Sunday, February 27, 2011

Things I Hate About Working Retail

  Since July 2009, I have worked at Kohl's as a sales associate. I am very, VERY grateful for my job, and consider it a relaxing change of pace from my previous jobs waiting tables (which is just about the most stressful job out there, from what I can tell), I have noticed a few less than pleasing patterns while working there. Here I have collected the things that I hate the most about working retail. Enjoy!

1. People who call me by my first name.
Okay, here's the thing. I don't CHOOSE to wear a name tag. I have to. It's part of my job. It would be one thing if I had been having a pleasant, friendly conversation with a customer and then they said, "Thanks, Kendra!" as they left the store smiling. That kind of thing is tolerable at worst and heartwarming at best. But when I get these random middle aged men who say nothing to me while I ring them up and seem not even to notice my presence while I do so, then slowly say, "Thanks, Kendra," I get a little creeped out. Even worse is when the middle aged man is one of those guys that try to be funny unsuccessfully while you ring them up and then say your name almost flirtatiously.
Even women who do this freak me out a little.
Generally my policy is that unless we've been introduced (or even just know of each other by reputation), I don't want you to call me 'Kendra'. It feels almost like an invasion of personal space, ya feel me?

2. People who honestly believe it makes sense to spend $12 extra in order to get a $10 coupon.
At Kohl's we give out $10 of 'Kohl's Cash' (basically a store coupon) for every $50 that you spend on certain days. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone spend, say, $38 dollars and then say, "Aww, damn! I was so close to getting my Kohl's Cash! Tracey, go get that blouse so I can spend twelve dollars extra in order to get a ten dollar coupon that I can only spend in ONE place!"
Now, I understand wanting to save money. I LOVE saving money. But this just...doesn't make sense.

3. People who accuse me of false advertising.
Yeah. So. I've heard the "This is false advertising!" bit quite a few times.
I'm sorry, but it's just not false advertising. Everyone knows that you have to read the fine print these days, and with Kohl's coupons, it's not even fine print. All the information you need is printed right on the coupon. So people, before you complain to me and treat ME like crap because Kohl's is apparently committing an offense against you by having conditions for their offers, strap on your reading glasses and READ the coupon. If you don't like what you see, then maybe you can save yourself a trip.

4. People who get mad at me for 'letting' someone else cut in front of them.
When I'm at work, I am a very busy person. Anytime I check someone out, there are many things that I have to pay attention to. I have to simultaneously ring up and bag each person's items, find out each person's method of payment, and depending on which form they choose I may have to either scan a card myself or count change for them. On top of that, most forms of payment require a photo ID which I have to check. It may not sound like a lot, but the process requires my full attention.
Put simply this means that while this is going on, I'm not paying attention to the order of the line; especially since the line order changes all the time.
If someone cuts in front of you, take it up with them...not me. And please, if you are of a different ethnicity, don't make the whole situation even worse by implying that I'm racist because I 'let' a white woman cut in front of you.

5. The fact that none of the 'sales' are really sales at all.
Don't get me wrong, a deal is a deal. But I have to say that it irritates me when I see a shirt go from $10 to "Buy One, Get One Free", with the price now being $20. 
What I mean is that the price never changes, no matter what sales are going on. True, you may have a coupon that saves you some money, but no matter where you go, no matter what coupon you have, you will ALWAYS be paying more than an item's real value. You can take that to court. 

6. Middle aged men wearing muscle shirts who come through my line and literally give me a headache because they are SO drenched in cologne and call me pet names the whole time I'm ringing them up.
...Do I really need to elaborate...?

  There are a bunch of things that irritate me about retail. These things are just the beginning. But I'm not in a particularly spiteful mood right now, so I'm going to let that be that for now. I may add to it later =) 

1 comment:

  1. You are funny. How come I never see you when I'm at Kohls? Can I call you Kendra?

    ReplyDelete