Retail staff. Particularly M&S.

[DasherAndDancerAndPrancerAndVixen]

I was in M&S yesterday panic buying boxes of chocs and biscuits for gifts, because I never learn... It was heaving, trollies everywhere, till queues down the aisles and people looking fed up. But it was also well staffed, all tills open, restocking as fast as they could go etc (and one young woman calmly and carefully hoovering a mat in one of the aisles looking entirely blissful and oblivious as grumpy shoppers dodged round her to get to the crackers, I admired her 😆).

There was a woman tidying the chocolate box shelf in the packed aisle, bringing stock to the front and straightening boxes with as much precision as it is possible to imagine - maybe 10secs per item and I'm surprised she wasn't using a set square. I reached over and took a box from the front. She followed its progress into my basket, then looked me up and down and I swear if looks could kill I wouldn't have stood a chance. There was definitely a good dose of despair as well as murderous thoughts displayed on her face though, and it was still before 11am. She rolled her eyes as she returned to her task.

Anyway, if this was you - I hope you managed to hold it together for the rest of your shift, and had a peaceful evening hopefully being looked after and spoiled a bit. Retail at Christmas is no joke I've been there 😱 I hope all of the grumpy, chatty, unhinged, cheerful, murderous, and helpful retail staff have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy at least some peaceful time off. Thank you ❤️

Brilliant post ! 🤣

Thanks and happy Christmas to all retail staff.

dont forget the grumpy other shoppers, one of whom i met yesterday in the egg aisle,
she got her comeuppance as security stopped her on the way out!

Oh definitely, sending my best to all grumpy shoppers, particularly the man I encountered yesterday who was losing it over sausage rolls!

As students my brother worked at Tesco and I worked at Currys. We were both around 16-20 when we were there. He was always put on fizzy drinks at Christmas and loved it as he never had chance to put it on the shelves, he used to wheel the cage out, open the door and cheerfully stand there while the customers scrambled to empty it themselves. He would of course help if it was too heavy or he saw an old lady who was missing out, he said he used to think of how our Grandma always had proper Coke for us at Christmas.

I used to tell people to test the tv/vcr/dvd/games console before Christmas Day as although faulty ones were rare it did happen. I was pretty gobby and could hold my own as a teenager and as such I was always put on returns between Christmas and New Year. It was chaos and I loved it, queues everywhere. I've lost count of how many Christmas Days I've ruined when the PlayStation didn't work, and then when I tested it it worked as there was also an on/off switch on the back as well as the front and people never read the instructions. As well as being angrily ranted at for a while and presented with a Comet receipt which would give great pleasure in telling them they were in the wrong shop. I loved retail at Christmas!

As a student I worked in Early Learning Centre, my favourite shift of the year was Christmas Eve. It was chaos with all the last minute buyers, mums getting an extra few bits for stockings and the self declared ‘worlds best dads’ who only saw their kids once every 3 months if they could be arsed thinking that a pop up ABC book was an appropriate gift for their 10 year old. By 4pm all that would be left were little bags of pom poms for arts & crafts and light up drums. But we would also get all our regular customers in with their kids who were bouncing around with excitement to wish us merry Christmas, I loved it.

That said, I don’t envy anyone working in a supermarket today, good luck all of you!

Brilliant PieonaBarm!

Millennia ago I worked in a shop which sold high value items and was beloved of panic buying blokes... It was mad but good fun, probably my favourite anecdote involves a £50 note being waved under the closing shutter on Christmas Eve and a man begging to be allowed in 😆 We did take pity on the poor stupid bugger and relieved him of his £50 and the rest. Then after closing, sat on the floor drinking bucks fizz counting out a ridiculous amount cash. Good times!

