Hello Reddit! So I’m 18 F & live in a small town and work at Freshies, a deli in a gas station (those who know the area it is from then you know what I’m talking about) and my coworkers and I thought it would be fun to do secret Santa and I got it approved by my manager. Not all of us were in today so the 3 of us that were there got to pick names and I had the “luck” to grab my manager’s name.

Keep in mind, the pens I used to write the names are all different color and I would know who each person picked but I still picked my manager. The problem is that I have absolutely 0 ideas!! The budget is $10-$15 and I have absolutely no clue what to get. My assistant manager’s hint didn’t help as they both got each other gifts with adult phrases on it that were NSFW so that wasn’t much help so I’m asking y’all for some good ideas

I've been trying to apply to Walmart and so far I haven't gotten any notices from them, can someone tell me why it's so difficult applying to these retail companies?

So I've been working retail since the start of october and I'M having difficulty asking the customers for smallcash when they usually have 50 euro bills and such. THe goal is to have as much coin money as possible.

I feel like if i try to activly math it out I usually do it the wrong way. Like say the price is 13.59, To get the best ammount of change difference i would ask for 60 cents, so i only need to throw out a cent.

Sometimes i realize i ask it the wrong way and end up for instance having to pay out around 84 cents which already takes up a few coins. Does anyone have any tips?

what is a "non negotiable" shift in retail? does it mean you cant get anyone to cover it?

Do retail workers get a percentage of whatever a shoplifter was trying to steal if they catch them in the act? It would be a bit ridiculous if they got a few hundred dollars for stopping the theft of something expensive and also easily exploitable.

There is no suggested tip options, they can put 0% - 99% and I don't know what they were thinking when they put in a large % tip. However if the tip is more than half the purchase price and they say they don't want the receipt (every time) I bring their attention to it on the receipt and ask if they meant to do that. Every time no. So I do a refund and recharge the purchase, this time they do not leave a tip at all.

I'm afraid that if I don't give them the receipt as they ask and don't bring their attention to it they will come back to complain that I scamed them or something. Or complain to the manager. I don't want them to come back to complain but would they even notice it if I never bring it up? Or would that be me screwing them over?

Yesterday at work, I offered to help my coworker count the money in her register at the end of her shift. She had done so about 30 minutes- 1 hour previously, but since it was a busy day, she had to do it again. I made several stupid mistakes on the calculator, (mainly by pressing the wrong button, causing us to restart the process) and she got angry with me, saying I “owed her” for this. I apologized and even offered to count it so she could leave, since it was the end of her shift, but she insisted. I work with her alone on Friday for several hours, so I am worried about things being awkward, or her still being pissed at me. Did I handle this correctly, and how should I handle things on Friday? I would appreciate y’all’s advice.

Hey awesome folks! I’m diving into the retail industry and looking to understand the pain points that really need fixing. I'd love to hear about any frustrations or inefficiencies you face—big or small. My goal is to find real-world problems and create impactful solutions. Let's make your work life easier! 🙌

i’ve worked in the shop now for 6 months, and no matter what, i always do something wrong no matter how hard i try. and i mean i am REALLY trying! I make lists and stay later that to make sure i’ve done everything perfectly (or so i think anyway)

it’s always something like i’ve put a jumper away wrong, or a t-shirt has been hung up in the wrong place, or just something that doesn’t matter REALLY but gets me in trouble with my manager- am i just really sh*t at my job? or am i just thinking too much and everyone gets stuff like this at work?

i’m miserable anyway, i dread work every single time and feel so incredibly numb in this place.

not looking for sympathy or anything i just need to vent and ask if anyone feels like this at work too

hello, so I plan on quitting my job soon but I just wonder if I have to wait until Sunday at the earliest to put in my two weeks.

our schedules come out two weeks in advance and on every Monday. so, my schedule for Dec 8-14 is already out. if I were to hypothetically put my my two weeks say... today, i would cut off some shifts i have after the 10th.

am I allowed to do this/is it the right thing to do or should i wait until Sunday right before the new schedule comes out?

thanks!

