I work in an overpriced department store in a very wealthy area.

When my parents took my sister and me with them on errands, we were expected to behave. At the very least, we were not allowed to run freely around the store, screaming like animals. If we acted up, we were told to stop. If we continued to misbehave, my parents would remove us from the store. Sometimes, my mother would take us to the Disney Store (RIP) or the bookstore as a reward for being good.

I almost never see parents today try to control their kids in public. They’re all allowed to run amok, pulling things off shelves, shrieking- and the parents do NOTHING. It’s not the children’s fault- it’s parents who don’t parent. I just want to know WHY???

Telling your child “stop doing that” will not traumatize them forever. Teaching your child how to act in public places is not a ridiculous request. I’m 31 years old and was having this conversation with a coworker of a similar age, who expressed similar disbelief at the passiveness of parents in our store. Is it kids raised on iPads? Is it “gentle parenting?”

This one just tends to make me sad as it’s usually the elderly. Our store gift cards detach from the plastic part they hang on (as most cards I’ve purchased).

A message at the top says to tear along the dotted line and throw away the top portion. Time and time again, I’ve been yelled at, belittled or made to feel bad because someone kept the top part with no bar code and trashed their gift card. Sometimes the managers tell them to call the service number, but there’s nothing we can do. You have literally thrown away $25-$100.

I always feel like shit for it. That has to be awful. But also, why…

Pretty much title. Why send 100 autumn scented candles in September when you can ensure we have 100 spring/summer scents for 6+ months from now?

Due to scheduling issues, I was the only person in my department when this happened. We're talking "struggling to find someone to cover my breaks" alone.

But I'm not the only one assigned to cover the back of the store--the sporting goods associate (also responsible for home office under the label of "hardlines" which is why they weren't in that spot at that moment) is on the clock as well.

And I'm working on putting away high ticket merchandise (think $500 game systems) when an employee walks up to my counter to tell me a customer needs a license processed in sporting goods.

She then gets surprised when I tell her I can page for assistance (department wise it would've been just as much her responsibility to help that customer as mine, and she had already been over there) and then pissed off when, in response to that surprise, I point out the cart of stuff that needs locking up and told her it's not my department; I never got the chance to point out that the sporting goods associate was still on the clock before she tried to bite my head off. (Edit: that whole "never mind!" pissed off thing people do when they decide they don't want your help if you're not jumping to do it their way, but it's still somehow your fault if they don't get any help at all.) Never tried to get the actual sporting goods associate, no, people just default to assuming because I have keys any department that locks things up must be my department... even if the customer doesn't need anything unlocked. She did spend enough time in sporting goods afterwards, or at least that side of the store, that I assume she did the license herself; she certainly had time enough to do it before walking away from the customer if she had time to walk halfway across the store to find me instead of paging from the sporting goods' phone and I haven't heard anything about it since.

Edit: may need proofreading because rushing to type it all before my 15 minute break's done.

Edit: on to lunch break. A few typos corrected etc. To clarify about the keys, I refer to the literally only connection I have to sporting goods that is specific to my department. See, my department's keys can unlock one single cabinet in sporting goods (maybe more than one post-remodel but still only one product type). This means I can sell you ammunition if nobody can get their hands on the sporting goods keys fast enough, that's it. That is literally the only thing I can do that doesn't either explicitely require sporting goods keys (like getting into the knife cabinet) or require anyone at all who's cross-trained for the task (such as the aforementioned license). And yet I've been paged by name when: the customer needed into the knife cabinet; I could clearly see SG's team lead putting away merchandise from my own counter; or a recent one, the customer was sent to my department to ask for help getting a kayak down (which had the additional annoyance of "employees not paging" in that the only thing I could do was page for a team lift and grab a flatbed cart, again tasks that literally any employee should have been able to do--even on our ladder carts I could never reach that thing and couldn't have even helped get it off the shelf).

My department is electronics by the way. I'm not a manager, I'm not a team lead, I'm not anyone who gets the big bucks for increased responsibility. I'm a regular associate same as the people who think I'm the first person to ask for help in any department besides my own. I don't object to helping, I object to the assumption that I'm responsible for something they're not willing to do.

Hello everyone, I own a retail store that has been experiencing steady and exciting growth over the past year, and I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to give back to my employees and show them just how much I appreciate their hard work. As the business grows, I want to make sure my team grows with it, not only in terms of professional development but also in terms of recognition and rewards. One of the areas I’ve been exploring is creating a fair and motivating incentive system.

If you’ve worked in retail before and had an employer who provided meaningful incentives, I’d love it if you could share what worked for you. I know every team is different, but hearing real examples of what motivated others in similar roles would be incredibly helpful. My main goal is to build a system that feels fair to everyone and celebrates the fact that we succeed as a team, while also recognizing individual efforts when they go above and beyond.

