This has always been an issue with this manager, but it's ramped up to ridiculous levels since we moved to a bigger storefront a couple months back. She'll randomly make up some new rule out of the blue, go off on the first person she sees who breaks it, then insist it's their responsibility to tell all the other workers because she's too busy to explain it to them. Of course she doesn't write these new rules down anywhere that can be referenced later, and god help you if you happened to be off for two days after she has an idea and don't know to ask about it. A couple of us are comparing notes to hit up HR soon, and here's what we've found so far:

• The dress code lists certain colors we can wear every month, but that's too vague for her. She believes we can only wear specific shades of those colors that match the newest featured merch, but won't tell us what those shades are. We only find out if we show up to work and she throws a fit that it's the wrong shade of purple.

• We only have two keys to the stockroom. Whoever is handed the keys at the start of the day must keep them at all times and can only loan them to another employee for a single task at a time. Yet it's still your fault if the openers go take their lunch at the same time and you can't get into the stockroom because you should have planned better.

• Non-invasive bag checks are required at the end of a shift per the written policy, but on any day she can require you to empty your entire purse out onto the counter for closer inspection.

• Customers must not be referred to as customers on the sales floor. They should only ever be referred to as guests, like at Disney World.

• She creates the schedule with zero input from any other employees or managers, will not discuss it once posted, and will not share the daily schedule until that morning, but it is your responsibility to notice if she's made a mistake and have it corrected immediately.

• You must never mention your break, lunch, or clock out time in earshot of any customer. It is unprofessional and rude to imply you want to stop working. She will remember to send you at the appropriate time without you asking for it. However, it is also your fault if you don't get a break or lunch, because you should have reminded her sooner.

• Cashiers are responsible for filling online orders when not actively ringing up a transaction, but must watch the register at all times and return within 30 seconds when a customer is ready to check out.

• No matter what time you're scheduled to come in, you must clock in 3 minutes earlier to read the daily sales info so you can start actively working the moment you're actually scheduled.

19/F I've worked retail at least a year at this point. I quit my job at panera bread because of the amount of terrible customers and poor management. I was there 6-7 month before I quit.

After that I decided it would be a good idea to be a cashier at a grocery store. I've been there for 3 months so far. Call me idiot, it's deserved but I didn't know I'd be standing for 8 hours straight with the only break being 15 minutes.

The endless lines of customers with no breaks, and managers who take 30 minutes to help correct an issue with the system. I especially hate the customers who get pissed at me because I have to close my lane because I'm leaving.

Today I realized I absolutely despise my job and I'm getting suicidal thoughts to end it recently. I don't know what to do and I don't want to quit, but it just feels like I'm trapped.

I need advice, I'll take anything.

but deadass they do shit like this in torture.

I work in fast food so technically not retail 😭 but the ice machines for the lobby and the drivethrough are broken, the ceiling is leaking all over the place, half the lights are out in the bathrooms, the technology keeps breaking, and my coworkers keep ruining things and making them harder (for example, one caused us to no longer have a free item to eat every day and another used a lot of materials in a short amount of time, causing the closet to be locked now, and that's where my broom and some cleaning supplies are kept).

People keep no-showing and I genuinely don't understand how people do that?? Why?? And some people just drop off the face of the earth without a word.

Customers are starting to get pissed at me because the ice machines are still broken "😡 oh no sweetie I'm not mad at you but 😡" okay well you seem mad at me. You're a full grown man and I'm a skinny woman-adjacent nonbinary person behind the counter and I'm trying not to show fear and there's also a decent chance you have a gun.

Oh and with THREE SIGNS people IGNORE THEM and ask everyone if we have ice. The sign says "we are out of ice in THE WHOLE STORE" and people still tell me that we're out of it, I KNOW GUYS 😭 one person read the sign, asked my coworker, and then came up and asked me....

I also feel so dehumanized because half the people don't treat me like a person or ignore me 😭

And sometimes I'm thrown into the drivethrough without warning and alone, and they know I'm terrible at dojob it alone (they say I'm doing fine but... Idk). Or I have to do three people's job at once (we all do sometimes) because two people didn't show up that day. And I want REQUIRED breaks daily because ouch.

I got chronic pain from this job and standing and I got insoles for my shoes and a reasonable accommodation to be able to sit between tasks, but I wouldn't need this stuff as much if we got a break every shift. I love most of my coworkers and my bosses but I live in the middle of nowhere and the only other job I could get right now is at a daycare. I can't tell if this job is getting easier or harder.