I started working 4 months ago when I was in vacation from university, but now I'm a student again and it's getting hard to keep up with everything. I actually don't really have a free day because I either study or work or both at the same day.
I want to work only 3 days so I'll have a day for myself but the store is understaffed (I know because if 2 people cancle the shift, someone from another store come to help) and it's always busy and I know it's not my responsibility but I still feel guilty

Basically, my job regularly changes the schedule last minute, without warning, on a regular basis (think anywhere from 1-3 days before a scheduled shift). They told us they will call or email when this happens, and they rarely do. Anyone else have this problem? I've never experienced this anywhere else, and needless to say, it does not work well.

so this is a little update to the zyns situation

for those who didn't see my original post, i had a male coworker (who i now know is closer to 30) ask me (17F) ifi wanted a zyn which is obviously not okay for obvious reasons, this situation has now been brought up to two of the store managers

i recently found out that he's been asking for the snapchats of different female employees at this specific store. the first one he asked literally has a husband and is maybe in her 40s? idk i know her kids are in their twenties but she doesn't look old enough to have them. so she reported that to one of the managers. now this week he asked another girl, who the front end supervisor had to literally make sure she wasn't a minor when she was told, thank god shes not but shes 19 and it's obviously weird

so we have that utter shitshow and then on thursday night the most batshit crazy thing came up

thankfully nobody was harmed or made uncomfortable this time and this situation was rather funny

so the district manager got lunches for all of the managers at the store (theres like 5 of them) earlier in the day and one of the managers got a chicken bacon ranch cobb salad and ate half of it for lunch and saved the rest in the breakroom fridge with im assuming a note

now that night she takes her salad out of the fridge and finds the avocado smeared all over the inside of the container and opens it to find that someone had came into the break room, taken her salad and had individually picked out all the chicken, bacon and egg from the salad, leaving just lettuce and avocado

obviously shes pissed and pulls up the list of people who could have been in the breakroom during that time and who could have guessed but the weird coworker was literally the only one in the breakroom at that time

the manager requested to have the camera footage from that time to confirm it but it's pretty obvious he did it, i haven't heard anything about it since but i will definitely share any updates because this is completely bonkers

Hey everyone I’ve been working in retail for a few years now and I just can’t handle the mental customer abuse in person anymore. Does anyone know of any legit remote jobs I could apply to? I’m a college student so am on my way to getting my bachelors degree.

I see lots of remote listings online but it’s hard to know if it’s real or not.

hi!! i just started my first ever job at fossil and i had my training shift a few days ago. the training wasn’t like i expected it to be i don’t feel like i got trained at all i just kinda did my own thing and just helped my coworkers and was told to greet customers as they walk in the store but most of my “training” was just me teaching myself what to do or asking questions that i didn’t know when customers would come up to me and then learning what i have to do. a lot of customers came up to me asking questions about the products which really freaked me out because i know absolutely nothing about the products at fossil and i couldn’t answer a single question. for the people that have worked in retail, did u get trained on the products or did u have to just do ur own research and learn about it as you go? is it my job to teach myself the products? some other questions im too scared to ask my manager because they sound really dumb but this is my first job so i don’t really have any knowledge on the basics of a job:

• what do i do when i walk into a regular shift? if i’m not told what to do..do i go up to my manager each time and ask what i should be doing today or do i just clock in and get straight into it and see which areas of the store need help or ask my coworkers?
• how do i know when to take my breaks? should i also be asking my manager that each time?

i already asked a bunch of questions and for a lot of help during my first shift and i felt like my coworkers and manager were getting annoyed so that’s why i’m asking it here!! if u guys have any other tips or any other questions i should be asking or just anything i need to know about minimum wage jobs and retail jobs in general pls let me know!!!

I am wanting to apply to a different retail store but i am not unsure if it is okay to ask about salary. I am 20 so i am not making the same minimum wage as someone who is over 21 and my current job my wage a £9 an hr but someone who is 21 and over earn around £11.40.

Is it okay to ask about the minimum wage gap in a job interview and how would i word it.

just another question how would i quit a job lol its a zero hour contract so can i just let them know my last day or do i need to write a letter.

