Working in retail during the holiday season
Dec 15, 2021 21:03:59 GMT -5
via mobile
zrowsdower likes this
Post by fg on Dec 15, 2021 21:03:59 GMT -5
I have been working in retail for almost 20 years. Most of my time was with Sears (16 years). A little over a year with Macys that is best forgotten due to the people in charge not taking care of me and a little over a year in counting with Target that has so far been much better than Macys. I know that the holiday season can be the most stressful time at my job but it can also be the most fun. There have been some stories. Some good. Some bad.
When I was working in Sears during the 2014 holiday season, there was one day during the morning where I was at the Kids cash registers along with another associate. We were ringing up two different customers. A spilt second after she pressed the final button to end the transaction, the power in the store went out and as a result the receipt didn’t print. When the power went back on, we had to wait for our cash registers to boot up and we were wondering if the transaction went through. We found out via the customer’s smart phone that it did but barely. That’s not all. We also had to wait for managers to come by and have them scan their cards to start up the registers. A person from package pickup had to do it. Fortunately, the customers were very understanding. That’s not all. The power outage knocked out the phones for the day so we couldn’t page anybody. As my shift was ending, another customer asked if he can use our phone to call his wife. I told him the situation so he asked if he can use my cell. I kind of reluctantly said yes because I didn’t want my phone to be stolen but I didn’t want to be mean. He uses my cell, walks a few feet while I was helping another customer and I was hoping that he wouldn’t steal anything as well as I was hoping that I wouldn’t get called to another department. Fortunately, the guy was honest and returned my phone after he was done and I wasn’t paged.
Also during this season, I helped out at the tools cash wrap. I saw a man and a mother and her daughter (who are Hispanic) have words. At first, I thought they were joking around until I found out that the man was being mean when the store manager threatened to kick him out for being rude. The girls were naturally angry. The man claimed his family owns the mall. I was in my mind like: “Whatever.”
There was one time during that season, where I stayed overtime without being asked due to customers needing help at cash wraps and departments before I punched out. When I finished punching out, I called my mother to tell her what happened and I was looking forward to have dinner with my family and my visiting Uncle only to find out that he already had dinner with my parents and had already left.
The last Saturday before XMas 2014, I went to the gym before I went to work for a 12-9 shift. I was looking forward to having dinner when I get home because I loved to eat my dinner after work. Due to me helping out customers and cleaning up any messes I had made before I punched out, I got my lunch bag and I went downstairs to punch out only for my manager to ask me if I can cover someone’s meal break. I said yes. When the cashier came back, for whatever reason I went to another cash register and the cashier asked me to cover her break. When I asked my manager if I could, she smiled and said to my delight: “You need to go home.” She was delighted at my work ethic. When I came home, I told my family what had happened and since I was planning on going to the gym tomorrow in addition to having a 4p-12am shift, and they thought that at 34 years old, I was burning the candlestick at both ends. They reminded me that I am not a spring chicken anymore. I told them not to worry.
Monday before XMas, I went to the gym just before a 12-8p shift. During the 7p hour, I decided I was going to fill a bin with pillows. I scanned them out and put them on a cart only to find out that the woman’s cashier needed help so I went down there to help her out. During that time, a customer needed help in mens so after I helped out the womens cashier, I helped the customer in mens order a pair of pants. During this, the womens cashier needed help so i wnet to help her out despite it being way past 8. After that, I went back to the stock room where I was at and I put the pillows back where they were because my old foreman told me to never do that. I still followed that rule even though by this time, he had long since retired. I did this out of fear that his replacement also had this rule. As I was putting them back and scanning them back in, the womens cashier needed help again. So I helped her out. After that, I went back to the stockroom and I finished scanning the pillows back in and putting them back in. I got my lunch bag and I had to go downstairs to hand my scanner to the manager on duty in package pickup. She saw me at the punch out time clock. I was just about to push the final button to punch out when the mens cashier asked me to come to the mens cash wrap. She said: “Don’t worry. I’ll go to the mens cash wrap.” I didn’t even say anything or give her any feel8ng. By this time, it was 9:30p. I called my mother and told her what happened and I was going to Barnes and Noble to pick up Death of WCW. Sears didn’t carry the book.
The following day, it was deja vu except no gym and other exceptions. I worked 90 minutes overtime. On XMas Eve, I was supposed to work 7:30a-7p but due to my overtime, my manager said I have to leave at 4p. 4p sounded better than 7p. I was hoping that no cashier would break any rules by having me cover their break. We are not supposed to combine our 15 minute break and 30 minute breaks. Cashiers would constantly break this rule and I would hate it when I covered their combined 45 minute break. I would be fine if it was a 15 minute break or a 30 minute break though. Fortunately that didn’t happen.
