What You Need to Know Before You Shop this Holiday Season

I've mentioned before that I work retail and love my job and coworkers. However there is one time of year when I don't: Holiday. The time of year that so many people look forward to, retail workers start dreading in September. There are multiple reasons that Holiday mentally and physically drains retail workers, some more obvious than others. For those who have never sat on the other side of the register this is what you need to know:

We hate Black Friday.

I used to shop Black Friday sales. I used to love the feeling of the hunt. Now you couldn't pay me to take a shopping trip that day. Black Friday completely mars Thanksgiving festivities for many retail workers. This year large department stores are opening earlier than ever Thanksgiving afternoon, ripping workers away from precious family time. Thanksgiving is about being thankful and grateful for our family and what we have. But then the entire country takes part in mass consumption, fighting for products, and yelling at retail workers when something accidentally rings up wrong. Not to mention that the people behind the counter have been awake just as long as you have, but still have to muster a smile about it.

Please don't kill us.

Please don't be rude to us.

Since sophomore year, I have spent most of my Christmas break away from my family alone in Athens to work. Unlike other college students who get to go home and relax, I won't be getting a break until summer. On top of that, I get to go to work where someone complains to me that if I don't ring up people faster they'll be late to their family dinner. It goes back to the old saying that you don't know everything someone is dealing with. Is it worth yelling at a 20-something cashier and demanding a manager simply because we can't honor your expired coupon? Should you really scoff at us when we ask for an e-mail? Yes our job is to make you happy, but don't get mad at us when we're trying to follow a company policy that is beyond our control. It will ruin our day and you'll forget about us within an hour.

We hate holiday music.

You may get in a joyous mood about the music playing, but don't ask our opinion about it. We listen to the same songs, on repeat every 2 hours, for nearly 2 months. We associate these awful remixes with long lines and customers everywhere. Just don't mention it.

Don't talk to us when we're on break.

I have been at the food court before and had people come ask me about store deals because they see my store name tag. Please just stop. If you see an employee outside of their store, they're taking a much needed, very short 30 minute break, and we don't want to spend it working. Think how you would feel if someone used up your break time to talk about work.

We're human, so we will make mistakes.

We've been on our feet for hours trying to help each customer find the perfect gift. We will get something wrong once in a while. How you choose to react is everything. Yes there are always a few bad apples but a real retail worker will go out of their way to make something right. Sugar gets a lot further than spice. I had a customer once who I had forgotten to honor their discount. Once I realized this, I did everything I could to fix it. This same customer came back later and brought me a bottled water because she could tell I was losing my voice from talking so much. It's people like this who make working holiday bearable. 

Keep it clean.

You may not realize this, but employees have to stay later than you when the mall closes and clean the store. When you stuff those jeans you decided not to get somewhere they don't belong or destroy an entire stack of perfectly folded thermals, someone gets to clean that up. One time last year we closed at 10 but were scheduled to be done cleaning by 11. We did not leave until 1:30 because the store was so destroyed. If you don't know how to navigate a pile, ask an employee for help. We would much rather help you than spend 30 minutes later refolding the mess you made in search of a large.

You touch it, you die.

If you need more retail eye-openers check out this article on Buzzfeed that is on point: 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/29-struggles-every-holiday-retail-worker-knows-to-be-true