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I think retail work would be HARD, and a retail worker has all my respect. I worked as a cashier in a grocery store once. Most days and most people were fine, but it only takes one person to ruin a day. Mad props to you if you enjoy it.
After 34 years of working full-time managing medical practices and working for a large government agency I retired. After two years I was getting a bit bored and now work in a boutique 15 - 20 hours per week. The company I work for Chicos/Soma/White House Black Market (Chicos is the parent company) has many "retired" women like me working. I have met retired nurses, retired stock brokers, retired corporate managers, department heads of huge departments and we all love our fun part-time job. After earning over $40 per hour but having chronic migraines I love my fun job, make $11 per hour plus commission and love helping the customers. I never worked retail until I retired but for those of us burned out from professional jobs it is nice to have a fun, low stress job. The irregular hours don't bother me at all because I do all my errands while everyone else is at work. We all love the discount and it really is a "will work for clothes" type of situation. One co-worker told me she used to supervise over 120 people in her department and now she is the worlds best pants hanger. Retirement is whatever you want to make of it and those of us are loving our low paying retail jobs! We still feel "retired" because when you go from working 50+ hours a week to 15 - 20 hours a week it really makes a huge difference. I think for me going from 50+ hours a week to zero was fine for two years but then I got a bit bored.
Now would I pick retail as a young person for a full-time career, the answer is no. I think it is a great starter job or a great ender job.
Spent years in retail. In general I don't really hate it. I just hate the PAY. The only good pay is the top Manager in the store unless you work for Costco. 2nd thing that I hate the most was the off hours and lack of weekend....I woudln't mind it so much if the pay justify it but sadly, it doesn't.
Many people don't realize the amount of hard work it is to have a beautiful and clean store to shop in. I have a whole new level of respect after I spent years in retail management.
I like it depending on they type of store and clientele. But the pay comes nowhere near what I need to make, so it is not an option for me. But I'll probably revisit retail in "retirement."
My brother got his start in retail. He was working in a clothing store and would up sell everyone that walked in. They picked out a top he would show them a complete outfit. Eventually he built a clientele for the store. He helped clothe an entire season of one show at his store. Several stars would go see him. The moms of a couple very famous women would specifically ask for him. Eventually the manager got upset that people were only asking for my brother. They were told that the store is not that kind of store and they don't have personal shoppers. It was an off the rack kind of place, still a big name retailer though. When someone came to see my brother they ended up dropping $5000 easy. Kind of hard to say no to that kind of employee.
After switching stores a few times during a 5 year period and bringing his customers with him, I might add, one of his customers asked him to come work for them. He went on to become a CFO of a company and has since started his own company. Not in retail anymore, but he made the most of the opportunity.
It is backbreaking work for minimum wage and to top it off bad management and horrible customers. Of course people diss it, especially as most of us at one point have done it.
I love retail work because I crave being around the public every day, even when they are cranky. Yes, it's blue collar work, but it's an honest day's work. I feel I am successful because I am in a line of work that I really enjoy. I would rather make $10 an hour and be happy than make $50 an hour and be miserable.
I was a Retail Store Manager many years ago. It was fine when I was young and it gave me a lot of management experience. Moving up the ranks in retail is easy, but the pay is horrible for the work you do! Anyway, I eventually left retail after 6 years due to long hours (typical to work 9am-9pm), working nights, weekend and holidays. Plus, dealing with the public during Christmas is not always pleasant! I left retail to work at a bank that was looking for people who worked in retail. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Bottom line OP, you do what make you happy and don't worry about what others think!
When I was a kid, I remember hearing that working at Sears is considered a pretty good job like working for a well established firm. Look at Sears now.
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A different point of view
