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Okay, shoppers. Take a seat and listen up. This is important: you’re annoying. Yea, I went there. You annoy me. You annoy me and just about every other single person who works in retail because you have zero respect for what goes on behind the scenes. None. A little while ago Jennifer wrote about how you all suck as human beings when it comes to treating your cocktail waitress with respect. So we’re going to have another good talk, but this time about how to be a respectful shopper. It’ll be fun. Promise.
1.) An immaculately folded pile of graphic tees should remain immaculately folded. Do you know how long it takes to fold those shirts? A long fucking time. Do you know why? Because there are certain standards we have to adhere to while folding (with a really fun folding board might I add) so the pile can be immaculate enough to lure you to it. You mess it up, you make it worse not only for the people working there who have to stay until 1:30 in the morning cleaning up your mess (yea, happened last night … feel bad about it), but also for your fellow shopping peers. No one wants to try something on or even look at an item that comes from a pig sty. You ruined another shopper’s opportunity to admire a really great and comfortable striped shirt. You’re a mean person, that’s what you are. So here’s what you do. When going through the immaculately folded piles of clothing to find your size, you gracefully search for the tags that are sewn to it by the collar. When you find what you’re looking for, carefully remove the shirts on top of it, keeping them folded, take your selection and then return the folded shirts to its pile. You’ll annoy me less.
2.) Bring everything out of the fitting room that you brought in to the fitting room associate. There is a long line of people waiting for your fitting room and when you leave your shit in there, it takes even longer for us to clean it out, recount it and then let someone else back in. And then do you know what happens? We’re rushing to get everyone in and out of the fitting rooms and the piles of clothes that we have to sort, fold, re-hang and put back in the store in their proper places gets larger and larger and messier and messier and we have to stay until 2 a.m. cleaning up the mess. If only you had brought out all your clothes in the first place, everything would be a bit more organized.
3.) Decide you don’t want to keep something that you’re currently holding as you’re shopping in the store? Put it back where you found it. It’s polite. And it keeps the store looking nice. It’s really easy. If you forget where you found it, just bring it to someone who works there. They’ll hate you for the first five seconds but in the long run, trust me. You’ll be appreciated.
4.) Get to know what time the store closes. Lady who decided to sit on a bench and read in the store until 9 p.m. when we were supposed to close at 8 last night, I hope you’re reading this. We couldn’t close the registers until you left. We couldn’t start the majority of our closing routine until you left. Don’t you have a bed and a reading light at home? It’s 9 p.m. on a Sunday. What the hell are you still doing “shopping”? GO HOME. Yes, of course we don’t want to rush your shopping experience because we’re nice like that and essentially we want your business. But we’ve been on our feet all day and will be for at least three more hours after you leave, so respect our closing times and get yourself home.
5.) In a hurry? We don’t care. So many times, people get impatient when the alarm goes off because a sensor is still attached to their jeans. “UGHHH I’m in a rush. I can’t believe this.” I don’t care, dude. You’re rude. We’re just trying to run a business here and you’re going to have to come back anyway to get the sensor removed. And we don’t trust you. So if you put up a fuss, we’ll probably start to think you’re trying to steal something. So relax. We’ll take care of the situation as efficiently as possible because you annoy us and we want you out of the store ASAP too.
Do these things again and I’ll really hurt you. With words.
I’m late to the party, but…damn. This is what you complain about? People unfolding shirts? Look, I used to work in the underwear section of a low-end department store, and I would watch women pull bras off the racks, look at them, then drop them on the floor and walk away. Then other women would come along to look at the bras, and if we hadn’t picked up the dropped ones fast enough, they would just get stepped on. Or whining about clothes left hanging in the fitting room – we had people tearing open sealed packs of underpants (!), bringing them into the fitting room (!! – and yes, I know the people who manned the fitting room shouldn’t have let them in, ye gods), and then leaving them in soiled piles on the fitting room floors (!!!). You’ve got it easy. If the mere fact of shoppers – gasp! – SHOPPING and lightly mussing your flawless racks and stacks is such a source of stress and anger, I have to agree with the others that you need to get another job, for your own sake. I did.