Hi! I’m looking into some information pertaining to this role. I have worked in retail/grocery for several years in the past. I have worked as a cashier,freight crew,front end manager, assistant grocery manager, Grocery/dairy clerk. I have a few questions before hand. What shifts are lead clerks usually running? Typically what is the starting wage? And in general how is the atmosphere?

The most important is knowing what the shifts would look like and making sure it would work with my home life.

I know I will find most of this out during the initial interview. I just wanted to have a good idea before even going in.

Any insight would be gratefully appreciated!

Hi!! I’m exploring solutions for small businesses interested in opening physical stores. How useful would it be to have a type of "Houzz" for Retail tool that could provide you with a complete design package for your store (materials/furnishings/equipment, floor plans, approximate cost estimation, and connections to contractors)?

A bit of a sticky situation in work yesterday and just wondering other people’s views;

I work in a small convenience store in the UK and we have a regular customer who usually buys multiple bottles of wine (usually the same brand each time) say 3 or 4 days a week. Almost all staff in store have a friendly rapport with this customer.

So over the weekend, we completed a stocktake and we were short 4 bottles of wine and upon investigating, we realised that this regular customer had brought 5 bottles of the same wine to the counter one day during the week but had only been charged for 1 by the person on till.

Having a friendly rapport with the customer - I approached them the next time they were in store and explained the situation, hoping they would be okay with us apologising for the mix up and paying the money owed. However, they said they were “appalled” about the fact that they were even approached about the situation and said under no circumstances would they be paying for a mistake made by our staff.

I completely understand that this mistake at the till was the staffs fault - but was wondering what way the law works with leaving the shop with unpaid goods?

Any advice on what to do / similar situations you’ve experienced would be great.

Hello everyone, I have just started my work in retail and I didn't have any experience before, so for me it is a lot of management and new responsibilities.

I am working in milk section where milk products, eggs, cheeses are and receiving a lot if products every day that I need to put on a shelfes, also need to order them and write off the expired ones.

Basically, I need an advises of how to:

1. Manage my time better because 8 hours doesn't seem enough to do all of my job.

2. In orders: what is the best way to order products and not overstock or understock.

Thank you everyone in advance for your answers.

hello this is my first time posting on this sub and this incident happened about two-three weeks ago

so for context ive (f17) been working at my current job for almost a full year and recently (as of a month or 2) a new guy, let's call him bob (m27 ish), started working at the company, and everyone hates him and he has been formally written up at least three times for being disrespectful to customers and other stuff and has been weird to other female coworkers

anyway the incident in question is a few weeks ago while we were both taking customers when he turns to me and pulls out a pack of zyns from his pocket, for those who don't know those are nicotine patches you put in your mouth, and he asks me a few times if i want a zyn and is like "come on you know you want one!" (again while we are both taking customers) i repeatedly tell him no as i do not in fact want one and and i am a minor although i dont know if he's aware of that

i told the coordinator up front and she was pretty pissed at him and i believe she talked to him after i left but i did not tell one of the managers

if he asks again what should i do? should i tell my manager? and is this grounds to get him fired?

i started my first retail job about a month ago. it's been going well so far, i keep to myself but my coworkers are helpful, patient & professional. for the first few weeks my schedule was very sparse, i assume this is because im "training" so management didn't want me in during busy days/hours, which i understand.

during that time i was receiving anywhere from 8-15hrs per week, a little less than what i expected from this job, even though it's a part time position. after this upcoming week my hours will increase drastically, around 33hrs a week, which is much more than what i want. when i applied for this position i assumed that part time was something like 20-25hrs a week, but during/after the interview my hours were never discussed other than what time of day id be available for. i realize now that i shouldve brought up the actual amount of hours i was looking for during the hiring process, but now i feel that it's too late.

my issue is that i don't know how to proceed with regulating my weekly hours, or if that's even possible. i don't know who i should talk to, how i should approach, or if being hired means i have to do the shifts im given. all i know is that 30+ hr work weeks aren't sustainable for me, so if this is what is required of me i'll end up being fired and i really don't want this to happen. i live in the U.S, it seems like the accepted amount of part time hours per week is 35, with 40 being full time. any advice on what i can do is appreciated, i will provide any additional info per request.

