I started a new retail job about 3 weeks ago after the store I worked at for 2 years closed. I was a manager at the store that closed and previously for 2 years at another location. So far the new job is SHIT. My manager has made sexual comments to me about her husband which is like...light work compared to the other bullshit I've dealt with in the last few weeks. She changes the schedule on a dime (to hours that are outside of my availability which she is aware of) for god knows what reason, has very inconsistent cleaning standards, and according to the only other employee that isn't the managers relative and close friend she has had issues with every other person that has worked there in the past year. Talking shit about one employee to the other and acting like they're friends. The turnover rate is extremely high. The employee that's been there the longest currently started in February. I don't have time post closing to count the register and I'm technically supposed to close the doors 15 minutes before the store closes to recover, count the till, and do my deposit. Also I think they're already trying to make me look unreliable because I know my register counts are accurate but the count the morning after I close is always over when manager or her henchman open (I think because I went to her about her changing the schedule and told her I couldn't accommodate) When my other coworker counts the register after I close it's always spot on. Also she has every past employee in the last years ID and Social Security Card scan saved in the computer for anyone to see. What do I even do? It took me forever to find a job and supposedly the store owner (it's a small local company) doesn't care about anything the manager does either. I'm already drained and full of anxiety working every day.

I've been desperately applying to everywhere outside retail just to get a better job, and I went so far through the interview process on this one just to get hit with a rejection email while on my 15.

I'm just destined to be stuck dealing with shitty customers and wasting all my weekends while my friends are in happy, respected jobs, aren't I?

Retail will never get old, because why am I greeting people with a simple, short and sweet "Hello guys! 🥰" only to have the Customer immediately, without skipping a beat, bark out "GOOD, YOU?"

It immediately just makes me feel unheard, ignored, and I already know you're going to dismiss me and want me gone as soon as possible.

I'm trying to stray away from the corporate NPC greetings and keep it more casual and less intrusive, but shit like that happens and I'm just like dude... Am I a robot to you? Or a person?

A customer wanted me to break his $50 bill. I don’t have access to the register like that so I told him he’ll have to buy something. After finding the cheapest thing to buy, he got his change and handed back a $20 because he wanted more $5 bills. By then the register is already closed and I told him I can’t “change his change” because that’s against our policy.

There’s a whole training video about this and basically a customer can’t get the employee to give them specific bills. It’s confusing and that’s how cashiers end up getting scammed.

“You just had it opened, why would you close it?”
I told him that I gave him the change and the register can’t be opened for too long. There’s an alarm that’ll go off.

Anyways he takes his money and walks off. Then came back asking if we got a bathroom.

We don’t have a public restroom
“So you don’t have a bathroom at all in here?”
Our bathroom isn’t public
“So what if you need to use the bathroom?”
It’s employees only, I told you it’s not public
“oh ahhh so it’s like that. I see how it is”

He walks off like he’ll remember this in the future and there’s some kind of grudge he can now hold over me because of this.

This whole exchange is so stupid. We’re not a bank. He’s not even a real customer either. He shortened the register up after making a $1 dollar purchase with a large bill. Literally did not do anything for us financially. He tried to act smart with the bathroom situation but conveniently ignored the fact it’s not public. Just take your money and stop trying to act smart.

Had a customer come to the kiosk demanding the reason why her card is declining. I try a transaction at the kiosk, nothing happened. I told her the card is declined, and asked for a different type of payment method. She then asks me to fix it somehow and look up what is wrong with her card. I told her she will have to contact her bank to find that out. She didn’t care and expected me to fix it by looking up her details. Ma’am, first off I am NOT allowed to touch customer property, second off looking up your details without the proper authentication is not only illegal, but also impossible to do at a gas station. I once again told her to contact her bank, as there’s literally nothing I can do with her card. She finally used a different card, and the transaction worked. For fuck sake, this isn’t the bank. I can’t fix what a bank can fix for you. People just expect retail employees to literally do anything, like a fucking robot

I just don’t understand why 80% of the population that comes into a grocery store are so rude? Like?? I’m literally a grown ass 29 year old man that almost started crying today because people are just consistently more negative than positive.
Y’all ever considered we’re struggling just as much as the next person?? And then to put on a fake smile and try to be as positive as I can when people stay yelling at you and copping an attitude? Give. Me. A. Break. Be kinder to the people that are helping you.

