I Know How To Do My Job, Thanks

I've come to the conclusion that I hate people. Yeah, didn't have the greatest day at work today. In fact, it pretty much blew.

So I'm at the service desk and this guy comes up to me with (no lie) 18 pairs of shorts to return. Apparently he bought them all at original price and then bought them again when they got marked down towards the end of the summer for the lower price. Okay, fine. People do this a lot since we don't price adjust clearance items. They buy the item at the lower price and return it with the original receipt when they bought it at full price. There's really nothing we can do to stop this if the item numbers match and honestly it really doesn't bother me when you have the receipt.

But when you make me do a receipt-lookup off of your credit card, then its starts to get a little frustrating. Whenever I look something up off of your card, its going to automatically give me the lowest price that you bought it at. There's nothing I can do about that. You need the receipt if you want the original price back. But this guy hands me his credit card and says he needs me to look up this items for him. 

"And I'm going to need you to scan each of these more than once, just to make sure I'm getting the highest price I paid for them. I bought them all more than once when they were marked down," He proceeds to tell me.

So I said, still trying to sound polite and pleasant, "I'm not really allowed to do this off of your credit card when you're trying to return clearance items. I need the receipt."

And this is when he starts to get ugly with me. Seriously, this guy was just plain mean. There's no other word to describe it. "Yes, you can do this. I've never had any problems before. You can do it, its not hard. You just take the tag, scan it three times, and make sure I am getting my full refund back. I shouldn't have to explain this for you, its not hard. And I need you to tell me the price that I am getting back when you do it."

Are you kidding me, guy? Are you really telling me how to do my job? Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I forgot I'm just a mindless moron who chooses to work in retail. You must be smarter than me since I'm behind the counter and you are not. He's probably one of those guys who assumes anybody who works there full-time is either a high-school dropout who got knocked up when they were sixteen or just too dumb to go to college. Yeah, well its not true buddy. And just because you have the college degree and I do not does not give you the right to tell me how to do my job! Or tell me that its not hard. 

Gahh I'm just so frustrated! I did the return for him, only because I really didn't want to deal with him or his ugly face anymore. I had to bite my tongue the rest of the time I was doing the transaction to keep from making snarky comments that were sure to get me fired. I never said another word to him after that. He did say thanks and have a good night. I didn't say anything but in my head I told him to have a good night as well and I hope he gets run over by a bus. 

Confessions of a Cashier

I would first like to start off by saying that I hate my job. And secondly I would like to say that it is my honest belief that everybody in the world should have to work in retail at least once. 

Great, now that I got that out of the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Amanda, I am currently not a student (even though I should be) and I work in one of the biggest retail companies in the world. That store would be Target.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Target as a company for the most part. Thats not the part of my job that I hate. I love my co-workers and even enjoy working with my managers (most days). Its just the fact that I have to work in the guest service area, dealing with incompetent, ignorant people on a daily basis.

I started off at Target in my senior year of high school at the young and innocent age of 17. My first job was as a cashier. I thought it was an okay gig at the time. I mean, it was just a high school job. I didn't really mean much to me. Then I graduated and I planned on attending a nearby college that was only 30 minutes away from my house. Which meant I would be living at home. Okay, great. I get to save money by living at home and I can keep my job at Target. Sounds like a plan to me.

Only one thing went wrong in my master plan. I hated school. I mean, hated it. I never really cared for high school either but I just figured, hey, its high school. Who really honestly liked it out there except for the prom king and queen? Then I thought, okay, what if its just the school I chose that I didn't like. Well, either way I knew that I didn't want to go back once the school year was over. So with one year of college education under my belt, I decided to take two semesters off and work for a year. Now I became a full-time team member at Target. And once you're there for 40 hours a week, it really sets in on how crappy a job it is. 

During my one year of schooling, I was promoted to the service desk. Which was amazing. I was so sick of cashiering and dealing with all that drama. Too bad as a new service desk team member you're not treated very fairly and you still get stuck with more cashiering than service desk shifts. I needed to get away from cashiering; I was on the verge of quitting. So I asked to be trained in the photo lab. A couple of weeks later: mission accomplished. I was now officially a photo lab team member. I was taken off of cashiering shifts for good. 

And now, after working in retail hell for three long years, I have encountered some of the most crazy, unbelievable, and just plain strange people I will ever have met in my entire life. Sometimes, I just want to slap people and scream, "USE YOUR COMMON SENSE!" Honestly, do some people just not grow a brain? I guess you'll never really know what I'm talking about though unless you've been in retail yourself. 

So, this is why I've decided to start this blog. To vent about my feelings about dealing with my retail career and just to use as a creative outlet. I still don't know what I want to do with my life. My "work for a year and see where I end up next fall" plan was up well over a year ago. I've been working as a full-time employee in retail for over two years now and I still don't know where life is taking me. One day I know I'll figure it out, but until then I'll keep doing what I'm doing and always try to see the positive side of life!