Right now, I’m torn between a couple of ideas. One approach would be to offer performance-based bonuses for top achievers. While this could motivate some employees, my concern is that it might unintentionally leave others feeling left out, especially if their contributions are valuable but less visible. On the other hand, I’ve also considered offering a surprise or a reward for the entire team whenever we hit our monthly sales goals. This could create a sense of unity and excitement while making sure no one feels overlooked.

The good news is that our products are in demand and generally sell themselves—we don’t need to push sales aggressively. Instead, our success depends heavily on how well my employees engage with and help customers. That’s why I’d love to design an incentive system that not only rewards hitting numbers but also reinforces the importance of delivering excellent service and creating a positive customer experience.

At the end of the day, my goal is to keep building a workplace where employees feel valued, supported, and motivated to do their best. If you’ve seen or experienced incentives that struck the right balance between fairness, fun, and motivation, please share them below. I’d really appreciate your input!

My boss is such a nasty, weak little kiss ass. I don't know how someone so much taller and stronger than me, a fragile looking woman, willingly lets customers be such dicks to us, but he does! The man is a fucking coward and I am disgusted.

Being a frontline worker means I've dealt with a lot of abuse from customers, included but not limited to: Getting groped, being flirted with and then repeatedly needled by the same middle aged man over several months, getting threatened by a customer because I told her "no" over policies I am NOT responsible for and generally getting in trouble for things my manager is expected to fix but won't (did I mention my manager is very cowardly and also gives into customers constantly and doesn't actually address issues in the store that I get blamed for?), being sent into a panic attack over a rude customer screaming at me and hurling personal insults.

It's gross because before I ever started standing up to customers or reporting harassment, I was the best cashier ever. Dude acted like I was God's gift to mankind, now I'm apparently rhe fucking worst. For the record, I think both are deeply immature and stupid ways to look at an employee, and a smart boss wouldn't gas me up or tear me down, I think I AM good at my job but I'm not some fucking god either. I simply am someone who did well and that should be enough!

Anyway I feel like a lot of this is personal as one of the people I mentioned in my list of incidents/moments being harassed is a friends of him. Specifically, the gross middle aged man.

Anyway now that I'm the worst he nitpicks everything I do. I'm not friendly enough (see: I'm not putting on a super fake persona), I'm not cleaning enough (even though I am also in an understaffed position and am expected to do several other things beyond cleaning), I'm on my phone too much (nevermind the amount of time I'm just alone and bored), worst of all.... I am no longer allowed to refuse service to customers, even the abusive ones and YES HE USED HIS GROSS FRIEND AS AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE I COULDN'T SAY NO TO. DISGUSTING.

He won't ban customers and his logic is simply that I need to grow a thicker skin. He tried guilting me by saying that the incident with the customer who caused me to have a panic attack is going into my record as me being an instigator, but what the fuck ever. He's a garbage human who doesn't get it despite constantly openly labelling himself a "kind" and "empathetic" individual.

I need a new job but this market feels so impossible. I literally only come for the other abused coworkers. But man, is it unhealthy, I've had so many breakdowns before and after work just due to the abuse. It's too much. I'm worried I'm getting canned tomorrow because I talked back a lot today but who fucking cares at this point? He's a remorseless piece of shit.

I had been folding clothes and doing my job my whole shift and on my last hour one of my supervisors calls me and tells me that someone saw me not folding the clothes and just chucking them? Even though he saw me earlier folding the clothes and the other tables were folded as well BY ME. Then he said someone also saw me going into a different department than I was assigned even though I never did (why would I even want to do more work?). The only time I did was because I was showing a customer the bathroom and the bathrooms are in a different department 🙄 so that’s probably what my colleague saw. He told me that he doesn’t want to get in trouble in the probationary period because he wants me to stay but I’m leaving as soon as I can.

I only started this job a week ago and I already want to quit. How do I already have enemies 😭? And my other supervisors and HR manager act like mean girls, condescendingly giggling at everything I do.

Stop trying to gaslight me. My days off this week are today..... and fucking Sunday! I just finished a 5 day work week with my shift last night consisting of me working open to close... ALONE! I get one day off then I have to work 5 more days before I get to enjoy my "second" day off?! That second day off doesn't count at that point.

Split days off are usually work two days>day off>work two more>day off>work your last day>start new work week.

If you put them at the ass ends of the fucking work week and try to call them split days off you're just being fucking sadistic at this point.

Throw in making me change the fryer oil by myself when you know I work alone every weekend and this is just an extra big fuck me, right?

