The Truth About Working in Retail

1. Retail workers don't get half the amount of praise that we deserve. We always put customers first even though half the time they're wrong, and we get paid ridiculously low amounts for helping people, making you feel confident, keeping you safe. We put up with a lot of sh*t. Here are probably not even half of the things that we have to put up with on a daily basis.

2. KIDS. Screaming, crying, running around the shop, knocking clothes everywhere, hiding under gondolas, dropping food, wetting themselves. And that's just the little ones. Then there are the rowdy teens who think they're God's gift, getting ready to knick a £1 makeup brush at any second that they can't even afford.

3. Staff discount. That is all.

4. "Do you have this top 'out the back'?" Most likely, no. And I probably won't bother checking for you because our stock room is usually empty apart from three year old sale. But if I'm feeling nice then sure, I'll check for you. I'll just spend five minutes on the toilet instead, or scrolling social media.

5. Marking down the sale or working on delivery and getting to nab all the best deals and items.

6. You repeat so many corny greetings that they're embedded in your brain and your customer service voice starts to merge into your real voice.

7. The nice customers—the ones who are worth your time, and actually care about your well-being. The ones that want you to reach your targets and help you get to them.

8. Our ability to withstand rejection is insane. After the 43rd customer has said no to signing up to our store card, we will try our luck again and again. Yet we still get no pay rise once we successfully persuade someone to sign up and become in debt, assuring them that it's the best thing they ever got.

9. Being able to wear what you want. In some places this is not the case but in terms of fashion retail, this means you can express your own style and you get a real kick out of upselling your outfit to customers.

10. All the songs you once loved you now hate with a passion after hearing them on repeat over and over again on the playlist. They'll remind of work for the rest of your life.

11. No two days are the same. The people you work with change, and the customers you meet. Every day you learn something new and get to help new people.

12. Customers don't understand how horrible they are. Hi, I'm a human being too. Just because this counter is between us doesn't mean you can get away with effing and blinding in my face. We don't get paid like the CEO. BUT we do have to take complaints and verbal abuse for them, whilst they're probably sunning themselves on a posh retreat, not having to worry about explaining our policies to aggressive customers.

13. Colleagues. They are your best friends. They'll help you tidy, keep you sane, and you practically live together. They are the angels that'll get you through each day.

14. There's never been a more helpless, disrespectful, frustrating feeling that when a customer walks in five minutes before close and starts to loiter around the store as if our personal time is worthless, or we don't have dinner to get home to. Sorry, but you've had all day to come in. Why now?!

15. Your manager. They're in the same boat as you and have to put up with very similar things every day. They want what's best for you and want to help you grow and develop. You can tell them everything and they should be like a second parent to you. If not, they're either not doing their job properly or you're in the wrong job.

16. People will look down on your because of your job; it's inevitable. Just be the better person, give them a big smile and kill them with kindness. At the end of the day, they pay your wages.

17. Rewards and recognition. Nothing is more worth it than getting recognised for your hard work, or spending hours with that customer. And when you finally get rewarded or congratulated, everything feels worth the time and effort.

18. Black Friday is NOT fun. Although it is entertaining to see how low and terrible some humans may be, prepare to be stood on, barged into, shouted out, and still get paid the same amount. Oh, and not to mention, it's not just one day. This event now lasts up to a week. Don't even ask.

19. Team meetings. You get paid to be in a room full of your friends and food and good banter.

20. Between November and January, your social life no longer exists because your life revolves around launching sales, floor moves, late night shopping, tidying 24/7 and... CHRISTMAS.

21. Spontaneous work nights out. They usually end in disastrous hungover shifts the next day, but they're always worth it for the good company and memories.

22. Those common customer comments that you have to put up with day in day out. "Do you work here?" Nope, I'm just folding this whole table of denim because I feel like it. "You look tired." Ouch. Thank you, I'll just go and take a nap. "Oh, it didn't scan, so it must be free!" Nice try, Deborah, that's probably the oldest joke in the book.

23. The warm feeling you get from hearing that you've "made someone's day" or it's the "best service they've ever had." After a long shift, this is the best thing to hear, especially when they offer to do a customer review about your service. That's just an extra bonus.

24. One word: Refunds. There are too many of them, and too many people who order the whole shop and then decide they don't want any of it. Just no.

25. Our hours are flexible and we are very lucky in that sense. Our hours differ daily and sometimes weekly, and we're always doing different things. We still have some time for a social life.

26. Regional Managers. They always have to turn up unexpectedly and it's always when you're understaffed, or everything's going wrong. It's almost like they know.

27. You learn so many skills, like patience. You learn to take deep breaths, and expect the unexpected. To stay calm even under heaps of pressure, and to keep smiling.

28. People who come out of the fitting room with 10 items all off the hangers, inside out, and the hangers scattered all over the floor. Yes, I get that it's my job to hang them and make them look pretty, but you could at least make my job easier for me!

29. You can recite the speaker advertisements off by heart with your colleagues — that's when you know you spend too much time in work!

30. Customers who get to your till and then decide they're going to answer their phone and completely ignore you when you're trying to serve them. Then they look at you in disgust when you interrupt and ask if they want a bag.

31. Thieves. The lowest of the lowest humans. Yet you can't stop them as it's not part of your job and you don't get paid enough to do it. Plus, it wouldn't be safe. So when they smugly look at you with your brand new stock on, and strut out the shop, you've just got to look at them and hope CCTV gets them.

31. When everyone decides they want to check out all at the same time and you're the only one on the till; seeing a swarm of people heading towards you with their arms full of stock literally makes your stomach lurch.

Finally, you have a job. Appreciate it. Yes, there are negatives and there are difficult days. But you'll get that in every job. And at the end of the day, it's a job. You're getting paid, you have a roof over your head, food, clothes. And 99 percent of the time you're doing something you love and helping others with people you love and a great discount, and flexible hours. Always remember why you started, why you're doing what you're doing, and why you love it.