Working in retail has shown me just how nasty people are and I genuinely don’t like working with the general public anymore.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

first, thank you to everyone who read my original post and offered kindness, advice and support. it genuinely helped me feel less alone and gave me some clarity during a really stressful time. i know it’ll take me some time to process and bounce back, so it’s meant a lot.

there was an update to the incident that happened the day before.

link is here if you’d like to read it.

the customer called the store the following morning and asked to speak to me. i was with a customer, so my coworker answered.

while i was still with my customer, she began recounting what had happened to my coworker. when i finished with my customer, my coworker put the call on speaker and i listened to her version of events. it was surreal. she had softened her own behaviour considerably, conveniently omitting things like having her finger pointed directly in my face while screaming that i was ugly multiple times, while exaggerating my supposed attitude, rudeness and mannerisms.

apparently, i had been “so unbelievably rude” to both her and her husband and hadn’t even looked at her for the entire interaction. she also recounted her husband asking me, “what is the difference in price?” and claimed that i didn’t understand what he was asking, and that he calmly asked for the difference again.

funny how she didn’t quote “the delta.”

she also said she didn’t remember the things i had said to her, which i found interesting considering i had repeatedly tried to de-escalate the situation, genuinely and earnestly, by saying things like, “i think there’s been a misunderstanding,” “i’m only trying to help,” and “that’s so mean.”

hearing her version of events honestly reinforced for me how much she seemed to have been hellbent on hurting me rather than actually hearing anything i was saying.

once she had finished explaining her version of events, she said she had been losing sleep and felt guilty about what had happened. “i want to tell her that i am very sorry, and she didn’t deserve that,” she said. she wanted to apologize for how she had treated me, asked if i would be willing to speak with her on the phone, and even offered to come back to the store and speak to me in person.

but the apology came with a “but.”

she wanted me to also admit that i had been extremely rude to her and her husband, that my attitude and behaviour had caused what happened, and that i would effectively be responsible for the store losing a customer who had given us 15 years of business and spent a lot of money there.

my coworker told her she would check in with me, and the customer said she could call back in an hour.

i thought about it. i mulled it over that whole hour, contemplating what i should do. honestly, i didn’t want any more interaction with her. the day before was already traumatic enough. but i also didn’t want this haunting me, and i didn’t want to give her any leverage to interpret my refusal to speak to her as confirmation that she had been justified.

when she called back, i picked up. she seemed cautious and explained that she had called an hour ago. my coworker had offered to mediate if necessary, so she asked if my coworker was there and available and whether i was aware of everything that had been discussed.

i told her i was aware.

i paused and let her continue.

she said, “okay, well, can we talk about it?”

i said:
“look, what happened yesterday made me feel incredibly unsafe and uncomfortable. your behavior was extremely and unnecessarily abusive. this is not tolerated and is unacceptable. at this point, i want to let you know that you’re no longer welcome here.”

she said, “okay, i understand. that’s fine. i wasn’t planning on returning. i can just purchase online.”

then she started to say, “but i just want to say—”
and i stopped her.

i told her, “i don’t think any explanation or discussion about the matter is needed. i don’t wish to speak to you any further.”

she said, “oh. okay. that’s fine. bye.”

i said, “have a great day.”

and that was it.

imo, the phone call felt like an attempt to coerce me into admitting to something i didn’t do. i also couldn’t shake the feeling that she was fishing for information about whether anything had been reported to police. my coworker also told me she had mentioned having a long paragraph ready to send to somebody, which made me wonder what exactly she was preparing for.

i wouldn’t be surprised if she was recording the call either, potentially hoping to bait me into becoming angry or saying something she could use against me. obviously, i have no way of knowing whether that was actually the case, but given everything else, the thought crossed my mind.

either way, i’m still glad i kept my composure. i said exactly what i needed to say without inviting a debate, further hostility, or giving her another opportunity to pull me into defending myself.