I shop at Lidl in the UK and the number of self service tills that are open seems to fluctuate with the size of the queue, i.e. when it's busier, there seems to be more self service tills open. The others are set to "Closed" on the display screens.

I am wondering whether this is intentional, perhaps to reduce theft or because 1 member of staff can only attend to ~5 tills or something.

Can anyone with an insight share their knowledge of whether this actually happens and, if so, why?

It's very annoying when half the machines are closed and I'm waiting in the queue.

hi there! is anyone willing to refer me or get me a job in a high end retail store in the gta. dm me, thanks in advance

I recently had to go to urgent care for an issue that turned out to be obscure and I am seeking treatment from various specialists for it. In the meantime, it causes me pain to stand for extended periods of time. My doctor wrote me a note saying I need to perform seated work until the end of the month and I did submit an accommodation request through HR with the note. However, the more I think about it and look into medical accommodation online, the more worried I become. I'm a (low) manager in retail, we all know standing is part of the job. We stand, we walk around(sometimes run/jog if we have to), climb stairs. If seated work isn't possible, they can deny my request or even fire me.... I look quite young and I have high paying, difficult clients who I know would pass judgement if they saw me sitting between helping them. The only way I could "get away" with sitting would be with something like a wheelchair, but I feel like it's not right to use a wheelchair when my legs are working and plus I can't afford the cost of renting one for that long.. I tried to return to work yesterday after being gone 3 days and after 2 hours I was hunched over in pain, trying to work and ended up having my manager plead with me to go home. I can't afford to keep missing work, I already missed 3 full days last week and 1.5 shifts this week. Do I just try to work through the pain if they deny me? If they grant the accommodation, how will I be able to do this without a) irritating clients and b) not being able to constantly work (which is what I always try to do)?

Also, I don't think LOA is possible. I mean it's technically possible but I'm not sure the government would pay me short term disability because I was on short term disability for 52 weeks from sep~ 2022 to sep~ 2023 (completely unrelated issue). When I look it up it says I'm only eligible for 52 weeks of disability and I don't know if that means like, for my entire life or a set amount of time or per medical condition or what

I had an interview last week and the manger said they’ll like me to work with them but they also said they’ll let me know in a week so idk if I should call them🙁

Im in highschool and recently started at a new store that opened up at my local mall. The store has been open for less than 2 weeks. I'm happy to work there and love my managers. The thing is that my parents are planing a vacation for the entire family during peak holiday season. They're looking at going to Mexico on the 20th to 30th . My parents said if I do not get the time off approved I'll have to quit. I'm in a sticky situation as I haven't been working for that long so I don't want to ask for time off when I haven't shown my dedication but I also do not want to wait until it is too late. I know the holidays will be busy especially in retail with all the Christmas shopping and idk what to do. I do not want to be unreliable or quit my job. Any advice would be helpful.

I have recently been going through a journey of self discovery specifically in regards to what I want to do for the rest of my life and basically have come to the conclusion that I just like retail. It fits perfectly into the picture of a simple life I have always imagined for myself. I have been working retail for the past two years after getting my degree in IT. I am currently unemployed and looking for work. Sounds silly, but another element in play is the fact my parents are really compelling me to move out soon. What places are best for retail employees? What places can I move up to manager quickest? Could I get a manager job someplace now? Is what I'm talking about even possible? Or is it a dream? Thanks :)

When I worked retail at age 20 I had no issues. But now at 28 my body is paying the price for standing for 8 hours at a time. My feet are not happy!

What women’s shoe brands are out there that provide support but still look professional? Thanks in advance.

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this. I’m seriously curious if these are just ploys to get surveys or does anyone ever actually win?

Every time I shop at Anthropologie I get an email afterwards asking me to take the survey that will me into a drawing for $250 gift card. Is this real? lol