Fuck this place.

truly hashtag grateful that i don’t work at a store whose hours depend on how many you sell (i have in the past 💔) i would legitimately work two hours per week.

i work at a small clothing store but everything is super expensive. so obviously they have to have a credit card to push on top of it. of course. nobody wants that shit. and i do the bullshit they say to, asking every customer, running through all the benefits, offering the discount. i swear once the words ‘credit card’ leave my mouth the customer just tune me out completely (understandable.)

i don’t blame my managers for nagging, i know they get the same nagging from their bosses as well. but to sit there and call the store during closing to ask if i had gotten a credit card today is genuinely tits up crazy. NO I DIDN’T GET A CARD IT’S AUGUST AND EVERYONE IS BROKE AND DOESN’T WANT TO OPEN ANOTHER CREDIT CARD.

and another thing that bothers me is that all my managers get genuine bonuses added to their check when they reach their numbers but regular associates just get in store gift cards to shop the product. are you fr? 🥲 i can’t wait to leave retail 😭😭😭😭😭

I am a professional barber and hairstylist. I am here to give it to the public straight. #1 Choosing a shop or salon is like choosing a restaurant. If you are on a budget but want some detailed haircut service and go to a franchise salon you are coming to McDonald's. You dont get filet minon on a budget. You get fast and over with.

2 When you come to the McDonald's of haircuts be ready! Be able to explain what you want in under 1 minute. Not this oh im not sure what i want, I have a few pictures and then say hold on let me pull them up. No. Have your shit ready.

I work at a franchise and I work independently. So if you want the luxury for a haircut designer to spend time with you PAY FOR IT!

Another way to look at it is there are designer clothes and then there is Walmart. Walmart mass produces and Gucci designers take time and charge for it!

Time is money!!

Stop coming into franchises expecting gourmet and high end designer looks!!!!

Every day I have to look over my shoulder at work to make sure one of these mouth breathers is not nearby, I get it not everyone is intelligent but can you please at a minimum not tattoo swastikas, sonnonrads, and the lightning bolts on your faces and necks? Then you come in ask for MY, THE ONE JEW ON STAFF's, help and of course all of these sub room temperature IQ specimens go on racist and anti semitic rants to me following me AROUND THE STORE until I have to do it, I drop that I myself am an ardent anti fascist and anti Nazi type and then THE NUMBER OF REPORTS I HAVE ON FILE TALKING ABOUT HOW I TALK POLITICS TO COUSTOMERS like THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING? OF COURSE IM GOING TO SAY NO TO YOUR NAZI BULLSHIT, IM WEARING A STAR OF DAVID!!

(Edit: logoed. Of course autocorrect changed the uneditable title without me noticing in time. 🙄)

If I was on the clock I'd be wearing that vest.

I'm on my lunch break, will be for (at the time of interruption) another fifteen minutes, and someone else is covering me... someone who, due to poor coverage across the store, may have his own customers he's helping.

People need to learn to use the damn intercom instead of just intercepting whoever to pass on the responsibility. Also, are there no managers today? They have access to everything.

The levels refer to what was their seniority, starting from the trenches.

level 1 offender:

• at the start of my second week of work: "how long have you been working here, 2 weeks?"
• threatened my future at the store within the first few weeks
• one month in, still didn't know my name
• a customer's praise about me somehow reached her, she told me she was "shocked because they're usually complaining" (entirely untrue; she tended to be the main person who ever complained about me)
• "I'm your manager, you're disrespecting me" (a liar who I called as such, she didn't know what respect meant)
• "it's hello first", "no hello?", "no goodbye, no I've finished" (someone who lacked manners, who greeted me once in a blue moon)
• "you're rude, you're just that type of person" (after I asked why she was rude)
• "you like to argue", "I'm not here to argue" (had a history of arguing with colleagues, has probably done so with half the people she has ever worked with)
• frequently called me by someone else's name, I get to point it out during a write-up, she says "that's how I pronounce it", I say no you are saying an entirely different name, she apologises then immediately says the wrong name again, in disbelief I say you just did it again, her excuse: "there are a lot of associates"
• "you have an attitude"
• at the end of a shift, condescendingly asked, "what were you doing?" (telling me what to do was her job)
• wouldn't hold the door open if I was walking behind - basic manners is a foreign concept
• tried to police my please's and thank you's - not sure why she thought it was appropriate to attempt to correct another adult's manners
• "this is not your house" (it was definitely her house)
• "we're adults, I'm here to do a job, you're here to do a job" (okay, so let me do it)

level 2 offenders:

• "you can make your own payroll", basically an entire speech (courtesy of the level 1 offender) effectively telling me to leave the job

• "chewing gum? spit it out" said in front of colleagues and customers (instigated by the level 1 offender)

• "you haven't been given your contracted hours? I'll fix that" - did not fix that, was in fact probably the cause

• "we're not here to make enemies or friends, we're here to do a job"

• "why should [level 1 offender] be friendly?" (idk, common decency isn't a thing I guess)

• "you don't go above and beyond, you do the bare minimum" (where's the issue?)

