Quarterlife In Retail

This is the official Tumblr account for the retail blog, "Quarterlife in Retail." It's dedicated to my time spent in the customer service industry. QuarterlifeinRetail.com

[quarterlifeinretail]

[quarterlifeinretail]

"The Gossip (Part Two)"

"Gossip spreads like wildfire." Most know that phrase, howbeit it is not a more cliched truism than in the retail world. Gossip spreads like a mass of wildfires being propelled by gale-force, hurricane-strength winds in a store. The propellers of the gossip are some of the people found in the surrounding environment, whether it be the groupie, the newbie or someone else. Be that as it may, my second store manager where I first worked falsely portrayed herself as the "consummate professional." Someone who prided themselves on the ability to fulfill all requirements of the position of store manager. This could not be a more perfect specimen of an artificial persona. This woman walked around the store always pretending to be completely focused on the job, and while I don't exactly doubt that, she fed into the gossip just as much as anyone else. Whenever she spoke to one of her managers or associates, it was under the guise of "You know I won't talk about this to anyone." That statement could not be a bigger falsehood as she would normally speak to her number two manager, who would in turn, speak to others about it. Then again, the store manager herself would be exercising her own power and control in her right as she was one who wasn't at peace with herself in high school. Lamentably, she was one of the worst purveyors of gossip; someone who pretended be so anti-cause that all she did was worsen situations to an unimaginable degree.

[quarterlifeinretail]

[quarterlifeinretail]

"The Gossip (Part One)"

One huge characteristic of working in retail has been the gossip. No matter what type of work you're involved in, or what type of industry you work, there will always be gossip. Some like it more than others, like groupies. Some try and stay away from it. Regardless, most people take part in it in some way. When I described some of the archetypes that you often encounter in retail (refer to "The People"), you can start to understand the types of women that often become managers in this world. Some of the women (who often become managers, especially assistants and store managers) are the ones in high school who didn't half enough self-confidence, or self-worth. Juxtaposing this thought, they didn't attempt to better their situations at all. They continued on the same self-hating path that lead them to a career in which they could enact revenge on all who faulted them at one time. These are the people who always want to continue high school, but at this time, the roles are reversed. When they attended high school, they weren't part of the "popular" crowd, and that is something for which they had a deep craving. Thus, they take out all of their lifelong frustrations on those below them: usually other assistant managers and certainly sales associates. They are the ones with the keys. They are the ones with the control. They are the ones with the power. Especially those who monitor payroll and scheduling. Whomever creates the schedules for the store, is the gatekeeper to whom receives the most money in terms of hours. They determine how many hours each associate receives and that is one particularly disturbing way they exercise their control. This is especially true when they dislike someone and they let their own personal feelings interfere with the obligations of the business. That's only portraying one of the sentinels of gossip...

[quarterlifeinretail]

[quarterlifeinretail]

"The Visit"

A corporate visit is one of the more irksome norms of working in retail. They always come around once in a while, and when they do, everyone collectively loses it. A visit could be from the company's district manager, regional manager or someone even above them. That can include a vice president of sales, president, merchandising director or anyone like that. Whenever they came, the store had to be in tip-top shape: everything has to be organized to the most obsessive degree, paperwork has to be perfect and the staff has to be trained in every possible aspect of the business, especially maintaining supreme customer service skills. The visit would usually be announced a few weeks in advance, at the very least. Unless it was a surprise trip, which rarely happened. Everyone would have their own individual responsibilities preparing for the visit, including all sales associates and assistant managers. Lists would normally include regular housekeeping duties such as sweeping, mopping and dusting. More operational tasks would be making sure all paperwork is properly filled out and up to date. Even though visits were announced in advance and most staff would think "Oh, we have plenty of time," we would still be staying in the early hours of the morning just days before they actually arrived. As most visits would go well, everyone would finally breathe a major sigh of relief following the visit's end. Time after time, visit after visit, this would be the normal routine. Such as corporate visits are innately sewn into the retail world would be the stress, frustration and last-minute preparedness of them as well.

[quarterlifeinretail]

What keeps me going every day. 👌

[quarterlifeinretail]

Thanks for the support tumblr! ❤️😃

[quarterlifeinretail]

[quarterlifeinretail]

"The Second Incident (Part Three)"

Not to interfere with the comprehensive timeline of this blog, but I'm going to flash-forward, so to speak, to what happened almost two years after this whole mess. Mind you, why I stayed after this whole encounter is mind-boggling and thus, one of the main stories I am telling you about my experience in this life. I was just working a normal shift one day working on the presentation of accessories (which needed to be a bigger selling performer for us). I'm facing the wall the near the register and that same man who caused such a huge issue approached me and starting talking to me. He said, "I know we had an issue a while I ago, but I've been meaning to tell you that I'm very sorry. I was in a really bad mood that day and I just made it worse." Standing there utterly surprised, all I could say "Thank you. I really appreciate it." Immediately following that brief moment, he walked away and left the store. I continued doing my work and talking to a co-worker and friend of mine at that time. I was reeling from the effects of that day for a while and it honestly made me question a lot about myself. After I talking about with my friend about it for a few minutes, I went into the office to tell the store manager and senior manager who was there at that day. I repeated the story to them and they didn't seem to have much of a reaction. They are two of the worst stereotypes in this industry: bored, basic and basal. At least the man obviously recognized the ignorance and malice of his mistake so that's a positive. Though, it will still remain one of my worst experiences from retail. Something no one should ever have to go through.

