Comments on: Jill of All Trades

By: fvd

fvd — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:34:37 +0000

I worked as a salesperson in retail for three years. I rang up purchases, stocked items, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, dusted, etc. However, I wasn’t there all by myself. Anybody who hires someone without providing opportunities for breaks is not only being an asshole, but is also violating the law.

By: Objective

Objective — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:21:42 +0000

Most of the duties listed here are routine to sales. My one bone to pick with the shop owners is trying to weasel out of paying commission on the$80 paintings. To not pay what is promised is wrong. Plus retail typically pays a very low wage so the $16 commission could mean eating better that week, or a tank of gas (well, half a tank these days).

By: Sika

Sika — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 06:36:03 +0000

I have never…ever…EVER had a retail job that didn’t involve cleaning. Does the OP think that every shop can just hire a custodian? Most store front businesses can’t. If there is a public restroom…that’s included in cleaning too. There is a reason why retail sucks…duh!

Short of lifting over 50lbs and dealing with hazardous materials, anything that needs to be done in that business is something that you can be asked to do. Either you have to do it, or the owners have to do it. No one is above these jobs. Sweeping, moping, vacuuming, trash, and bathroom have always been part of opening and closing duties and they always will be.

If they’re going to freak out because there were too many sales for you to get your cleaning work done…then let them freak out. Don’t let it bother you. But if you’re the kind of worker who cops attitude when asked to do a job you think is beneath you, and has to be nagged about every little thing beyond standing behind the counter, then I don’t blame them.

By: zomboid

zomboid — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:21:33 +0000

i really wish people all over the internet would stop misusing the word ‘entitled’. LOOK IT UP. IT DOESN’T MEAN WHAT YOU THINK.

By: rawr

rawr — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:28:06 +0000

*nomming on popcorn*

By: Huh?

Huh? — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:09:46 +0000

@tronner

I’m entitled because I had an amazing boss? Wha?

By: tronner

tronner — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:39:46 +0000

I think Angry got off on a rant on cleaning and ignored the big problem with this job and then the rest of you followed behind him or her snipping at the heels (including myself). The big problem sounds like the bosses themselves. OP, you get no sympathy from me in that you cleaned or had to pick up stuff out of the carpet. But, the stuff the owners tried to pull with the commission bit is classic bad boss bullshit. I’ve worked jobs where standards were set to get a bonus and then you meet the standards and suddenly you’re faced a change in policy. So, you work your butt off and chase that carrot and avoid that stick and then, just as you’re about to take bite of that crunchy orange root you get it snagged out of your reach once again. It’s no fun and it sounds like they were trying the same.

By: tronner

tronner — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:59:33 +0000

Huh?March 31st, 2010 at 11:19 am “I had a job where toilet scrubbing was on the list and we usually made the newest hire do it, our form of hazing. Eventually we got a manager who would just roll up her sleeves and do it herself without asking anyone else too, we loved her.”

@Huh then later asked “who’s the entitled baby in this thread again?”

I dunno, Huh…it kind of sounds like you were.

By: Huh?

Huh? — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:50:43 +0000

@ Angry – “A salesperson (I’ll grant her the title)”

You don’t GRANT her the title, it WAS her title. Christ, who’s the entitled baby in this thread again?

By: RetailBitch

RetailBitch — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 05:40:03 +0000

I have worked in retail for 6 years and NEVER had a job where I wasn’t expected to do some amount of general cleaning duties. This includes sweeping, taking the trash out, mopping, wiping things down, dusting. It’s part of the job. Cleaning the toilet MAY be a bit much though.