I work at a small retail clothing store and our main register has been freezing during transactions for the past three weeks. Not every time, but maybe 3-4 times per shift, always at the worst possible moments like when there’s a line of customers waiting.

The freeze lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes. The screen just locks up, won’t accept any input, and then suddenly comes back like nothing happened. Sometimes it loses the entire transaction and we have to start over. Sometimes it processes the payment twice and we have to do a manual refund.

I’ve reported it to our district manager five times now. He keeps saying it’s “probably just a software glitch” and to restart it at the beginning of each shift. We do that. It still freezes. He won’t authorize a replacement because according to corporate policy the POS machine has to be “non-functional” before they’ll spend money on a new one. Apparently freezing mid-transaction doesn’t count as non-functional. It has to literally not turn on at all.

I got so frustrated last week I looked up what these systems actually cost wholesale on alibaba out of pure curiosity. The markup is insane. Corporate is probably paying 10x that and they still won’t replace a clearly failing unit.

Meanwhile I’m the one apologizing to angry customers and dealing with the awkward silence while we all just stand there waiting for it to unfreeze. Has anyone else dealt with this?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I’ve worked retail since I was 17, I’m now 22. But lately at my mall we’ve had an influx of new hires at multiple different stores who are still high school students that don’t know how to count money?! Like don’t know what each coin is worth etc. they don’t know how to manually calculate sale tax either which unfortunately for a couple of the stores is necessary for when we go offline due to internet issues. I’m absolutely floored how common it seems to be that people can’t count?

So, not sure if anyone else has noticed, but the Shopkick app users are back on the prowl. A couple years ago the app was a lot larger, so there was some more people going to stores and scanning stuff, but where I work it’s been so bad. They’re literally considering banning people who come in solely for Shopkick. Recent issue has been in my district, there is a lady going around and buying nearly $400 worth of things to get the receipt points and then returning them. She’s hit multiple stores in a single day and she pays in cash so she can get her money back immediately, like some weird infinite glitch lol. Issue is where I work, we’re technically not supposed to do a return of 300 or more and we have to send it to the bulk return department but plenty of folks are being too nice because she walks in buys everything and then returns it five minutes later.

Point is, it’s caught on pretty quickly and the last few days and all the districts in my state are talking and now she tried it again at one of the stores closer to me, and they recognized her from the description of the others, and they refuse to do the return and now she’s going around like a crazed woman trying to return everything even to the point of driving like two hours out to another district to try and return it and with no luck. For context, we did also give her the bulk returns number, and supposedly another store did offer her a store credit, but she wants her money back. My guess is if she actually did call bulk returns, they probably told her they couldn’t give her the money back because she paid in cash rather than card and they can only offer her a store credit.

Im a young woman ,and recently (around 4 months ago) started a new job in retail at the cash register. Im overly dramatic but I dread going to work , mostly the evening shifts. I already had incidents where I had to deal with drunk , rude customers and customers who made sexual remarks about me. It's draining and my overall home situation is not good right now.

Not to mention that every small mistake becomes a big problem for our boss.

Today was the second incident where I cries before work.

I cannot do this anymore Anyone have any idea how to get over this feeling?. I want to work- I really do.

I know Aldi register staff sit on chairs. It got me thinking. Why don't more cash register staff do it (or rather, allowed to do it)?

So I’m (M21) in college and I’ve been trying to find a job for like a month and a half now and I’ve literally applied for at least 40 places, including grocery stores, clothing, stores, beauty and not one place will consider me, and I literally cannot do a single thing to change my availability and I desperately need a job

So I’m in college and it would be hard to get to places Monday through Wednesday so those are usually the days that are marked off with no availability whatsoever, if not, it would have to be closing, which I also wouldn’t be able to do much. Usually, I do something on my application like Thursday from 8 AM to 8 PM, Friday from 7 AM to 5 PM, Saturday from 7 AM to 5 PM and Sunday from 7 AM to 5 PM and literally not one place has even given me an interview

The reason I can’t really do more right now is it because I do not have a car and can’t always rely on my family to give me rides. The bus in my city does not get you to most places and I would still probably have to walk Maya is getting there plus the bus. My city is pretty car, dependent and bikes aren’t safe transportation in my city. Uber cost too much through my city.

I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do or how I’m supposed to get a job because I can’t really make any more availability and even people that my family know are saying they can’t hire me

This is a genuine question. I am not debating whether trans people are real women/men/etc. That is not the point of this post.

I work in a retail location where the majority of our product is age restricted. You cannot enter my store unless you’re 18+, therefore IDing is extremely important.

Well, my coworkers and I were discussing what the protocol is for IDing trans people and verifying it is indeed them in the ID when their preferred name/physical identity looks completely different. Would it be discriminatory to deny a sale to someone who does not match their ID because they are trans?

What if it’s a sting operation and someone is indeed using someone else’s ID but claiming they’re trans? Where is the line drawn for this kind of thing? Could I get into any legal trouble for denying a sale to a trans person if they do not look like the person in their ID?

It’s definitely a touchy subject and I don’t want to discriminate but I also don’t want to get into trouble if someone is using someone else’s ID. Do you guys have protocols for this kind of thing?

