Retail Xmas
I am glad to have worked in the retail end of things… it’s an experience… and everyone SHOULD have to in order to know what it is like… service/servitude. In any case… The Christmas season goes by so quickly whilst in retail… it did for me anyhow. You’re just so busy and your shift is over before you know it. I like to ENJOY the holiday season… not watch it go by at breakneck speed.
I never worked in retail. I went straight into the Air Force after High School. After that, I’ve worked as a Defense Contractor employee doing the same job ever since. I’m a maintenance technician for aircraft simulators. I maintain the equipment that is used to train pilots and crew to safely fly the aircraft/helicopters that have been used by the Air Force/Army for the last 30 years. Even though I have been out of uniform since 1983, I have worked on military bases ever since. The major source of stress in my job, comes from above. I don’t take stress very well. I tend to give it right back to the source.
I do work in retail *shudder*. Given my “handicaps” (narrow skill base; can’t drive; no second language; too old in some cases), it seems to be all I’m good for at the moment.
I’ve been lucky: I’ve not had too many issues with customers. But I get myself out of bad situations, and then use my comic as an outlet for what I would have liked to have said to those occasional jerks. Example 1 and Example 2
Joe: My dad was a career Marine. He knew stress WELL! … anything involving the military is a crazy high-stress situation. Yoga… it actually works.
Astragali: I LOVE the toons! Spoken from a true Retail-er. It’s amazing some of the “nutty” things people do (notice the Christmas-friendly choice of words). I have a few “retail-in-mind” strips coming up. In any case Paper or Plastic? is a fine outlet…. and super truth-telling! And Congrats on your 200th strip!
Paid my dues. Pumped gas back in the days when there was no such thing as self service. Wiped every windshield, checked the water and oil, and when I wasn’t doing that, changed tires, did oil changes and tune-ups and cleaned the bays and restrooms. Got cussed at, yelled at and beat up. All for minimum wage and never in two years received a tip.
That’s poopy, Kona! Anybody that cleans bathrooms deserves a HUUUUGE tip! (you and me both, Kona… it always amazes me how, um…. “little precision’ there is in a public restroom).
A few months ago, I found a very small mess on a toilet seat and needed to clean it up. By the time I’d finished, I’d managed to flood the back section with water! (There’s going to be a comic about that some day… :D)
Brig: Thanks for the compliment and congrats – and the second shout-out I’ve had this week! (The first was in this podcast, at about 41:55 :D)
And I forgot: My response to those people who say “I spend a lot of money in this store…” 😉
Working in a theme park is a blast. I used to plan on keeping a little record book to record how many times customers said “please” or “thank you”…then got miserably bitter when I realized how few checks would end up in the log.
I worked in a retail costume store in a big city for 2 Halloweens… never again!
DH: On the flip side of the coin, a few weeks ago, I was thanked by a guest, and I said, “You’re welcome” (as one does).
“So,” she asked, “How long did it take to learn to say, ‘You’re welcome’?”
“Excuse me?” I asked, incredulously. “I’ve always said it – momma done raised no fool!”
“Oh, it’s just that I lived in England for a while,” she replied, “and nobody there said it when I thanked them…”
Dada: Sigh… more bad news on the retail front. Sigh (again)… and you’re charming! “Charming” usually deactivates people.
Astragali: hmmm…. your countrymen let ya down. (Humour usually deactivates people too, as you know)…
Kestralyn: You brave soul!
Maybe we need to start a movement… of applying charming humor in order to bring out the “nice” in people… (when often they don’t deserve charming humor)…