$4 for two tall boys and he refused to count out the 400 pennies. We offered to help. A customer behind him just ending up paying for it.

ETA. Idk what the mod is talking about. Also I am the manager and have no problem accepting this kind of payment, money is money. I do have a problem with the fact he dumped a bucket of pennies out and said “you count” and after multiple offers for me and my cashier to help he just kept saying “no you count”. He’s a regular who comes in once or twice a day snd we have no issues with the man

Why am I banned?

Last night I was the closing manager at my store, I had three associates working with me. Our store is in a large outlet mall that, for some reason that baffles my mind, is a major tourist attraction, so we get a lot of people coming up from the nearest major city by bus, tour buses, and even local buses. For a Monday, it was pretty busy and even though the foot traffic had overall lightened a lot towards the end of the night, we still saw some steady business. At one point we had two people working the registers and there were two or three large groups and/or families checking out.

After they had all been rung up and left, the associates on register told me how a guy from one of the groups came up while they were already in the midst of ringing people up and asked for them to let him cut the line because he had to catch a bus in two minutes. And then when he did get to register, he rushed the cashier ringing him up and asked her to hurry it up.

I’m sorry, but if you’re so tight on time, then DON’T GO SHOPPING. That was your choice to make, so don’t put it on my coworkers.

We received a really bitchy message on the work group chat from management because we're allegedly "not working as a team" and "no one covers shifts anymore".

Maybe because your entire team is stretched thin and burnt-out?

Everyone is already working over their contracted hours most weeks so it could just be that they want to protect their time off and set boundaries?

They then went on to allude to the fact they'll stop being so accommodating with people's holiday requests — blackmailing your team is really going to make them help you isn't it.

We're under no obligation to answer work related messages outside of work. The managers don't respond unless they need something from you outside of their hours so why hold us to different expectations. Being in the work group chat does not mean you're granted 24/7 access to and communication from your employees (obviously unless contractually stated).

Management have created this environment not the rest of us.

I dont need to go on a rant i think we can all agree that old people suck

I used to love working retail because of the stories I have like this, so I figured I would make a funny post about my favorites.

The SUV For Sale

A man comes in and I see him asking one of my coworkers a few questions. I think nothing of it until I see him go up to another coworker of mine and ask a few more. Nothing seemed particularly off when he then came up to me.

“Do you know the APR on that vehicle for sale outside?”

“Oh, no, I sure don’t. Maybe the dealership it’s associated with would be able to give you that info if you talk to them?”

He huffs and puffs, actually angry with me at this point and says, “Well, why don’t you know?!?”

I worked in a clothing store. Lmao

The Bathroom is Out of Order

Same store. Their bathroom would go out rather regularly and it was frustrating for everyone, customers and employees alike. It was the only bathroom the store had and it was attached to the mall’s plumbing so the store itself couldn’t do anything about fixing it.

A man comes in with his toddler-aged son and asks to use the restroom. I kindly tell them it’s unfortunately out of order.

He scoffs angrily, “well, I’m going to blog about this!”

It was 2018. Lmao No one blogs anymore. Enjoy that, my guy.

The Bathroom is Out of Order pt 2: Electric Boogaloo

An older gentleman walks in and the bathroom is closed for plumbing repairs. I politely tell him the bathroom is out of order.

He’s big mad, “you people just don’t want me to use the bathroom and you’re purposely keeping me out of it! I can’t believe this!”

Because someone will ask, he was a white boomer. lol I have no idea where he got this sentiment.

The Stinky Dress Return

This is a story that happened to my mother, who owned her own prom dress store. She had passed away but I love retelling this excellent story.

A woman came in wanting to return a prom dress she bought for her daughter. My mother was smart and had every sale come with a contract they signed saying we do not accept returns, but there were always exceptions to be made in regard to customer service.

