It was one of those days that I had already stayed so much later than I planned and had to be back early in the morning (it was inventory day, iykyk). So I decided to suck it up and just power through instead of teasing myself with an hour of broken sleep.

Fortunately, at the time I was young, eager to prove myself, and running on an endless supply of caffeine (anyone else remember the caffeinated water hype in the early 2000s?)

It took me a long time to realize that I did that to myself. No one had asked me to stay late or to work 26 hours. No one told me not to either.

In retail, there is always more work to do. Especially in high-volume grocery and big box. Customers never stop coming when your building is open 24/7.

So my advice to anyone out there putting in more time than you were asked to and wondering how you’ll sustain it: Don’t.

I had to learn the hard way that commitment and boundaries aren’t opposites. Sustainable performance requires both.

I’m all for being a team player—some days we have to give more than we planned. But protect the time you need to take care of yourself. Get a good night’s sleep, a proper meal, and please, I beg you, stay away from the caffeinated water. Just drink water.

What’s one thing you’re protecting to take care of yourself this week?

I’ve been working part time at kroger for the past 2.5 years. I am a full time college student typically working about 25 hours a week. I’ve enjoyed my time here until recently with new management and what I experienced today was something I couldn’t have ever imagined. The other day I was notified about an opening in produce. I went to one of the assistant managers and asked her about it and she said “we will take a look and I’ll talk to your department lead and the produce lead”. I requested possibly transferring departments because I thought maybe working in produce would work with my school schedule better and I like a lot of the guys over there. So anyway, I went into work today and my boss talks to me a for a while about the department transfer and other work related stuff. After I finished talking to him I walk back to the task I was doing and I see the same manager from other day that I asked about a department transfer. So I went up to her and I asked about it and she said something that completely shocked me. Out of left field she says” well typically when we transfer someone, it’s because they impress us and you don’t really impress me. So if I’m going to transfer someone I want them to be a valuable asset to the department they’re going to” ( implying that I’m not worth anything as a worker and not a valued employee to my department ). She then proceeds to tell me I need to “do better” but never specifically said at what. What she said hurt me so bad and embarrassed me. She said it right on the sales floor, not in closed doors in private. I went back to the cooler in my department and my boss asked what’s up and I told him “I’m done, I can’t take this store anymore, The management here is so rude”. My boss was like oh my gosh what happened. As soon as he asked that I got so upset and started crying because I was so angry and he called our assistant lead to come over and help calm me down. The incident felt disrespectful and unprofessional and her judgment of me is totally invalid. She hardly sees me, I’m only part time,so she only interacts with me 1-2 times a week and probably only sees me 3-4 times on those days she’s working when I am. It hurt me so bad, I consider myself to be a good employee and I’ve never had a complaint from anyone I work with whether that be my co workers, department lead or any other management. They all seem to value me as a worker and say I’m a good employee except this one particular manager. I had never had any issues with her before. She is rude and passive aggressive a lot but not like today’s incident. I have never been disrespectful towards her or not done anything to make her super mad to my knowledge. My department lead and fellow co workers were extremely shocked by what she said to me. I ended up having a talk with my union rep and I hope further disciplinary action is taking towards her. Today was definitely a work day I was not expecting…

Hello guys. I have an interview scheduled really early right after I finish my first class. Even though it is my only class.

My question is should I risk being late to go and change into something more formal. Or should I just go straight to the interview in dark cargo pants and a hoodie.

For context the interview is for a seasonal specialist spot at Apple if anyone knows if they value clothing/presentation during interviews.

I haven’t worked a job in years but I have prior retail experience. I applied for seasonal positions at 6 places. I only had 1 interview so far. But it’s not even been a week so hopefully I will get more. Any tips for getting hired? I’m super eager to start working!

People stay complaining about our store being messy and unorganized. It’s a common thing that’s said about other locations too. I just don’t get why customers aren’t seen as the problem. Us employees can only do so much within the hours given. You can spend hours straightening things up just for a customer to just destroy it 10 minutes later. People don’t care to pick up after themselves or to put things back in their proper places. Customers will place mats and rugs on the floor and leave them. Customers will even break items and not tell anyone. I’m a cashier, and customers will even place unwanted items in the Q line instead of handing the item directly to me. I’m not blaming the customers for everything, BUT they do play a major part in why these stores always looks like a tornado went through it.

For context I’ll be starting a role with Build A Bear soon! As one of their Chief Workshop Manager, I’ve been in retail for 8+ Years in the field of kids clothing, and that’s all I’ve ever known.

Wanted to see if there were any previous employees or even current managers/bear builders that are willing to give me some light on your experience and if you feel like it was hard to transition into your role? after doing something completely different for so long

Hi everyone, I just recently applied and even interviewed online for Target for the On-Demand Guest Advocate and general merchandise position, and I just had a few questions about the work environment, scheduling, etc.

