Here is my schpill on working retail, especially during the holidays.

1.) Retail workers earn very little money for the work they do. Not only do they earn very little money, if they work overtime the extra wages naturally go straight to taxes. After taxes I typically make about $5.39 an hour… that’s not even enough money to get two gallons of gas. The majority of retail workers are in the same boat. I may have been through two pay raises thus far, but I still barely make enough money to pay my bills or compensate for the work I do. If you think retail is so easy, how about you try it? It’s one of the most stressful and emotionally trying aspects of my life.

We work long hours thinking we will get a good paycheck and then it is all taken by taxes. THEN we have even less hours the weeks following to cover the overage that has happened. It's a lose lose situation.

2.) I get so sick of customers getting angry at ME because an item isn’t as amazing as they had imagined, the price isn’t as cheap as they would hope, or because something broke after they used it incorrectly. In the store I work at the merchandise is completely uncorrelated with the store. They just send us things; it’s not like we can pick and choose what we get. I can’t even count the amount of times that I’ve been yelled at by customers because they want to return something without any proof of purchase, or because something broke and apparently it is my all fault because I am the god of retail that controls the flimsiness of the POS they just purchased. Going back to a store and yelling at someone because something was damaged or broke easily is pointless. We don’t make your items. We don’t pick the merchandise. We didn’t tell you to buy that. If you wanted the cheap way out you should understand you take the risk of getting a cheap product. Simple as that. 


3.) One of the hardest parts of my job is that I have to be nice to people no matter how terribly they treat me. I try to do that in my everyday life, but sometimes it’s just hard. I had a gentleman go off on me last week because he got in a closed line and was furious that he had to push his cart five feet farther. He then proceeded to get angry at me and stormed out of the store leaving his entire cart full of items unpaid. The entire time I had to remain calm and collected while he attempted to demean me to make himself feel better. No matter how rude someone is acting towards me I have to be nice to them because my job depends on it. Whoever said “the customer is always right” has never worked in retail. Being berated by a customer is sadly becoming part of the job description because people know that in this day and age if you retaliate you could easily lose your job and jobs are sometimes hard to come by… I mean why else did we end up in retail?

4.) “Hello there, do you have a rewards card.” “No.” “Would you like one?” “No, just like every other time you ask me. Stop asking me.” Do you really think that we would hound you for a card if we didn’t have some sort of reason that we HAD to? I can’t really say how I truly feel about that because I do have employers on my facebook, but sometimes things happen because they are part of our job requirements. I know that every time I go to stores such as TJ Maxx or JC Penney they ask me the same question (except theirs are worse because it’s a credit card). What some people don’t realize is that we ask these things not just to inconvenience them, but more often than not we are encouraged to reach a certain quota, and more often than not if you don’t you lose hours… sad but true.

5.) Working retail is tiring, so when you see me and ask me how I am (which happens less than half the time) and I have to lie and say I’m okay, but you continue on to say I look tired… well… DUH. I have to work long exhausting hours to make sure lines are kept shorter for customers like you that immediately complain the moment they have to wait in line. Sometimes I imagine the long lines of people as zombies inching their ways toward me. (I have this weird repeat day dream about the Zombie apocalypse at work, but I’ll save that for another day).

If you come to a store that you see only has 4 working registers and you decide to check out the exact moment someone else does (it’s literally like clockwork every time… we can have NO ONE and them BAM, everyone comes flooding at you) you’re obviously going to have to wait, and if the material items you’re buying is so important maybe a little patience would make the waiting game a little better. I am not a machine, nor am I a robot. I am a real person working as hard as I can to quickly and efficiently help you, the customer, get the items you deem as so important. I don’t have the right to be miserable and rude to you as a customer service rep, you don’t have the right to be miserable and rude as a customer.

I wish I was exaggerating by saying that people will spend their time shopping and then storm out without paying for anything because they hate waiting in line. Working in retail makes me hate my life sometimes. I come home angry and uptight almost on the daily because I have to hold all my frustrations in. People suck… change my mentality and be a nice, patient customer. Pay the kindness forward and it will come back to you.

Not everyone celebrates holidays, I understand that… but I really hate when customers say “Wow, I can’t believe you’re open. Shouldn’t you be at home with your families?” I really just want to look at them and be like: “Well, I would be if it weren’t for people like you.” END RANT.

Forever has to start somewhere... and it starts today!

It's been an incredibly long time since I have blogged. Which isn't completely unexpected, especially considering that I have mentioned several times that I'm absolutely terrible at keeping up with the consistency of a blog... but here I sit, watching Drop Dead Divas, and I have the strongest urge to blog.

A lot of things have changed since I blogged last. I quit my job at Student Affairs for another job at what I used to consider to be my summer home. After God unveiled some difficult truths to me I ended up at Big Lots. Charming... right? It hasn't been totally awful. I've actually been there for over a year now and have gained some great people in my life.