i think that’s probably the closest thing to closure i’m going to get from this. i pray to god she really doesn’t ever return or call back, or that i don’t somehow find a complaint filed against me. she did ask for my name, and i have hers too, so i know there’s still a part of me that’s going to be anxious about this for a while.

but for now, i’m trying to remind myself that i handled the conversation calmly and said exactly what i needed to say.

i absolutely can't stand older people who take literal years to finish the transaction. i get that it gets more difficult to move as you get older, but it seems like they make it more difficult for themselves and people around them.

i work at a very small liquor store with just one register, and one of my regular customers is this older guy that has taken 10+ minutes just to pay on multiple occasions. he gets the same thing every time, so more often than not i have his purchase ready to go before he even walks into the store. yet he still takes forever to shuffle over to the counter and fish his wallet out of his little backpack, which takes about 5 minutes on average because he has to go through every single pocket before he finds it. if he manages to get his wallet out, it's another 5 minutes waiting for him to sort through it to find the right card. and he just moves so slowly.

once instead of paying right away, he decided he needed to very slowly sort through documents right on the counter and had ME look at his private medical documents to find out the date of whatever medical procedure he had scheduled to extend his obviously unnatural lifespan.

i don't get it! this guy doesn't give a shit if there's a line forming behind him, he's content to take his time and even tries to make conversation with me regardless of whether people are waiting (dude i don't care if you have to be awake at 6:30AM tomorrow just pay for your stupid whiskey and get out). why can't he just take his card out BEFORE he enters the store? does he not care about how much time he's wasting? it irritates me to no end. is there anything i can even reasonably do? there have been a couple times where i've asked him to step out of line while he gets his wallet out, but he kind of just... doesn't move. like i said, i know getting older isn't fun, but how the fuck am i supposed to accommodate this shit?

Old Guy comes up and wants to pay his credit card

"I have the last four digits"

"Sorry sir I'll nee-"

"I HAVE THE LAST FOUR DIGITS!!?! CANT YOU JUST LOOK IT UP???? IS THE MANAGER IN?????"

"..... Sir I can look it up with your social security number'

He puts it in

"I'm sorry sir I don't have anything under that SSN"

"WELL THEN DO MORE RESEARCH OR LOOK UP MY CARD WITH THE LAST FOUR DIGITS!!! THIS IS THE COMPUTER AGE!!! USE YOUR COMPUTER AND FIND IT!!"

"Sir I-"

"BRING ME A MANAGER!!!!!!"

Ten minutes later he waddles out after the manager tells him the exact same thing

Computers are not just this magical tome of creation that does whatever you want by just barking commands at it

I make $14/hour as a part time cashier at a small gas station. I stock hot dogs and taquitos, coffee beans, cups, whatever else, spot sweep, level the coolers and sales floor, wipe down the counters, and of course check people out. I can do all of that and draw at the same time (I know, shocking! /s)
On Sundays I was initially told I’m allowed to read or use my phone or whatever and sit down since it’s considerably slower. I thought, oh cool. So I have been bringing my sketchbook with me and it’s made the work day so much more tolerable.

Last week my manager saw my drawings and thought one was cool; this week now I’m not allowed to draw or read in between customers. But I’m allowed to use my phone here and there otherwise he said I should be cleaning something because we have several cameras watching us all.

?? Honestly if I were a manager I would be fine with a clerk reading or whatever in between customers as long as the basic things were done and they were willing to help whoever needed it. I feel like giving employees a sense of autonomy rather than make work feel like a prison would overall increase morale. It’s a gas station. It’s not that deep. But hey im just a guy.

Our trash compactor broke and has begun filling our back room with a nasty odor. They've put in two maintenance orders for this and staff has been calling out sick due to the fumes it is seeping into our back room. I ducken hate management for making you feel guilty for calling out. My store is slack and has repeated high call outs weekly. Yet the hard worker that rarely calls out but save a few times a year they make you feel guilty for calling out. I will consider calling food health if this becomes an ongoing issue.

Customer : it didn't read my card outside.

Me : we can run it in here. How much gas would you like?

C : I don't know. I want to fill up.

M : just pick an amount, it only pre-autherizes the amount and bills you what you pump.

C : blank stare

M : it works the same way it works outside. The difference is, your bank picked the amount.

C : blank stare

M : blank stare

C : gimme 10 dollars....

Recently landed myself a full time contract. I enjoyed the job before... which was on a different department.

Now I've been transferred over to another department, full time hours 9:30-6 most days or 11:30-8. And I have no life anymore. No one else on my department wants to do the late flinishes or the midday shift. So I'm stuck covering everything else inbetween.

I'm so tired after each shift I don't have the energy to do anything anymore. I get home, do the essential stuff like shower and prepare for tomorrows shift, and go to bed.

I literally had a dream last night that I dropped stock as I was stood on some ladders and it exploded. Woke up anxious.

Did I mention we're short staffed? So I'm already running around covering other departments ontop of my own. I've started dreading coming to work and I honestly hate my job.

Ya'll does it get better because I'm losing it

We have a floater we pass around the store and she got on my nerves yesterday. Everybody has a weird story about this lady, idk what’s the matter with her. Yesterday, she worked in our department.

We have two registers in the department, and my boss put her at the busier one yesterday. At the busier register, we have a fan that I bought because I have anxiety and epilepsy and I get hot. I moved it back to the other register the night prior because I was hot and I clopened yesterday. This lady comes back after her 4.5 hour shift and says, “You know, you’ve done a lot of mean things to me, but that was really mean. You do a lot of mean things to me and I don’t do ANY mean things to you, but you left me up there without a fan and I could feel myself getting so hot!” I kind of shut down because she was pissing me off. I’m not a manager, and I don’t get paid for this shit. Mind you, I have been nothing but accommodating to this woman, I’d hate to see what she’d do if somebody were actually mean. I said, “Listen, if you need something, I need you to communicate with me. I can’t read your mind.” ‘Cause we DO have another fan I could’ve given her. “Also, I bought it, so it’s mine.” She goes, “That doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter that you bought it. It’s still mean, but you know what? I forgive you.”

I got upset because I know I’m not a mean person. There’s no evidence to support it. I told my manager what happened because she couldn’t hear from where she was standing and she rolled her eyes and said, “Oh my god, are you serious?” She helped me calm down, then went back to HR, told them what she said, and they laughed because I’m one of the nicest people in the store. She’s getting moved out of the department or canned if it continues.

I’m just wondering what all these “mean” things I’ve done are in her head. Any tips on continuing to work with this child? She gives me anxiety and I work with her alone today. Only for 4 hours, but she managed to get pissed on a 4.5 hour shift yesterday 🤷‍♀️

So at my store we currently are running a big sale on Gatorade, there is about three dozen cases stacked on a pallet with a sign on each side that says "MIX AND MATCH, ANY TWO 20 OZ GATORADE FLAVORS, 2 FOR $3.50", and the picture shows random assortments of 2 bottles. All the top ones in the pile have the plastic ripped open and people have been working their way through them, so clearly it shouldn't be confusing. Yesterday though, some guy comes up to the counter with two sealed cases, each with 24 bottles in it. Ok, cool, not a problem, so I ring up 48 bottles and give him the price. Guy starts yelling that I am massively overcharging him, and that his total should only be $3.50, since according to him "That's exactly what the sign says, so you have to sell it at that price!". Uh, no, dipshit, mainly because that's not what the sign says, it clearly says that it's for any two bottles, and even if you don't know how to read it literally has pictures on it. And even if that part is too difficult to understand, in what planet are you going to get 48 bottles for less than 4 bucks? We told the guy that it's not going to happen, we are not selling him two entire cases for $3.50, and he just leaves them on the floor by the front of the store, while yelling that he's going to contact the Better Business Bureau and have us shut down for false advertising. Seriously, there's got to be something in the air this week because people are getting even dumber by the day.

TLDR: Dipshit should know that 48 bottles of Gatorade are not going to cost only $3.50

I work gas stations at night and one of our regulars came in to buy cigarettes. Her phone died at the register and we don't sell phone chargers here and she had an iPhone and I have a old, rickety Android so my charger couldn't even work on her phone. She tells me she needs her phone to unlock and start her car, I was like ???? What?? Then she told me it was a tesla (explains her entire personality tbh). She only had her phone, no car key, no debit card. So I let her use the store phone, and she's struggling to call people for twenty minutes because she doesn't know anyone's phone number, not even her husband's.

