Work in the Retail World

[The Instrument of GAWD]

I work for Sheetz as a sales associate.

Wait, I thought Sheetz was like; a local chain in PA. Unless of course, that's where you're at.

[Raenok]

Zophar, have you ever tried looking at grocery stores? I know, it still deals with food, but it's generally the same, depending on the job.

As for companies...I haven't worked long enough to notice the bigger differences, but I have worked for Krogers and Safeway (Randalls). Krogers is part of a union (suprise suprise), while Safeway generally has bigger starting wages ($6 for Courtesy Clerks, $7 for Cashiers, I think $8-9 for Stockers in the Houston area). If you hate people, and perfer to be with at least one or two other people, then Stocker is for you.

It's the same as any other retail business, but with groceries.

Take it as you will.

[Fire in the Hole]

Wait, I thought Sheetz was like; a local chain in PA. Unless of course, that's where you're at.

It's spread out into several nearby states. Ohio, Maryland, VA/WVA, and even North Carolina. If you check on their website, they actually have quite a few locations.

[RealFolkBlues]

What you're probably looking at is a pay cut (at least if your restaurant's clientele was any good) but a much simpler job. If you can put up with people when it comes to food, you're more than likely gonna be just fine dealing with them in a retail setting. If you want to avoid having to put up with people's shit and generally get paid a little more, you might want to check out gas station or convenience store clerk positions, where if people piss you off, you can tell them to sit and spin with impunity. That is always awesome.

[PhantomOfTheOperetta]

It depends on the type of retail working really. Some places like Wal-Mart and Target generally give you a whole different experience from someplace like Electronics Boutique or another chain of stores. I have friends that work in both types of retail, and frankly, working for a place like EB is not that great unless you know the people working there. I say this because EB (well, Gamestop really) has quotas that have to be met. You have to sell a certain number of preorders, a certain number of subscriptions, a certain number of UPTs (units per transaction), a certain number of "game of the month" titles, a certain number of used games, blah blah blah every week. If you don't meet your numbers, you can be written up. Get written up three times, and your ass is fired... all because you didn't sell enough used games, or get enough people to buy their "discount" cards. And here's the kicker... if you meet every quota, guess what? You get nothing. Not even a "good job". Do well, and you hear nothing. Falter a little in one area, you get your job threatened (be it by your store manager, or a regional one). The company gets the cash from your quotas, and you get to keep your job and not be in trouble as a thank you. Nice huh? Not exactly a good way to make for a great working atmosphere... especially when you're reminded of low numbers every day (again, unless you're friends with the people you work with).

Jesus, you just described my job to a fucking T. Gamestop is a terrible terrible company and everyone should stay away.

Most retail is cake though, you have to be a complete moron to fuck it up. It's the ideal choice if you're someone who's ok with making a small amount of money for a medium amount of work... or if you smoke a lot of pot.

Wait jobs are alot more work, but you also make a lot more money, and it looks a little better on a resume.

[CC Ricers]

I mostly learned that you can gauge the average intelligence of your town or local town area from working at an all-purpose department store (such as Sears, where I worked at). I worked in men's clothing and back then they paid minimum wage. I think it's kind of ridiculous to dress up business casual and get paid minimum. I never had to meet quotas because I didn't work on commission. But it was a job everyone hated, and I've been to Sears pretty often so I notice the trends. Average staying time for a young person working in apparel is 3 months, while I still recognize many familiar faces in the electronics and hardware depts. because they do their jobs well.

Currently I cannot find a job related to the career I want to get into so in the meantime, I'm looking to fill a hardware support position at Best Buy or a similar place.

[Blake]

Ok I need to stop working at Taco Bell.

Fast food isn't fun. If you have cool people then it isn't that bad, but the place hires people who don't really have aspirations and drags everybody down. I think more dumb customers on average go to fast food, but most of those dumb people aren't really that dumb. It's probably because you are treated like just a fast food guy and people turn off the self-awareness portion of their brains once they walk in the door.

I think for my summer job I want to work at Best Buy or be a firedog, though I should probably work for that tech certification first. Hell a lot of your guys' job descriptions make me want to work at your respective jobs. This is a cool thread.