I work in retail and I’m more worried about people who switch signs around to save money, customers who greet me at the registers with a “do you have a coupon I can use today?” The worst is when a customer asks me about a specific shirt so I go and grab a random one to hold up and ask them what they think about it. and they say “oh no, that’s not my size.” Yes, I realize this. I’m just trying to show you what the shirt looks like! Happens every time.
But I don’t worry about the things you mentioned.
Why do you work in retail if you hate it so much? I worked in retail and then realized that I don’t like having to clean up stores, so I got a different job. And guess what? I’m one of those shoppers that try on half the store. Guess why? I’m not being paid to care how many items I take into the dressing room.
They call it work for a reason.
Hence why we consider you shit.
1) Get rid of the t-shirt pile. They are a waste of space and time. Put up one t-shirt to show what it looks like and sort them by sizes in bins. I hate digging through the piles to find what I need.
2) Okay, I agree with this one.
3) Open up more check out lines. My time IS important. If you only have one register open with seven people in line then not only do I have more time to think about the purchases I’m making (and change my mind), I am going to be more unwilling to give up my place in line.
4) Announce overhead that the store is closing, or remind someone who is just sitting there that the store is closing. Communicate with your customers with out being a pretentious d-bag and you’d be surprised at the results.
5) If your cashiers knew how to do their jobs, this wouldn’t be a problem. Take the damn tag off at the register and you wouldn’t be wasting MY time. Yes I will act rude when YOUR incompetence wastes MY time.
Quit your bitching. If you want a better job, get an education. When you work minimum wage jobs, you put up with this. Get over it.
I have worked retail for 12 years, and am currently a retail manager of a store. Quite frankily, if you can’t handle folding after a consumer buys something, then perhaps you need to find another place of employment. They pay your wages. So seriously, shut the hell up.
I think you missed the point Tamara. Bet your store is a dump and your employees hate you.
I pay $25 or more for a flimsy t-shirt and you’re gonna complain about the fact that I want to look at it, feel it, check it out in a mirror?
Screw off!
And gods forbid I want to look at one of the $60 hoodies.
I’m sorry you’re a minimum wage warrior. Take your licks, start at the bottom, and aspire to something greater.
Wow, you are a whiny bitch. I’ve been working retail for 10 years, and let me tell you, your rant is doing more harm than good. You aren’t changing any minds with your shit attitude. However, I agree with two of your points.
Point #1 about folded merch… yeah, it really sucks. But calling the reader “a mean person”, Yeah, that’s gonna win them over. Point #4… Some lucky stores are allowed to tell customers when they close. But not us! Yes, you are HIGHLY validated here.
As for the others: #2 only applies to certain stores. Telling the world as a whole that this is how it should be done shoots me in the foot. At my store we WANT the customer to leave the clothes in the room. Because when they drag all their shit out (and we allow as much as they want in there) it creates a huge mess at our wrap desk, because our store does not have ‘put back’ racks. We’re “sophisticated” like that.
#3 Put it back where you found it?! You believe that the customer can find that spot?! I’ve got some ocean view property to sell you in Nevada. Yeah, they have a white shirt… guess what Sherlock we’ve got 12 different styles of white shirt. They’re just gonna put it with the nearest one where I’ll have to play hide-and-seek when the next customer wanted that shirt in the now missing size. I’ll put it back, thanks!!!!!
#5 Yeah your ass had better be in a hurry, ’cause I as a customer sure as shit didn’t have the responsibility of removing alarm sensors at checkout. That was on you. SO NOW, I have to wait for your ass AGAIN. And you’re probably not even going to apologize for YOUR mistake.
GET THE HELL OUT OF RETAIL. YOU ARE MAKING IT WORSE FOR THE REST OF US.
You need to add to your list:
- Read the fucking coupon. If the expiration date is in bright yellow text, do not be pissed at me when my computer is incapable of taking it.
-Read the fucking sign. If the sign says “Tank Tops -$5″ and on the next stand is a rack of jeans, do not tell me that your jeans were meant to be $5.
-Just open your eyes and READ! The return policy and store hours are clearly printed all over the store. If you want to shop in my store, then you are agreeing to adhere to the policies of my store. If you don’t like the generous 90 days you have to return something with a receipt, don’t shop here.
