sammleR's Guide to Retail

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sammler

United Kingdom381 Posts

October 19 2010 19:46 GMT

Edit: *snip*

micronesia

United States24805 Posts

October 19 2010 20:00 GMT

When I worked in retail while in HS it was a cashier in a supermarket so most of the things you dislike about your job were not present there. Sure it had plenty of issues but there wasn't much pressure to get the customer to do anything in particular like buy an add-on. Even though I think everyone gets your point most of what you described (the negative) is not a property of specifically retail.

tofucake

Hyrule19264 Posts

October 19 2010 20:02 GMT

Please take this with a grain of salt, since I'm drunk, but you could use an image or two to break up the WoT.

That having been said, most people don't enjoy their job (I sure don't). Additionally, the future will be ruled by total BS, which makes "Sales Associate" (or "Customer Service Assistant" in UK apparently?) jobs apparently very powerful.

sammler

United Kingdom381 Posts

October 19 2010 20:23 GMT

Thanks for the replies.

@micronesia I used to sell books when I was in HS. I enjoyed that, with no gilded bookmarks to sell

And I agree. That's dealing with the public I guess. But I do feel like my kind of sales role has a special type of vitriol reserved for it. I think the reason is the inflexible nature of chain retail. It means A) if something goes wrong, protocol has to be followed which takes time (i.e. repairs) and B) technology changes so fast, everyone thinks they've been shafted and C) there's no bartering/free things anymore. Not with this race to the bottom line.

@tofucake Solved hopefully.

kidd

United States2848 Posts

October 19 2010 20:55 GMT

Completely agree. When I worked at Best Buy we were told that we should almost force upon customers to buy our PRP (Product Replacement Plan) which was like an extended and half useless --further warranty-- to the warranty already provided on many of the products.

I hated having to sell those but I was pretty damn good at it, and looking back I kind of today regret pressuring people to spend money on something that was so stupid.

It has been about 5 or so years since I've worked there and now when I go into Best Buy I can't help but to cringe as I see the mindless drones try and force the same useless warranties upon me. I of course tell them no, and they usually look at me like i'm making the biggest mistake of my life.

Oh, how little do they know....

emperorchampion

Canada9496 Posts

October 19 2010 20:57 GMT

Yeah, I worked at a fast food chain (Tim Hortons) for a year in between High School and University. Boy, that was a long year

. I have a lot of respect for people who can work their full time or manage- it's tough. Well, the work it self is easy, but man it is so damn boring. I guess in a way I began to enjoy some days, I feel like working at a fast food is much more enjoyable than retail though. Really, the only part that I enjoyed while working was interacting with fellow co-workers, and I don't really see how you could do too much of that while in retail- but maybe I'm wrong.

Anyways, good luck! Hopefully you can find something you enjoy :D

ps- you should have gone into Engineering :p

Raeleigh

Canada902 Posts

October 19 2010 21:05 GMT

I worked retail over the summer, working it now. I actually really enjoy it.
I'm working in NCIX, it's pretty exciting.
I got lucky.

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