Not only have my jobs changed, so has Nathan's. For awhile he moved to LEX18, and now he is back to ABC36.

Oh, and another thing that has occurred.... Nathan is now my HUSBAND.

Yep.

:)

We got married almost a month ago on June 22 at the Heritage House Bed & Breakfast. The ceremony was wonderful and beautiful. There's only a few things that I would have wanted to change, but even so, it was literally the best day of my life! The scary thing is the fact that it almost didn't happen. Just one week before our big day Nathan started getting a sharp pain in his hand, by the following Monday his hand had swelled triple the normal size. It was painful and scary, and due to lack of insurance Nathan had been trying with all of his might to avoid any hospital bills. To much avail he ended up hospitalized two days before our wedding and had to have an emergency surgery. I was scared. Hurt. Numb. Mad... and most of all disappointed, as was he. I could see the hurt in his eyes and he repeatedly said, "I want our wedding to be perfect for you. If I am in the hospital there's no chance of that". I was upset at the fact that all of our plans seemed to be ruined, but that feeling was NOTHING in comparison to the pain I felt at how he seemed to feel guilty, like he could control what had happened and that it was all his fault.

All of my life I had heard of people saying that they were mad at God... or sermon's about others laying blame on him. I never thought I'd be one of those people, but as I was driving home alone from Lexington to Richmond, all the tears that I had held in began pouring out of my eyes and I just wanted to scream and yell. I kept asking God "Why, why did this happen? What is going on? What did we do to deserve this?!"I felt ridiculous because I have always known that God doesn't purposely hurt us, but instead does things that we can't even begin to understand that is all part of a larger picture. Things had just been so rough for us, it's like it's constantly one thing after another. I mean, just two weeks prior to this Nathan had severely sprained his ankle and I had a third degree burn on my stomach... and to think that then my only worry was his ability to walk down the aisle!

Even with the worry about what was to come, Nathan's hospitalization reminded me of all the reasons of why I fell in love with him in the first place. The past year has been so difficult, lost jobs, financial struggles, family arguments, stupid mistakes, lack of time... etc. I had been praying to God for the past few weeks to teach me to love Nathan even more, to feel the same way I did when the thought of a future with him was just a hope and dream. Stupid me... God was giving me just what I had asked for! Granted, it is far far far from what I may have ever imagined.

Nathan's sickness also opened a gateway that I was beginning to think of as a lost cause. There has always been some tension that existed between my then future-mother-in-law. I don't quite know how to explain it. Most people say it is typical for that to happen, but I had never personally experienced such desire to please someone in that kind of situation with no success. Not to boast or anything, but I have always been the type of person that parents love, the one that they want their child to be around, so she was definitely a challenge for me. After Nathan's surgery the doctor came and got the two of us, he said that there was no way that Nathan would be able to go on our honeymoon, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to go to the wedding. Diane just grabbed me and hugged me and told me that she was so sorry. That was the first time in almost three years that she had ever given me a hug. It was a small gesture, but it sure made a large impact.

For the next two days a lot of pain, struggles, tests of strength, prayers and a lot of hard work from strangers and Nathan was able to be released from the hospital to get married! I couldn't have been more excited. I was lacking in sleep and nutrition, and was overall stricken with worry, but none of that matter because I knew that I got to marry my best friend.

With a lot of hardwork from some amazing people, our dream wedding was coming to life. I couldn't wait to see him, and boy when I did, I couldn't contain my happiness!

So what if he had a huge cast on his hand... we did JUST say "in sickness and in health" .... right? I am so thankful to have such an amazing man in my life, and I am thankful for all the other wonderful people that I have too. I could go on and on all day about the details and perks of the ceremony, but I may save those for a future blog post. :)

We spent the first two weeks of marriage with daily hospital visits, and consistent medical bills piling up. As his hand heals and the bills linger, I am just happy and statisfied knowing that God is going to see us through. It will take a lot of hard work, faith, love and prayers, but I just know it will be okay.

Because dreams do come true...

Sometimes, you need to step outside, get some air, and remind yourself of who you are and who you want to be.

This is posted above my desk at work.

I see it daily.

I feel like today is one of those days where I must follow this religiously.

It’s been a rough year, but nothing more than what can teach me to be stronger. Every breath holds the ability to grasp hold of you and teach you something through different eyes that you have never seen before.

My mother always said that life is what you make it, and no one can bring you down but yourself. It’s a lifetime of trials and tribulations to master the art of being completely in control of my surroundings without letting the actions of others control how I feel.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be a robot of some sort, or some evil Queen of Hearts type character either…I just want to be…

Footloose and fancy free.

(: