Retail workers, any advice for a newbie?

[Bluelady]

Hi.

I am temporarily employed at a department store and would like to know what I should expect working during the holiday season. Especially since Black Friday will be my first official day working there (excluding the eight hours of training and orientation that I completed). I'm really nervous about this.

So far, I'm practicing on folding my clothes as neatly and quickly as possible. However, I don't know what else to work on. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ali.di.magix]

I haven't worked directly in Retail, but I have worked in the hospitality/food industry before. It has it's similarities with retail, like dealing with customers and their needs.

When I went into my first hospitality job, I was quite young and had no idea how to deal with customers. I'd say with the quantity of customers you'd get on Black Friday, make sure you check with your managers what you should do if a customer has a complaint. I always found myself in front of complaining customers not knowing what to do. So perhaps ask them for their advice on how to deal with it, and how they deal with it as a company as different companies might have different approaches.

My first boss always said to act with confidence. However, that's easier said than done xD Just try to think positively about your new job. Always keep a smile on your face, and interact with customers in a friendly, smiley matter. I mean you don't have to be in your face about it, but just being friendly goes a long way!

I guess have a general knowledge of the products available? Even use your own experiences, like oh I have these jeans and they're so good!! Or something like that xD

 

[HistoryH22]

My advice is to take it a transaction at a time. Black Friday is utterly terrible, but as long as you don't let it overwhelm you you will do fine.

 

[Tessie]

I work retail, and have been since 15. It seriously made me lose my innocence and naivety for humanity. You will realize humans are such POS despite how nice & courteous you can be, you're nothing but a robot to serve them. They will flip out, be rude to you, or be COMPLETELY wrong about something and if you have a crappy boss he/she will just take their side.


Srsly one time this woman's credit card didnt work bc there were insufficient funds and she flipped out on me so bad making a whole scene in the store and screamed at my manager repeatedly to fire me lol. Screaming at a 15 year old.

Retail has made me develop thick skin and have the ability & skill to talk sternly to a customer but still be polite so I don't get in trouble and they stop messing with me.


I now work retail pharmacy, while 99% of the people are fine, that 1% can really ruin my day lol. You get less crap from people the better you are at your job and I'm great at my work so I don't deal with too much.



IDK why theyre making you work such a hectic crazy day on your very first day....people may get impatient. My only advice is most customers are okay, but people are so weird so don't take it to heart what they say if anyone gets angry at you.

 

[kayleee]

Retail can be pretty brutal - honestly just be as friendly as you can, and if any customers cause you problems, just get your manager to deal with them. For every bad customer, there?s a really friendly customer, and depending on the store you work at you can make some great relationships with customers. Don?t be stressed, you will be just fine. Also, don?t take it too personally when you nicely fold a bunch of clothes and as soon as you walk away some customer comes and destroys it because they just had to have the one on the very bottom of the pile

 

[Nadene]

i worked in a walmart one year on black friday
it really wasnt that bad. if anything it was less work bc all the people were in my way

youre just going to be needing to answer a lot of customer's questions so make sure you know where things are in your store n whatever else your customers typically ask you about

 

[Antonio]

Don't get fired, otherwise you will lose your job.

 

[Solus]

When working in retail, you have to be careful on how you state your words. Lot of people are really sensitive to "accusing them of stealing". Even mentioning the word stealing triggers them. When I was working at retail, I always reminded myself of words to never say.

Never back talk to your bosses. Just do what they say, and always response with "Yes, ma'am or sir".

Also, always ask questions. They like it, and they would rather you ask questions than to do nothing. So, don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

Finally, simply try your best and remind yourself that you did the best you could. I think one of the important things retail workers don't do is self-care. I did cashier, and I would get insulted, put in the spot, or annoyed by the lack of responsibility of the other co-workers.

I think lot of people hate retail working, but I ended up loving it. I got employee of the month in less than 2 months. All I did was give it my best, not complain, and be greater than the average.

 

[Celine]

I work in retail and the best advice I can give is to be polite and smile at customers. Sometimes you will get rude customers but just kill em with kindness, it’s easy to get worked up on something but then it’ll affect you more, don’t let rude people get to you! Punctuality is also important, the starting time doesn’t mean you turn up at that time, it means you should be on the shop floor at that time. Also make sure that you are being treated fairly at work and that no one is discriminating against you, unfortunately bullying happens a lot in work places. Good luck!

 

[Tao]

Be prepared for lots of stupid people asking the same stupid questions and angry people being angry for the sake of being angry...Usually because they're stupid and often the problem is them. The customer only tends to be right like 2% of the time, it's shocking when you realise you're finally witnessing one of those moments.

I've worked in customer facing roles most of my working life (mostly retail and contact centres) and whilst 'bad' customers are probably the minority of customers, it usually feels like they're all I deal with, probably because they're more "memorable" than the ones who just want to do what they came for and leave. They'll put a downer on an otherwise 'alright' day instantly.

Saying that, the 'newbie period' of a job like that I've always found to be the best period, probably because everything is new to me too and I haven't yet realised that I'm going to be saying "lightbulbs? They're literally right behind you" about 60 times a day.

Customer facing roles really make you question how we have managed to survive as a species.

 

[Katelyn]

Honestly, the biggest thing is to just suck it up and be nice to everyone. Granted, that's bound to slip sometimes lol. For example, I work at a grocery store and being the holiday season right now it's so busy and all of the customers are grouchy. So some old man came up and asked me where the crackers were because he said he read that they were in my aisle but they weren't and there's literally no signs saying they are. So I told him they weren't in the aisle I was working in and they were actually in aisle 4. He then proceeded to say, "This is why this place is awful to shop at." So I came back with "If it's so awful then shop somewhere else." He then got pretty angry and threatened to report me �� But that brings me to my next point, make sure you try to get on the managers good side. Because at least then if you slip up they'll most likely forgive you.

 

[Kerras]

I second getting on your bosses good side-Or if nothing else, just showing you care and can do the job. I worked overnight on weekends for about two years. Most nights after a certain time things became dead slow, but the weekends when the town had events going on, we got BUSY. As long as your boss likes you, or at least knows you're doing your best, then a lot of the bad stuff, from your own mistakes to unhappy customers, will pass pretty quickly. It's definitely a different environment, so try not to get discouraged if you feel overwhelmed especially around the holidays. Remember that yes, plenty of people are going to be rude, but then just as many people will show you respect and decency. If nothing else, it's good experience in people skills for whatever job you go to next!

 

[Stella-Io]

First of all, prepare for customers to give you crap. Whether about you, another employee (well this may not happen to you on your FIRST day) or ANYthing. Customers Are rude as hell and will say anythin to get somethin for free.

Not only that, but they will insult you on your looks (depending on how you look). I've had multiple customers offend me because of my acne. But in my work, I can't say anythin but smile and 'have a nice day'. No matter how much I want to tell them to shut up and mind their own damn business.

Don't call customers ma'am. This makes any person feel old, even 20 yr olds. Always use Sir and Miss. If you can't tell what gender pronoun to use, dont.

Be polite to your employees, co-workers and anyone above and below you. They will remember you be your politeness or how rude you are and will like you better and make things easier for you OR purposely make things hard for you.

All that aside, I don't work in RETAIL, but this is what I've learned workin 8 months in a bakery doing front service.