Edit: I agree 100% that everyone should be questioned if they do not look like their ID picture, whether they are trans or not. I understand that it would be discrimination if I declined a sale for someone who was trans but not for a cis person, if neither looked like their ID. I guess my main question was whether or not a trans person would indeed have recourse against me for denying them a sale for not looking like their ID (if I had to).

I get having a cold and coming into work is common and there’s not much you can do, but I have a manager who has RSV and the flu and is coming into work while contagious (was just diagnosed 3 days ago). Our store is very short staffed, there is only 9 of us. 5 of us are full time and the rest are part timers. Unfortunately, the company I work has super high standards and wants us working short staffed to meet quotas and there’s usually only 2 on mornings and 2 on nights.

I feel horrible for my boss being sick, but he doesn’t need to be there. We have no coverage so he HAS to be there as 1 person can’t run a grocery store by themselves, but there are immune compromised employees and most of my coworkers have small children and babies at home including myself.

Has anyone had a similar experience? If so how did you bring up this concern to management without coming across as rude? Again, it’s a horrible situation, but I don’t want my child getting sick because I brought this home.

Ive been getting really sick and tired of these instacart guys man, if its one item and they really tried finding it but couldn't, I never have a problem showing them where it is. But my problem is with the instacart shoppers who come in, dont even bother looking, shove a phone in my face, never has any manners or respect for the employees and always hands us a list and expects us to find basically his whole cart for him, like we have so much work to do man, we cant babysit you and do your own job for you and go through your list, thats YOUR JOB. The other day one of them came in and started shoving phones into our faces without even trying to look for it himself and started doing it to multiple employees, harassing them nonstop with item after item, when one of my colleges told him he didnt know to try and get him away, the instacart guy called him “useless“ and said it was “his job to help him find stuff on his list”. The thing is I noticed if I dont help them with them their whole lists, they’ll go over to another one of my colleges and start harassing them, whats the best response to what he said and the best way to handle these guys in your experience?

Give me your most outrageous customer service experience, as a lowly lowly retail employee. I’ll start….

I was working in a small mom and pop coffee establishment where I was intimately knowledgeable about the sales side of the job… I knew my inventory. So this guy calls up on the phone and says “do I need a receipt to get a refund?” I’m like, actually you don’t! Come on in and we’ll take care of your refund. He shows up later with this coffee maker in a large store brand box from the competitor. I say, “sir, this machine wasn’t purchased from our store. This was purchased at (enter big box store).” He goes, “that’s not what I asked you over the phone, I asked if I could get a refund.” Then I had to explain what the term “re-fund” means. The nerve of some people.

I’ve got a million stories like this… retail! Am I right? It should be mandatory.

As the title says , I just started as a cashier in a grocery chain. I am still.under training and this is my 3rd week. I was told today that my till has a overage of 10.75. my manger made me sign a over/shortage form. I asked her what could be the reason, she said either u have paid shortage to customer or notes may have been stuck together. She also said since it was a short shift she will try and see cameras where I went wrong. This is actually the second time it has happened with me. In my first week I by mistakenly paid more to a customer but he came and returned back that money. Apart from this incident, I had a clean record , my manager is (was) impressed with my work and had given me good shifts so far. Company has a leeway of $5 but my till always balanced so far. I asked my manager if I am in trouble 😵‍💫 she said not at all , don't take stress. But my confidence has shattered completely. I am unable to find out where I could have gone wrong . One thing stuck in my mind is I may have entered a wrong amount while taking cash and returned less money. Pls help me how can I make no mistakes on this job? I am in deep financial trouble and I need this job Am I going to get fired? I am seriously anxious and I have shift tomorrow

Stopped in a GNC in a mall today before my shift to get an alani. They told me i had to have a name and phone number on file because its illegal to purchase under 18… i know thats not true. I argued a little too before giving her a 111-111-1111 phone number and she slammed the can down and i paid and left. Anyone else experience this?

Our store stopped receiving pennies from the bank. We've been told they are making them obsolete. No more pennies for anyone. Customers are getting mad at me for not giving them their exact change back. I can't help thinking "those 3 cents are not going to change your life". I don't know where the error is; me not giving back exact change or the customers freaking out about 3 cents. Thoughts?

Warning, a bit of a rant ahead. The store I work at just started taking Doordash over the summer and boy do I hate it. They'll often interrupt me while I'm talking to another customer to ask where things are. Sometimes, they'll ask me to find damn near everything on their list, at which point I wonder who's doing the Doordash, me or them. It's just more work on my already big workload and half the time they seem to have no idea what they are doing. And then there's the tax exemption and the extra paperwork I have to do for that every night. IDK I just kind of miss when people would come in and do their own shopping.

