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For Some Reason, No One Wants Entry-Level Retail Jobs

BigDug13

Member
I don't know how anyone working an entry-level retail job can afford to live in my city (San Diego).

I don't no know why anyone in California would get a non-tip job. Cali is one of the few states where it's illegal to reduce your minimum wage if you get tips, so in Cali you're getting like $11 an hour plus tips.
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
Working retail makes you a better person. I can't stand people that treat retail people like shit.

I went from a year of retail to 6 months in Comcast call center. I certainly treat people in those positions with as much patience as I can possibly muster when I have an issue. Companies basically set these people up for failure and pay them garbage wages for it.
 

zeelman

Member
I’m almost at 12 years retail. I’m about to give up and live off my savings until I get a new job. I like having insurance, but I can’t stand the customers anymore.
 

Keikaku

Member
Basically this.

Pay the young people a living fucking wage and they might show up. Treat their time (via scheduling) with some respect and they might stick around. Offer reasonable opportunity for growth and your turnover will decrease, but these fuckers don't want to do any of that.

They want to treat employees like disposable kleenex and have the audacity to complain about shit when their well of reusable humans starts running dry. Assholes. I wish Amazon's employee treatment was better so I could feel better cheering on the demolition of average retail hell hole.
Pretty much. It's also something that's extending outside of retail too, and it's just as deplorable and speaks to an increasingly shitty trend in employer/employee relations that I think contributes to an underlying cynicism in every worker about our economic system.

I remember interviewing for Junior 3D Artist positions at one of the biggest studios in the Redmond, WA are back in 2014. The interview was through one of those sourcing agencies and the final interview as on campus. They wanted 2-3 years of experience as a 3D modeler, all the relevant skillsets (3DS Max, zBrush, Photoshop, etc., etc. I had all the experience and skills they wanted abd had just come off a gig working for a really shitty indie company where I had been getting around $13 an hour for about 3 years so I was ready to move on.

Their opening offer was $10.15/hour. I was upset but stayed composed long enough to leave the interview and just scream in my car in the parking lot. The next offer was for $12/hour. I kept looking for other jobs and finally lucked out into getting a customer support job for $14. I am fortunate enough to have been able to make a career for myself since then but there are still many of my former coworkers who either burned out or are still trudging along in regular customer support/service. There really isn't a future for them, that I can see.

I had to push Target credit cards on people who lived in a low income neighborhood. They gave me a stat that said something like 1 in 20 people accepted the offer and apparently that was worth it to them.

Nothing ever made me feel worse on a moment to moment basis.
I'm sorry, that sounds terrible :(

Stories like this make me feel like this is just an another example of them exploiting the not-so-well-off so they can exploit the really poor. Capitalism, ho!

I'd never work in retail in America. It sounds fucking horrendous. I do work in retail in Australia but I get
$25.50/hr.
150% pay rate for Sunday.
Public Holidays are 250% pay rate or a paid day off. Employees choice.
Days in lieu for any public holiday on a rostered day off.
Free physio.
4 weeks holiday.
2 weeks sick leave.
8.5 weeks long service leave after 10 years.
A strong union to back employees up.

I wouldn't even consider working in this job for less.
This is how it should be. A living wage and being treated with dignity, like you're a human being deserving of it.
 

Astral Dog

Member
omg these retail stories 😢

I think my job was ugly but thankfully never from the costumers.as gotten better
From my experience: While there can be soul sucking scumbags out there, it always warms my heart and surprises me to see how kind some people can be.

I guess the general awfulness of people makes the good stand out, but it can still be a two way street.
Aww sounds like you found a couple positive retail stories i would like to heard them.
Im thinking of making a thread if anyone wants to share 😳
 

FooTemps

Member
I took a dip back into retail to pay rent after my business collapsed. It wasn't that bad as long as you know how to socialize, deescalate, and provide service.

That said, I know there are a ton of people who struggle with having a job that demands high amounts of social interaction. It's not for everyone, but it wasn't soul crushing nor was it unpleasant. For me it was actually pretty fun stocking, giving customer service, and occasionally being made to look a fool.

That said, I was planning for a half a year in retail but got "stolen" away to work back in my previous field of work for about 4 times the pay.
 
This is just my personal experience, but maybe one reason they’re having trouble hiring people because they don’t call applicants until like eight months later. Thanks for the call Best Buy but I got another job almost a year ago.

I worked at BB briefly seasonally around Christmas time. The people and managers were all cool there. The thing I disliked was that would/could stick you anywhere in the store even if you knew fuck all about that section. I was hired for gaming and got stuck in appliances often and felt odd cause I knew shit about washers, dryers, ovens etc. Plus only really worked once a week so never got a chance to learn anything.
 
