I wish someone had told me: retail

[habia]

I am thinking about getting a retail job over the summer but I have never worked retail before.

What do you wish someone had told you before you started retail?

Is it way worse than it sounds? Actually sort of fun sometimes?

What are the biggest mistakes you made?

What are the best things to do in order to make it pretty cool?

What are the subtle things you learned after the first month? What are the subtle things you learned after the first six months?

How much were you paid? What type of employee discount did you get?

What are the worst type of customers? What are the best type of customers?

Does it bother you when customers chat about normal stuff with you and you wish they would just get out of the store?

What was your boss like? Did managers or customers abuse you? Did you abuse the system?

How well did you memorize stock and details about items you were selling?

Did stuff ever get stolen from the store while you were there? Did you ever steal from the store (or know of friends stealing...)?

Did you work at a store you would normally shop at? Is it better to work somewhere pretty cool or somewhere that will pay a lot or somewhere that is really not busy?

[sleazie ninja number 47]

there's a guy on here that works at a stussy store. you should aks him via a great many pms.

[fndmybetterhalf]

you'll have fun for the first week...meeting new people, looking at clothes/folding clothes all day. then it all goes downhill on second week when you dont wanna deal with dumb customers and the clothes you used to love all begin to lok the same and bore you, etc etc etc.

im never working retail ever again.

if you plan on working retail, do it for a short period of time (ie summer may be good)

[whitney]

*smh*

i wish someone told me i actually had to change the spot lights above.. and vacuum.. i never vacuumed my entire life before retail.. the little stuff i suppose.

also any retail you work at will suck unless you get along w/your managers/coworkers..

retail pays minimum/a bit more..depends on where you apply and the experience you have.. also depends on the hiring manager.. i would leave the box blank where it asks what you'd like for hourly and negotiate with the manager when he/she asks.

i would never work retail again..unless i can be a cashier. sales associate sucks. stock is okay. manager is like a black hole that sucks you in and keeps you in..(you'd be lucky if you get out). visuals is lovely but most of the time you get pigeon holed by standards

[C0C0]

manager is like a black hole that sucks you in and keeps you in..(you'd be lucky if you get out). visuals is lovely but most of the time you get pigeon holed by standards

lol soo true...

[lenn]

i'm in retail for now... just parttime as i'm still going to uni. i'll be changing to a more serious job after this summer tho, at least that's the plan. it's all fun and giggles at our company as everybody, even the managers, arent older than 32.

but yeah the pay is hella shitty. but then again i don't really do a lot but chitchat all day long about denim so i kinda dont care

[betterdays]

I work for Gap/Old Navy (blah!), but it isn't as bad as other places i've heard of. I started over the summer and just never left because I got along with everyone so well. Also, I can wear whatever I want so I don't have to purchase Old Navy clothes I can't stand. I get paid a couple dollars above minimum wage.

Also, I think someone shoplifts at least once a day because of all the sensor tags I find lying around the fitting room.

[off bowery]

Just steal for bitches and get pussy

[IM SOLE CRAZY]

I worked at one of the worst places ever

Linens N Thangz

Yes...it was terrible being the only male cashier in the whole fking store, getting hit on by the 30+ year old ladies (I was 17 at the time) disgusted the shit out of me, my co-workers were wack aside from a few, managers sucked such hard cock and they'd get so pissed over everything, the best part about the job was doing damages...

Yeah...damages is so much fun...it involved me breaking and cutting up tons of items that had minor defects...

While at the same time its such bullshit, they could have gave away most of the stuff they wanted me to break to the homeless or something. It's not like that shit was really damaged, it has a MINOR flaw or something (like a black mark on a bedsheet, or a tiny scratch on a lamp or something)....

Some times, while I'd do damages, people would come buy and ask for free shit that I'd be smashin up. Some times I gave it away, other times my managers were there so I had to say no.

Customers sucked, some were nice, most were stuck up dicks. One time this customer came in and bought about 5000 worth of merchandise and charged it with her black card and I was thinking to myself (isn't there like an expensive store you could shop at for this stuff? like why can't you get yourself some Dior wall panels and some Gucci bedsheets?) but anyway...

Retail blows...Only good thing about it is the potential to pick up hot beetcheez

And who here works at Stussy NYC? The people there are actually kind of nice to their customers...and that crazy asian girl with the funky hair always makes me giggly inside.

[geekbonchic]

Worked at one of the department stores last summer, made $12.50/hr with commission. So even though I was staring at ladies' asses all day long, I made some reasonably nice money.

Nowadays, I'm at a boutique, so the pay is less. But the discount is more and I'm gettng to do stuff other than sell shit, so it's a better resumé builder than my last retail job.

Just learn to turn your brain off and tell people what they want to hear.

[Gouf]

Retail: learn the cliques, make no alliances until you know social order of the things, keep your hours straight, dont draw too much attention to yourself, whether you like the manager or not make sure they view you in a positive light, manipulate those around you for your own goals/agendas.

[domdomdomdom]

Retail: learn the cliques, make no alliances until you know social order of the things, keep your hours straight, dont draw too much attention to yourself, whether you like the manager or not make sure they view you in a positive light, manipulate those around you for your own goals/agendas.

probably goes for alot more than retail

[rome1]

five finger discount......

[chrisbunnington]

it sucks but it could be worse. like, i'd rather work retail than wash dishes or something. you're not really required to actually do much, but shitty customers can really ruin it for you.

also if you're offered a management position, decline.

[mrip]

learn the security system and steal

steal as much as you can

as often as you can

whatever you can

[DüM]

one rule at my job:

NO THERE ARE NO MORE KERMIT TEES, YOU WANT A STICKER?

[cjbreed]

i worked retail years ago in a high end department store, and trust me, it is a beating. about 1 in 50 customers is remotely tolerable. the hours are long and the pay is terrible. for a similar position i strongly suggest the restaurant business, either waiting tables or bartending. lots more sex, drugs and cash in the restaurant business....

[albeeeezy]

one rule at my job:

NO THERE ARE NO MORE KERMIT TEES, YOU WANT A STICKER?

Sure blows neek's job out the water.