-It’s just a goddamn pair of pants. It is not your constitutional right to have the exact pair of pants right this instant. If we don’t have your size, or the color or cut or whatever you want, too fucking bad. It’s pants. It’s not a life-altering kind of thing, it’s pants. Just because our culture has given you the horrid impression that you are entitled to anything you want the instant you want it doesn’t mean that’s true. ITS JUST PANTS, PEOPLE.
Is Alex unable to respond to this post without dropping the F bomb. Seriously? Learn how to express yourself appropriately.
If you don’t like your job get another one! What? You never thought you’d have to fold clothes in a clothing store? oh please!
2 Reasons You’re a Sucky Retail Worker:
1. You whine about people messing up your t-shirt piles: Yes, no one should purposely mess up a pile just to mess it up, but does the customer not have a right to look at how the shirt looks unfolded, find their correct size, and try the shirt on?
2. You whine about people being annoyed when the security tag is left on their clothes: Is it not your job to take the tag off? Why are you whining about people whining about your failure to do your own job?
#2 and #3 seem trivial and probably included in part of the job description: Did you think your job was going to be just sitting there and not doing anything?
#4 is a customer acting ridiculous, but should be fixable by politely asking them to leave.
Politely asking a customer to leave? Is that a damn joke. “Sir, you a causing a commotion, would you please leave the store.” “Oh, im sorry I was demonstrating such rude behavior, I realize I am acting like a child so I will honor your wishes and leave.” Thats probably how you envision that conversation. Jackass.
Get over it.
I worked at KB Toys for 5 years. As far as people browsing and not buying, or people making a mess, toy stores are pretty much tops. Parents would leave kids there for hours or unstack and entire display of Furbess to get the green one.
However, I also did landscaping for 2 summers. I would stack toys or t-shirts or just about anything over spending 9 hours a day sweating bullets while digging holes and mowing lawns.
Also, if you’re up until 2am folding clothes on a regular basis, you need to pick up the pace a bit. Granted, there were a few 2am nights near Christmas, when the store closed at Midnight, but that was the exception.
Take a deep breath and look at other jobs for your experience range. Would rather stay up until 2am cleaning grease traps? Want to work your butt off in 90+ degree heat? Overall, retail was the easiest job I’ve ever worked. No job is perfect; have some perspective.
I work retail, and have been working at various retail stores for 7 years now.
Though I hate when people mess up the racks, I’m still with the “it’s your job” view. You applied at that store, right? Nobody forced you to! So suck it up or get a job that doesn’t involve clothes piles!
Don’t start too much of a closing routine until 10 maybe 15 minutes before close. You’re never going to stop those last minute shoppers.
It takes only a few minutes to clean out the dressing rooms, and straighten all the hangers on racks. Don’t freak out when people don’t return all their shirts. Those stores that hand out numbers check the amount you come out with, so that helps deter theft and those lazy people.
Maybe a better display of folded shirts should just be a stack of 5 small/medium/large, with more on hand nearby, that way if someone needs more, they can find you and you can grab them the right size. You can restock the small pile as needed, and there will be 25 shirts MAX to re-fold. Shrug, just a thought.
I could go on for hours with how I feel about retail, and the workers in retail. We go through a lot, but hey, that’s our own fault! Like I said, if it’s too much for you, you can always work somewhere with less people-contact.
Jillian – get over yourself, you work in a fucking retail store. I am tired of anal retentive people like you and baristas because a customer does not do things your way. If I ever stepped in your store I would make sure and disrupt every shirt on the table and take extra crap in the fitting room just to piss you off.
Why are they too lazy to take the sensor off the jeans in the first place so the alarm doesn’t go off???
Most of you need to learn to appreciate what you have and quit complaining about your job. Or maybe go out and get a real job so you know how easy retail piss-ant jobs are.
Add up all the time required to needlessly refold T-shirts. Now if everyone was nice and kept them folded so you don’t have to refold them, then your employer would need that much less hours of employees working. An employer is not going to pay to have someone sitting around not doing anything.
So yes, we as shoppers should be careful handling the shirts, so the employer has less overhead to sell the item to us and passes some of that savings back to us in lower prices, not because a precious snowflake is bitching about having to work.
