Hello! Welcome to my
blog. Are you looking for anything special today? No? Ok, let me know if I can
help you find anything. Great. Yes, I work in retail; yes, I say this dozens of
times every shift; yes, it gets old. Working in retail is an interesting
experience, and most either love it or they hate it, but regardless of how you
feel, you’ve learned some very specific things about yourself AND the way the
world works from your experience. Here’s my list of a few things I have learned
from my retail working experience. (NOTE: this is not to offend anyone, just to
give you a good laugh. If you ARE offended by any of this… maybe you should go
take a look in the mirror, because you’re most likely the customer I am talking
about.)
#1 There’s always at
least one coupon queen, and she expects all sales associates to be MAGIC.
You know them as soon
as they walk into the store. They head straight for the sale items, and expect
to save so much that you’ve got to pay them at the end of their shopping
excursion. For some reason this person thinks that you’ve got some kind of
magical code to make all of their expired coupons and discounts work, and they
immediately get irate when you try to explain to them that the coupon is two
weeks old. My favorite is when they say “Well, you used to accept expired
coupons.” Sorry, I don’t know what we USED to do, I just know what we do now,
and that, my friend, is throw away expired coupons because we do not accept
them. Or when they say “You’ve seen me in here a million times, don’t you have
a coupon I can use?” When they show up to the store with nothing and still
expect to get money off their purchase. No, because that would be against the
rules, and I will not lose my job so you can save $2.60 on a shirt you probably
don’t need. Bring your coupon next time, because I don’t make the rules, I just
follow them.
#2 There is no need
for an attitude.
Sometimes customers
come in, and when I deliver my little “Welcome to the store…” speech, choose to
ignore me. It’s not like I’m not being loud enough, they are just willfully
ignoring me. Other times people come in and are very short, when really I’m
just trying to be friendly. Here’s the thing, you don’t want my help, or you don’t
want to be bothered while you’re shopping or you’re just looking? Fine- I
totally get it, I hate when an associate hovers over me while I am shopping,
but If it pains you to even say hello back when someone says it to you first,
or you feel like the only way to get the message across that you’re just
looking is to give the associate attitude, then you’re doing it wrong. I get
paid to be nice to you, but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t be nice to you
otherwise! This is the real kicker though, in reality, it is ALWAYS that rude
person that ends up needing help in the end, either they need a different size
or can’t reach the shirt they want and then have to ask for my help. THAT is
the sweetest part, when they’ve got to ask for help after not giving me the
time of day. But here’s a tip- I’ll be WAY more willing than I already am to
help you, if you’re nice to me from the very start. So there’s a thing you
should probably think about, grumpy pants.
#3 A lull in customers
will allow you to discover new skills, you never knew you had.
No matter where you
work, there will eventually be a time where there’s a lull in customers, and
that is prime time for you and your coworkers. You’ll most likely learn that
you can dance or sing. Well maybe you can’t, but you can try. And while your
store isn’t busy is when you’ll figure it out. I mean you’ve heard all of the
songs that play over and over and over again. You know them by heart now, and
will most likely catch yourself singing them outside of work, and find yourself
horrified. Maybe you’ll unintentionally make up a dance routine to the entire
soundtrack of your store, or maybe you’ll start to make up things as you go, a
little improv dance routine every now and again. This will also be the time
when you find out which of your coworkers could make it to the America’s Got
Talent finale and which would fall flat at auditions. This is the great thing
about working in retail, you will have a chance to bond with your coworkers,
and aside from fulfilling your associate duties, and you’ll be able to have fun
too.
#4 You will have that
customer service face down pat.
We aren’t all exactly
happy go lucky and bubbly all the time. Well hello, we get paid to help
customers, and who wants to deal with someone grumpy? Not me, so why would I
make the people I am helping deal with someone grumpy? Even if I am not having the
best day, it is super important to make the customer want to come back to your
store, so you’ve got to charm the shit out of them. The only way you can do
that, is sometimes to put on the ol’ customer service face and yes ma’am them
to death (I mean except for the coupon queen, sorry, not sorry). You’ll be able
to let anyone down in the nicest friendliest way possible though, when their
coupon doesn’t work, or you don’t have the size they need. Along with this you
will because a good problem solver, suggesting something else to try and making
them forget about whatever they initially wanted, before having to call another
store to see if they’ve got it.
#5 In reality helping
people, is really worthwhile.
Working in retail is
actually a very fulfilling job. Going above and beyond to make someone happy,
or going out of your way to find something for someone, really is worth it. As
much as I could complain about the silly things people do while I am at work, I
really do enjoy helping people, because I know how much I’d appreciate it if
someone did it for me. Here’s a secret, normally it isn’t even that much extra
effort, but it still seems that way to the customer, and they appreciate it
that much more. Being kind to someone and helping them is your job as a sales
associate, and if you aren’t going to take it seriously, then why do it at all?
Yes it’s always good to have a good laugh at the end of the day about the crazy
people that come in and expect crazy unrealistic things from you, but it’s also
worth it to think about whose day you could have maybe made just that little
bit better by being nice to them and such while they were out shopping.
So that’s it for this
week, I hope you’ve enjoyed, maybe laughed, maybe cried (hopefully not), maybe
realized you need to be a bit nicer to certain people who just work at the
stores that you shop at? I don’t know. Hope
you’ve enjoyed!
Cheers!!
xoxo