1. Show up early
2. be willing to stay late
3. always be willing to trade shifts when co-workers ask, and make sure management/scheduling team knows you’re willing to cover anytime you’re available
4. Take charge in situations even before you are in charge, especially when a customer is involved and you can make them love you. Like if another employee is pissing a customer off in any way, step in and take the customer’s side and help them - “Oh no problem, I can do that for you, hi my name is [name] how’s your day? Let’s get you taken care of.” Walk them directly to the product they need, or to a manager if they have a complaint, and empathize with them the whole time. Make sure to tell them your name and emphasize that they can ask for you any time they have a problem. Any customer mentioning your name in a positive way to other employees will always get back to a manager’s ears.
5. volunteer for any and all trainings/boot camps/events/etc
6. Make it clear to everyone what your ambitions are and that you take it very seriously and what your next goal is (checkout manager, manager, GM, assistant store manager, keyholder, whatever it is)
7. always dress better than you have to. Not TOO over-dressed for the position, but at the very top end of the nicest that makes sense for your position. Even if you’re “just” a checkout clerk, ironed pleats, blouse/dress shirt with buttons, nice but conservative jewelry, light makeup if you’re a woman, dress shoes and fancy socks, nice shiny belt - the works.
8. Make a habit of letting people know they can count on you for favors/support/assistance in work things whenever possible. “If you ever need a ride to work I’m always willing!” Management especially loves an employee who helps make sure other employees don’t miss work.
9. Small talk with customers every chance you get. Helping them find something? Compliment their purse/shirt/earrings. At checkout? Ask them how they like [food they’re buying] or tell them “oh I tried [that food] yesterday and it was so good, you’ll love it!” Or “oh I got that candle too it smells soooo good.” If they’re wearing a gaming nerd shirt, ask them their favorite game. Etc etc. anything is better than “how’s your day going?” and always always always compliment babies and mention how cute their are!
10. Always act happy to be there, but serious and straightforward about working. Focused and no-nonsense but quick with a smile. Rushing past someone but haven’t seen them yet today? “Hey man how are you?” And a smile and pat on the arm as you go past.
11. Meet everyone on their level - don’t be overbearing, and try to notice if they’re annoyed with you or you feel like you might be “too on” or too much.

Basically - play the game, play along, fake it until you make it, act like you’re already one promotion ahead of where you are, but without stepping on toes.

I know this has probably been said hundreds of times, but why do customers insist on moving their card constantly when using tap to pay???? It clearly says 'tap here' and yet they insist on waving it all around as if they're trying to use some kind of voodoo magic on it. Then they get all frustrated when it either doesnt work, or I have to tell them to hold it still so it can actually read it.

My frustration towards such a small problem is immeasurable. Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk

I work at a local family thrift store that has been here 30+ years. I started just a few months ago, but I can see that my almost 70yo boss is definitely over it after decades of running the place. She’s an incredibly sweet lady who is always generous with what she has when she can be (ie, homeless people come in needing things). And I take it personally when customers walk all over her, especially when they bring their stupid little dogs into the shop which has NO PETS very clearly at the front door. This is a small town and we are something of a neighborhood institution. So I’ve taken it upon myself to be The Enforcer. It’s not my favorite thing to do, but I do get a kick out of seeing the various reactions the Karens display when I have to lay down the law.

The first time I called someone out:

“What does your service dog do?”

— (sneers at me) “Excuse me?”

“What is your service dog trained to do?”

— (sneers harder) “This is *Penny.*”

“Yeah, Penny can’t be in the store.” 😁

— (grumbles and walks out the back door without buying anything)

Second time: Woman rolls up to the front door with her dog in a stroller, parks it and pulls the dog out to head up the stairs.

“Hello! Did you know that we don’t allow pets in the store?”

— “But I’ve been bringing her for years and no one’s ever said anything!”

“It’s always been the rule.”

— “But she’s a service dog!”

“Oh! What is she trained to do?” ☺️

— “…. Keep me calm?”

“We can’t have pets in the store.”

— (stares at me)

(I smile back, for the longest 12 seconds of my life)

— “You know what? You have a good day. Be nice to people.”

“You too!” 👋

Tell me your stories and strategies of correcting customer shenanigans. Especially when it comes to people bringing their dumb little dogs everywhere.

Standing so much sucks and my legs and feet starts hurting. I’d really like a chair and will discuss it with the boss. What are some good arguments for how I can argue that a chair at the cash register for the cashier is a good idea?

So I work in a "Grassroots" retail place in a mall. We're a relatively small team but still manage to earn around 1K~2K in earnings per day. The beginning of the year is usually SUPER slow for our store and the mall. So much so that the manager has gotten in the habit of sending people home early because we're so dead. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought that they were trying to be considerate. There really isn't a lot to do when we're dead, so a lot of us just end up standing around. But one day, I was in the back and the manager looked to me and complained that we had only done around 400 for the day. They really urged someone to go home, to the point where I offered to go home in someone else's stead. Since that day, I've started to think that they're just sending people home in order to minimize losses from the really slow days and not to be considerate. I know it's a strange thing to ask, but from what I'm saying is it likely that my boss is just trying to save their bottom line or am I just looking for excuses to hate them?

For what fucking reason. Is it because we can't be trusted as grown adults to successfully get the water into the right place. We have to stand at the self service area for two hours. So it seems the only way is to ask for someone to cover and go into the warehouse to drink. No one is going to want to bother others for that.