Most supermarket job adverts say something like “stocking shelves and helping customers”. Nothing about the chillers, the freezers, the cages, the early starts or the amount of walking you do in a single shift.

If you had to rewrite the job advert for your role so it was actually honest about the physical side, what would it say?

What would you warn someone about before their first week? The cold, the lifting, the hours on your feet, the start time, the bit of the shift nobody prepares you for.

Any department, any shift, any store. Tills, nights, bakery, produce, online, deli counter, all welcome.

No need to name your store or anyone you work with. We just want to hear what the job is really like.

What are you guys trained to do when working at self-checkout and witness customers not paying for paper bags?

I’m just about to start my orientation at TJ Maxx and I just wondering is there anything super obvious about the company that everybody knows? I don’t really shop there, but I know they sell clothes at a discounted price and other stuff that different companies can’t sell, but don’t want to pay storage for, but is there anything super obvious that they would expect me to know going in? I’ve worked retail before I’m mostly looking for famous jingles, commercials and products they sell?

Hey there! I work at Sally's currently and have an interview at a new CosmoProf later this week, are the interview questions different than at Sally's? If not, what do they ask there?

Picture two glass commercial doors that are common on stores. Why is it sometimes when I attempt to walk in one side, one door is locked and the other is not?

All one needs to do is flip the two little locks so I was wondering if there is some kinda law about it.

Is there some unspoken code of conduct when it comes to socialising in retail/cafes?

I’ve noticed a pattern across two different jobs where managers have told me that I don’t talk alot.
but I don’t really see the point of talking if we don’t have anything in common or if it’s not work related? Like I don’t know if they want a radio or what.

I’ve also been told at my recent job my customer service could be better but I literally do exactly the same as my coworkers.. “hi how are you” and “thanks enjoy” and ofc be nice but it’s not like it’s a must to have small talk with everyone that comes by or talk about the weather…

I ended up getting fired, and now I’m questioning whether I’m missing some kind of unspoken social rule. I look at my coworkers and don’t feel like they’re doing anything particularly different from me, so I’m struggling to understand what I’m doing wrong.
Is being more talkative genuinely an important part of retail customer service, even when you’re already polite and doing your job properly? Or could this be more about how managers perceive quieter people?
I’d really appreciate honest answers, especially from people who’ve worked in retail or managed staff. I’m starting to feel insecure about something that seems to come naturally to everyone else, and I want to understand whether there’s actually something I need to work on or whether I’m just not naturally suited to these kinds of jobs.

So I work for a grocery store and we are going through a uniform change. I work in the bakery and you can imagine that an apron accumulates a ton of bread crumbs and icing. Since I am only part time I only get one apron and one work shirt. In years past, I have always gotten 2 shirts and aprons. Every 5 years, I was always able to get a fleece freezer jacket that I never had to pay for. Apparently, I now have to pay for a new fleece freezer jacket. You want to know the cost of this jacket? The lowest price is $33 for a basic one. The problem with my current one is that doesn't have the "right" logo. If the jacket was $10 or $15, it wouldn't be an issue but $34 and a $10 shipping charge. I am torn between 2 responses. It's either let me wear the one I have now or my company pays for one since I already get a $75 credit for the non slip shoes.

yesterday, i just found out our store’s location is permanently closing in 3 weeks. i have only worked there for a month and this is my first job. this news was incredibly sudden for me and very disappointing. i am so confused on why the company would let my manager hire me and 3 other people if they knew this location would potentially close down. anyway, it took me forever to find this job and i am searching but i have no idea what to do. i am coming early to talk to my manager privately to just chat about this because this us so overwhelming and i am so lost. anyone have advice on post closure support and is there anyone i can contact or anything i can do?

You're polite but you keep the conversation to a minimum?

Do you continue offering alternatives or exchanges, resolution to the matter?

i recently got a job working for ddsdiscount and after my first shift on register friday im now scheduled to work sales floor and register sunday, dds is very fast paced and i was kind of just thrown on my register after talking and going through protocol with my boss only shadowing a little bit… this makes me very nervous for sales floor and my boss also gave me weird looks when i asked for help on register 😭 im very nervous and i dont want to mess up but i feel like tomorrow will be another situation where they just throw me out there.

After starting work there, the Marc’s in my area is a shit show, the manager runs around in a Covid mask, the ordering is done by an employee and everyone is freaking out and no one is happy. I am not sure how this store operates and the minimum wage doesn’t seem worth it, so I might as well have fun with it.

My store has a bunch of different handkerchiefs/bandanas. Right now when we get them in they aren't carded. So I am using a tagging gun to put a little plastic hanger on them and we hang them up on pegs. It is tiresome. And also sometimes the needle doesn't go all the way through and we hang them and they unfold on the display.

How is anyone else displaying these things? I've tried a few different ways but they all result in messes or not being seen by customers. I work for an outdoor store.

I posted here before that I failed the M&S online assessment for a customer assistant christmas temp role despite having successfully worked there recently which disqualifies me from all M&S customer assistant jobs for the next 6 months, I think this whole situation is utterly ridiculous as surely the fact I've worked there successfully is the assessment they need especially as the questions are so irrelevant...

This puts me in a really difficult situation this Christmas. Its really important I do a christmas temp for financial stability and I feel it has to be a similar role as I don't have the knowledge to do it in eg... a clothes store or anything. The issue is M&S is the only store that has this amount of opportunities. They have their big stores within big shopping centres which are often close to train stations and stuff which is critical for someone reliant on public transport and their smaller stores do christmas temps too. All the other store chains, like Sainsburys, Tesco, Waitrose etc, their big stores are in locations difficult to access without public transport so there is only a small amount I can get to, and their smaller stores in my area at least that are more accessible don't have opportunities for christmas temps (like literally both smaller sainsburys I CAN access I have NEVER seen any opportunities there in years of searching). And night jobs are off limits because buses end at 10 unless they are in my area... Because of all this losing M&S is a MASSIVE blow...

With M&S I have been told I should contact the store I worked for and they might be able to override it but thats just that specific store, I don't see how I can bypass that in a store I have no connection to the manager or anything (post if I am wrong here) so I still have the same issue of being reliant on a small handful of stores if I can only recover this one...

So what do I do? I now feel insanely limited on what I can do and feel at risk of not being able to get a Christmas temp this year... I feel I am relying on a very small selection of stores in my area, and I need a way I can get it back up to the amount of opportunities I would've had with M&S. This punishment for one failed assessment of losing 75% of my opportunities this christmas (its literally that when you search christmas temp 75% of those that come up is M&S and last year that was the case for the entire sesason) feels very heavy and disproportionate and surely cannot be this bad... Also whats the best way of contacting my store manager about this to recover at least that opportunity?