The reasonable complaint for the return was that the dress’ zipper broke and the daughter wasn’t able to wear it to her prom. My mother was very kind and went to look the dress over to confirm, but noticed the dress absolutely reeked of sweat and body odor.

My mother politely rejected the return but offered to fix the zipper free of charge. The woman was very upset and stormed out of the store.

My mother was a firecracker and didn’t hold back once the woman left. She turned to her store manager and said, “I think that girl’s boyfriend broke the zipper trying to get it off of her because it smelled like she had a good time!”

Hope you guys enjoyed these!

Gross tag working overtime, just a warning!! Sorry in advance but I need to fucking vent!

I work at a gas station with open public bathrooms For a few months my coworkers and I have noticed that occasionally the bag in the sanitary disposal box in the women's bathroom would go missing. We just put a regular ol store checkout bag in there and swap it when we clean the bathrooms.

Our thought was that a lady was emptying the contents in the trash and filling the bag with merchandise to make it look like she paid for her stuff before leaving. Still nasty but God, how naive I was 5 hours ago!

I finally ran into the culprit as HE was leaving the woman's room earlier tonight. In his hands was the bag filled with used pads and tampons. I was in shock for a second before I went OFF, calling him a nasty disgusting pervert and telling him to get the fuck out of my store. He tried to say he was looking for a ring in there??? And shoved the bag in his backpack and started moving to the exit before I could stop him. I followed him out while still yelling how nasty he is in front of everyone and he better never come back. At one point he had the audacity to say "I'm not a pervert, who would take something like that?" Literally you dude!!! What else could you POSSIBLY be doing with that stuff!

Worst part of it all was I had just changed my tampon an hour or so before so this random ass fucking guy is doing God knows what with my body fluids and I can't get the image out of my head!! I'm ready to hang up my hat you guys, I'm tired. I feel violated even though he never actually touched me.

Im a naturally cheerful person, so i talk in a cheerful manner. When greeting a customer as a cashier ill usually say one of the following things "hi, hii!" "Hey hey!" or "Hiii!". Ive been doing this for as long as a been a cashier (about a year and 3/4). I recently had a customer who Did Not Like That.

In thw time that I've worked here, this is the first time someone took issue with that. This man, well into retirement age, came to my register, so i say "Hi, hii!" and he goes "hi, hi??? _Hi, hi!!!!???_ You're supposed to say 'good afternoon' to all customers, do you understand?"

I was taken really aback because this is how i always talk, this is how most of my colleagues talk, this is how most customers also greet me. I know the greeting is not _formal_ but it's also definitely not impolite. And c'mon, were at a supermarket, not the Ritz. It's also not like i said something like "waddup homie" or something.

What did make the interaction kinda funny is that the next customer, a lady about his age who didn't witness the previous interaction, came to my register and immediately greeter me with a "Hi hiiii" herself, much to his chagrin.

I was at work, mind you the store I work at I’m the only cashier unless I really need help then I have to find the manager and get them to help.
Well anyway, this lady came up to my register and had one item, simple I thought, but no.
She pulled out a credit card bill for 3 whole dollars and she went why do I have an outstanding bill?
I told her I didn’t know and I can’t check on my end but if she got a bill then she has to pay the 3 dollars.
She even pulled out a previous bill but on that one it looked like she paid the minimum amount not the full amount so it didn’t seem Outlandish for her to owe 3 dollars.
After some huffing she pulls out a single crumpled up dollar out of her purse. Then for the next 2 minutes she digs around in her purse pulling out coins.
She hands me the first dollar in quarters, nickels, and dimes and I count it and it totals to .75 cents so I tell her it’s not a dollar and she tells me to put it down so she can count it again.
I put it down and count it for her but she insists on counting it herself.
She realizes it is indeed .75 cents and hands me another quarter, now we have 2 dollars.
At this point I look up and see there’s about 4 people waiting behind her.
She runs out of money to pull out of her purse and starts rummaging through her wallet and finally manages to produce another dollar composed of quarters, nickels and dimes.
I count the money and sure enough she managed to hand me 3 dollars.

at this point I’m shooting apologetic looks at everyone in line.
after this the lady purchased a 10 dollar pair of pajama pants with her card.
I still don’t know why she didn’t put the 3 dollars on her card.

