by Heidi Hauptly

Created on: June 28, 2008   Last Updated: June 12, 2009

I have led a really interesting life in the world of retail. Lets just say I did not work in retail more then three years but, I worked in it long enough to have learned a lot. You have to ask yourself several questions before you get into the world of retail. Can you handle customers/guests that come into the store and demand you take products back that you know in the store's policy you can't do? Are you ready for Christmas rush when it seems like there are never ending amounts of people? Can you handle grouchy people? Can you handle loud screaming kids?

This is just a portion of the stuff that you are going to encounter when you work retail. I have worked in two retail stores. In the summer of 1998 I began what I thought was going to be just a summer job at Target. This is a job that I worked at until 2000 and I loved very much. I loved it when it was busy. I loved it when it was the Christmas season. I didn't care too much for having to stay after the store closed to help put away reshop or stuff that the customers bring back as a return. I loved working at the service desk. You got to work or deal with all kinds of different customers. Some were sweet as pie and others you wanted to rip their heads off because they weren't getting the fact that you can't take the item back no matter how hard you try and even if you give them a 1-800 number for the company direct line they still continue to scream at you.

You have to have patience and know how to handle people like that calmly and with a clear head as to not get yourself into trouble. On any given day, anything could happen. I would have to clean bathrooms. Those were gross let me tell you. I think each employee at some point or another had to clean them out. I also answered phones for the whole store. That was one of the best jobs that I had. They couldn't see me and I couldn't see them and didn't know who was calling. I loved being able to answer most any question that they had. It made me feel important.

You have to make sure you keep the guests as they call them, safe while in your store. Making sure the aisles are free from clutter, and that kids are not standing up in carts while moving. I did not care too much for the fact that I didn't get the hours I was promised. I was part time at first because I was still in High School but once I went up to 40 hours per week they did not give me what I asked for. I only got 5 hours per week. No matter how much I loved that job it was just not going to cut

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