Adventures in Retail?

For almost a year now, I've been working in a freestanding department store. It's been my first real retail job-I've worked food service, a hotel, as a nanny, and teaching violin, but it took me all summer last year to land this gig. It's a job though, and I'm thankful for it. One of the main reasons I've been able to stand it this long is that I work with some great people (a few not so great ones, but mostly great) and, to quote one of the songs that plays 18 trillion times on the store playlist, "we're all in this together". And by "this", I mean having to deal with some of the most ridiculous people that I've ever come across. A friend suggested to me the other day that I should start a blog called "Adventures in Retail" to tell my stories, since some of them are pretty nutso. So I figured I can share some of them here, if I ever end up with any readers. I went out for cheap beers with some friends tonight, and even though we were all music people, we ended up talking the whole night about our retail experiences. It really is true that everyone should spend some amount of time in their life working food service and working retail, just so you appreciate what those workers deal with when you're on the other side. One thing we all agreed on tonight was that we're so much more inclined to help a person out, honor an expired coupon, etc., if said person is nice about it. One of the things that can be frustrating in my store is that we're sooo so nice that we can and we have to do just about everything the customer asks, but it makes us want to do it so much more if the customer asks nicely, instead of rudely demanding that we honor a coupon that's a month and a half expired (since they know we'll do it). (whew!) I'll be back with some actual stories soon....I've got plenty! But please, in the meantime, keep my coworkers and I in mind next time you shop. We'll love you forever, and maybe give you the hookup if you're nice to us!