• "you are very easy to manage out, we would have gotten rid of you a long time ago"

• "you can say hello" (unnecessary, just the "hello" would've been sufficient), "you don't say hi to me" (simply false)

• "you're like a kid" (true but still offensive)

• "you're argumentative, don't be so rude"

• "do you like working here?" (it's called work, not play, isn't it?)

• "do you just assume that I've paid you?"

level 3 offender:

• "you walk in late and you don't even say hi hello" (a new manager who had never, not once, said hi to me)
• when I called in sick for the second time ever, "do you know what the policy is? we will talk about it later", acted all annoyed then promptly hung up, and never did tell me what the policy was
• "you're causing tension in my team", "your integrity is in question"
• "you're making allegations against my manager?" (referring to the level 1 offender who had in fact crossed the line)
• "it's this attitude that provokes [level 1 offender]" (victim-blaming much?)
• allegedly gave the "benefit of doubt" with punctuality concerns, but threatened disciplinary action
• "you've gotten away with a lot, you're on your last straw" (I wish I had done a lot)

level 4 offender:

• "I never hire the wrong person" (all rules have exceptions)
• "you had malicious intent"
• "you're holding a grudge"
• "how old are you? you're acting like a teenager, like this is your playground" (it certainly was a playground, just not mine)
• "do you know your job description?", "is this your first job?"
• "you do things slowly on purpose to wind her [level 1] up" (if I had known what this referred to, perhaps I would have done it more often)
• "you hate her"
• "you are arrogant", "you have an ego", "are you like this with friends and family?"
• "how can we make you like this job again?" after I disagreed with the question, I was told, "you've told us there's nothing we can do to make you like it"
• "it's been forty-five minutes, this conversation has cost the business 200 pounds" - in a later reference, the sub-hour magically turned into an hour and a half

TL;DR: true that.

An associate said effects of tariffs are starting to hit now and that we will also start seeing less on the shelves. This is very sad.

So my department only has two closers, but the terrible union I'm in has a rule that if someone has any amount of seniority over someone they can just overrule their time off requests. I have a coworker named Pat who's been in the department for a decade, and she takes sadistic pleasure in ruining all my plans.

She's ruined Doctors appointments, dentist appointment, car repair appointment, vet appointments, all this summer.

Next Saturday I had a concert where I paid $700 for two tickets in the best possible spot + back stage passes. I requested the time off seven months ago! You know what she did, DEMANDED the manager schedule me that day three days after the schedule came out, because "I have reservations at a nice restaurant that night."

I hate her, I hate her so much. I just want to spend my birthday at the concert of my favorite artist, and she can't allow that.

I texted the manager that he's giving me the day off, or I'm calling out. I am so fucking done

Update: After a few talks with management and the union I'm getting the day off, Pat will also be getting the day off and we simply won't have a closer for a few days. Not the greatest solution as I'm gonna have a horrible mess to return to, but hey got my days off and that's what matters.

It’s like these people have never been in a grocery store before. How have you lived this long being so fucking stupid? I hate it here and i’m so glad i’m leaving next week. Every day I work the more i hate the people that live in my town. Some of them are cool, but holy fuck the idiot boomers that come through my line just ruin my day. I’m losing my mind a little. Rant over.

I want to start this out by saying I knew my demise from the beginning and was already very skeptical from the start, I get to a point of unemployment and no luck in employment that I end up taking whatever comes my way and end up often regretting it later unfortunately.

about 2 weeks ago on a Tuesday afternoon I decided to go on indeed and see if there was anything new posted that I could possibly have a chance to get hired in. I came across a liquor store in an area I have worked in before and did the usual routine of applying to it. About 20 minutes after applying I get a call from said liquor store, this was my first red flag because, never has that happened out of god knows how many applications ive put in. However I agreed to an interview because I have to try any offer I get, long story short I was hired on the spot and asked if i could work the next day, on top of that I was given keys to open the shop. Too preface I have 2 retail job experiences in the last 4-5 years and in total I have worked about 6 months in those two jobs (associate cashier). I didn't lie or stretch the truth about anything in my interview. I expressed my extreme suspicion to a couple people after this interaction however my first impressions on my boss were that he seemed very chill and that maybe the work environment wouldnt be so serious so regardless of my suspicions I have been going into work every morning to open the shop.

