, whether you were looking forward to your new game-boy color, hanging out with your not so awesome relatives or simply catching up on your serious gaming career, holidays were at some point or another pretty awesome. That is until you started working at your local retailer. Public holidays are basically retail Armageddon and unlike the movie unfortunately you will not end up marrying Grace as it simply never ends well.

Sorry buddy :)

You will however manage to serve some of the most interesting customers on the planet even some that you perhaps never thought actually existed. The gif below demonstrates your common Christmas shopping customer, enjoy your holidays.

Hey at least sales are up which is great if you work on commission otherwise please try not to kill anyone. 

6.  If you are a music fan, this may irritate you the most as you will not only get irritated by the very outdated music that is played at your store but also by the fact that each song happens to be on repeat all the time. The sad part is that your brain has forcibly learned all the lyrics and sometimes out of shear boredom you cannot help yourself but to sing along. But hey the good thing is that your new improved singing skills will probably improve your chances on the X-factor and maybe one day you will leave this place by becoming a famous singer.

Or not...

7. Customers that have mistaken your store for a psychiatrist office, believe it or not I am payed to sell you goods not to listen about why you had your recent divorce as your ex-husband found it convenient to cheat on you with a random street hooker . I actually have better things to think about like for instance the release date of the next call of duty game instead of your relationship problems.

I sell shoes, the therapist office happens to be next door. The only thing I can really do is point you to the nearest bridge in case you want to commit suicide, which will be a pleasure really.

8.  Long hours, you will work extremely long hours especially during public holidays and unlike other roles you have to always to smile and pretend like you do not have a single worry in the world. Even though you will be working 60 hour work weeks, be payed minimum wage and will still have to live on ramen noodles, oh the good times. 

I hope you guys have somewhat enjoyed my article although i must admit that there is some good points about working in retail such as meeting some decent people and well the discounts if your store actually offers any. This post could perhaps help people understand that life in retail is not as easy as it seems to be and maybe this time they will not burst into your store in order to find your lonesome sales assistant and then proceed to try every shoe on the planet especially when the store closes in 5 minutes time as the person serving you may be carrying a revolver.

Just had to end this post with the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson :)