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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do people really look down on retail staff?

132 replies

Deemail · 20/08/2017 17:10

Aibu to think more people than I realised secretly look down on people who work in retail.

I work in retail, in quiet a nice store. I earn quiet a bit more than minimum wage and get some nice perks. While it's certainly not the most taxing/complicated work I am required to use my brain more than appears to be perceived.

I've noticed on threads on here people usually will defend retail staff and seem to understand how trying dealing with the public can be. However while posters admit to having previously worked in retail no-one seems to admit to currently doing so. I've also noticed defensive comments about having worked in retail, that it was only done to support a degree etc. That's fair enough but on a recent thread a poster made reference in front of a customer (who was been nasty about her job) about having made sure she let the woman hear she was doing her degree and wasn't stupid. Sounds daft but up until then I hadn't considered that we would be considered stupid because we work retail.

Thinking back I've often seen similar comments before but not quiet as blatant. It was only then I realised that I've never seen anyone here else "own" up to working in retail.

I'm not going to explain/justify why I'm currently working this role other than it suits me to do so now and on the whole I like it. But I am going to say I don't think my job or anyone else's defines me. I am not better or worse than anyone else and don't look down on or up to anyone else because of what their profession is.

OP posts:
Youcanttaketheskyfromme · 20/08/2017 20:09

People do look down on it.

I don't. But I wouldn't want to do it. I used to but it would never be my choice of job. And I think that applies to a lot of people - it's a minimum wage job with often poor flexibility, lack of paid time off sick and so on.

It's not seen as a job to aspire to by many people.

SilverySurfer · 20/08/2017 20:22

I 100% would never look down on retail staff. I could not do what they do, having to be pleasant to sometimes rude, obnoxious people and I always treat them with the respect they deserve.

iamyourequal · 20/08/2017 20:22

I respect any job well done. I've done a little retail and plenty catering and it's a minority of snooty customers who look down on you. I encountered far more judgement as a childminder. People would often look at me with disdain. I assumed this was because I was out with three young children who obviously had different fathers! (They all had different mothers too but people often assumed they were all mime.)

RedRedBluee · 20/08/2017 20:26

I work in retail.
It's not challenging in the slightest and I feel like I would get very very bored if I did it every day for the rest of my life.
But it's a nice easy job to support myself through university.
Some customers are extremely rude but I don't let it bother me because more than likely I will have a better job than them in a few years.

raspberryblush23 · 20/08/2017 20:29

Yes, IME people do look down on 'shop workers' 'fast food workers or any customer facing role really. I'm employed in one of those three roles, I don't particularly like it and hate telling people where I work but I need the cash and it fits round my kids. Unfortunately 'shop work' is often seen as a sign of failure of low aspiration particularly if you're not a teen/20's or a student. However, I work with all kinds of people, many are very well educated, who just need to earn a living like everyone else.

Alisvolatpropiis · 20/08/2017 20:35

Most (food) retailers pay quite a bit over NMW, offer the same sort of sick pay as other "better" companies. One has one of the best maternity packages I've ever seen.

At colleague level, the challenge to provide good customer service in the face of what can occasionally be extreme provocation, is not to be underestimated.

At manager level, well you can be managing teams of 20+, covering something like 95 hours a week. That's a challenge.

At one supermarket a full time colleague takes home more than I did, in my "better" job as a legal assistant, for which being educated to post grad level was a requirement and there was virtually no chance of progression. Opportunities to progress in retail present themselves often.

However the hours,for team manager and above are gruelling.

Sally52014 · 20/08/2017 20:35

It's "quite", not "quiet". "Quiet" means silence.

Youcanttaketheskyfromme · 20/08/2017 20:45

I was certainly never paid for time off sick when I worked in retail.

I do know someone who started off on NMW and now works as an area manager.

DSHathawayGivesMeFannyGallops · 20/08/2017 20:54

I think people do look down on it. They underestimate the people who do it, why they do it, how intelligent or qualified we might actually be and how much we get paid.
I've grown a 12hr job into a career in the management. One of the reasons I want my new job to be my last retail job is because I'm fed up of being patronised.