So to preface, I’m a GameStop employee, I’m AFAB, and am not the most skinny person.

Had a customer come into the store, wanting to either get a refund on a trade card or replacement because he had lost it. I’ll be honest in that I could not understand his accent, so it was hard to figure out what he wanted. Eventually after telling him for the fourth time that I couldn’t refund the card without it or get him a new one, he started to yell at me so I told him to leave the store. As he left he shouted that I was a fat faced fat bitch and I should suck his dick. I’ve heard way worse, but it was the fact that there were kids in the store that made it worse.

Title. I haven’t worked in years and I’m really stressed about my new job. It was my fourth shift so I didn’t think it should’ve been put into writing. I’ve never been written up at work before and I’m worried I’m gonna get fired, especially because I didn’t throughly read the write up before signing it.

Not fully retail, dog groomer receptionist/retail cashier combo!

I got this text on Sunday at 5:30pm and I was due in at work at 9am on Monday (also after working with them the day before for 8 hours). No warning beforehand, when I asked for further clarification and reasoning, I was told that they wanted someone with experience in basic dog grooming as well yet when I asked to learn months ago they said no. They’ve also been teaching two other people in the meantime but couldn’t teach me? (Sidenote: I know almost all the basic grooming skills she’d required of me aside from shaving the dogs)

I feel weird making this claim and I may be saying this in anger but unfortunately, I’m fairly sure it’s the boss’ favouritism towards her brother’s girlfriend (both of whom work at the shop) who she sees as a little sister of sorts. But they’ve also been underpaying me as a casual employee so I get to file a fair work claim and that’ll feel better, I guess. Anyways yeah, no thank you or we appreciated your work with us or anything. Just we’ve replaced you, bye.

I loved my job so much and I adored the dogs probably too much but I really loved my job and I’m going to miss the community and the dogs, I’m going to be in a slump for a while.

So yeah, a colleague I've had for 3 years, up until recently we got on like a house on fire. Covering each other, standing up for each other, that stuff.

Anyway, at my work we have a rule, that everyone must work at least one bank holiday. Most of them fall on a Monday, which is one of my contracted days, so I really couldn't mind any less. However, the plan since the start of the year was that this colleague would cover one of mine, and I'd cover one of her shifts so she doesn't lose time with her family through an additional work day, and I covered the rest on and off with other colleagues so everyone had their turn.

Again, I didn't mind working it since it was my contracted day and it doesn't make a difference to me, but in turn I was supposed to get one off as a free holiday basically. Me and this colleague had a deal. I covered her shifts surrounding two of the other bank holidays that she had to cancel last minute, one supposedly for her son being sick and the other supposedly for a doctors appointment. She promised to work the one that's just been.

Last Monday, another colleague approached me and told me that she texted that colleague about the bank holiday, and the response was "why should I do it? I don't work Mondays." And I got so pissed off. The colleague who told me had requested the day off prior because she was handling another issue at home and it was really difficult for her at the time. I had no issue covering her, because I knew why she was off and I feel for her. But the one who was meant to work it? I was raging. I lost my day off because of her.

Thursday, my section leader comes over and says "(colleague) will only work the bank holiday if you work Wednesday." I said no, because I'd already covered multiple of her shifts for bank holidays she didn't work, and I wasn't going to do it again. My section leader didn't pressure me, she actually agreed with me.

Come Sunday, (the day before the bank holiday), I was even more pissed. Because my sister was rushed to hospital with suspected appendix rupture the night before. She had surgery in the middle of the night. I didn't find out what had happened (neither the appendix nor surgery) until right before I went to bed and didn't sleep. And I was angry because I could have used the Monday to go visit her in hospital, or at the very least help more around the house to keep things in order and prepare food for our mum and stuff. Which is what I've been doing today. But no. I was stuck at work because my coworker is a bitch.