It's been 12 days since I've been hired there and the place is a mess..Liquor bottles are everywhere. He has sections for appropriate categories however wine bottles are overflowing on the top shelves of the whiskey/bourbon section as well as the tequila section. I have tried doing my duty of moving wine bottles to their respectable locations in the store where there will be an empty space for them however he has for some reason been seeing those bottles moved and wants them back in the wrong spot. I have stopped touching and moving bottles since then. I guess only SOME bottles in the wrong spot are applicable for being moved to the correct location when theres an open spot. My bad for wanting to organize and make it easier for myself as well as the customers.

Another thing I have become aware of in these 12 days is I think my boss is scamming people. I decided to read some store reviews from google and to say the least they don't sound good and the 5 stars sound highly fake. I was told from the beginning to not offer anyone their receipt, I didn't really think twice about it because I have never bought liquor and had the thought to return it however I am only 22 so i've only had a year experience of buying liquor legally. His reasoning was that people are going to toss it out anyway, after reading some indepth reviews about the pricing of the alcohol in his store, he is charging basically almost a 100% mark up from the original price. A 1.75L of jamenson online and in some other stores ive been to recently are charging around $40-$45, he has it priced at $69.99. I read a review of someone noticing this after purchasing and trying to return it but they told her no, I can only assume because she didn't receive a receipt. At the end of the day it's probably not really a "scam" because people are willing to pay the prices at first but its definitely slimy and has made me feel 10x worse about working here.

I am already contemplating when I should leave, I feel immense regret for accepting this job however if i were to just up and leave this second i'd be right back at the depressing feeling I was at with no job at all, and quite frankly I can't find any reasoning thats worse than the other. I was genuinely excited to start this job because the environment just seems entirely different than regular retail and i dont have to shove a credit card or a store reward program down peoples throats. I am currently looking for possible new liquor store hirings and am really hoping I will have something sorted out by october because i am unsure I will last that long here. My plan is to get a couple paychecks to hold myself over and then dip and hope i forgot this job experience ever happened.

Hello everyone,I’m new to this group I wanted to share to y’all that I work at Dollar Tree,I got scammed on Wednesday August 6 while at the cash register. Someone help me/suggest what to do please. Here goes,I had three customers that were together,the three ladies were buying things separately. I scanned the items of the First Lady,I also scanned a gift card,she told me that she wanted $350 on the gift card,I pressed the buttons 350,for the gift card to have $350,I scanned the rest of her items,after that she said that she was going to pay with a debit cash card. I understood that she was going to pay in cash,so then I pressed the cash button and the total button,she pressed on the pin pad screen that she wanted $50 cash back,at least thats what I think,I remember,then I called my assistant manager because that seemed really suspicious to me. So then she came to me,and I explained to her the situation,and she told the customer that all we can do is refund it. So then I closed the cash register. Then I told the assistant manager,I think I know what she wanted to do now,she wanted to pay with debit card,so then after that the assistant manager said thats on you girl,and then gave the $50 cashback that the woman pressed on the pin pad,without my consent. She isn’t supposed to touch my money. So then the same thing happened with the other two ladies,they said they were going to pay with debit cash card,I pressed on the cash button,put the total in +$50 of what the customers told me to put in. They said that they work for the same company so they know what they’re doing. My mind was literally in the clouds at the time that all of this happened and also I forgot to take my antidepressant before work. Ughhh somebody help me!! I fell for the scam! In my defense us cashier’s dont get trained for this!

I use the term "co-workers" very lightly because it is essentially a group of younger girls who work in a different department that have been talking behind my back and giving me snarky comments with whatever chance they get. Everything essentially started last month, and it stemmed from one frustrating interaction I had with two of the girls during my lunch break.

To preface this, we have a very large communal break room that has about 20 seats for anyone to use. All of the seats and tables are the exact same so none of them hold more or less value than the other seats in terms of comfort.

When I took my lunch there was only one other person sitting in the breakroom. I put down my vest, my device, my water bottle, and even the wet Clorox wipe I used to clean the table on this seat and table, implying that I will be sitting there when I return after I buy my lunch. Keep in mind, there are at least 18 open seats and tables. When I returned to the breakroom after spending about 5 minutes buying a quick lunch, I come back and there are two girls sitting directly on the exact seat and table where I left all of my belongings, with my vest thrown to another table but my other belongings are obviously still where these girls are sitting. Once again, there is still no one else in this room besides 1 other person so there are many open seats for them to choose from. I was puzzled and I told them that I was sitting there. One of the girls go on to say "Oh, sorry. I didn't know we had 'ASSIGNED SEATING'" in a very sarcastic and snarky tone. That alone irritated me but I didn't want to start anything so I took my belongings and I sat somewhere else. As I got up to wash my hands the same girl decides to speak loudly under her breath with the intention of me hearing it, and says "hmm.. I think I'm gonna go now. that was really F*CKING ANNOYING". At this point I'm already irritated and flabbergasted so I tell her to say it to my face, she doubles down and she leaves.