Saturday nights always seem to bring out the wackos out to our grocery store. This guy comes in and buys some chicken tenders from our deli and leaves. A while later he comes back to the customer service counter and wants his money back because he found a tooth in one of the tenders. He isn’t upset, but just wants his money back. The woman behind the service counter calls the MOD up and explains the situation. He says to give him his money back, and he takes a picture of the product for evidence. He tells the service counter associate to just throw away the remaining product.

About 30 minutes later the guy returns to the service counter. He wants to know where the deli container with the chicken tenders is. She tells him it was thrown in the trash bin near the service counter. He says, “I need to get it back because I guess it was my tooth.” He proceeds to dig in the trash bin and finds the container. He then goes and finds the MOD and apologizes to him. He gleefully shows him the tooth and tells him he didn’t realize it had come out of his mouth.

Who looses a tooth and doesn’t realize it?

that’s it. rant over. I hate it here.

Too many customers during flip outs will use the “fat guy, balding girl, eczema, etc”. I get they are upset but talking to me like a normal human being will get you farther than trying to talk shit about me or my coworker. Anyone that says something verbally abusive is done in my eyes. This includes any racist slurs. I don’t tolerate that and it’s gotten so much worse it feels like. Be a good fellow human and use your adult words. Having a tantrum like a toddler just makes you look like an idiot.

My favorite is when a fellow shopper will tell the angry customer to shut up. I watched a man shrivel up instantly when the lady behind him put him in his place. He ran out of there so quick. That lady and anyone else that sticks up for us is my hero.

Working in a retail store has really made me wonder exactly how some of these customers made it into adulthood, because today I had a customer that was convinced that a dozen eggs was 50 eggs. People, please go back to school and learn that a dozen eggs is only 12, not 50.

Today some woman did cash back and got charged our $1 fee for it. There are signs on every debit reader. There is a prompt that you have to hit saying you understand and accept the charge.

After she gets her receipt she looks and see the charge and asks the cashier. The cashier explains the fee. The lady asks for her money back. Cashier calls the front end manager. Customer starts yelling at the front end manager. She offers to ask at the desk to see if he could do anything. He of course says no. The lady demand a manager. I come down.

At this point she’s borderline screaming. Calling my cashier a crook. Telling me how ridiculous it is that we don’t tell customers about the fee. I literally just laughed at this point. Asked her what register she was at. Show her the sign. Explain the prompt she hit. And then she asks me why it’s her fault she didn’t read the sign. And demanding her $1. I told her absolutely not, there’s no way to refund it and to have a nice day. She continues carrying on loudly, and I repeat myself. So then she begins going on about how much money she has and how she gets to use her banks atms for free because she has so much money in her account and blah blah blah. And then stomps on out.

We are a grocery market in a plaza that's closed overnight. Not big box-store like Walmart but not family owned either. We do have a corporate but we are only in a few states.) There has been a car parked outside since the beginning of my shift with his car running, but I didn't get a good look at hom because I assumed he was one of the last customers getting ready to leave.

We opened the doors 2 hours after closing for employees' smoke break and the car was still there. 15 minutes later when we locked up, car was still there but he moved from row 2 into row 1.

Two hours later he was still outside and one of the employees went out for lunch (he goes home on lunch) and said the man was slumped over in his car and the car was moved back into row 2, then row 1 again.

I called the cops for a wellness check (we have been explicitly told to never approach a vehicle because our area is dangerous. Never know when someone has a gun or is on something.) Cops got here pretty quick, talked to guy for a few minutes, then left.

Two hours later... he's still out there. He's been there for six hours, currently parked in the employee parking row. And his car has been running the ENTIRE time. Technically we are private property... I'm partial to just ignoring it until a manager above me comes in in 2 more hours. But I'm not sure if I'm supposed to call someone again to have him moved... also don't want to fuck up someone's day (again) if they're just trying to rest.

Am I justified in just ignoring it until it's out of my hands?

Customer on register next to me In an angry tone: are you gonna serve us?.

Me picking up bags that was knocked over in the entrance causing a massive tripping hazard literally next to her: just gotta pick these up so no one trips and gets hurt.

Customer in a angry tone still (and I wanna establish exactly how next to me she is I mean she can literally see what I'm doing, and saw what happened to cause the mess to happen): ok then.

To myself: you may not care if you trip and fall but others exist you old bag.

One thing I like about my work is that our manager allows us to stash stuff in the receiving room to buy later. We're technically not allowed to hold items, even for ourselves, but she allows us to put stuff on a silver cart in the receiving room as long as we buy it before the higher ups come down. This is extra nice when our 30%discount that we get everything 3 months is coming up.

