"The Store is Closing"

So we all know the subtle social contracts that we all agree to unceremoniously around the time we start being "Adults." You may not be able to actively list them, but we all get into scenarios in which it kicks in inadvertently and both parties, regardless of fault, are able to save face and move on with their lives.

A great example is how we don't try to go to restaurants when it is nearing closing time. Not only is it rude, since we we know they have cleanup to do, but much like the old "drop the soap" adage, the "messing with your food" is common knowledge, regardless of if it is common practice.

So why..oh why..does this social contract seem to be broken so often with department and/or grocery stores?

There is an enormous checklist of things to be done from the time we lock the doors to the time the staff is able to leave and every second someone spends obliviously trying on clothing is time we cannot do our jobs.

So while you are refusing to listen to the overhead pages, dimming lights, and associates who are "over the top" greeting you every three seconds, my team is trying to get you the hell out. While it is enough that this customer has broken the social contract once, they also seem to be the ones clamoring to be completely oblivious. These same customers, being the only ones in the store, will be fishing for their checkbooks, their coupons, their cards; they will haggle over prices, try to chit chat, or use the age old comment "Sorry, I just really needed this tonight."

A final thought..if you wait until 5 minutes to close to check out...you deserve to wait in line for the one open register. Don't stand their with the debate captain face staring at every associate that is recovering the pile of crap you left everywhere...enjoy queuing and move to the UK, where it is practically a sport.

Try organizing your life a bit better.

Keep smiling and stay safe out there fellow retail comrades,
-Milly

Invented Stereotypes

So in the last three days, I have experienced something I would like to refer to as "Invented Stereotypes." This phenomenon occurs when someone accuses someone else of being racist due to a stereotype that does not exist (or at least in mainstream culture) until the moment it was uttered from their lips.

An associate of mine had taken a phone call about a loss prevention stop that was unwarranted. This is a bad situation in all senses of the word, however the woman said that she believed she was stopped because she was "Asian." 

Now I am not sure about you, but I feel that all the terrible stereotypical assumptions out in the word tend to be pretty well known. Regardless of their validity, they are fairly mainstream and are comically talked about in most circles. Most of which are either so outlandish, or simply accepted that they have never cause a race riot...maybe some tears in a toilet stall somewhere, but nothing that I have to subjected to on the daily news feeds.

Classic!

But unless you have a series of Yakuza tattoos (are those even a thing?), I highly doubt any trained Loss Prevention officer is honing in on asians as a group notorious for stealing. In fact, I will say that nearly all stereotypes (with the exception of those that negatively imply positive things "Asians are good at math"), I have personally witnessed by my own race...decisively more often than others. "Oh, black folks are all using welfare unfairly." Yeah...no...when I worked for Pick n Save, I watched more white folks using their quest card to try and buy high end protein (Crab, Lobster, and Steak) than anyone else...maybe its even worse because they are fulfilling said stereotypes with some unwarranted sense of deserving.

Yesterday, I had an man of clear Indian descent self-complimenting himself by declaring that "I know it seems like I had all sorts of money." Ummm...by a purely scientific standpoint: you are wearing worn denim, a stained t-shirt, you are shopping in a discount retailer, you haggles with me on every price, and you just paid for your entire purchase in coupons...but yes, that is the impression I got. Trust fund child FOR SURE. 

Case in point, if you have a race and/or exist, you don't get to reverse stereotype yourself by thinking that every crappy thing that happens to you is about race. I am sorry if you have not realized it yet, but it's about "people" as a race, one of which you are included...and we are pretty crappy creatures in general.

Um...some of the worst cooks I have ever known are women

To all my retail comrades,

Smile safe out there :)

-Milly

You Had One Job

"Hi, I have this purchase, but I did not bring my percentage off coupon, or my dollar off coupons...and I forgot my charge card...and my driver's license...will that be a problem?"

Your job was to pay for something after picking it up....it was the ONLY thing you had to do in here...and you managed to increase the complexity of said transaction tenfold.

With technology increasing and our pace of business increasing just as fast, I am still completely puzzled by how the average person preps themselves for a purchase. The sheer minutes wasted deciding between the lace tank and regular tank is overwhelmed by the complete loss of motor function that people exhibit when panic as it is their turn to check out. Imagine the cluster that occurs when someone gets to the fast-food line without an idea of what they want.

Good news, is that they have a picture and a dollar amount to deal with. In a fashion retail environment where coupon and deal chasing is the name of the game..it becomes incrementally more of a waste of time for both associate and customer. If I had a tumor for every time a customer looked back at those in line and then continued to dig around the disaster that is her purse, I would be yelling "Start the Reactor Quaid" at every opportunity.

#YouHadOneJob