Retail Horror Stories/Talk

[Rush]

For those who have worked in retail, share some stories of how awful and shitty it is.

In the brief time I've been able to internet, I've shared with some of you I stumbled into a manager position at a sports apparel type store in the mall. I started out as part-time and became the part-timer that worked the most.

Being acclimated to the store, when the manager got fired for being a fuckface 24/7 to customers and the owner's wife, they decided to choose me. No real experience, outside of knowledge of how the store runs, I run with it. Go from part-time making nothing an hour to manager making a decent bit more than nothing an hour. The good money kicks in for over-time due to lack of staffing the dickhead left me with. Been working crazy hours during Christmas because he didn't hire enough people before being shit-canned Tom Haley style.

So far...my horror stories/talking points...

- Reception on my cell phone. I have a pretty nifty Droid Bionic which gets the NFL network streaming on it. Too bad from our spot in the mall I get no service. After missing like 3-4 games, I am now able to get 4G coverage and can watch RedZone so I don't miss much. This is great for slow hours where nothing is going on and I can watch NetFlix. I watched Limitless today and got paid for it when I had nothing to do.

-Idiot fucking customers. Some woman took a sticker from another item and placed it on another time. So when it rang up it's normal price via the scanner she flipped shit and claimed it was false advertising. She went on to flip shit in front of the entire store trying to rally people to leave lol. Eventually she left and everybody in the store laughed.

-Security people are idiots. Some of the security guards, during rounds will try to buddy/buddy with people who work in the stores and what not. I'm closing one night and the two on duty decide to come in and chat it up. They wind up telling me all the secrets I need to know to rob this entire mall fucking blind. From "nobody watches the security monitors, 75% of the stores don't have them anyway" to "Foot Action's back door is broken, people could steal w/e they want if they knew it" etc.

-Managing stuff sucks. When you start out a part-timer and you become friends with the people you work with, when you get promoted above them and have to tell them to do shit, it sucks. They expect you to not make them do the same shit they were doing before. Granted, most of it was busy work to keep them doing something, which if you're paying them isn't too bad, however, when they don't do busy work and have actual work to do they slack like shit. Can't blame them, minimum wage...why would you go all out?

-Mexicans are the worst. Black people may be suspicious in a retail setting, or any setting really but mexicans take the cake. From letting their kids fucking run around the store screaming with no sort of parenting, to walking around the entire store, touching/moving everything, and then not buying...drives me crazy.

-The back is an infinite warehouse. A lot of people don't understand when you tell them you don't have more of that item in the back in a different size. Multiple times I've had people insist I go to the back and look around for something. After I inform them we have very little "back" to begin with, all of the stuff that we have is pretty much on the floor. I get the "Well can you go back there and make sure"....makes me want to punch their faces through the wall.

TL;DR : People fucking suck in a retail setting. I've barely been doing this shit and already hate people more than I already did. I know some of you have some better stories than I.

 

[X]

I worked @ kmart in the pantry for a while. It sucked. when ppl didn't show up, I was asked to cover my section and there's. I had about 30 minutes of "training"...so I didn't know anything other than moving items to the front of shelves...had a migraine one day and was told I couldn't leave b/c someone else had already called in...so I left anyway and was told I lost my job. Went in to buy something a week later and they said "well, you weren't fired...you can come back and work tonight if you want."...I declined...

 

[BNB]

hahahahhaahaha!

good thing I didn't stick around long enough to deal with all of that.

I worked at a skateboarding/snowboarding store 2 years ago.. but got fired after 1 month for telling a customer to "go fuckin put those shoes back where they belong" When he tossed them randomly on the floor. The customer told me to go **** myself and I swore back at him. My manager happened to be in the isle over. Whoops.

I worked at a restaurant afterwards. I think I hated that more

 

[Shawon0Meter]

Worked at Kmart in high school. Loved the job 95% of the time because I was friends with everyone and it was hardly ever busy.

But what I hated was when kids like my same age would come in and try to imitate "Jackass" or whatever...riding bikes around, putting on clothes, putting stuff in random places, throwing items over the aisles, etc...it was usually my job along with a couple other guys to kick them out and I hated doing it because we can't touch them and we were giving them the exact attention they wanted.

 

[Uman85]

If grocery stores count, then I can share a few experiences.

-Food stamps: These are the two worst words you can mention in the store I worked at. I don't know what they call them where you live, but it's basically a card that's loaded with a certain amount of money every month for people who are deemed to be unable to pay for their own groceries.
I worked in an area of the city that has recently been infiltrated with tons of illegal immigrants and the rest is mostly lower income with some middle class and high class on the outskirts of the neighborhood. I would guess around 7 out of 10 customers that came through my checkout lane had food stamps. What a ***** this was. I'm not against giving assistance to those who truly need it, but some of the people that had this shit just made me want to punch a whole through a wall. People would come through with Ralph Lauren Polos on, Jordans, Coach and Gucci purses, Louis Vuitton wallets, iPhones, the women would have their hair and nails done and they'd be driving Escalades or brand new cars.
These people would buy candy, chocolate chip cookies, frozen pizzas, frozen dinners, all sorts of unhealthy crap and then whatever food wasn't covered with food stamps they'd have to pay cash for. So they'd pull out $100 dollar bills to cover the $2-$3 that was left and then buy cigarettes or alcohol on top of that with their "extra cash". Nothing made me angrier than witnessing that shit on a daily basis for 2 1/2 years.

