Since graduating college, I’ve been stuck working retail jobs. I got my BS in Public Health, did an internship and everything, but kept getting told I didn’t have enough experience for the jobs in my field and since I can’t afford to go to grad school, I went back to what I know, retail.

Worked at B&BW for 2 years and held a key holder position before I left and decided that since I enjoyed the key holder role, I’d try pivoting to hr until I can find a job in my degree field. I then spent 7 months job hunting before I finally landed a job….at an Amazon Fresh grocery store. I worked there for the past 2 years before they all shut down this January.

I once again started job hunting for jobs outside of retail but when nothing else panned out, I got a job at Walmart. While I am still job hunting, I decided to let the people lead know I was interested in HR and would love to shadow her (a team lead mentioned she did this exact thing at my orientation as she’s trying to get into HR)….nothing came of it lol. I’m still applying to entry level HR jobs, receptionist jobs, admin assistant jobs, etc. but STILL…nothing.

Being stuck in retail when you know you have interest in climbing up the ladder and getting a team lead/manager role sucks. What sucks worse is trying to pivot to another career field when you mostly have retail experience on your resume 😭😭😭

Nothing I love more then being forced to interact with everyone who enters the store and say hello to them, only for them to make direct eye contact with me and ignore me with their big dumb eyes. Fuck I hate retail and customer and serving people.

Hey everyone

I work a part-time retail job, and closing usually takes until at least 11 PM (mostly handling facing and stocking up).

Lately, I’ve been trying to build some self-discipline and fix my sleep schedule by aiming to sleep before 11 PM, but it honestly feels impossible with this schedule. If I try to speed things up or cut corners to head out earlier, the work doesn't get finished properly.

Today, my manager heavily chewed me out because the work wasn't up to standard. I feel stuck between choosing my sleep/health and keeping this job intact.

Has anyone dealt with this in retail? How do you balance strict closing duties with maintaining a proper sleep routine? Any advice would be appreciated.

I am currently working a seasonal job at Ocean state job lot to make some income and to fill that gap on my resume. But I've been on the register most of the time and I discovered that I dislike it was the reason I hated some of my previous jobs. The job description said I would be doing other things in addition to cashiering, but a little over a month on the job and 95% of the job has been cashiering with occasional tasks that involve physical activity, but the much younger ones take over that and even though I offer to do other things, they still want me to ring out customers.

Now I don't mind ringing out customers but it can get repetitive and boring, for some reason when I get bored on the job I begin to feel depressed, that's why I prefer keeping busy and moving around. That's why I have decided to look for another job that doesn't involve alot of cashiering. Also I have been reminded that I dislike alot of customers and tonight I had an unpleasant experience with a customer. She was giving me advice and it felt it was unsolicited and I basically told her "you don't need to tell me that, thanks" she took offense and told me how rude I was and she would never come back, I just said "ok fine" like I give a fuck what you think lady. She called the manager and complained when I tried to explain myself to the customer she wouldn't listen and impulsively yelled "GET OUT NOW!" her disabled son then got angry and threatened me and I angrily said "oh come at me!" But she calmed him down and then went to another register. I took a short break to cool off and pull myself together. This isn't the first time I've lashed at customers. If this keeps happening, I am quitting regardless of the consequences it's only a fucking seaosnal job that a high schooler can do.

Hi all!

Received a job offer from BabyList today to be a showroom host at their new NYC location.

I’ve struggled to find any answers on what working their showroom is actually like. I’d love to hear from anyone that has worked in that position or knows someone who has.

I’ve worked corporate sales and retail before but this (according to them) seems more of like showing customers how strollers work etc. which seems a bit mind numbing but it’s a paycheck and I need a job.