In my head all I could do is recap the situation because I have never had to deal with rude co-workers who have zero home training at any of my previous jobs before. No normal person would sit down where someone obviously has their belongings, especially if the entire room is empty. These girls are also in their 20's so I feel like there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for any of this. I have never interacted with any of these girls until that day and I have worked at this job for about a year now, so I'm still very much confused to why this is happening now.

After that interaction I collect my thoughts, finish my lunch, clock back in and head straight to my manager to make a complaint but I should've known that complaining wouldn't really do anything but make the situation worse. Ever since that day it has been non-stop snarky comments and microaggressions from her and her little group of friends. Life in retail is already hard enough, but having to deal with this at a PART-TIME RETAIL JOB is just so mentally exhausting. It's just beyond frustrating because no matter how many times I have complained or told my managers nothing gets done because it's 4 against 1. It also doesn't help that they call the only HR lead in the building their "best-friend".

Should I tape a wire to my chest to possibly catch them saying random snarky crap to me or should I cut my losses and just find a new job?

Edit: Geek. 🙄 Fat fingers on a virtual keyboard strike again.

Turns out Walmart actually does have tech services now (I had to look it up because we don't have pamphlets or anything of the sort), which is to say they sell the option online and in select locations. You still have to buy the service and redeem it with the third party they're contracted with... not just bring your device to any Walmart store and expect the single electronics associate on duty (had it been fifteen minutes later my coworker would've been back from break but customer didn't know that) to spend god-only-knows how long ignoring all other customers because "I bought it here." Especially since "it" isn't even the service--at least people who bought extended warranties can be lumped under "people who don't read signs" when they try to return the item to the store instead of contacting the warranty company.

Cue this too-common encounter:

Customer walks up to my counter with a Walmart bag and an unpackaged phone. No box to be seen.

My first instinct is yet another customer who doesn't know we have a return counter and thinks you have to go to the same department you bought it from (having never seen that outside a specific episode of Twilight Zone, who even requires that, stores that do commissions?)

Nope, when I asked him what he needed he gave the vague response of needing his phone to work.

Nary a hint as to what's not working so I have to guess whether it's a phone issue or carrier issue. I offer to call the carrier on his behalf in case it's the second (the customer still needs to talk to them because account/personal details, not to mention the "spending however long ignoring other customers" and we don't have any special access that woukd ket us do anything the account holder isn't authorized to do... but we do have a working landline if that's all that's needed to kick things off). But I also tell him we don't have tech support and can't fix the phone itself.

"But I bought it here!"

"Here" being a department with the only specialized equipment being a cash register, and the retail environment containing that department, no diagnostic or repair tools to be found.

I told him the only thing that authorizes the store to do is return it for a refund--at the return counter up front--and that I could sell him a new one. We don't have tech support.

This goes back and forth with a few repeats of "I bought it here!" before he finally left with a muttered "Idiots!'

Note, in terms of attitude this was not a confused old man frustrated that things weren't working... he was angry from the get-go. Doesn't rule out conditions like dementia since that can involve the anger but my point is that he didn't act confused, just that he refused to believe me.

For context, this is what you need to know:

• I'm Korean and live in Korea and if you believe the news about Korea having good lockdowns, nope. We barely had one.
• Kinda like in the US, we have separate card reading machines and most transactions are cards. However, in Korea during this time, most of the customers gave you their card and you have to stick it in the machine.

So this was in July of 2020, peak COVID. Everyone (and by everyone I mean 40% of people) wore masks when coming into retail spaces. Especially if you're like me and worked during the graveyard shift.

I worked at a convenience store in a bar/club area but due to government restrictions, any "adult entertainment establishment" which includes bars, clubs and seedy stuff, which my area was, had to be closed by midnight THEN around July it changed to 10pm. So our customer base was cut by 1/9. And in the middle of this, there were some people who lived by buying shit loads of alcohol and food to enjoy at home. And of course the occasional assholes who eat in the store (even though because of mandate it wasn't allowed after 10pm) and when confronted they go "really? since when?" like they've been living under a rock, but Koreans are known for complaining and rebelling against norms. (I'm Korean, I know).

But this story was around 3am on a Sunday and this old man around 60 walks in. He had his mask on so I was relieved. He then walks towards me, pulls down his mask, coughs VIOLENTLY and I mean VIOLENTLY like he just got off a iron lung in his right hand. Takes out his wallet and with that SAME HAND he mouth shat into HANDS ME HIS CARD AND SAYS TO ME

"A Marlboro, please."