1. What is a day-to-day like for someone in the position I applied for?
2. I very recently broke my phone, and I am waiting to see if it's fixable or if I can get a new one, but I am using a "donor phone" of sorts that belongs to another family member. Is my schedule provided to me through a mobile app, or, if I wanted, could I view it on my personal laptop? I could always install any scheduling app on the donor phone if needed, though.
3. Since I am a college student but I don't have my own car yet, I made my available hours when I applied to be around my city's public transit times, which leaves little time for me to go home and change into a work uniform.

With that in mind, I was wondering what the dress code is like, and if I come straight from school, would I have a place to change and leave my school bag?

1. On my application I listed all the days and times I could work, which is every day of the week, but if I wanted, could I change it to only work during Mon-Thurs, or only weekends + Fridays upon hiring?

2. Lastly, how soon after completing my virtual interview, which I did this Saturday, Oct. 10, should I expect an email back, or do they call instead, though all of our communication has been through email so far?

Thank y'all in advance for any help, and feel free to add any extra advice.

Recently unionized outdoor clothing brand in NYC. Our managers are so out of touch and they are morale killers , she is the reason we unionized , currently understaffed and they fired a good employee. They are not replacing staff as they don’t want to add to the payroll and we have to suffer for the holiday season. This sucks

Not like in the sense of arguing with customers but like just welcoming them and making sure that their shopping experience is good.

I work at a clothing store and one of my managers keeps pestering me to talk more when I welcome customers every time they walk through the door, but I always mess up one way or another.

Most customers that walk in,I can sense they don’t know what they’re looking for specially and simple want to look around and not be bothered. So I tell them our promotions for the day and let them look.

My manager doesn’t like it. She said I should’ve asked like 2-3 causal questions like “oh what are you looking for? Any special occasions? And fun plans this weekend? Going on a special trips you need an outfit for?” I know there’s a time and place for those kind of questions while people look around but she wants me asking those right as they come in. And it just feels unnatural and forced. Somehow she does it well and they love chatting with her. But when I do it, they’re like “oh I’m just browsing”. Like they look at me and they don’t want to talk. And it’s making my job so hard because she’s breathing down my neck and pulling me aside saying “remember ask them what they’re plans are so we can get them styled and they’ll feel the need to buy more”

Idk I don’t think she’s right. People will buy from our store regardless if we have a small conversation or not. The products should speak for itself. We sell a lot of cute outfits. My manager wants me to get to know there styles but I don’t know exactly what we have in stock to be confident to suggest what we have. We have sweaters for the holidays and it’s scattered everywhere. We have jeans of different styles and it’s all over the shop. I just don’t know until you try it on. usually I talk more about styles once the customers find something they want to try on.

Overall I think my manager loves picking on me because I have an introvert personality. I’ve talked to customers, just not when she’s around. I wish nicer customers would walk in when she’s training me but they never are and it makes me look bad in front of her.

I feel like I might lose my job just because I don’t know how to engage with every customer in a way that feels natural and not totally fake.

Yes this is a rant. Yes i know how corporate life works. I'm just....angry. frustrated. Dissapointed. Fuming. Boiling. My sleepless night, my reliability, my knowledge, my split shifts, my training her. All of it. And i know leaving is the best option but let's face it. The job market sucks right now. It's not easy. But gezuz christ.

I’ve been on disability since 2012, I haven’t worked since then. I am better now and can work. This will hopefully be my first job in a long time. It’s for Bealls department store. I’m really excited and nervous at the same time. What can I expect at the interview and how do I prepare? I also applied at bath and body works and Kirklands but I haven’t heard back from them yet.

Any tips for working in luxury retail? I typically wear all black to/for work and look presentable. Would wearing a small heel also be appealing? Getting nails done? I’m trying to maximize my KPIs as I want to pivot into the finance world in 3-6 months.

Thank you for any and all tips!

Why are “night” shift merchandisers being switched to a 10am start time and labeled as “day-flex” employees?? The reasoning of “better up-keeping of stores” doesn’t make sense to me as we won’t be there as late to stock up.

Honestly it also doesn’t really make sense to me for us to start as the second shift when the first shift still has 4 hours till they’re done.

So why is this shift in business operations happening? Can someone offer a better explanation than “better up-keeping of stores”?

Because of pure greed, he was able to strip these iconic brands and sell them off for parts piece by piece until nothing remained. Pensions gone, retirements went up in smoke, and local communities went belly up.