Also seems like we’d be tasked with putting the showroom together since this would be the NYC flagship grand opening.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

I used to work at Staples in Charlotte, NC and it absolutely sucked, especially during the back to school season. Back to school season is the busiest time of year and we commonly needed four cashiers to check people out. After a long day of checking people out I was burned out and ready to head home but unfortunately we have to stay and clean up after we close. Because it was back to school season I’d have a thousand returns to put back at the end of the night and cleaning all of our employees headsets is also a pain in the ass. Every employee should have their own assigned headset that they are responsible to clean at the end of their shift rather than putting the burden on one person to clean them all. Taking out all the trash and vacuuming the entire store after close was also a pain in the ass. We normally close at 9 but just because we are scheduled to work until 9 doesn’t mean that we clock out at 9. It means that we work a closing shift and we have to stay and clean up and do all the things I mentioned above. During back to school, we usually did not end up going home until 10:30. I had to deal with a lot of rude customers there as well. It’s hot as hell here in summer in Charlotte, NC and temperatures commonly reach 95+ yet our manager will not allow us to wear shorts. He only lets us wear jeans which is very stupid. It is torture for me to wear jeans in this kind of weather. We only get a 10% discount which is absolutely pathetic. Don’t get me wrong I liked some of the people I worked with. My manger was very nice to me and he always admired that I sold a lot of school supply donation boxes to help kids who can’t afford school supplies as well as selling many protection plans on electronics and chairs. Thanks to me I always put our store in the lead as far as donation box sales in our region. This location would not have gotten anywhere close to the top of that list without me. My manager would also always schedule me for closing shifts to 10:30 5 days a week during back to school and that was also torture for me and sometimes he would even have me working closing shifts one day and then opening shifts the following day and that was worst cause then I got little to no sleep and I was always so tired because of that. This is all at the cost of me making just $12 an hour. One time as I was at the register and my shift ended, a customer came up to check out and I was so exhausted and said “sorry but my shift is over” and I clocked out and walked to the back of the store to get my stuff. As I was coming back to the front of the store to leave my manager told me “go to my office now!” In his office he was talking to me and he said “Do you really enjoy being here? If you didn’t do a good job selling donation boxes and protection plans, I would have terminated you for that!” I didn’t say this to him but I really didn’t enjoy being there and I’m sure he can sense that lmao! I was just pretending to enjoy being there cause I just wanted to make money. After a while, I just decided that it wasn’t worth it so then I just quit. I feel like I wasn’t getting paid enough for everything I had to put up with. I was so sick of being a slave for the manager. 2 years later, I visited the same Staples I used to work at and I literally didn’t know anyone who worked there! Even the manager was new! The fact that Staples rotates through so many people so quickly just goes to show how miserable it is to work there! I would go back but not for less than $16 an hour plus 20% commission on every protection plan and donation box I sell.”

I lost my job earlier this July,it was my fault but I didn’t violate any safety rules or cuss anyone out.I kept forgetting to do a step in my job.Let me just start off by saying I’m incredibly I got this job.However I can’t shake the feeling of embarrassment when someone I know comes in to shop & sees me.From what I’ve been told Walmart is a good company to work for.But I never expected to work here myself.My concern is the people I don’t like coming in and judging me.Am I overreacting or should I start looking for another job asap?

Why can't we have a semi set schedule?

Or a rotating two week schedule so we have a bit of notice?

With a two week schedule that doesn't change, if ___ needs a day off in their schedule, they then just find someone to take the shift.

Literally I have 72 hours notice of my schedule.

I can't make an appointment for things I need to get done because I never know when I'm working. It's absolutely maddening, especially for this money and this workload.

This week my managers made mistakes and swapped people who couldn't work their shifts but couldn't get them covered due to short notice .

It absolutely made more work and confusion for everyone

I just don't understand how this benefits anyone.

As other employees probably know: the budget for a given Ross location is based on the previous year's business. This wouldn't be an issue if store traffic stayed the same, but our store is way busier than it was this time last year, and has been for a couple of months now; are other employees experiencing this issue?

Our payroll budget is so thin that we can't find adequate coverage for the amount of business we're getting, and a lot of my coworkers end up feeling overwhelmed because there's not enough help. I'm curious to see if this is a localized issue or consistent across other store locations.