She clearly had no intention of working any bank holiday and took the piss out of me for thinking she was a decent person.

Anyway, rant over. And for anyone wondering, my sister is recovering fairly well. She's got her grumpy attitude back, is getting picky with food again, and getting back on her feet to walk around fairly well. She's never had surgery before, she's autistic and she's diabetic (type 1) so the whole ordeal has been scary, complicated, unwelcome, overwhelming, etc. it's going to be a while before her body feels like home again, but she's starting to be herself again.

I'm only being scheduled 3 (4) hour shifts within 2 weeks. I'm sure it's because of the off season + I heard through the grapevine that our store is not performing as it should.

I worked shitty retail and food service jobs for almost the entirety of my 20s. Meijer, Little Caesars, Polly's Country Market, Pamida, a movie theater, Blockbuster, Kohls, Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Best Buy.

In 2016 I was able to parlay my experience working "tech" jobs at Office Depot, Office Max, and Best Buy into a level 1 tech support position at a IT support outsourcing company. Now I'm an analyst with my state's government making around 100k/yr.

This isn't to brag. It's just to say that better things *are* possible. My time in retail was one of the most formative parts of my personality. Struggling and working alongside other smart and hardworking people who were also struggling. It fucking sucks so much. My girlfriend just left Meijer after several years stocking overnights. Now she's a medical receptionist in a doctor's office and she absolutely loves it. It doesn't pay much more, but the quality of life improvement for her was just massive. I'm so happy for her and proud of her.

I felt stuck for so many years. I'm where I am because I was lucky. But I also applied for jobs fueled by hate for my current job. Any time I've ever climbed a little higher it was because I applied for jobs while motivated by spite.

I hope you all find your way out and find yourself doing something that makes you feel respected and good about yourself. Retail is hell. Do literally anything else if you can.

I work in a shop catered towards young kids to teens so toddlers and younger kids are inevitable but these parents don’t know how to do a super basic thing picking them up I’ve watching kids nearly steal shit luckily I’ve stopped them and the parents are so shocked like you kid walks into a random shop unattended you go in with him and if you don’t intend to get anything picked them up I’ve witnessed kids with such disgusting lack of manners and respect for their parents kids will pick kick them and the parents still buy them something if my kid (don’t have any yet) did that I wouldn’t buy them something a reward won’t stop the behaviour it’s fuels it these kids will be menaces and the parents are almost scared to pick them up like you are the parents you pick that little shit up and go.

I was raised in the 2000-2010 any bad behaviour first time taken out second time we go home simple if my parents say no I put the item back where I found it and leave without issue most of these parents have 2-5 kids and they can’t control them I have told kids to not be in restricted areas no parents has had a problem so far but if someone asks if I’m a parents I’m going to lie and say yes just to see how embarrassing they get that I someone younger than them had a child and their better behaved then theirs.

I wish I could go about life being as unaware of my surroundings as the customers that come into my store. I get at least 6-7 people everyday who, as soon as they step foot in the door, immediately ask me where an item is while literally facing that item. They don't even bother to look around because if they did, they would see the exact thing that they are asking me for, right in front of their eyes. I have no trouble helping someone out when they need it because I also miss things sometimes but when you don't even make an attempt to help yourself, I just have to shake my head.

ETA: The flip side to this also applies. People who come into my PHARMACY asking if we sell CIGARETTES will never cease to amaze me.

Basically, I worked at the Ritz for a few years and I now work for a different property. Yesterday was my first day and during the interviews all of the managers told me that none of the other front desk have previous hotel experience (big red flag to me...) -

1st day was yesterday and management introduced me to a few front desk and mentioned my prior experience and omg the dirty looks and side comments were bold but I kept the peace.