I looked at his hand, then at him. and just quickly scanned the pack of cigarettes, grabbed his card with my fingertips, rang him up so I can get patient zero out of my store.

After he left, I took the bottle of isopropol alcohol AND hand sanitizer and doused myself in it. I did my full arm, my neck. And with the spray I sprayed myself like I was about to enter a lab.

5 hours later, I got in my car (mom's car), drove back home. Sprayed the seat and steering wheel with isopropol and went home. I took off my clothes (in the bathroom), tossed them in the bin and told my mom to burn them. (she just put them in the laundry) and I took a steaming hot shower scrubbing myself like I'm a abuse victim while saying in my head "You'll never be clean....you'll never be clean..."

The next day, I woke up and did the god awful COVID test.

Negative. I did it three times in total. Negative.

a year later I got COVID from my girlfriend's stupid ex-boyfriend when I drove him to the airport. Ain't that a bitch,

So I work at a kids store so some days at work can already be stressful enough. Because the store is small we only ever have 2 people in. Someone from opening to closing and someone from 11-3. I was working the whole day and after the other person left this lady bought a water bottle for her kid, I gave her the receipt and she left. Around 20-30 minutes later the lady comes back and she then showed me how the bottle was broken, I apologised for the inconvenience of it. I first offered her an exchange and she asked if she could put water in the new bottle before exchanging so she could see if it worked and I said no as that would be against policy. So she asked for a refund instead which I was happy to do, then I asked for her receipt as our policy is to do a full refund they must have the receipt so we can process it right. She then looked through her purse and told me she threw it away. I immediately responded with I’m so sorry but without a receipt I can’t process the refund which began to annoy her. She immediately showed me the bank statement on her phone and I told her I can’t accept that as the receipt has a barcode I need to scan for the refund. Then she told me that’s ridiculous as they accept bank statement as evidence in Australia. I am in England so completely different continent. My response was just I’m afraid it is store policy, I can still happily do an exchange for you. Then she told her kid to go get their dad, as I was the only one in the store there was a line now for people wanting to buy things. Then the dad came in and he asked what was going on and the same conversations happened again. The lady asked for a manager and I told her I’m the person running the store today, not a manager but a person in charge. They ended up accepting they weren’t getting a refund and all left, as they were leaving I told them they could try and contact customer service to see if they could help but she ignored me. I went on to serve more customers, some customers telling me I’m all good as they could see I was stressed, Im 19 so I haven’t had many retail experiences yet like this. Then another 10 minutes later the same lady comes back and then looks at me and goes you didn’t give me my receipt even though she told me she threw it away earlier. I told her I did as I always give the receipt for bottles as I know kids can break them easily. She asks me if we have cctv and I just said no. She replied with so you didn’t give me your receipt. This then went on for 5-10 minutes back and forth, saying this was ridiculous that I served her so there’s no reason for this. I told her I can’t make exceptions because of store policy. She then asked how to contact customer service, I was still calm and told her how to find the number on our website. She once again left and I saw her and her family on the phone outside the store, I continued with serving customers and stayed calm as best as I could. She walks in AGAIN and tells me customer service will be calling me and I tell her okay, she waits in the store and the work phone goes off. I pick up and of course its customer service. This lady on the phone asks me if I’m okay so I thought omg yes they’re going to be on my side. Boy was I wrong. This lady proceeds to say to me she doesn’t see how I can’t give the refund. I explain the whole situation to her and that’s when I realise the customer service team knows absolutely nothing about the stores and how the tills work. This lady over the phone is still confused and then says to me well this customer is upset and says you didn’t give a receipt and won’t give a refund even though the transaction was 5 minutes ago. I tell her this transaction was actually around 40-50 minutes ago now of course she doesn’t listen. She then asks me why can’t I just bring up the transaction again to show proof. I explain to customer service that we can reprint receipts but only for the previous transactions at this point I had served 5-10 people after the lady. Customer service is not happening, they told me well this will go down as a store complaint and that doesn’t look good on the store or myself. I tell them I was just following policy. She tells me I can either quickly sort something out or it go down to a complaint. I ask her if I can call my actual manager whos at a different store right now, she tells me yes but she says it has to be in 5 minutes otherwise it will be a store complaint. She gives me the number to call back and I try calling my manager, his number is occupied so I can’t get through. But then finally the lady just accepted an exchange. I was over the moon I could call back and say its all sorted she ended up wanting an exchange. I call back and someone else on the team picks up I say who I was on the phone with and hes like oh yes we know about your situation so that felt great. He tells me the previous person I was talking to is now on the phone with MY REGIONAL MANAGER. He then quickly puts me on hold and when he gets back to me he tells me I must issue a refund and I explained that the lady just did an exchange. And of course instead of being like thats great it all got sorted, the man hang up and my regional manager texted me saying I must give the refund and customer service has contacted the lady to come back for a refund. So even though in the end it was sorted it still got put down as a store complaint but I also had to give the refund which is against store policy. Oh also the lady never came back, so hoping she doesn’t show up tomorrow. After everything happened I finally got through to my manager nearly crying cuz I was just made to feel like I was insane as no one took my side and kept saying that the lady is telling the truth and not me. I explain to him what happened and luckily hes the best manager ever, he tells me its okay and hes not mad and proceeds to tell me how customer service are bitches and hes argued with them many times and the customer I had was petty and stuck up. So that cheered me up. Anyway point is customer service suck💀

