Working retail is a hectic and endless stream of customer interactions that balance on a knife's edge, with any one of them threatening to teeter off into a full-blown customer meltdown with possibly little to no cause. It's a way of living that leaves you emotionally drained and completely exasperated, while weekends end up giving you just enough time to self-isolate and prepare for your next shift. Meanwhile, despite claiming to have the customer's best interest at heart, upper management mak…

Think back to your first job and try to remember how you dealt with customers. Were you the polite type who tried to solve every situation without an argument, or were you the type to bring in your manager so you wouldn't flip out on that customer? Either type is fine, because let's face it, some customers are just the worst people. They have zero respect for the hard workers in retail positions, fast food jobs, or call center reps. All these customers can think about is themselves and their ow…

Caught trying to return a Halloween costume AFTER Halloween... SMH

Many a misguided middle manager has had the idea of hosting meetings at a time that is convenient for everyone: say during lunch hour when everyone is on break, so won't have any meetings scheduled… except that break is unpaid and, well, when are people supposed to eat their actual lunch when there's suddenly a meeting jammed in there. No matter how fun they try to make it sound, “zazzing” it up and naming it something they think is cool, like “Power Hour Lunch Sync,” the reality remains the sa…

Every restaurant worker has at least one customer interaction that they'll never be able to get out of their head. Some are positive interactions, like having a regular who overtips, or a customer who goes out of their way to tell their manager how helpful the employee was. These positive interactions are always welcome, because many customers treat service workers like they're beneath them. Working as a server is just a job, but some customers treat these workers as if they're second-class cit…

If you've ever worked in retail , you know the struggle of dealing with that one customer. You know, the one who always has a complaint, never waits patiently and somehow manages to make every shopping trip into a full-blown scene. For this employee, that customer was this entitled Karen who made it her mission to cause chaos to him and his coworkers every time she walked into the store. She'd yell, she'd argue, and she'd make everyone's day a whole lot worse. Just because she could. But fate h…

Never judge a book by its cover

It doesn't hurt to be nice or at least kind to people who are just doing their job. Oftentimes, your complaint with their service will have more to do with the organization and its cost-saving policies rather than with the individual themself. And this is important to remember because a lot of people—well, they don't think about it at all. Customer service agents are no strangers to verbal mistreatment from customers. Don't get it wrong; customer service agents can be prone to being just as mis…

Working in the service industry really changes your brain chemistry.

The longer you work in retail, the more you realize that some customers simply can't be helped . It's not that they don't want to be helped--they usually do, and they'll let the cashier know it. But they often want things like impossibly large discounts or merchandise that the store simply doesn't have in stock. Some customers see items that are supposedly in stock online, and then they'll spend 10 minutes insisting to the cashier that the item actually is in the store. If only they'd check in…

These grocery shoppers had an especially memorable shopping experience thanks to one store manager who couldn't be bothered to do her job. Up next, check out these utterly baffling home design choices, like one person who “spent $15,000 on this kitchen… It's been on the market for 415 days .”

There's a whole lot you can get yourselves worked up about in this world… and salads aren't generally one of them. It's really not all that big of a deal to pay for food that you've taken, especially when it's a couple of leaves of lettuce. The vibes you usually get from salad lovers are chill and wholesome, though there is absolutely room for overlap in that group for people who seem to give off those vibes when they're really just masking how woefully entitled they are. It's hard to believe t…

If you don't try to push the limits, you'll never know what you can get away with. That's apparently what these employees thought before they shrugged their shoulders and did some absolutely crazy things while on the clock. Many employees take pride in their work, and take care to show up in a nice outfit and have a good attitude. Others don't care that much. Their bosses are lucky if they show up a half hour late and are wearing their uniform. Some folks just live life day by day, and they'll…

Retail workers should be paid, at minimum, $250k a year to deal with their silliest customers. Many low-paid jobs are underpaying their workers: the employees make minimum wage as they work incredibly hard and often under intense pressure from their managers. There are plenty of cushy office jobs that pay 6 or 7 figures each year, and these aren't even close to being as difficult as your average retail worker's job . Retail workers have to deal with the full range of humanity, from the super sw…

This is something that comes up now and again that anyone offering specialized services to clients will certainly resonate with. It's amazing how often a person or an organization will pay for services, products, and the expertise that comes along with them, only to refuse to accept the advice that they're paying for. And with ego-fueled hubris, they suddenly decide that they know what's best. The old adages might tell us that “The customer knows best” and that "The customer is always right in…