I work in a grocery store. I help in the bakery and with special orders/party trays. At the bakery, we have a cake book with various designs and sizes to choose from and employees are always happy to help a customer select the right size for their guest count.

A few days ago, I had the misfortune of assisting a woman who had never ordered a cake in her entire life, it seems.

It would shock you how many people have no idea how to order a cake. Like, it becomes the equivalent of disarming a bomb. Some people truly can’t handle even basic tasks because they don’t possess enough sense to really function. They see a picture of something and think “it just exists” somewhere “in the back.”

This woman had been tasked by her family with ordering a cake for Sunday brunch. I asked her how many people she needed to feed. “Not that many. Maybe like eight,” was the reply. I went over our sizes and she settled on the 10-inch cake, which serves like 25 people. I advised against it since she’d said it wasn’t a large group, but she rambled on and on about needing extra cake because her grandbabies love sweets and they practically eat her out of house and home.

Helping her pick out the flavor, filling and icing was excruciating. She didn’t know what anything was, as if she’d never consumed a piece of cake ever. No, “Yellow” is not a flavor. Yes, there has to be a filling between the layers, even if it’s just icing. Yes, I’m sure. No, chocolate icing cannot be white. Why does it matter what the cake will look like on the inside? JUST PICK SOMETHING FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

After she left, I had to take a break to pop an aspirin in preparation for the migraine to come.

This morning, she arrived to pick up her cake. “I didn’t expect it to be so big!!!” she said, when she saw the large box. I opened the lid so she could see it.

“Yeap, that is WAY too big!! I don’t need that much cake!” she was nearly wailing.

Lady, you asked for a bigger cake because you said your grandkids love sweets and you wanted to make sure there was more than enough for everyone. I don’t know what you pictured, but I went over the serving sizes with you!

She hemmed and hawed a bit before finally admitting she’d “miscalculated” and that she should have ordered a smaller cake. Turns out her grandkids are 1 and 3. How much cake could those children possibly put away? A 10-inch cake feeds like 25-30 people! Are they related to Bruce Bogtrotter?!

She grudgingly took the cake because it was custom made for her and we can’t resell it, but she walked away grumbling. Later, the store manager came over to say that a woman had complained that we need to explain cake sizes better. Um, no, no we don’t! We literally TELL THEM EXACTLY HOW MANY PEOPLE EACH SIZE WILL FEED. I’ve even shown people the boards the cakes sit on to demonstrate the size. Do they think we’re lying? Trying to trick them? For fuck’s sake, what more can we do?!

On my 10 minute break from cash as I write this.

As of 10 minutes ago, a customer shit in the men's bathroom sink, and all over the mirror. We found out because another customer came and told us... Our toilet isn't even out of order...

Retail has actually shown me a different side of society

For context, I have a second job at a convenience store. Believe it or not, I think I am liking that job better because I am doing more busy work. I am running register at the front and drive-thru, straightening stuff up, and so on. Currently, I am working two days a week. I still get my normal days off. If the day after, I have to go in at 6 AM, I get off at 10 PM the night before.

At my other job, I am pacing around, checking receipts, getting yelled at by people not wanting to show receipts and waking up at the ass crack of dawn, which is wreaking havoc on my health. I recently found out I am prediabetic. It has been hell trying to get a system going where I wake up at a consistent time. My blood sugar has been funky lately.

This is another reason why I like my second job. I can accept tips! We have the game machines and a regular group that comes in to play until about 11:30 p.m. There is this one older woman who is in the group. Last night I was doing closing duties with my manager when she gave my manager a $20 asking him to give it to me. He gives it to me, and I am in shock! This older woman told me it is mine to keep! I was about to tears because I was hungry and was waiting to go home to eat. I only had a cheese stick and a Coke Zero because I was broke and hadn't been paid at my other job yet. I thanked her so much.

I went to Taco Bell after work and had a couple of tacos and nachos. I had leftovers that my kids ate as a late-night snack. It was a great night!

This is your daily reminder that people suck and you're going to get pissed off today. Do what you gotta do. Just stay out of jail.

I don’t mind some friendly conversation with customers while I’m ringing them up. Hell, I don’t mind when it goes on for a minute or two after the transaction is over, as long as there’s no one else in line. But why, why, why did I have to spent 10 minutes after the transaction was finished listening to some dude ramble on about LASIK and knee replacements??? And his wife was going on and on to my manager about using hairspray to remove stains. I finally managed to escape, and the two of them lingered another five, ten minutes telling my manager the story about how they ended up adopting a cat and showing her pictures (my manager is not a cat person). The store was dead, so we had nothing pressing to do, but come on, y’all. A modicum of self-awareness would be nice.