When I was a teenager, I assumed that working in retail would probably be one of my first jobs. Folding t-shirts, working at the mall, getting great discounts on cute clothes and helping customers choose outfits that perfectly flatter them. What’s not to love right? To my surprise, life ended up taking me in a different direction when I turned 16, and my first two jobs ended up being at a theme park and in a coffee shop, so I never got to experience that glamorous retail life. But I soon realized that I had actually dodged a major bullet, because working in retail is not for the faint of heart.
From dealing with rude and entitled customers to being on your feet for 8-hour long shifts, retail workers definitely have it rough. If something isn’t in stock, they might be yelled at. If an item purchased doesn’t work properly, they’ll have to process the return, which might also lead to yelling if the customer doesn’t have their receipt. Despite how challenging working in retail is though, it’s a massive sector. According to the National Retail Federation, “Retail supports 52 million jobs and represents $3.9 trillion of annual GDP in the United States.”
One in four American jobs is supported by retail, meaning that I’m sure many of you pandas reading this article know what it’s like to sell makeup or video games. When it comes to what makes these jobs so appealing, opportunity for growth and a chance to climb the corporate ladder may be one incentive to work in retail. According to one study, 60% of retail workers have been given a promotion, and 90% have earned raises. Almost a third of retail workers are part-time as well, which means having flexible hours might be a huge perk of working in this industry. Students, parents and those who want to combine their retail jobs with another part-time gig might be drawn to the flexibility of these careers.
For many, working in retail is also a great way to build up work experience early on in their careers. Many of these jobs don’t require any specific level of education or pre-requisites, so it can be easy to start off in retail. “71% of hiring managers say that retail provides its employees foundational skills and experience that are transferable to other industries and recommend that employees include retail experience on their resumes,” the National Retail Federation writes on their site. “80% of hiring managers state that the skills and traits that are most important to them are the same skills and traits that more than eight in 10 current retail employees say they use regularly.”
To learn more about the struggles of working in retail, we reached out to Steve Rowland, host of The Retail Warzone podcast, who was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda. First, Steve shared what inspired him to create a show about the experience of being a retail worker. “The inspiration came from being in the business over 30 years with 23 of them being a store manager,” he told Bored Panda. “When I was laid off in 2020 due to the pandemic, I had a lot of time to soul search, and I realized that I had had enough of retail and how it treats everyone, from management down to your lowest paid employee. Having been a manager that was forced, in most instances, to treat employees unfairly (due to corporate decrees), it has been my way of giving back and showing solidarity to those who bear the brunt of the abuse.”
Steve went on to share that it’s important to discuss the difficulties of working in retail because, “Corporations look at employees as a controllable expense rather than an essential asset. Also, with most companies adopting the ‘customer is always right’ mindset, they essentially put low wage employees on the front lines to take abuse no matter what. That has to stop, and that's why I do what I do.”
We also asked Steve if he could share some of the best and worst aspects of working in retail. “There's really not a true ‘best’ while working retail,” he told Bored Panda. “However, if you are into certain things like tech and work for Best Buy, or are into instruments and work for Guitar Center, at least you have the limited joy of being around products you are passionate about.”
“As for the worst? I don't think there's enough words to actualize that,” Steve shared. “Having said that, the obvious does stick out: poor wages, poor schedules, toxic management, lack of benefits for part timers, the countless amounts of customer abuse and harassment, etc… It's the same story across the board, as those are pretty universal.”
We also asked Steve what all customers need to understand about retail workers. “Retail workers are humans too and not punching bags for whatever anguish the customer is going through,” he noted. “The employees are trying to earn a living and have a life also; they are not paid to be a customer's servant and are not to be treated as such.”
As far as what customers can do to make retail workers’ lives easier, Steve says, “Just be kind, that's it. Treat employees like you would like to be treated. Customers would be shocked at the care they received if they would just treat employees with dignity and grace.”
But Steve does note that some people actually do enjoy working in retail. In fact, he did for many years. “The worst part is that there are people who enjoy what they do, but over time, the aforementioned practices by corporate and customers eventually rob them of their joy. The saddest part is that it does not have to be that way; it's fixable.”