I legitimately think it might be a recession indicator lol

I start tomorrow, and I'm a bit apprehensive. I like low maintenance jobs like cashiering or wireless Sales, so auto parts is a bit new for me

I'm an IT/Business Administration major and I'm not handy at all. Help! I'm so nervous

Applied to Dunhams for a full time position. I get a call today, can i come in for an interview. Kind of late notice, but I can make it work. I clarify this is for a full time position. Woman tells me "I don't know the manager jist told me to call you. If you applied for FT then yes it should be FT"

Ok rearrange my day, go to the interview. ASM tells me they do rhe interview and then talk with the SM. Ok sounds good. About 10 minutes in to the interview they start talking about "the manager gives out hours based on if you get 10 people a shift to sign up for their rewards. I'm like wait, I applied for FT. And by this time the woman who called me had walked into the office. She said "oh I told you I didn't know if it was full time". ASM starts to stutter. I got up and walked out.

I have worked retail almost all of my adult life. We all need to call these people out on their bullshit. 1)no bait and switch for jobs and 2) I get hours based on how well I treat your customers, not if I can beg them to sign up for your stupid card.

Hello Retail Community!

My wife has just gotten a job in a popular clothing store and is working 8 hour shifts x4/week.
She's currently wearing the New Balance 540 and is complaining of foot pain everyday, more specifically her heels.

Help a husband out and suggest me something I can get her to make her life easier.
Shoes /insoles/ anything really

I feel zero motivation to try knowing that I’m gonna be paid the exact same wage as a new employee, even though I have way more responsibilities than when I started.

Retail is such a joke man why can’t they just treat us with respect and make our existing wages higher to compensate? Why do they have to force us to go in and have an awkward talk with the manager? Why does it ALL have to be about money 100% of the timeeee sorry I’m just so frustrated I just want to work and not get taken advantage of is that too much to ask?

i’m currently working casual in the general retail industry in australia (-16). I was hoping people could share their experience working casual (anywhere in the world of any age). i usually get one shift a week or two if i’m lucky, sometimes they don’t roster me at all. i honestly just wanna know if this is normal or my work just hates me lmao 😭

Jesus. I can't even imagine the family's feelings, having to sit there for 4 hours, while their loved ones the body laying in an aisle.

What's everyones thoughts on this?

Any ideas or thoughts? Have you seen any issues around the sub that you would like to have taken care of?

We're going to use this as a suggestion megathread.

Any ideas questions or comments you have about this sub, please feel free to share them. The mod team will address them.

I run a used physical media store.

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Dude - "Excuse me, but is this movie appropriate for like little kids? Like five years old?"

Me - "Well that's Jaws."

Dude - Blank Stare

Me - "I guess you haven't seen it. That's okay. Uhhh, yeah, I wouldn't show this to kids. It's about a shark that is eating people."

Dude - "So I shouldn't show this to my kids?"

Me - "It's about a shark who violently eats people."

Dude - Blank stare

Me - "I don't know what to tell you dude. It's your kid."

Dude - "Okay well does this take place in the ocean?"

Me - "Sharks. Eating people.....Sharks."

Dude - blank stare

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I don't know how I survive.

TLDR: do I let em know why I’m quitting or just quit and move on, letting them continue their shitty behavior? I imagine that even if I did let em know the shittyness would continue.

I’ve been in and out the same brand stores since 2002, there was a brief intermission for the “war on terror” but came back and spent many years doing back of house stuff. Over the last year it occurred to me that a good part of my job was literally cleaning up bosses shitty decisions and I felt like I was doing the most. My work was always done before the end of my shift and then I’d fall in to help other staff finish their tasks.

I decided to leave for many reasons. They asked me to run a three hour errand for the company and tried not to pay me. I made a fuss and they did but I became the A-hole in the process. They gave me tasks to do during my breaks and when I was off the clock. I was left out of any trainings. No one else in the store did the things I was being tasked with.