-Express lane: I'm sure most of you have seen the so-called "express lanes" at your local grocery that are usually reserved for 10-15 items or less. What amazed me was the sheer stupidity of the people that would come through that lane. They would look directly at the sign that stated it was an "express lane", look at their huge cart full of groceries and proceed to start piling up 30, 40, sometimes even 50+ items. If I ever tried to tell them it was an express lane meant only for small orders, they'd either get offended and try to call management and complain that I was sending them away from my lane or would shrug it off and continue without a thought. The arrogance and carelessness for others that I saw in that store made me lose almost all hope for humanity.

I have plenty more that I could write, but I really don't want to think about that shit anymore. I could probably write a book about the shit that I had to deal with there.

People suck ass.

 

[Jysen]

I didnt have to work in any of those settings to know how ignorant people can be. Just shopping gives you a 1st hand experience of the bullshit people do, or 'rules' set in place that make no fucking sense. The shear fact of race separation when it comes to rules is astonishing. But what really fucking pisses me off at a store is these cockwhores that refuse to speak English, and get offended when you dont understand wtf theyre saying. Really? REALLY?? :slap: Ignorant bastards. My Country, My Language!

 

[Uman85]

I didnt have to work in any of those settings to know how ignorant people can be. Just shopping gives you a 1st hand experience of the bullshit people do, or 'rules' set in place that make no fucking sense. The shear fact of race separation when it comes to rules is astonishing. But what really fucking pisses me off at a store is these cockwhores that refuse to speak English, and get offended when you dont understand wtf theyre saying. Really? REALLY?? :slap: Ignorant bastards. My Country, My Language!

I dealt with that on a daily basis for 2 1/2 years. I don't know how I survived without killing myself and every motherfucker in the store.

 

[Iwritecode]

-Food stamps: These are the two worst words you can mention in the store I worked at. I don't know what they call them where you live, but it's basically a card that's loaded with a certain amount of money every month for people who are deemed to be unable to pay for their own groceries.
I worked in an area of the city that has recently been infiltrated with tons of illegal immigrants and the rest is mostly lower income with some middle class and high class on the outskirts of the neighborhood. I would guess around 7 out of 10 customers that came through my checkout lane had food stamps. What a ***** this was. I'm not against giving assistance to those who truly need it, but some of the people that had this shit just made me want to punch a whole through a wall. People would come through with Ralph Lauren Polos on, Jordans, Coach and Gucci purses, Louis Vuitton wallets, iPhones, the women would have their hair and nails done and they'd be driving Escalades or brand new cars.
These people would buy candy, chocolate chip cookies, frozen pizzas, frozen dinners, all sorts of unhealthy crap and then whatever food wasn't covered with food stamps they'd have to pay cash for. So they'd pull out $100 dollar bills to cover the $2-$3 that was left and then buy cigarettes or alcohol on top of that with their "extra cash". Nothing made me angrier than witnessing that shit on a daily basis for 2 1/2 years.

People suck ass.

:clap:


I worked retail for about 5 years or so when I was in HS and college and most of my complaints come from asshole managers.

I started out working at a toy store and that was actually one of my best and most fun jobs ever. Our biggest problem was parents that would drop their kids off and leave to go shop around the rest of the mall. So then we were stuck because we couldn't exactly kick the kids out to go wandering around the mall by themselves.

A few years later I worked at a 24-hour drug store. I actually had to work on Christmas day and I could not believe how busy we were. I think people were just bored and came to our store because we were the only thing open.

 

[Shawon0Meter]

New CCS logo:

 

[nwfisch]

Checkers are the worst at getting butthurt over the way groceries are bagged.

Customers in produce

Saturday customers

WIC checks/food stamps

Well there's 75% of my job right there.

The only part that isn't stressful is stocking, where the customers can't disturb me.

 

[Uman85]

Checkers are the worst at getting butthurt over the way groceries are bagged.

Customers in produce

Saturday customers

WIC checks/food stamps

Well there's 75% of my job right there.

The only part that isn't stressful is stocking, where the customers can't disturb me.

Absolutely .

 

[Jysen]

Actually, now that Im thinking about it, Walmart in Kentucky, or rather Kentuckians. Every fucking time we get a strong storm pass over, every bastard rushes to Walmart and buys Anything and Everything. The store is packed to the limit as if it was Black Friday. Really? You need a shopping cart full to survive the thunder storm? :slap: Get the **** out of my way so I can buy my pizza and movie. Or when they stand in the isle, blocking it for social hour. :gtfo:

 

[Uman85]

Actually, now that Im thinking about it, Walmart in Kentucky, or rather Kentuckians. Every fucking time we get a strong storm pass over, every bastard rushes to Walmart and buys Anything and Everything. The store is packed to the limit as if it was Black Friday. Really? You need a shopping cart full to survive the thunder storm? :slap: Get the **** out of my way so I can buy my pizza and movie. Or when they stand in the isle, blocking it for social hour. :gtfo:

I feel your pain and understand completely.

 

[Rush]

Bumping, I got some good ones from the day after Christmas of people trying to return shit to our "All sales final/no exchanges" store.

 

[Scoot26]

Bumping, I got some good ones from the day after Christmas of people trying to return shit to our "All sales final/no exchanges" store.

When I worked at Target in high school for a year and a half, I only went through 1 Christmas. In May that year, I knew of all the Black Friday horror stories from Friends the previous Christmas, so I requested off that entire week citing I always go away on vacation that week (What do they know). So... I think whoever approved it probably didnt realize that was Black Friday week. Anyways, I never worked a Black Friday in the retail setting.

However, I did work the day after Christmas. THat was god awful, especially at a Big Box store like Target. Normally we have some shopping carts of returned merchandise. That day, we had TUBS (That are usually used for stocking) The store was an absolute mess as well. I dont think much was ever done that week and returned merchandise I think took a week or two to finally get put away. I'm just lucky I didnt actually work customer service as I was just on the floor.