People always gloss over how mentally damaging it can be to work in retail. I fucking hate that whenever I say “I could never work in retail again” someone has to reply “You snowflake millennials can’t take a starter job because you have to INTERACT with other people” No. Fuck you. I’ve worked as a planetarium host. I’ve worked as a public speaker. I’ve worked as a tutor and as a student teacher. I can work with people. I can work with crowds. Retail was fucking different. Retail was being treated as a subhuman. Retail was being treated so poorly that you have anxiety attacks before work. Having to work retail was a factor in my last suicide attempt. If I hear you say one fucking word about retail workers playing the victim I will personally break every bone in your body. Fuck You.
The holidays are coming up. Retail workers are going to be spiraling into a nightmare beyond human comprehension. If you’ve worked retail, you know this. If you haven’t, be aware of it. Please be kind to every retail worker you come across. Please be patient and understanding. It is misery out there.
Listen, okay.
A few years ago I went grocery shopping on Christmas Eve because I…frankly, because I forgot it was Christmas Eve. I’m sure a few people got a good laugh when it hit me mid-shop why it was so fucking crowded.
Anyway I went through self-checkout and halfway through my order it imploded.
Someone came over to help me with it and kept apologizing and after realizing this was not going to be as simple as them swiping a card and tapping a number, I said “would it make your life easier tonight if I just did the rest of my order through a regular checkout?” and the attendant said yes AND STARTED CRYING.
I want you, if you have never worked retail, to ask yourself what it would take to push you to the point that a friendly, neutral-value question would make you burst into tears. Imagine it, really think about it. And then realize retail and food service workers go through so much abuse THEIR LIMIT IS PROBABLY HIGHER THAN YOURS. Because they’re used to it.
Be kind. Ask a harried cashier if they need a minute to grab a drink of water. Offer them a smile. If the machine goes down, make it clear you know it’s not their fault. Nothing about your transaction will matter an hour from now—treat it that way. Let them breathe.
(Also, speaking as a veteran of the food service trenches, you know what made me feel A LOT better when I had an asshole customer? Another customer acknowledging that the first customer was an asshole. A simple “wow, who pissed in THEIR Cheerios this morning?” was enough to let me take a breath and relax and let it roll off more easily.)
I’m a professor now, so I deal with people all the time in a variety of contexts, and there is no way I ever want to go back to being a cashier, even at double my current pay (which would never happen of course because retail workers are not only poorly treated, they are severely underpaid).
Can confirm all of the above, I’m never going back to retail.
BE KIND TO RETAIL WORKERS.
It’s been decades since I worked retail. A few years ago Husband and I were shopping at a big box retail store; maybe Target, I don’t remember. What I DO remember is that the loudspeaker clicked on and “Jillian, cashier please” rang across the store.
I don’t know what my face did, but Husband looked at me, then got me the hell out of the store before I had a panic attack.