2nd day - today and I met a new coworker and my goodness she is such a tense individual. She can't handle working under pressure and she is mouthy. She was suppose to train me. She showed me two very vague things.

My secret is that I've worked with this system before so I know my way around- I just needed a refresher.

I'm asking for advice on how to not rub people the wrong way due to my background. If anyone cares - I left the Ritz for a different state and in this state the job market sucks - so I had to just pick a place to work.

As of right now I am the ONLY person with hotel experience and the way the coworkers speak to the guests are crazy and insensitive smh.

The job doesn't seem hard but it's just I didnt want to be introduced as the one who worked at the Ritz!

Idk maybe I'm overthinking...

The shop is basically in the middle of the mall walkway.
Most of the time, kids aren’t even the problem. When you tell them not to open or throw the squishies, they usually say “okay” and stop.
Most of the time, it’s actually the adults who are the problem. They peel off the plastic, test the squishy, then just throw it aside. When you tell them they can’t do that, they always say, “If I can’t feel it, how do I know what it feels like?”
The thing is, most of our squishies already have testers. The banana, duck, cherry and jumbo cheese even have a hole in the packaging for you to feel them. The jumbo eggplant, banana and corn even have plastic covering them, but you can still feel the squishy through it.
One time, a lady even started scolding the girl working with me just because she told her not to open it. I had to step in and tell her that our boss told us customers aren’t allowed to open them.
Like… isn’t that common sense?
Some customers even walk into the area where we stand because we keep our restock items there. When we tell them they can’t come inside, they look at us weirdly like we’re the problem lol.
They also always open the dumpling squishies to peek inside and choose the colour they want. Then they leave everything messy, and our boss tells us we need to stop customers from messing them up.
But during busy times, some customers know we’re distracted, so they just start opening and squeezing everything anyway. Some people even steal the display items
Yes, we have CCTV, but apparently that still doesn’t stop people.
And then there are the people asking where other shops are. I’m actually happy to point them in the right direction if I know, but somehow they always ask when we’re at our busiest And if you say you don’t know, some of them start rolling their eyes or getting angry. I’ve even had people say, “If you don’t want to help, just say so.”

does something cause customers brains to turn off when they walk into a store? all of a sudden they forget how to read and follow instructions? they don't understand how coupons work, they don't read expiration dates, they don't read price tags, store signs? they need an employee to hold their hand for everything? and then people complain that adults are not learning to be independent. i understand if it's a persons first time, but I'll get the same customers coming in and asking the same shit over and over again. there's people who walk into the store, and haven't even taken a step into any aisle and will ask someone "wheres this item?" because theyre too lazy to look and read

- "You look bored."

I'M NOT FUCKING BORED, I'M GLAD THAT I HAVE ONE MINUTE TO JUST DO NOTHING AFTER BEING UP AND ON MY FEET FOR HOURS, HAVING TO ANSWER STUPID QUESTIONS AND BABYSITTING GROWN ADULTS. LET ME SIT.

- "Oh, I guess it's free then."

HAHAHA, JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET OUT. YOU'RE NOT FUNNY, YOU'RE BEING A PATHETIC LOSER MAKING EVERYONE AROUND YOU MISERABLE. EVERYONE HATES YOU!

- "But it said *insert price* on the shelf."

YEAH, BUT IT SAYS THE OTHER PRICE AT THE REGISTER AND YOU PAY WHATEVER THE REGISTER SAYS. DON'T FUCKING ARGUE WITH ME, JUST PAY OR DON'T. I'M NOT FUCKING DISCUSSING THIS WITH YOU. SO WHAT IF IT SAYS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ON THE SHELVES, IT DOESN'T MATTER. PAY WHATEVER THE REGISTER SAYS OR FUCK OFF.

- "But it was a different price last week."

I DON'T FUCKING MAKE THE PRICES. THEY JUST CHANGE. ACCEPT IT AND DON'T BE A FUCKING MISERABLE BITCH ABOUT IT.