[quarterlifeinretail]

[quarterlifeinretail]

"The Second Incident (Part Three)"

The ramifications of the disrespectful actions of a rude customer were ones I could not believe I was about to experience. The day I just described in the past two posts was horrible, and one of the worst of my life. Never have I been made to feel like less of a person like that before. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't over and what I was about to live pushed the dagger in a bit more. I wound up being spoken to by my store manager at that point, a woman whose ineptitude can only be measured by her attempt to keep her entire staff at bay and thus, not actually solve any problem that arose. It was two days after the event, and I was called into the office, along with the senior manager who was present that day. The one who stood by and did nothing. The district manager told my store manager that I wasn't going to be written up, but I would suffer the precursor to such a corrective action. I was told almost everything I did that day was ultimately wrong, including the fact that I "really shouldn't have said" what I did on the walkie talkie. Would I have handled that situation differently? Absolutely. Should I have been spoken to like this by people who really should have supported me in some way? Absolutely. There was zero support from these women, who sadly embody one of the largest stereotypes of people who wander around the retail galaxy. Basically, I was not supported in any way, was told everything I did was wrong and I didn't even have the right to feel the way i did. What wound up being in my file at that point was a note that said "Spoke unprofessionally to a customer." I found that to be one of the most ludicrous write-ups ever. Of course, the store manager at this point (the one by whom I was hired and left a few years in following a promotion), was only following directions from her boss. Her boss is another person whose own ineptitude only be determined by the fact that she didn't actually work much. She is the type of stay-at-home mom who would clock in on her computer and send out e-mails under the facade that she was fulfilling the job requisites of the corporate title, "district manager." I found the consequences I suffered to be horrible wrong and unjust. I started to feel like not only did these people not defend me, they betrayed me. Feeling alone, I knew that retail was starting to ware on me and I needed to think of how I can start to leave this career, and ultimately start my real life, one in which I would achieve happiness and escape the toxic nature of the revolving door of this business.

[quarterlifeinretail]

[quarterlifeinretail]

"The Second Incident (Part Two)"

Feeling stunned and mortified by what just transpired, I knew i should just remove myself from the situation completely. Another manager went to the register to ring the customer up, as I went into the stock room to calm down and take a moment to breathe. The other associates and managers looked on in sheer horror, and one of the managers immediately came to my defense and was ready to remove him from the store himself. This manager is one with a kindred soul, he always supported me, and unfortunately was always taken advantage of by others in the workplace. That manager should by the register as the transaction was finishing up. I was in the office looking at the cameras like a hawk just to make sure he left by the time I returned to the sales floor. I saw he was gone, came back outside and was shocked he was still there, walking right by me. As he's walking out of the store, we cross paths for what seemed like nanoseconds and I just could not help myself. I said, "If you're going to keep harassing my employees and myself, please do not shop here anymore." I walked away, back to the register and he started following me and said, "What did you just say?" and I replied, "You heard what I said." I called mall security to have him removed from the store as a sales associate was speaking to this disgraceful human being and actually started to calm him down. The sales associate was also defending me explaining to him how horribly disrespectful he was to me, and how he has been to female workers here. Mall security was right there, and walked out with him Meanwhile, the other senior manager (the only one with enough authority to take action if she wanted to) stood by mute and limp. She did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not only was I disrespected on a level I have never been in my personal life at that point, but the customer is a blatant sexist homophobe who was only in the store to bargain for his purchase each and every time. The woman stood watching everything, but not doing, or saying, anything. I believed the situation to finally be over. However, it wasn't. The forthcoming consequences of what happened that day were stunning and unfortunately showed a flagrant lack of regard for LGBT employees by the store manager, district manager and the company itself. And I was ready to put this behind me...

[quarterlifeinretail]

[quarterlifeinretail]

"The Second Incident (Part One)"

You never know what may happen on any given day of your life. No matter where you are or what you are doing, anything can happen. This is especially true in retail.

And it became very real for me when something so inexplicably wrong occurred while working at a shoe store. On Long Island.

This is the tale of the second wretched incident to happen at this same job.

A very, very strange customer came into the store one day.

This customer reminded everyone of the Keanu Reeves character, Neo, from “The Matrix” trilogy because he always wore all black, and was dressed in long trench coat, regardless of the weather.

He was not born here, and the only reason I’m aware of that is because I had to look up his information to apply his reward card for his purchase and he told me a minute bit of information about his life.

This man became an infamous customer, not due to what happened on this one day, because he always entered the store with an attitude.

He particularly had an even larger problem when approaching the register and realizing a female associate was ringing him up.

Over the years he spent shopping here, arguments arose between different managers and associates, even the store manager at one point.

The next argument he would engage in wound up being one that would make history and shatter people’s perceptions of just how downright nasty someone would be,

I happened to be at at he register that day when he approached me and I started ringing him up, politely going into our spiel about how the customer service was while he was in the store and whatknot.

He said “Oh, um, can I have someone else ring me up.”

And I replied, “Oh, ok, is there something I can do for you?” He answered, “No, not really, I see something I don’t like,” referring to my fabulous clear gel manicure I had treated myself a day earlier.

Immediately I walked away, grabbed my walkie talkie saying,” He doesn’t want me to ring him up because I’m gay.”

Hell was about to break loose…

[quarterlifeinretail]