[Zophar (insert new name)]

My current situation is that I have to deal with both the retarded customers who complain about how the foods are made and my lazy, often uesless coworkers who range from high school kids to a bunch of old ladies who are like my customers but they are part of my staff. At the restaurant the old ladies constantly argue about how to run the restaurant while the younger staffs just goof off and slows everybody down. The only responsible people who knows what they are doing are me and two other coworkers who are in their 20's

Needless to say, I still think retail might be right up my alley

[Sinewav]

I just started working as a cashier at my local Wal-Mart Supercenter. Whoever said that cashiering was mind-numbingly boring was right... it can be pretty repeatitive. However, as far as the employer itself, I've actually been suprised at how good of a place to work it is. I get paid very well, and they give me 38 hours a week. It's got good benefits if you work full time, and even if you work part-time, you still get a nifty 10% and they'll match you $0.15 to every dollar if you buy Wal-Mart stock. At least at my store, the rest of the staff and my superiors are for the most part nice and reasonable people. It's weird, because I think Wal-Mart is the first job where I think my co-workers actually like me, and frankly, I had assumed that I was going to be treated like crap at a store like that.

[Razumen]

I work part-time as a Grocery Clerk at a grocery store, and while the work is really easy, boring and repetitive, it's bearable because I'm working with a bunch of cool, fun and hilarious guys and manager at the moment. Needless to say, who you work with makes a big difference in this sector.

I started at minimum wage, but since I've been working there awhile I'm make a bit more now. Of course the government raised the minimum wage, so some of those raises have been rendered near pointless.

It's a stable job though, good easy money for college and I don't have to talk to customers that often. As long as we get stuff done it can be pretty slack as well. I don't know if I want to work there full time come summer, but I can think of far worse jobs to have.

[Thalzon]

Last summer I worked at Wal-Mart in the grocery division. While it was a pretty decent job (it paid better than any other retail outlet in my area), I would much rather get a job doing something more closely related to my field of study, such as a game tester. Alas, I am nowhere near any development studios, so I was sorta hoping I could be one of those stay-at-home testers, but that seems like a real long shot.

It sucks living in a small town.

[vindkast]

4 years on and off at Blockbuster, both slaving and managing. The free rentals were nice (5 per week) but the pay was horrible (I worked a full year at $5.75)

I got into it because I like movies, but it turns out the job is 90% arguing with customers over a $3 charge. The worst part is, the same people whine over and over, and you remember them but they don't remember you. You want to say "you used that excuse last wednesday!" but you can't.

I don't recommend it.

Everybody says Costco and In and Out pay really well, if you have those in your area.

[ifirit]

I work at a retail store after having worked in a restuarant for a long time, so I know the feeling. While they are both very different for both good and bad reasons, they are pretty much the same in terms of customer interaction. All in all, it just comes down to whether or not you have the personality for it and who you work with.

If you're the kind of person that likes to get along with people in general no matter the type, you'll thrive in any retail job. If you're more the "yes-sir"/"no-sir" kind of person, you'll get by but don't expect more than that, either pay or otherwise. People who are more impulsive tend to be targets for hostility from both customers and management, so they make good shields if you need one.

If you work in a big store on the sales floor, make sure that they have staff to match. And if you think standing for eight hours sucks, try walking it, or worse running. Our store has 28 different departments and usually only seven people on a shift. Coverage gets to be a problem all the time, but being busy does help pass the time quickly.

If you do decide to stay with the restuarant side, go to any place that serves alcohol, regardless of whether or not you can serve it. People automatically tip more generously if they have the option of getting a drink. Having tits will get you even more, but regardless you have fewer complaints and better money. The only problems are the hours. Some places will usually stay open late (1pm or later) and on weekends you might only get home in time to see the sun rise. Still, some places will only stay open until 11pm, which is ideal. As far as perks for working in a restuarant/sports bar, you can get cheap/free alcohol. (I don't drink at all really, so offers for free booze came pouring at me all the time.)

Personally, restuarant/bar work is a lot more fun than retail, but the hours almost have you center your life around it, which wears on you after a while serving to the same drunken business men or large group of 21-year-olds.