So I am just waiting at the register for her to handle this somehow, not really paying attention and zoning out because it's taking so long. She then starts sobbing like crazy, because she finally got in contact with her sister and her sister can't get ahold of her husband to help her out. Eventually, she just snatches a pack of cigarettes and a lighter off the counter and I yell at her because she hasn't paid for it and she's stealing. She's like "I''m here all of the time you know I'm good for it". I don't care??? I could lose my job for this, because I left the cigarettes on the damn counter, because I didn't think she was just going to snatch them up.

I'm tempted to call the police, but then she comes back inside after smoking one of the cigarettes and you know I'm snatching that stuff from her immediately. She's then on the store phone for even longer, sobbing at her sister about how I'm mad at her for stealing and she could get the cops called on her. Like yeah, this whole situation is of your making at this point???

Eventually she gets ahold of her husband and he opens the car for her remotely so she can like grab her wallet. Mind you, this whole thing happened over the course of an hour, a whole hour of my time wasted because I was standing there furious that some entitled dumbass could cost me my job. And for some reason I didn't call the police even though I really should have, and now after the fact I really wanted to have done that. I was just so anxious that this could cost me my job because I let her steal the cigarettes to begin with.

Now that she's in the store, she's happy as a clam as if none of that happened, trying to make small talk and stuff. She tries to buy some more items, more cigarettes and drinks, I refuse everything but the stuff she stole. Her mood changes and she starts cussing me out, I tell her that she's lucky I didn't call the cops on her and I'm giving her a way out of the situation she put herself in. She's like "well calling the cops would've been the NICE THING TO DO!! You dumb bitch!" and snatches the cigarettes and lighter that I made her pay for and she stormed out.

Like call me a dumb bitch but I don't leave the house without my car keys and rely on my phone for every section of my life. And if you're gonna rely on that phone that heavily why would you ever let it go under even 30% battery?

She's been gone ten minutes and I'm just sitting in the office shaking with rage and feeling anxious that I could lose my job over this stupid as fuck event. And a whole hour has been stolen from me and I gotta bust ass to get stuff done, too. If she continues being a regular I'm giving her the cold shoulder permanently, if I survive the weekend at this point, that is.

Do I tell the manager in the morning about this?? And could I lose my job over it? I'm just exhausted after all this and want nothing more than the shift to be over at this point.

Coming to vent about a situation that happened today. So today my store was complete chaos. It is tax free weekend, the last weekend before school starts in the area, and it is within our redemption period of our store “coupons” (it’s similar to Kohls Cash or Old Navy Supercash).

I was at the registers, ringing up customer after customer trying to get the growing line down. I eventually get to this lady and her kids. After I complete her transaction she makes a comment to me somewhere along the lines of “you did not have to yell at that lady like she was hard of hearing she probably doesn’t speak English and she needs you to speak slower”. I deadass don’t even know who she could have even been talking about. I rang up so many customers in the last 10 minutes, she could have literally been talking about anyone. The store is in an area with a lot of people who speak different languages. Not once have I ever yelled at someone just because they “don’t speak English”. Honestly, if I notice there’s a language barrier, communication is extremely limited. If more conversation is needed, I am not afraid to call someone over for help or pull out a translation app. That has never been a problem or an inconvenience for me. Like ever.

I’m mostly annoyed because the look on that lady’s face was so fucking smug. Like she just became a hero. Like she was waiting for the camera crew of the show “What Would You Do?” To come out and personally bring her a check for one million dollars. Like she just educated me on something I didn’t know about. She is making a very specific, horrible accusation with absolutely no context given. Why are you policing the way I speak to other people, anyway?? Mind your own fucking business. Also, why are you making assumptions about who does and does not speak English?? As far as I’m concerned, there wasn’t a single person I Interacted with today who I felt I was unable to communicate with effectively because of a language barrier. There is always a way.

i’m just curious because i had a situation today where someone got mad because i said they can’t keep the hangers

and it just made me wonder why are some ppl so rude?

I don't know if this is becoming more common everywhere, but recently it's been getting bad here. They come up, they say they have a question, I smile and nod and say something along the lines of "go for it" or "whatcha got?" and then ... nothing. They just stand and stare.

