long-winded rant of a dollar tree employee/things we wish our customers knew.
okay, iâve been working at dollar tree for about two months now, and iâve been able to compile a list in no particular order of common things i find myself ranting about when i finish with customers. iâm putting this in the dollar tree tag so others can add to it. strap the fuck in, babes.
1. itâs called âdollar treeâ for a reason. i donât care if you think youâre being funny when you shove item after item in my face asking âis this a dollarâ because yes. everything is a dollar, or less. (of course, plus tax, depending on what you get, but thatâs implied)
2. while weâre on that note, you get what you pay for. youâre paying a dollar for these things. there are lots of things that dollar tree sells that i whole-heartedly recommend, like the candy, drinks, cups and glasses, plates, etc. however, there are some things i wouldnât encourage paying a dollar for. there are lots of things in this world that you need to spend a little more on, if you can afford it. so fair warning, our toys arenât very durable. donât come back after ringing out and demand your money back because your kid broke it before you even got in the car. donât complain that the batteries didnât last more than a week. you want to pay a dollar? expect dollar quality.
3. some things donât fit in a bag. i repeat, some things do not fit in a bag. i donât think i can stress this enough. if we leave it out of the bag, chances are it will get messed up if we try to bag it. those huge gift bags? yeah. those donât fit unless you want us to fold them up and effectively âruinâ them. if we ask if we can put your little items back in whatever big container you brought them up to the register in, itâs because itâs easier and weâre saving you a little trash. take us up on the offer if we give it.
4. donât get your own balloons. thereâs even a convenient little sign that tells you this. we are there to help you. if the cashier is swamped, ask them to call up the manager and theyâll help you.Â
5. okay, maybe this is a pretty important one. control your children. i could rant for hours about this one, but in summary, itâs basically just pretty suck-y when you let them ruin all the hard work we put into straightening up the store. if they take something off the shelf, make them put it back. if they break something, pay for it. i had to force one lady to pay for a snow globe that her grandson straight up chucked halfway across the store. the whole thing shattered and there was glass and that liquid everywhere. luckily, he didnât hit anyone, but i would be responsible if he had or if someone had gotten hurt with the broken glass. i realize that parentingâs hard and you just have to let them be kids, but there comes a time when you need to keep them in the cart if they keep acting like little shits. i can slightly handle screaming fits, but i draw the line when they start throwing and breaking things.Â
6. donât get one thing and pay with a $100 bill. thatâs just low. like, did i do something to you in a past life for you to do that? go get that shit broken up. ESPECIALLY donât try to do this at the beginning of the day or at shift change. if we tell you we canât break it, we seriously canât. we only have a few fives and ones to start our shifts, so we really need to save those for as long as we can. small bills and/or correct change are music to our ears. i had a lady get straight up hostile with me one day when i told her i couldnât break her $100 for one item and she was all like âwell, why donât you guys just go to the bank? i donât know what you expect me to do, thatâs all i have, this is bullshit, iâm probably not gonna come back after thisâ and shit like that. god forbid, you go to the bank and get it broken up.
7. we donât give refunds. we do exchanges. again, we go back to the point of you get what you pay for.
8. contrary to popular belief, yes, everything is a dollar, but not everything rings out the same. SKU numbers are different, so if youâre exchanging an item for another, even just one, and the SKU numbers are different, we still have to call a manager to do the exchange. itâs all about keeping proper inventory, because if weâre off, we get chewed out.Â
9. offer to help wrap breakables. if you buy a lot of ceramics or glassware, we have to wrap every. single. one. so if you have like twenty breakable things, it takes FOREVER to wrap them all. it would be lovely if you would offer to help. the people behind you probably have somewhere to be.
10. take some time to look before you ask. unless youâve had some time in stocking, cashiers donât normally know the layout of the store. so chances are, we have no idea where the item you want is. the manager or whoever is stocking would know. i canât tell you how many times iâve had to tell customers that i have no idea where things are.Â
11. the line will be backed up sometimes. there are so many times where iâve got lines of people with carts full of stuff and itâs just me because my manager is on break. legally, weâre not allowed to work on our breaks. my managers usually take their breaks in the back, so itâs just me up front until they get back. asking if i have someone helping and telling me to hurry up pisses me off and stresses me out. iâm already going as fast as i can, making sure i ring up everything, donât accidentally ring up an item twice, bagging things, etc. be patient. iâm doing my best.Â
12. put the carts/baskets away. i had a customer trip over a basket that the person before them had left and i got chewed out for it. itâs just rude to leave it somewhere like that. normally, i take them and put them behind the counter, but sometimes people leave them just in front of the register. seriously? youâre heading back to the stack anyway. and same with the carts. push them all the way in.
13. we feel just as bad asking you to donate to whatever charity as you do being asked. it gets tiring and degrading to ask you to buy a school supply to donate to a local military child in the county or a candy bar to send to a soldier overseas, but for the love of god, politely say no if you donât want to. i completely understand if you donât want to donate, itâs your money. but just let me finish my sentence. donât act like iâm trying to rob you for everything you got. itâs just another dollar. itâs not my fault âyou already donate so much.â
14. donât yell at us for not being at the register when you get there. on top of ringing out anywhere from 100-300 (yes, 300) customers in a five-hour shift (for example), iâm responsible for putting out stock on the impulse grids, filling the balloon corral, sorting go-backs (items that customers realized they didnât want anymore), straightening up the items, pulling them forward, assembling mops/brooms/plungers/toilet brushes, etc. or any other odd jobs my manager asks me to do. itâs tough trying to fit it all in, and if i could be in two places at once, that would be terrific. but i canât. so get a grip.
this is just the few i could think of right off the top of my head. feel free to add.
all in all, this is an okay job, but iâm glad this isnât my career.
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