Retail for almost 7 years here. There is a big difference between working retail for an American company than say a French company (which I happen to work for).

- € 11 an Hour
- 300% pay rate or leave for working sundays and holidays in december and 250% for non-holiday season Sundays
- € 8 Food stamps (one each day I work)
- Hospitalisation insurance
- Automatic Pension saving (up to €80 a year)
- 4 Weeks holiday (not counting the days you earn by working sundays/holidays and choosing to get it back in the form of vacation instead of extra €€€)
- Up to 30% Employee discount


That said, after almost 7 years, this absolutely doesn't compensate for how unfathomably shitty people are. Retail changes you to the core, for better and worse. Self entitlement and arrogance have increased very noticably.

Did you mistype the pension bit because 80 a year seems really low if you're making 11 an hour (although a least that's something, unlike here in Freedom Land)
 

Kenai

Member
So many sheltered people in this thread acting like a retail job is the worst thing that can happen to a person.

Retail work isn't fun but there are waaay worse jobs out there.

Even if that is theoretically true that doesn't remove the general fact that retail work is both incredibly stressful/demeaning and tends to not even cover cost of living, let alone things like hobbies and long term goals. Even if there were a mass sweeping change across the industry this very moment (Yea right lol) to improve those things, the stigma is already set in. Who dreams about working retail when they grow up? Who has friends/family in retail that they envy? There are exceptions to every rule (Costco, notorious for being difficult to get into for a reason) but yea. If brick and mortar chains really want to continue to stay relevant they will likely need some serious self reflection (or to invest in soulless, unfeeling drones to complete said souless, thankless work)

I worked retail for over a decade and actually got paid reasonably well (15 an hour before I moved) and I'm still not even a little surprised at the stats
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
This is just my personal experience, but maybe one reason they’re having trouble hiring people because they don’t call applicants until like eight months later. Thanks for the call Best Buy but I got another job almost a year ago.

As far as not calling applicants-- most retailers are forced to leave their job openings active on their website. They may not be hiring but their higher ups may want to build a database.

Like if you are in a position where you REALLY need the job, after you apply online you need to talk to someone in management at the store. It's not a guarantee to get you a job but it's at least a way to find out if they're actually hiring or if it's just listed on their website.
 
Funny enough, I was working sweat and tooth to get a retail job after high school, but no place had any openings.

Maybe it's because I'm from a smaller town in Sweden, but people working retail there, tend to stay for a long time. In the biggest hardware store in town, most people there are people I met when they opened, circa 10 years ago.
 
Customer service is soul draining and exhausting. Doing it face to face can make you pray for the sweet release of death

It can be ruthless and unncessarily competitive, little job security, filled with cheapass and rude customers, and finally management that can fire you at a whim if your boss is truly a power hungry asshole.

Although that last blurb can be for any company.
 
Wellllll, when you treat them like expendable trash, even though your retraining and retention costs wrack up insane costs what do you expect?
 

dpunk3

Member
Fucking assholes won't pay people more than they can make not in that position. Millennials are starting to dominate the workforce, and they're gonna start demanding decent wages or we're gonna see massive unemployment/underemployment as people get sick of the treatment. You can only mistreat the young for so long.
 

Endo Punk

Member
The tables have turned, when I was looking for a retail job in the mid 2000's no one would hire me, now we don't want your crummy jobs.
 

Chumly

Member
There’s a reckoning coming for all low wage jobs. Employers think they can continue to abuse employees while at the same time bitching that nobody wants to take their jobs. No fucking shit nobody wants a garbage ass job with no pay.

The slow to adapt businesses are going to get left in the dust
 

TyrantII

Member
In America now, many times they'll set you up with welfare sign up docs when you get a retail job. Taxpayers are literally subsidizing labor on one end, just to keep prices down a few cents on front end. Meanwhile CEOs and Shareholders take their boats of cash out of the system.

So if someone is against welfare it wants it reduced, point out that they have to support a livable wage then.

Someone has to pick up the tab, and the way it's set up now is it's the taxpayer.
 
It's the customers. They wear you down.

Theres re tons one great customers who are genuinely thankful that you helped them, but every now and again you get one super horrid one, and eventually those kind break you.
The employees are the issue. The customer will be an annoyance for maybe 5 minutes. However you’ll always have management yelling at you for not having people sign up for their shitty store cards or paying for protection on their new electronic
 
So they're blaming better jobs for taking people away from their shitty jobs?

Turns out people don't want a rigid schedule for little pay dealing with shitty people when they can have a flexible schedule dealing with people they don't have to talk too for more money. Go figure.
 