- "I would like to return this, but I don't have a receipt."

Die.

He got reported for harassment and is quitting in response and on is his way out (it’s his last week) said to another coworker of mine that I was so fat and that I “can’t even move because of how fat I am.”

Feels bad 😔

So I work in a small retail store in the mall. There are only about 6 associates and the 4 keyholders. I thought we were all chill and there was no drama. Well, my assistant manager is making it hard to work here. I’m considering quitting before the holiday season. This is my second job mind you. I work another job during the day. My one coworker is younger and one day hid ducks ONLY in the break room. Not rubber ducks, the little plastic ones. Hid them no where else. Mind you this was a one time thing. My assistant manager I guess found them the other day and is furious in the work group chat, but my store manager does not seem care. I can’t help but feel bad for the coworker. They were yelled at by the AM during their shift together. They weren’t even clocked in yet and yelled at them on the floor as they came in for their shift. When I spoke to the co worker they expressed they thought it was funny and okay since their second job didn’t seem to care and even displayed them on the register monitors.

Is this an overreaction? Like genuinely this seems little much.

I’m in the Bay Area, CA and I have a few regular customers which really make me cringe, sick, and scared when they come to my register. They stink from their mouths & body & pores, it’s super foul. I usually just hold my breath for the entire transaction and just smile and act normal as to not offend, but they really do stink horribly. I would never ring a 3-bell and subject a Mate to these same odors, I just suck it up & power through it. But we sometimes have such stinky customers, that NO ONE wants to help them, they see them coming, and they log off or run away. I feel bad for them not knowing their stench, they seem very nice, but jeez, they really do reek & are hard to be within 10 feet of… you know breath & B/O are bad when you smell ‘em before you see ‘em! 🤮😷🤢😵🥴

As a default, I never want to not help a customer, even if they're being a jerk, because it's, you know, my job to ring them up, or show them what they want, or ask their profound questions like, "Do you guys sell toothpaste here?", but surely there must be a point where, for your own safety and per company policy you no longer have an obligation to even help them.

I'm not saying that should apply when someone vaguely annoys you because then you'd lose half your customers, but surely if a customer threatens to murder or assault you, which absolutely has happened and will continue to happen, you have some right to not even serve them and call the police? Where is the line for you? Is it when they keep demanding you produce an object for them you don't have in stock and refuse to leave until you bring it to them?

Hello, I have worked at this grocery store for a little over a year now & I'm at my wits end... I've honestly been at my wits end for about 6 months but today I had absolutely had it. I've been getting micromanaged almost daily at my job, I'm not the only one but for some reason I'm a big target. I am not a slacker & I am not bad at my job, I've been assured this by management & even have been rewarded for being a fast-paced worker. I'm always on task & am a rule follower.

Today I was bagging & it was slow for about 2 minutes, so my manager came over & told me to sweep the stairs. The thing about this is 1) the stairs were already swept that morning (I literally saw them being swept by a manager) & 2) it was immediately busy as soon as I stepped away. I didn't hop back in to bag, I kept sweeping out of malicious compliance.

Later I am cleaning, the micro manager is still clocked in, & I see three teenage coworkers just chatting it up & goofing off, the cashier was also not at the front of the register. I don't mind this, but I also think it's unfair that I & a lot of the other women are constantly under scrutiny for the littlest of things & the men/boys are allowed to blatantly not do their jobs. I see stuff like this often, my male coworkers will just disappear for a good portion of their shift & then return like nothing ever happened. Men/boys are also allowed to blatantly disregard the cart shifts & then I have to sweat my ass off getting them all.

I don't even think it's worth going to management at this point, they've already handwaved me before & they'll likely do it again. There's genuinely no reason to be a good worker anymore, the "rewards" are very minimal & the expectations are staggering. I'm honestly pissed that we (me & the boys) get paid a similar amount.