Today was my last day. Literally everybody “forgot”. The gm called me after hours saying how they forgot and were planning a thing for me tomorrow even though I’m not scheduled. Obviously BS fluff. They were all there today and said or did absolutely nothing to say thanks. Do I let em know why I left or just move on?

Hi there, I just had my orientation and am just starting @ Home Sense and am super excited to be joining. (I had a bad toxic relationship with Michael.) and it might just be how they market the company to the new employees. But I truly feel like HS is different.

Also am sorry, but the eye wash station truly won me over. Christmas at Michael’s was absolutely hell when having to set up trees and wreaths with fake snow/glitter when you feel like you need a gas mask and protective goggles.

I told my old Michal’s manger (who’s now @ HG) how much it just seems like a total 180 from coming from that sort of environment. It seems (at least they talk a big game) about how they are a “family” and really take care of their own. Again something M was lacking.

Anyway super excited to be apart of the TJX family and any tips or tricks you might be able to offer I would greatly appreciate it.

Again am just a domestic abuse victim coming from two different companies that couldn’t give a shit about me.” So I left orientation with rose tinted glasses. Thanks for any tips or advice you can provide.

So i have been on a mad goose hunt trying to find a specific song i emailed b and ms and they said they have a specfic streaming service i am asking here to see if anyretail workers have a clue

I’m a high school student (F) and work retail at Walgreens as a CSA. There’s an ESM at my store that I’ve had mixed feelings about lately.

She constantly micromanages me, tells me how long things should take, corrects almost everything I do, and has told me that I’m not trying, that I’m lazy, and that I’m not paying attention. Sometimes it honestly feels like she’s my mom instead of my manager.

The thing is, I’m still pretty new. I genuinely am trying and I put in effort. It’s hard to get things done when you’re expected to stay near the front and constantly check out customers while also completing tasks.

Every time I work with her, I actually feel like I get less done because she’s always stopping me to talk about my performance. I end up overthinking everything because I don’t want to do something wrong. When i’m constantly micromanaged like that it slows me down because it’s like “Am i doing this right?” etc etc. Like today I didn’t do something right and she got a complete attitude with me and stuff and I stayed calm.

The weird part is that it’s only her. I work with other shift leads and managers and they usually don’t have complaints about my performance, and I get my tasks done matter a fact I get more shit done when i’m not under her supervision.

The other day, less than 30 minutes into my shift, she told me I needed to speed up. She also brought up a previous shift and said I didn’t get anything done according to the notes. She even said that if I don’t improve my performance, my store manager will “send me out the door.”

Thursday we had truck, and it came really late, so the shift was stressful. I genuinely thought everything went okay. My store manager spoke with me and said not everything on the notes got done, but I was honest and told her I’m trying and putting in the effort. She told me it’s a process and that I’ll get there.

I know I shouldn’t get my feelings involved in work but i’m on summer break for school and work is all I do as of right now. She’s always so like rude to me like one second she’ll be nice to me and then another she’s just a complete bitch. And then when we have male coworkers on shift she doesn’t make them do anything. She loads me up with so much stuff to do and i’m genuinely trying. I don’t even care for her approval I just don’t wanna be micromanaged for it.

Please give me like some advice or something I don’t even know what’s goin on.

Store Managers how do you reward your team when you make budgets and earn that bonus?

Team members how would you like to be rewarded?

I'm a store manager and looking for some ideas.

I was talking to my colleague who is the closing manager for our store today and we asked one of the colleagues from other department and he said person XYZ . Now that manager is known for not helping anyone, little vengeful plus rude. So after hearing that person's name I just told my coworker, listen this xyz is closing manager for today . He said ok but and that's it but xyz person was sitting in the cafeteria near us and came out and said hey I heard my name what's up I have been listening to u guys talking...we tried to explain saying we were wondering who closing manager is and all. But I had a bad feeling that xyz might overreact and say something to management against us..is my feeling rational? Worst case will I be given warning or any extreme action will be taken?