You forgot the shit boss that treats you like you're less than human.

I had a dude once threaten to break my jaw if chocolate milk wasn't delivered to the store the next day. I quite literally laughed in his face and said "Hahaha you do you, sport".

Fact 1: To work retail you have to be able to not take things personal.
Fact 2: Don't be afraid to call out someone when they are acting a full on cunt.
 

Boke1879

Member
I do believe if everyone worked customer service for a year or 2, the world would be a better place

It's something more people really should do. Just to experience it. the stress, anxiety and overall mental toll it can take on a person is crazy.
 

Switch Back 9

a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
I blame America for this. Canada would be far better (look at Australia as an example) if we didn't have our backwards insane wealth-gap fuck you got mine neighbours fucking things up for us and influencing far too many facets of our society.
 
had nearly 10 yrs retail before my now current office job. ive never hated people more than when i was there. im finally starting to calm down even though current job i still have to deal with customers but not like retail.

i wish i had found something better to start out with after high school but on one hand all my friends today are pretty much the people i had started working with nearly 15 yrs ago and i couldnt imagine different friends
 

Octavia

Unconfirmed Member
I did 3 years of retail, 3 years too much. I developed severe anger issues and a really gross hatred for people after being treated badly and putting in so much commitment for basically nothing in return.

Now that I'm finally out, my anger has completely dissipated and I don't completely hate every single person around me anymore.

I've been the calmest I have been in years after getting out, but even just lightly touching on it here in writing, is making me upset and pissed off.

Fuck retail. It deserves double the pay for the garbage you have to put up with. Of the many jobs I've done, it was the worst. I'd rather do back breaking labor in 100 degree weather (I've done it) than be yelled at every day.
 
As a manager in retail I can attest to this. I have been trying to fill a spot for 7 months now. It’s a full time sales job that pays 16 an hour, plus bonus and benefits. By no means is that a dream job but man I would have killed for that coming out of high school.
 

kirblar

Member
In America now, many times they'll set you up with welfare sign up docs when you get a retail job. Taxpayers are literally subsidizing labor on one end, just to keep prices down a few cents on front end. Meanwhile CEOs and Shareholders take their boats of cash out of the system.

So if someone is against welfare it wants it reduced, point out that they have to support a livable wage then.

Someone has to pick up the tab, and the way it's set up now is it's the taxpayer.
We should be subsidizing labor by providing baseline income and social welfare benefits that are paid for in part via taxes on those CEOS/Shareholders/companies.
 

Parch

Member
Fucking assholes won't pay people more than they can make not in that position. Millennials are starting to dominate the workforce, and they're gonna start demanding decent wages or we're gonna see massive unemployment/underemployment as people get sick of the treatment. You can only mistreat the young for so long.
My first job was as a dishwasher and then cooking pizzas. That was when minimum wage was a whole lot less than it is now and it certainly wasn't a "living wage" back then either.

The isn't a new thing where today's poor millennials are suddenly being mistreated. I fully understand different times had different opportunities and it's a whole lot different and difficult now, but crappy entry level jobs for the young workforce isn't a groundbreaking phenomenon.

When we get young people saying... "fuck that, I'd rather be unemployed", I hope they can understand that that's sounding really entitled. So sponging off your parents and the government is better than taking an entry level job? Yeah, that's not sounding too good.
 

Yopis

Member
I've also noticed as I've gotten into corporate world the higher up the food chain you go the further away from customers you get. The people at the top know what's up.


This is so true. I did my time years ago managing videogame store. Never again.
 
I did my time. They don't get paid enough, not by a long shot. "Anyone could do it" ought to be balanced with the fuckin toll it takes on a human psyche when done for years.
There are tons of people who have already done it 2, 5, 10 years, who would rather just be unemployed than do it again. I feel em.

*raises hand*
 
Fuck retail. Never, ever going down that road again.

My first job was as a dishwasher and then cooking pizzas. That was when minimum wage was a whole lot less than it is now and it certainly wasn't a "living wage" back then either.

The isn't a new thing where today's poor millennials are suddenly being mistreated. I fully understand different times had different opportunities and it's a whole lot different and difficult now, but crappy entry level jobs for the young workforce isn't a groundbreaking phenomenon.

When we get young people saying... "fuck that, I'd rather be unemployed", I hope they can understand that that's sounding really entitled. So sponging off your parents and the government is better than taking an entry level job? Yeah, that's not sounding too good.
So instead of making the jobs less shitty...you blame millenials for not wanting them? OK.
 