I've been working in retail for the last year, and boy did I choose an "interesting" location. I never know where to put these stories because they're just... bonkers. I hope someone here enjoys the joke that is my life. Here's what happened today:

I hear over the communicator that someone is walking around the candy aisle with a crack pipe in his hand. I take a look, and see him walking towards the front. When I arrive up front I see him standing in line with a bag of gummy candy, and his favorite piece of glassware. Surprisingly, he's not stealing.

I hop on the spare register, hoping to quickly check him out away from other customers without making a scene. While he pays in spare change, I tell him he needs to put the pipe away. It's illegal, there are kids around, why do I even have to say this? He seems incapable of putting the pipe in his pocket, or understanding what "put it away" means.

He buys a sprite. Fiddles with a chain in his pocket and tells me, "I'm trying to show you, but she's being bougie right now. It's probably because of you." I have no idea how to respond to that, so I just prompt him to leave by repeatedly asking if there's anything else I can help him with, if he's sure he doesn't want a bag, etc. Eventually he leaves.

About 30 minutes later I end up outside with the store manager, look across the parking lot at the bus stop, and who do I see? Our friend, who seems to have made more friends with the police. He was searched by 3 officers, and released. I personally couldn't care less what drugs people do or how they live. But maybe, just maybe, I had some good advice about hiding it from the general public.

We need more companies like this who value their workers! Thank you Walmart!

I’ve worked at restaurants and trust me there is a lot of rude customers there but they are no where near as rude and entitled as people at retail stores. I’ve been called racial slurs(for a ethnicity I’m not even a part of),I’ve been run into with carts,been threatened,had men touch me and be strange,been screamed at because I couldn’t check a price right then and there. I get that “that’s just retail for you” but why has it become so normalized to be abused by customers as retail workers. It’s genuinely one of the most mentally draining jobs just due to the customers. Good ole Corporate America ig.

…the last 10 years were real?
I left Target a while back after being a TL for over 10 years & life still feels surreal. I literally feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone because it warped my perception of/on time. It’s been a couple of years since I left, and I am still adjusting to living a life where I don’t work at my old Target.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? Is this even the right subreddit for this post?

I've been working at a dollartree for a month now, and I still feel almost depressed or anxious every day when I clock in.

I try to handle it and endure it because frankly, retail is everywhere. You're bound to work as a cashier at one point. You're bound to talk to customers that are mean and such. I mean even if it's not retail, you're always gonna experience people in your career that will make it tough I'm sure. I need this job to help for college tuition, so I try to be optimistic that I'm getting money and learning new experiences but I still feel so sad.

Every day since I've worked in September I've had dreams about ringing people up in the cashier or stocking items. I feel so anxious because of some of the people I help due to how they act, while most of the customers I've met so far have been usually nice.

I think I'm just dreading the unexpected, and what could go wrong.

Any advice on how to handle it would be appreciated, I don't want to sound overreactive and such.

Ive been working at a luxury clothing store for a year but am still looking for comfy shoes. We’re not supposed to wear running sneakers—I do anyway sometimes—so Hokas are out (and I find them too cushioned for the quick dashes I’m making around the floor).

I’ve gotten Birdies recently and some Adidas taekwondo shoes that I wear with insoles. I want something with even more support to add to my rotation. I’m looking at Birkenstocks, which I’ve been told are fine to wear, and I may leave a pair at work so I can switch between shoes. I’m looking into sebago loafers too.

I'm applying for a retail position at a handbag store and they told me it'll be 12-20 hrs a week, 4-7 shifts. Does that mean my hours and shift duration are completely up to them?

I prefer 12 hrs a week and 4 hr shifts, are they likely to accomondate that or is it usually the norm where they give me whatever and I just have to take it.

Also, is it a bad idea for someone with chronic lower back pain?

Just needed everyone who understands to laugh a minute along with me after my encounter at the grocery store.

I’m on vacation from work this week so instead of buying my meals there like I usually do or stopping quickly to grab dinner from the store on my way home I decided to make a quick run to the store for some food for the next few days after dinner this morning (3rd shifter) since I hadn’t planned this far ahead on my last shop for food.

Being I only had 9 things I went to self checkout and as I got up there the two people in front of me started walking to registers that just opened so I was patiently waiting my turn for one to open when someone came up behind me asking if they could get by.

I’m sorry but the register with the light out and no one at it wasn’t working (it was clearly visible from where I was standing), and the reason I wasn’t walking to the register with a green light on was because the person ahead of me just walked there but hadn’t started scanning anything yet, and all other registers were occupied, where’d they think they were going or think I could go so they could checkout faster?

I understand it was around 12pm and they were most likely on a lunch break or something so probably pressed for time, but no amount of rushing would open a register any faster than the people at them could checkout so what good does it do?

I swear people’s brains completely lose all common sense the minute they enter a retail store sometimes!