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TalesFromRetail

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A place to exchange stories about your bosses, employees, or those interesting customers you see daily.

  • Remember that customer who yelled at you over coupons?

  • Do I really have to wear this ridiculous polo shirt?

  • The things you do after customers leave

Come, put your name tag on, and let's get the stress of work off of our chest.


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all 43 comments

[–]EnvyAdamsWe're open for 15 hrs a day, I'm not letting you in after close. 11 points12 points ago

Yep, our inventory is next week and I have to prepare for it over the weekend. Prepare the ruckus.

[–]monkat 2 points3 points ago

Divulge in some karma.

[–]rokkitgurlRetail is why we can't have nice things 6 points7 points ago

Yup. And I didn't get shift differential pay working from 11pm to 8am for a week straight.

Fuck Victoria's Secret for doing this to their employees... Doing inventory on panties, specifically hundreds of pairs of g strings, is the worst thing in the entire world.

[–]monkat 5 points6 points ago

Doesn't Victoria's Secret have changing rooms? If so, that's gross as fuck.

[–]smileandbackaway 3 points4 points ago

You're supposed to try the panties on over your own underwear (there are signs in the dressing rooms saying this). Also, the panties often have a protective strip across the crotch that you remove after purchase. And honestly, the changing rooms are intended mostly for trying on bras.

[–]haylizz 0 points1 point ago

Shit, we won't let people try panties on at all. If they're wearing tights or leggings and seem bummed/insistent, we'll say "you can try them on over your tights, right here in front of me." But that is the most we'll budge.

[–]whoatethekidsthen 1 point2 points ago

Did you guys have RGIS come in? I hated doing the Victoria's Secret inventory when I worked for RGIS. Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works and Wal-Mart were the worst stores

[–]rokkitgurlRetail is why we can't have nice things 0 points1 point ago

Yup we have rgis

[–]whoatethekidsthen 1 point2 points ago

Oh man, I feel for you. Inventory isn't fun for either group. I hope the counts are accurate and go as fast as possible so you can get out of there fast.

Worst place I ever did a count at was Cardinal Medical Supply in northern Illinois. We were there 16 hours before someone noticed every count and section was astronomically off. That job wound up taking almost 20 hours...

I do not miss RGIS at all.

[–]schuldigAll kids should be leashed/muzzled inside the store. 0 points1 point ago

What's sad is that I actually miss REGIS. My store went with another cheaper company to do our counts and I swear 3/4 of the people that company hires can't count past 10 without taking their shoes off.

In other words doing the variance for inventory last month sucked.

[–]whoatethekidsthen 0 points1 point ago

Oh god, that sounds like hell. I haven't worked for RGIS since 2006 but I do honestly miss it from time to time. It was mindless, easy work.

Some stores were awesome to us (Kohl's bought us all lunch) others (Macy's, Pier 1, Target) took out the fact they had to be in the store after hours on us. I'll never forget the employees of Target barely containing their frustration and one associate telling me, "just enter any damn number, you're taking too long." You know damn well if I do that if any discrepancies are found we have to go back and recount.

[–]musicbpc 0 points1 point ago

I work at VS. Our inventory is Sunday. It's the first time in 4 years that I don't have to do it, yay!!

[–]AnotherRandomJerk 5 points6 points ago

I work at Costco. I think I might be one of two or three people that actually enjoy inventory.

[–]monkat 1 point2 points ago

O_O. wut.

How can you enjoy counting every item of every SKU in an entire store? Especially so for someplace like Costco!

[–]Legit_GFXTake it easy. 2 points3 points ago

It is fun timing yourself to see how fast you can get it. I got my cigarette inventory down from an hour and a half to somewhere around 15-25 minutes.

[–]koy5 0 points1 point ago

He is employed at Costco I would be happy too.

[–]DemeGeek 0 points1 point ago

He is employed I would be happy too.

FTFY

[–]AnotherRandomJerk 0 points1 point ago

Clarification: I enjoy finding and fixing mistakes in post-audit.

[–]Furthea 0 points1 point ago

I think I might, at least if I can manage to get this company that does inventory for other companies to hire me.