I worked retail for many (mostly in juniors and trendy men’s department at a major department store). It sounds like the author of this article works at a big box store like Old Navy (lines of customers, stacks of graphic tees, an angsty salesperson who obviously doesn’t work on commission–or if she does, she’s doin’ it wrong.) I worked at an upscale department store where wanted shopping to be a relaxing afternoon, where customers rarely had to wait to be ushered to a fitting room, and where I acted as a fashion consultant, not just a cashier.
If you happen to be shopping at an upscale department store, do the opposite of everything this girl said. For example…
(1) As a commissioned salesperson, I WANT you to touch the clothing display. Customers are more likely to buy an item once they touch it. If, as a shopper, you are genuinely interested in my beautifully folded display and want to touch, feel, and examine the clothes, (a) that’s a compliment to me and my mad presentations skills and (b) I will refold everything in between customers. (Besides, it’s to my benefit to look busy when the next customer approaches.)
(2) When exiting the fitting room, please don’t worry about bringing your pile of clothes to me. If you want to be helpful, put the clothes back on their hangers, then leave them behind–maybe say “thank you!” as you walk past me–that signals to me that you’re done and it’s okay for me to put the clothes away as soon as possible.
(3) You do not need to memorize where you found an item in the store and put it back there for me. Leave the item on the counter or hand it to me.
(4) You don’t have to memorize the store’s schedule, but do pay attention to intercom announcements. As closing time approaches, we’ll make several polite announcements. If I saw a woman reading a book in my store after closing time, I would probably politely get her attention and let her know that we’re closing soon. (And I would ask her what book she’s reading, because it’s obviously captivating! Ha!)
(5) In a hurry? Tell me and I will be in a hurry too, for your sake. The department store I worked for NEVER used security tags (we trust our customers), so the situation the author describes never happened to me, but I had similar screw-ups (forgetting to return customer’s credit card, or forgetting to bag a purchased item). Accidents happen–a salesperson should never ridicule the customer for HER mistake.
For many people, shopping is a form of recreation. If they can afford it, why not treat them graciously? That’s what you’re paid to do. If you don’t enjoy making the shopping experience as positive as possible for the customer, you need to get a new job (or a new attitude) ASAP.
I don’t disagree with two through five but, as for the first one, tough. I will do my best to refold everything I look at but I don’t have your board and I’m sure it won’t be as good. Until clothes are consistent in their sizes, stacked correctly by style, color and size and there is a guarantee that there are no flaws in manufacturing and storage (you wouldn’t believe how many on-the-shelf clothes have holes, pulls, etc.), then I will be taking as many items as I need to to make my selection.
My struggles with the stupidity and lack of courtesy from customers led me to create a blog dedicated to these people that have tormented my life for over a decade.
It’s called Retail Ramblings. I don’t want people to think I’m just a spammer so I won’t post the link here. If you want to read more stories about the absolutely crazy things customers do, just go to google and search Retail Ramblings. It’s the first page that comes up.
The author sounds like a drama-queen to me. I can only imagine what get habits on the road are like. I think she needs to take a deep breath and realize that although it sucks to deal with mean people, her job is by no means in a ‘high-stress’ occupation.
I’ve worked plenty of retail. I think a big part if the problem is that there is so much idle time in retail that when it comes time to actually do something it sucks. Not because something needs to be done but because of the transition from nothing to something and back to nothing again. It is like stop and go traffic. Driving one continuous speed is so much easier on people psychologically than stopping, waiting, going, and repeating- regardless of which is actually covering more distance.
Sounds to me like the store is poorly managed and under-staffed. Get customers out if they are not doing after close. Keep the store tidy during business hours. Hire help if need. And, above all, fire those that do not respect and realize where the money from their paycheck is actually coming from.
And seriously, don’t expect ME to stop because your store has a faulty security protocol. If you leave tags on clothing, that is your problem, not mine. Call the cops if you want. If you try to detainee me and I have not tried to steal anything, then it is your name that will be in a blog post. Scream ‘i thought they were stealing’ all you want- in this country you are STILL innocent until proven guilty.