Barbshobbies

I was a cashier for 10 yrs, I loved helping my customers, after all that is part of the job. Yes I was asked to keep my lane clean & dusted when I had no customers. In all the years I only had one customer I didn't care for. Her first words were, "I`ll never come to this store again!' So I asked why not and if I could help her with the problem. As it turned out, I gave her at least 5 different ways to help, and nothing pleased her that day. As soon as I had time I called the department she complained about, only to find it was all made up and later was told it was her personality, and they liked how I tried everything I could in a pleasant way.

Neesie

One of my pet peeves (back when I was working, as well as now), is seeing someone open and start eating/drinking something, in a store. When confronted, the person will say, "I'm going to pay for it!" Well, until you DO pay for it, you are STEALING!

Jan in VA

EXACTLY why I rarely if ever go into these stores any more.......I when I do, I leave the end of the bolts uncovered to express my frustration and request that they stop this practice!

(P.S. After working in retail off and on for many years, I owned a large quilt store -- I know about serving in retail.)

Jan in VA

quiltsRfun

I know what you mean. I was at a large, well-known fabric store in Portland last summer and that's how they had all their fabric. I was looking for particular color numbers of Kona solids and finally just gave up cause it was too much of a hassle. And that store looked a lot less organized than others where they don't drape the fabric.

ScrappyAZ

My pet peeve is when people leave clothes in dressing rooms. At Macy's, there is always a rack in the dressing room area, just outside the stalls. All you need to do is take 2-3 steps and you can hang the unwanted clothes right on the rack...takes about one minute, but that's obviously too long for some people. It's gotten to the point where I am actually surprised when dressing rooms are empty!

miriam

I work in merchandising books and magazines. People stand in the store reading magazines.
Would they open up a candy bar, lick it and put it back?
Do they know the magazine companies are all struggling to stay in business and one day there won't be any magazines unless they are supported?
Then some people steal things and hide the wrappers in the magazine racks. I never know what will fall out. A lot of stores have cameras on those racks. They know who is stealing.
Then there are the magazines with sexy pictures... I used to service a CVS store and that store got about 6 times as many of those kinds of magazines as any other store - I don't know why... A little older black lady works there - I said that so you can get a picture in your mind of her and her attitude... She is so sweet - she made me laugh every time I went in there. Anyway. She absolutely HATES those magazines. She said you won't believe what people do in front of a security camera... Now you have to imagine her voice... She goes on and on about them being MARRIED men. Well, they have a wedding ring on one hand and the other in their pocket. She just goes on and on. I have wished I could catch her on video. She would go viral.
Then there was the couple months I found empty wine bottle holders folded up behind the magazines in the grocery store. We did a bit of detective work, re-trained the camera and that guy was hauled out of the store one day...
Then there was somebody that would go in the store and pick up a basket of strawberries at lunch every day, eat all the berries and leave the empty basket on the book table and leave the store.
Then there are the people who censor magazines. They put something in front of the stuff they want to censor. Ok I get their point but some times that makes the ones they don't like stay on the shelf even longer because the one in front has a longer expiration date. LOL. I could go on and on but I won't.

Yooper32

After years of working "retail", I still find myself straightening racks, picking things up from the floor and re-hanging them, straightening items on shelves that are misplaced...just can't help myself.

joyce blint

I have had 3 different jobs dealing w the public. Working in a grocery store was by far the most "educational". I think that working for the public for at least 2 wks, should be a requirement for HS graduation. It would teach both tolerance and responsibility as no classroom ever could!

aeble

I worked in a book store while in college. Still to this day, I tidy/organize the shelves as I'm looking for what I want at book stores. One of the staff at the store closest to my home took the time to teach me the new merchandising rules so I wouldn't fix anything in a way that would cause the store issues with the regional manager. He was really appreciative of my help too.

noahscats7

I have always said that everyone should spend one Christmas working in retail. It would make them a much better customer.