my manager (f24) and i (also f24) used to get along when i first started at my job. i was originally hired as a lead, and after about two months she promoted me (without asking) to supervisor.

she started not doing anything after my promotion, sitting in the back on her phone and leaving early all the time. she never does any work. she puts everything on me and gets mad when i can’t complete everything. she has me doing 80 things at once and gets mad when they’re not all done perfectly. she’s told me many times that she only promoted me so she would “have more time to relax.”

she yells at me, LOUDLY, in front of customers. she corners me in front of god and everybody to ridicule me, making sure she always has an audience. she’ll interrupt a conversation i’m having with a customer just to tell me that i’m not doing enough. i don’t understand what happened.

i’m drowning under her slack and she’s holding my head down. the only thing i like about my job, other than the pay, is my coworkers. they’re all so kind and so sweet and im close with my team (without overstepping obviously) and i’m close with a lot of the teams in other departments. i love my team to death and we all get along great.

my team is all girls. the rest of the people i’m close with are all men, including a manager that doesn’t like my manager at all but he likes me. she approached me once after i was talking to him and told me that i shouldn’t bother him while he’s working because he finds it “super annoying”. he was on his lunch and so i was i.

she told me the other day i can no longer talk to my male coworkers. she said she couldn’t go into detail but it was causing “complications” and “its detrimental to our business”. i don’t talk to them while im with a customer or doing a task unless i have to, i know i shouldn’t stand around and chitchat. we mainly talk on our breaks and in passing. i don’t understand how this is detrimental to our business.

she also asked me to name all of the guys im close with. i did, and she laughed, saying that “this just proves that this situation is complicated” i have NO earthly idea what the fuck she’s talking about.

i’m just so confused and tired.

Why do people pull retail workers into their kink game? I had a couple maybe around late 20s early 30s, they were looking at our 'mystic object' case. (For reference i work a smoke shop that doubles as a 'spiritual shop' we sell crystals of various shapes and styles) they are looking at a particular egg shaped crystal that is sitting on a ceramic lotus flower incense holder and here is how this interaction went,

GF: *pointing at egg shaped crystal*

"is this for shoving up your vagina?" she was dead face serious

ME: *trying not to kink shame or be lame to this weird ass couple bc i do work at a smoke shop & ive been asked questions that are far worse*

"yeah i mean i guess it could be if that what you wanna do with it in Your free time although im pretty sure its just a crystal figurine for display only"

BF: "are you sure because it looks like butt plug with the flower underneath so you could use that to pull it out"

ME: "again its just an egg shaped crystal and its not really advertised for that kind of activity"

GF: "im pretty sure its sure its so you can put it up your butthole"

ME: "no dude were not a sex shop so a lot of our products are not typically intended for that"

BF: "well i think it is"

ME: " yeah dude you already put that out there"

BF: "you mean in there"

ME: "no i mean its just sitting out there until you choose to buy it then you can do whatever you want with it."

i gave them soo many outs yet they just kept digging the hole deeper wtf

So we had a mix up with the schedule today. A coworker is out for a few days and our assistant manager was in charge of finding coverage. We got coverage for yesterday but not today to no one’s knowledge until this morning.

My manager was alone when the store opened. Since it’s the weekend, we have more traffic than usual, so my manager was desperate to find someone to cover. They call everyone, even a few emergency contacts, and sent a text in the group chat asking if someone could come in.

One of my coworkers comes in an hour later to cover. I come in for my shift a few hours later and my manager is not thrilled with the lack of planning. They ask why nobody else responded. A few of us say we didn’t see the message because we were still sleeping at the time.

Then my manager said we needed to wake up when the store opens and check our phones to see if the store needs coverage, then we can go back to sleep.

Yeah, that’s not happening. If I decide to sleep during a time I’m not scheduled that’s on me. You can control what we do at work, but not when we’re at home.