Plus so many of retail jobs cheat and illegally take advantage of lower minimum wages for tipped employees. Depending on where you live there's a good chance your standard service person or gas station attendant is making $4 an hour or worse because theoretically a customer could tip them and they're desperate enough to have to take that job. It's an epidemic and no one is talking about it.
 

kirblar

Member
Plus so many of retail jobs cheat and illegally take advantage of lower minimum wages for tipped employees. Depending on where you live there's a good chance your standard service person or gas station attendant is making $4 an hour or worse because theoretically a customer could tip them and they're desperate enough to have to take that job. It's an epidemic and no one is talking about it.
This .... isn't the issue w/ restaurant service work at all. Generally there's strong resistance to moving away from tipping to an hourly or salary structure because it's viewed as net negative by those employees to their take-home income.

The issues with it are more to do w/ how it affects restaurant management and the job market in general.
 
Retail is hell.

A lot of stores also now have unreasonable demands for “entry level” like wanted complete open availability at part time minimum wage. No thanks.
I just came off a 3-month unemployment stint (work at a call center for people trying to get on disability, not much of an improvement), one of my last interviews was at Costco. I was really disappointed because I've always heard them talked about like the gold standard of retail, and maybe it was just this location, but they advertised a regular full-time job at $15/hr only to turn that around at the interview and say it was $12/hr, I would be starting at 24 hours a week and like you said, demanded complete open availability. I direct theatre as a side gig so obviously that wasn't fucking happening, and I straight-up told them this at the interview. I'm 26 man, I've got shit to do.

Every fast food place around me has "Now Hiring" signs up. They're even advertising higher than minimum hourly rates and open interviews to get interest.
Yeah I see that shit all the time. McDonald's and Taco Bell and places like that with signs claiming "up to $16." "Up to" being the key modifier here because they sure as shit won't honor that for anyone except maybe for a GM position.

Retail managers are 100000x worse than the customers.

And if you get lucky enough to find a decent one they'll be gone sooner than later.
Longest job I worked in college was at KFC, I was there on and off for about a year and a half. Had a manager near the end who was there when I started, but by that point just absolutely did not give a shit. I had a blast working with her the last few weeks just because we were both clearly over it. The day after her last day I put in my two week notice.

I tried to get a job at Target once, may as well have tried to get a job with the FBI, the screening and interview process was fuckin ridiculous.

Surprised they didn't ask me for a college degree
I applied for a job at Kwik-Trip (Midwestern gas station chain) and they asked for seven fucking references, and three of them had to fill out an online form. I honestly couldn't believe it.

Sounds like you might be the sheltered one. How many guests have you almost been stabbed by? Ever had to deal with an overdose in a public restroom? And the mother/daughter fist fights. Those are a blast.
Friend of mine working at Perkins (my last retail/restaurant job, but this was a different location. Still, bad enough I nearly had a mental breakdown over it and made a thread about it on GAF) had to save a 14-year-old girl who tried to kill herself by slashing her wrists in the back alley.

You see some shit in customer service.
 
$7.25 just isn't worth the mental and emotional strain of dealing with customers on top of whatever else the job entails (and the unwritten requirements).

I imagine if folks weren't paid basically pennies for it they'd be more willing to work retail. Sadly Americans are more concerned with making sure these types of jobs get paid as little as possible because they don't want "those" folks making as much as themselves, instead of realizing that...they too are being paid too little.

I worked customer service myself, I'm talking some damn near actual hell. I worked for the state as an unemployment benefits assistant. An absolute low point of my life, suffered depression, suicidal tendencies, emotional breakdown. Customer service is soul rending shit.

Honestly I'd rather take my chances selling drugs than ever work retail again.
 

Sulik2

Member
Take some money out of shareholders pockets and raise wages and you will fill these jobs with problem. In a lot of areas you lose more money getting to and from work then you make at minimum wage. Especially at a soul crushing job like retail.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Was at target for 5 years in the backroom. It was okay work if don't have any ambition. I was in a rut happy just working a shit job and playing videogames.

Left when they slashed hours and I was making like $400 on a two week paycheck. Found a job paying around 1k weekly. Now I'm also in school.
 

Parch

Member
That's where it differs significantly between countries. The minimum wage should be the minimum wage. It's a screwed up society when employers can get away with paying less than minimum wage because of tips or circumstances.

The argument about getting a "living wage" is a hard sell. In a lot of jobs I can see where that's simply not economically possible without a whole lot of government funding. But when a government decides on a minimum wage and businesses are allowed to avoid paying it, that's some work culture bullshit that some countries need to fix.
 
I think the internet has given lots of young people higher expectations too I mean you can either go get fucked at a retail job or feel like your working for no one but yourself being an uber driver or a twitch streamer. Anyone would take the later over retail all day long because both aren't really long term and you might as well do something you will actually like.
 
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