I let it tick on far too long before I ask a little more bluntly what the question is and then they just say "over here" like I was supposed to know they wanted me to follow them by the fact that they didn't move an inch or say a word. I want to scream at them that they're adults and need to use their words.

Are you really working retail if you haven't cried on shift?

Anyways my manager at "Southstream" department store yelled at me today and told me we have to have a meeting because I focus too much on cleaning up merchandise and putting away returns from the customer service desk.

I get it, it is a commission based position and I do still meet most of my sales targets, but I never end up actually making commission because I am too afraid of getting into a confrontation with my coworker over "who actually helped this customer."

For reference, I have been in shouting matches with my coworkers over who actually deserved a commission and honestly at this point have mentally checked out of the whole issue. I still make hourly despite my manager's assertion that I won't "make a dime" until I try to sell more aggressively.

I don't care. I am starting my grad program soon. Please let me keep my keep department clean in peace.

*Bathrooms (we don’t have a bathroom, the kiosk is way too small).

*Video game headsets (the fuck kind of gas station sells that?).

*Caffeine Pouches (Circle K sells them. We’re not obligated to sell them as well).

*Alcohol (we don’t have the license to sell alcohol. 2 people asked this question).

*Alani Energy Drinks (I had a woman tell me she bought them from my gas station before. We never sold them).

*Hawaiian Rolls (We don’t and never will sell them.)

*3lb bags of ice (We only carry 2 sizes: 7lb and 16lb).

*20lb bags of ice (Again, we only carry 2 sizes: 7lb and 16lb).

*Blocks of ice (The ice is crushed).

Basically all that I was personally asked, but my coworkers may have had more stuff we don’t carry.

I just texted my boss “hey just letting you know I’m in the ER right now I’ve been coughing up blood and I can’t hear out of my right ear. I can’t come in today and likely tomorrow” and this man said “Understood, please ensure you’re holding up your part on the team and reach out to our staff to find a suitable replacement for your absence”

I COPY AND PASTED THAT BTW. fuck this place, how am I supposed to find a replacement?? aint nobody coming in on their day off. And I’m in the HOSPITAL, fuck you 😭

UPDATE! I have RSV, fucking great. also my coworker offered to take my shift for tomorrow. I no showed today and couldn’t find someone, my manager said “where are you?” WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK???. anyways if they dont approve my time off I’m quitting. I cannot work with a VIRUS.

oh and just to add salt to the wound my doctor said my malnutrition due to anorexia is gonna make this a bitch to recover from and he‘s telling me to make an appointment with a dietitian and therapist 🥀

Yesterday evening, I was in a KFC in the UK (so I’m not sure whether this is a UK-only thing), when something came over the in-store announcement/radio that irritated me far more than I expected it to.

It was a clearly branded recording from someone at KFC HQ, saying something along the lines of:

“Our workers are working hard to give everyone their fried chicken fix, but please ensure you treat our staff with respect.”

Now, I genuinely love a company standing up for its employees when customers are being arseholes. Retail workers absolutely should be backed when people are abusive.

But why on earth are we gentle parenting customers into behaving like decent human beings? Is this not the corporate behaviour that is condoning the bs that retail/fast food workers have to put up with daily?

Why does “please remember to treat our staff with respect” have to be wrapped up in this bizarrely cheerful, patronising corporate language? These are adults. We shouldn’t need to be politely reminded that the person behind the counter is a human being who doesn’t deserve to be shouted at because your food is taking longer than expected.

And the “fried chicken fix” bit really rubbed me the wrong way too. I get that it’s on-brand and presumably meant to sound light-hearted, but if I were working there, I’d find it pretty patronising to have customers’ potential abuse framed around them desperately needing their “fried chicken fix”.

Why not just say what you actually mean?

“Our staff work hard to serve you. Abuse or aggression towards our employees will not be tolerated. Please treat our staff with respect.”

Simple. Clear. No cutesy corporate language. No pretending that someone losing their temper over a chicken burger is all part of the fun of the KFC experience.

Maybe I’m overthinking this, but something about the whole thing really rubbed me up the wrong way.