This will be a multi-part series on working in retail and why it has become a job that is now occupied by the "Young Generation" and used as "Fill in the Gap Employment."
Some of the most supportive reasons I will start with below:
- Low Pay.
- Work Hours.
- Holiday Work Hours.
- Work Schedules.
- I'm not Valued by my Employer.
- Customers are Disrespectful.
First lets explore the reason "Low Pay".
- Pay averages are $8 to $10 per hour and don't include commission.
- Job is "Commission" only based.
- Job is based on "Cold Sales" revenue.
Second let's explore the reason "Work Hours".
- Most jobs are typically 8a-5p or 9a-5p Monday-Friday, but not in Retail.
- Retail Hours are 9a-10p Sunday-Saturday.
- Staff are required to work The "Holiday's" that others people have off.
- Staff are not compensated for the holiday's as they are considered to be normally work day's.
- Staff are not allowed to have Holiday's off as they are the day's company's rely on to "Make Money".
- Schedules are typically put together in a 4 week block and are based on the needs of the company you work for.
- Schedules are based on the projections of money companies plan to make whether they are realistic or not.
- Management makes the schedules based on who they want to work and they typically do not take into consideration what is best for each location. Typically they have a schedule that they use across all stores and they use that as a template for the store coverage and project what days and times will make the most money. However most of these models are outdated and not based on the performance of each location which can cause problems.
- You must understand that companies are out for their own self and have little interest in what you know or think about how your location should be run.
- Management does as it sees fit as they want to make sure they benifit themselves when it comes to pay compensation.
- Company management usually has little or no retail experience at the executive level and if they have past experience it is usually from many years ago and they lose sight that retail trends change on a yearly basis.
- Company management has been under the impression that turn over with in a reasonable time makes good business sense and allows them to keep from having experienced people coming forth and challenge them on the business decisions they make.
Sixth let's explore the reason "Customer's are Disrespectful".
- The "Y Generation" has seemed to grow accustom to being very disrespectful to people.
- Customers no longer have "Boundaries"when they come into a store. What are these you may ask? They pull items out of the windows that are on display, they let their children run around and mess things up, they let their children break things and never offer to pay for the damage or even say Sorry.
- Customers feel they they can demand that the store staff can adjust items to the prices they wanna pay. They forget that the staff does not own the store they work there to collect a pay check.
- Customers are rude and use foul language, but expect that the staff not do the same in return.
In the second part I will further explore what are the pitfalls of being in retail and the reasons why. I would encourage comments and suggestions from readers to help better understand why "Retail Work Sucks."