[Zophar (insert new name)]

I have been to a few job interviews in retail and I might have a shoe in since I have decent customer interaction skills especially since my restaurant staff usually goof off, except when the cool people actually helps out.

Now to play the waiting game.

[Darklink42]

Well, I don't know about it being your average retail job, but I worked at my local bowling alley for a year. After i moved up from basic janitorial services (And let me tell you I never knew women could be so damn messy), I got put into their equivalant of Chucky cheese. The prize arcade, as it was called, was the easiest and the worst job I think I have ever had. While all it consisted of was me sitting on my ass for hours on end, when birthday parties came through or a bunch of stuff started breaking down, I had to deal with massive amounts of irate children, and then their parents. Nothign beats the fury of a gyped child, who then goes and brings their already pissed parent over to see what they can do about it. On the other hand, I really loved handing out the prizes to kids and even sneaking them a little extra when they were nice. When the kids were genuinily cool, that was probably the best pay out of the whole job, because minimum wage sure wasn't.

I've never worked at any major retail, fortunatly or unfortunatly, but i've known many close friends that have. And what I really came here to mention was their experiances with gamestop/EB. From what I read of The Coop's post, it all sounds about the same as the countless tales I've heard. Although I don't really have a choice in supporting their buisness (it's not like there are any other videogame stores in my town), if there were an alternative I'd be there in a flash. They treat their employess like crap, and unfortunatly this translates out to about every third visit or so being a bad one for me. There's always some pushy guy trying to sell me stuff I don't want, or some guy that trys to talk abotu videogames with me that has no clue. That's not to say that I entriely blame it on them, but man...that commision shit sucks. I don't like being pressured to buy the newest strategy guide to go with the 40 dollar game I just bought.

[The Coop]

I've never worked at any major retail, fortunatly or unfortunatly, but i've known many close friends that have. And what I really came here to mention was their experiances with gamestop/EB. From what I read of The Coop's post, it all sounds about the same as the countless tales I've heard. Although I don't really have a choice in supporting their buisness (it's not like there are any other videogame stores in my town), if there were an alternative I'd be there in a flash. They treat their employess like crap, and unfortunatly this translates out to about every third visit or so being a bad one for me. There's always some pushy guy trying to sell me stuff I don't want, or some guy that trys to talk abotu videogames with me that has no clue. That's not to say that I entriely blame it on them, but man...that commision shit sucks. I don't like being pressured to buy the newest strategy guide to go with the 40 dollar game I just bought.

That's why I like the one EB I go to. I know most of the people that work in that store, so I don't have to worry about getting all the discount/subscription bullshit dumped into my lap when I go there. They also know I basically hate strategy guides (can't anyone actually beat games these days without having their hand held all the way through them?), so...

The other EB/Gamestop stores, and the one or two Gamecrazy stores that are somewhat close by, are just pits. Annoying employees, REALLY annoying managers, serious amounts of misinformation and wrong information, pissy attitudes... it's sad. The whole situation is bad enough with the hoops EB/Gamespot makes their employees jump through, but when the company hires people with poor attitudes, it's made worse.

I wound up sharing words with a store manager a few weeks ago. The guy was acting like a complete tool to me, the employee working with him, and a mother shopping for a game for her daughter. He wandered off, and I wound up helping her. I went up to the counter to buy my magazine, the mother was next to me being helped by the other employee, and the kid was out of earshot playing with the 360 machine. So, leaned forward a little as I handed him my money, and asked him if he always acted like a complete fucknut to his customers, or if we were just the lucky ones today. The mother tried not to laugh in his face, but didn't quite make it.

I know he may have been the product of all the crap his employer does, but that's still no excuse to be a prick... especially to a little kid. I know that makes me a dick too, but come on... telling a little girl to "get the hell away" when she tugged on his pant leg to ask him something?

[Emanon]

I don't suppose any of you have any suggestions on places of employment in the Memphis, Tennessee area? I'm thinking of moving out there for the summer with a friend and getting a job that will support me for about three months. Of course, I'm mostly looking at either retail or food possibilities, but I'm open to other ideas. Any suggestions?

[OverCoat]

That's something a lot of people easily accomplish by themselves. I think.