Ah yes @DasherAndDancerAndPrancerAndVixen once had a bloke try to buy a steam generator iron on Christmas Eve. Asked him had his wife asked for it and he said no but she moans the ironing takes forever and they're quicker. He was right, and I'd have got an extra £20 bonus for selling it to him, but I refused to sell it and told him to go to Boots and buy perfume telling him he'd be divorced on Boxing Day if I sold him the iron!!

i liked working in retail at this time of year - the days flew by. I’ve been so impressed by the people I’ve seen, dealing with awful customers. Thank you all!

Just before I started nursing in 1980 I was working in Sainsbury's on Christmas Eve..

It closed at 4pm..
I was on the cigarette counter right in front of the doors..

The manager came over about 10 minutes before closing..
He said 'wait for it'.... I didn't know what he meant..

Well..it was like a zombie apocalypse film..

He started to shut the doors..one side first..I couldn't quite believe the people trying to push through! He eventually got the doors closed at 5 past..

I continued to close up my counter just agog with the banging, shouting, pleading and general nastiness and name calling (towards me..an 18 yr old) from all the people outside...

It wasn't as if the world was ending and they'd starve to death..
We were opening again on Boxing Day

I worked at M&S as a student and always did the Christmas Eve shift. The morning would be mayhem but it felt so exciting. Most shoppers were happy as well! I really enjoyed it.

The less fun part was staying a few hours after closing to get all the Boxing Day sale signage up. It felt like a slog until the store manager came across the tannoy to tell us all to go home. I worked in retail in various places for many years and M&S was the best place for the Christmas shifts.

I agree, there is a certain unique excitement mixed in with the stress and homicidal tendancies when working Christmas retail shifts 😆 I wouldn't want to go back, but I'm glad I did it!

"We're closed for Christmas let's count the cash and get out of here. Oh, we need to sort the sale POS and turn all the stickers round etc. Shit." I feel for those behind the shutters tomorrow, good luck..!

I am slightly tempted to go back tbh! That doesn't sound so bad to me anymore

I’ve worked in retail over 20 years, although no longer do Christmas time in my new role and I have to say whilst I love having Christmas off. I genuinely didn’t mind working retail over Christmas, it was such a good buzz 🥰 and I really appreciated 2 days off if I was lucky to get them in a row! Thank you to all those in the middle of it this year ❤️

There was another thread on closing hours, apparently places like Tesco, Lidl and M&S are closing boxing day as well. Can't find the thread now.

So I was really surprised at Morrisons today as they said they were open on Xmas day until 3pm as well!

I read something about big retailers closing on Boxing Day on the news. Good. Our shop was always protected by the shopping centre rules which were it was closed 25th/26th, I hope that's still the case. No amount of money would get me working on there those dates 😆

Great post!

Retail staff are brilliant. I really hope they get bonuses over this period and boxing day off. They absolutely deserve it.

M and S are closing Boxing Day. However warehouse staff (like DH) will be in from evening on Boxing Day so that products are in store in time for reopening on 27th.

i called in to M&S yesterday to shop and also collect a light up bottle of Vodka I had won on my sparks card. They only had the stollen flavoured bottles on display, which I would not drink. The assistant went out of her way to go and find me another flavour. She was really helpful.

Our local M&S is great except for the parking situation. It’s not a big enough car park and it’s on a roundabout so causes chaos on a normal weekend. But we went Friday and it was fully stocked.

I worked in Waitrose this morning and it was non stop from the moment the doors opened until I finished. Most people were in good spirits though barely even any moaning about the queues.

hopefully the good spirits are still about tomorrow morning as I need to pop into town for one last gift that I forgot on Friday.

Morrisons are open on Christmas Day?

@RainbowZebraWarrior yes, I was really surprised! I only asked if they were open on boxing day and they said "yes, Xmas day too" (limited hours). Think it was 9am til 3pm.

@Rogerstreasures Stollen flavoured vodka!? I'm not surprised you weren't keen..!

Big up to the lad in our local supermarket who had been given the till with the broken conveyor belt. He declared us a good team as I loaded and moved our shop along the conveyor whilst DH bagged it up at the other end.