Any other stories?
When I was working in Sears during the 2014 holiday season, there was one day during the morning where I was at the Kids cash registers along with another associate. We were ringing up two different customers. A spilt second after she pressed the final button to end the transaction, the power in the store went out and as a result the receipt didn’t print. When the power went back on, we had to wait for our cash registers to boot up and we were wondering if the transaction went through. We found out via the customer’s smart phone that it did but barely. That’s not all. We also had to wait for managers to come by and have them scan their cards to start up the registers. A person from package pickup had to do it. Fortunately, the customers were very understanding. That’s not all. The power outage knocked out the phones for the day so we couldn’t page anybody. As my shift was ending, another customer asked if he can use our phone to call his wife. I told him the situation so he asked if he can use my cell. I kind of reluctantly said yes because I didn’t want my phone to be stolen but I didn’t want to be mean. He uses my cell, walks a few feet while I was helping another customer and I was hoping that he wouldn’t steal anything as well as I was hoping that I wouldn’t get called to another department. Fortunately, the guy was honest and returned my phone after he was done and I wasn’t paged.
Also during this season, I helped out at the tools cash wrap. I saw a man and a mother and her daughter (who are Hispanic) have words. At first, I thought they were joking around until I found out that the man was being mean when the store manager threatened to kick him out for being rude. The girls were naturally angry. The man claimed his family owns the mall. I was in my mind like: “Whatever.”
There was one time during that season, where I stayed overtime without being asked due to customers needing help at cash wraps and departments before I punched out. When I finished punching out, I called my mother to tell her what happened and I was looking forward to have dinner with my family and my visiting Uncle only to find out that he already had dinner with my parents and had already left.
The last Saturday before XMas 2014, I went to the gym before I went to work for a 12-9 shift. I was looking forward to having dinner when I get home because I loved to eat my dinner after work. Due to me helping out customers and cleaning up any messes I had made before I punched out, I got my lunch bag and I went downstairs to punch out only for my manager to ask me if I can cover someone’s meal break. I said yes. When the cashier came back, for whatever reason I went to another cash register and the cashier asked me to cover her break. When I asked my manager if I could, she smiled and said to my delight: “You need to go home.” She was delighted at my work ethic. When I came home, I told my family what had happened and since I was planning on going to the gym tomorrow in addition to having a 4p-12am shift, and they thought that at 34 years old, I was burning the candlestick at both ends. They reminded me that I am not a spring chicken anymore. I told them not to worry.
Monday before XMas, I went to the gym just before a 12-8p shift. During the 7p hour, I decided I was going to fill a bin with pillows. I scanned them out and put them on a cart only to find out that the woman’s cashier needed help so I went down there to help her out. During that time, a customer needed help in mens so after I helped out the womens cashier, I helped the customer in mens order a pair of pants. During this, the womens cashier needed help so i wnet to help her out despite it being way past 8. After that, I went back to the stock room where I was at and I put the pillows back where they were because my old foreman told me to never do that. I still followed that rule even though by this time, he had long since retired. I did this out of fear that his replacement also had this rule. As I was putting them back and scanning them back in, the womens cashier needed help again. So I helped her out. After that, I went back to the stockroom and I finished scanning the pillows back in and putting them back in. I got my lunch bag and I had to go downstairs to hand my scanner to the manager on duty in package pickup. She saw me at the punch out time clock. I was just about to push the final button to punch out when the mens cashier asked me to come to the mens cash wrap. She said: “Don’t worry. I’ll go to the mens cash wrap.” I didn’t even say anything or give her any feel8ng. By this time, it was 9:30p. I called my mother and told her what happened and I was going to Barnes and Noble to pick up Death of WCW. Sears didn’t carry the book.
The following day, it was deja vu except no gym and other exceptions. I worked 90 minutes overtime. On XMas Eve, I was supposed to work 7:30a-7p but due to my overtime, my manager said I have to leave at 4p. 4p sounded better than 7p. I was hoping that no cashier would break any rules by having me cover their break. We are not supposed to combine our 15 minute break and 30 minute breaks. Cashiers would constantly break this rule and I would hate it when I covered their combined 45 minute break. I would be fine if it was a 15 minute break or a 30 minute break though. Fortunately that didn’t happen.
Any other stories?
