ALT-2 How are Retail Sales Clerks Treated by Customers
I've worked in retail on and off for about ten years. I first started as a p/t warehouse clerk at a now defunct catalog display store. I then moved to the Mall where I worked p/t at a greeting card store. I then moved across the Highway to a clothing store. From there I moved up the same highway again to a auto parts store.
Every job I had had it's quirks and it's different clientele. I learned how to talk to customers at the card store. There I worked as maintenance as well as on the floor and behind the register. The longest days of the year were often the shortest during the winter holiday season. There we spent hour upon hour at the registers greeting customers and ringing them out. The lines to the registers during the holiday season were really long. You'd be surprised that there were no complaints but since it was the holiday season everyone was on their best behavior and the line got smaller and smaller until the store closed. Another day was done and we had met it successfully with no dissatisfied customers.
It was quite a contrast when I got a job working at a discount clothing store. They would have sales on clothing that made my lines at the register far surpass those of the simple greeting card store. While the holiday season remained the most well behaved of the year not so with the other sales during the rest of the year. The pressure was on to be as professional and as courteous as one could get especially as a male ringing up swim wear and lingerie. High volume and high pressure made a trip to the men's department feel like a long awaited vacation. However on the whole most of my customers were as courteous as I and conducted their business in a professional manner as well. Though it was high pressure it still had it's rewards.
Now on to the Auto parts store where everything was an excuse for a comedy routine amongst the sales staff. Where people came from all walks of life to either buy things to make their cars shine and smell of exotic lands or to improve their gas mileage and fix minor mechanical problems. I had the best of both worlds. Customer service can't be beat for the satisfaction of doing a job right and helping the customer find what they need. Working amongst something that's been your hobby for years also has it's perks. Small discoveries made with the hobby translated into customer success at the Parts counter. Here I had at last found a long lost home in the career of my choice. Irate customers yes some times especially when you promise someone that their parts will be there when they arrive. Only to find out because you did not put them on hold that someone sold them in the meantime. Yet the day can be saved by calling another store and getting them put the parts on hold there. Most people in the auto parts industry are just looking for the solution to a problem and if one is offered it is often readily accepted by the customers involved.
On the whole I would say being a retail clerk has it's ups and downs just like any other job but sometimes you meet some really nice people that make it a pleasure to work there. We all have our favorite customers those who repeatedly come back and grace us with their presence but we cannot remember all our customers. So it is nice when we can look back at the end of the day on a day without turmoil and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done and customers served professionally and humanely. Why not?