[–]Plasmashark 4 points5 points ago

You must not enjoy Bethesda games.

[–]Shurikane 1 point2 points ago

They don't do cycle counts where you work? o_O

[–]Mewshimyo 2 points3 points ago

Walmart doesn't, that's for sure.

[–]jjdaybrI'm looking for Computer Ink 0 points1 point ago

With the new IMS system I don't know why wm hasn't switched to this inventory method yet. It would be a sinch to implement.

[–]techiejames 1 point2 points ago

Inventory every three freaking months is being tested. My store is one of them.

[–]deidru 1 point2 points ago

Macys does once yearly with an interim "special loss" department secondary inventory. We just outsourced it finally, thank God. Last year a fight nearly broke out because the "kids" were dicking around while the rest of us worked. Took 11hrs to do three departments and we didn't even finish that night.

[–]Xervicx 2 points3 points ago

Inventory this week at my job. Actually, my old job. I quit that place. Old Navy is not a professional business, they systematically are designed to keep young and old employees waiting for a big payout that will never come.

Underarmor is better, though I'm not sure when we have inventory there. I personally LOVED inventory at Old Navy. I didn't have to deal with customers as much, and doing it allowed hours upon hours to fly by.

[–]koy5 2 points3 points ago

Yeah the no customer thing is always great. Oh you have cupoons, i don't actually give a fuck, talk to someone else about that.

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points ago

*coupons?

[–]koy5 5 points6 points ago

they dont deserve to be spelled right.

[–]LoccloNo, I am not on the clock. No, I will not help you. 1 point2 points ago

That is the best reply to someone correcting a typo I've ever seen.

[–]matada 0 points1 point ago

You guys think that's bad? I've prepped for two inventories at two different stores (same chain). I've also DONE the auditing for the same stores. You think your job sucks? try scanning every damn UPC code in an entire store. for just over minimum wage With no set hours (you go until it's done or you're released). shudder Still have nightmares of that. Leave work after a 9 hour inventory, Skip home go straight to school. rinse and repeat gags

[–]VzylexyFred Meyer lacky 1 point2 points ago

My store only does inventory twice a year for the home department, but grocery has to do inventory every month.

[–]techiejames 2 points3 points ago

My big-box employeer decided to make my store a test store. This means inventory every three months.

[–]darkangelleCustomer Service with a Smile! 1 point2 points ago

Fuck. My store's inventory is on the 15th. I should move...

[–]Mewshimyo 0 points1 point ago

Mine is the 12th.

[–]PaulHajns 0 points1 point ago

did he survived this reaction..? :D

[–]CannonballSplash 1 point2 points ago

I loved working inventory when I worked in a bookstore.

[–]bambooanime 0 points1 point ago

My favorite thing at work was auditing. Counting every item in the store meant I didn't have to deal with customers and I could listen to my headphones while doing it.

[–]rockytopreb 0 points1 point ago

We do monthly inventory on weekends...while also still being open and being expected to take care of customers. No special crew, no scanners. Everything's on paper and written by hand.

[–]goevl 0 points1 point ago

Our store counts high lost items every day. We count most every thing we have every Sunday. And then we COUNT EVERY SINGLE ITEM on the 1st of every month.

I've counted a weekly inventory maybe twice. It sucks. I got ask to do it like 2 months ago and literally ran out of the office with my ears covered yelling "LalalalalalALALA DIDN'T HEAR YOU." My boss got the point and asking some else.

[–]LockeNCole 0 points1 point ago

TRU. R-Zone. Four counts, every day. And forget about getting anything done if a morning count doesn't match a closing count.

[–]jonatcer 2 points3 points ago

A place to exchange stories about your bosses, employees, or those interesting customers you see daily.

Am I seriously the only person bothered that this subreddit is turning into yet another /r/pics or /r/funny? This thread isn't funny, it isn't clever, it isn't original, it isn't the OP's story, it is completely unrelated and a crosspost to grab karma.

[–]Hugh_Woodcock 2 points3 points ago

Perhaps we should bring this up in its own thread. I bet many others feel this way. I see no subreddit rules. Maybe some are needed. Image macros (memes), stock gifs, rage comics...etc.

I personally come here for the stories.