a retailer's view

I had no idea how common it was for people to shit in the stores until I worked in one. We had a lady take a poop right in the aisle. This wasn't her first time nor was it a uncommon for others to as well from what I was told then. We also had men take steaks out of the meat dept and go up to the restroom to masterbaite using the steak and then leave their "finishings" on the bathroom door.

I'm pretty sure this was information I did not need to know.  Crossing steak off the menu for dinner tonight....

I agree!  And I always try to find a way to compliment to the manager/corporate office when an employee is very nice and helpful.  I want them to know how much I appreciate them.

Lol sorry!

Payrolls are the enemies of profits. Never forget that.  They will only pay as few people as they can get away with, for as low pay as they can get away with for as little benefits as they can get away with in order to maximize profits, so they can pull the profits out of the US economy and stick them in villas in the Caymans and casinos in Hong Kong and chalets in the Alps.

I've always said I think everyone should be required to work one holiday season in retail!   


I used to work at Michael's, at different times as a cashier, in the cash office (book keeper), and as a department manager.   The drawers were put in the registers in the mornings with $75.00 in them.   Knowing how the bank bags and the safe were balanced, and when I was the one putting the drawers out in the morning, I was sure that they started with that amount.   I still preferred that every cashier assigned to a register count their drawer.   It covered me as well as them.   Back then, only one person used a register.   You closed it out at the end of each persons shift and put a fresh drawer in.    The cashier and a manager then counted down and balanced the drawer against the report of sales for that register, bagged it, signed it and dumped it in the safe.   

When I was a manager, if i had someone taking a new drawer out in the middle of the day, I had them count it in the office if possible.   It just felt safer than having it sitting open on the floor and stopped people giving them (usually kids who often did get flustered if people "yelled" at them) the stink eye while they were doing it.   I do get that it's frustrating for the customers waiting to see a new cashier but not have them immediately turn their light on.

Thankfully, the good customers outweighed the bad, but there were definitely some bad ones!   Custom framing had some of the most difficult.   I was always the first sent to help them when needed, and it was a whole different experience!   

Just chiming in to say that I didn't think the OP was complaining but giving a rundown on her day. I worked retail many different times in my life and I would say her account is pretty typical, unfortunately. My sister-in-law worked in a department store for many years and the things she found in the dressing rooms were disgusting. It was nothing for people to change sanitary pads or tampons in the rooms and just leave the used ones behind.

This past Christmas I ran into Michaels to get something. The checkout line was really long and there was a couple with 2 dogs in line. There is a Petco next door to Michaels so I was thinking maybe they had shopped there first. Anyway, as I walked down the main aisle I noticed brown spots on the floor and quickly realized it was dog poop! Unfortunately it was squished dog poop which means that some poor customer or staff person stepped in it (or customers or staffers!). The spots traveled the whole way down the aisle.

Who allows this to happen without cleaning it up? I can understand not having anything in your purse or pocket to clean it up, but isn't that when you stop a staff member and ask for something? Or go to the bathroom in the back of the store and grab something? Or stand by the mess and not allow anyone to walk in it? It's obvious where it came from...the two people with the dogs standing in the checkout line! Amazing.

I am so underwhelmed by the service I get in brick and mortar stores that I pretty much don't shop anywhere but a supermarket.

Every time I do, the lack of knowledge of the personnel, the lack of cashiers and the overall experience leaves me swearing to stick to "on-line".

I have worked all sorts of retail, starting when I was 16 and worked at a dry cleaners. I also have worked grocery stores, fast food, department stores, and I managed a women's clothing store. You haven't lived and have no idea about customer service until you work at an all-night fast food burger joint across from a large college campus. LOL 

I have always said that if everyone spent some time working in some sort of retail job, they would be much kinder, more patient, and less entitled acting when they are in any type of retail establishment, whether a store or restaurant. Like the poster I quoted, yes, what I would find in dressing rooms was so disgusting. And this was a nice clothing store where we sold pretty expensive clothing to mostly professional women. It was sooooo gross. 
And talk about gross...can we say college students in a fast food restaurant at 2 AM after the bars closed? 

The stories I could tell...

I always do my very best to be kind to cashiers, waitresses, etc. I know that most of what customers get upset with them for have absolutely nothing to do with them. I honestly encounter way more surly, rude customers than cashiers or other retail workers. Maybe I just have a different perspective, I don't know. I am 53 years old and haven't worked in retail since my 20s, but I guess the lessons I learned have left their mark.