Original poster
Deemail · 20/08/2017 20:55

Sally, who are you referring to?

OP posts:
Sally52014 · 20/08/2017 21:02

Yourself, Deemail! Just a tip 👍🏼

splendide · 20/08/2017 21:06

It's "you" not "yourself" Sally. Just a tip 👍🏻

OvariesBeforeBrovaries · 20/08/2017 21:11

It's "you" not "yourself" Sally. Just a tip

Boom Grin

ChocolateRicecake · 20/08/2017 21:14

I've both enjoyed and disliked retail jobs, but they've always been low-paid. Ultimately I found the repetitiveness, working hours and lack of challenge (not to mention many customers!) frustrating and moved elsewhere.

However, I only earn a little more in my current job - which requires particular quals, knowledge and experience not required in a shop job (no judgement there). With any future rises in NMW, a return to a nice shop with a handy discount 😉 could be very appealing...

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 20/08/2017 21:15

I work in retail.
It's not challenging in the slightest and I feel like I would get very very bored if I did it every day for the rest of my life.

Retail might not be challenging, but fast food certainly is. You have a thousand and one things to do at once in a certain time; it can be very stressful. It's a job a lot of people can't actually do.

Escapepeas · 20/08/2017 21:24

Only a dick would look down on retail or waiting staff. I treat them with the same courtesy and respect that I would for anyone else I encounter in work.

I am frequently shocked though at the rudeness and discourtesy I see customers displaying towards them. Waiting in my local beautician is an eye-opener. People come in, no 'hello', no smile, no eye contact and just bark 'can you do my eyebrows now?'. No please or thank you. If they can be seen there and then, they just go 'ok' and sit down. If they can't be seen, it's almost always eye-rolling, 'fuck sake' or stropping out of the shop without even saying 'ok no problem.'

Original poster
Deemail · 20/08/2017 21:28

Splendide Flowers not even sure which post I made the error on.

I will admit, I regularly say I wouldn't like to work full time in my job. I would if I had to but would almost certainly start looking for something else. Having said that I do find a level of comfort in the knowledge that I could do more hours if I needed to.

I certainly find it challenging at times, challenging not to say what I really want to and keep smiling. Grin

OP posts:
Sally52014 · 20/08/2017 21:30

It's "you" not "yourself" Sally. Just a tip 👍🏻

"Yourself" is a reflexive pronoun which is commonly interchangeable with "you". Often used to add clarity or precision in colloquial language.

Sally52014 · 20/08/2017 21:31

You made it on your original post, Deemail.

Winebomb · 20/08/2017 21:34

I worked in retail, and it's hard.

My mum is quite a successful retail manager and scrapes a 30-40k living together. Working 60 hours a week.

Not everyone can be 6 figure earners, imagine how much a loaf of bread would cost if the person on the checkout was on 100k a year...

I never look down at anyone who is trying to make a good living.

That's the same for rude retail workers and the CEOs I babysit on a regular basis.

custardcreamplease · 20/08/2017 21:38

They absolutely do.

I worked in retail/waitressing on and off for years, because it suited me at the time. By the end of it I was heartily sick of the attitudes I encountered.

Anyone who works hard and does their job well deserves respect, their paycheck and education/intelligence is nobody else's business and nobody should make assumptions.

There are too many freeloaders and takers out there, in all walks of society. Anyone who is prepared to work hard for low pay, cleaning bogs, dealing with twats - deserves a bloody medal.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 20/08/2017 21:38

Surely it should be

You yourself made that error

Not

Yourself made that error

(I'm not good with words)

DurhamDurham · 20/08/2017 21:40

Years ago I was an Advocate and Disability Rights worker for a charity and I waitressed two nights a week in a restaurant to pay for my driving lessons. The difference in how I was treated was marked, people used to talk to me like I was stupid when I was a waitress and some people were very rude.
I used to hope that they'd meet me in my other job and need my help, one woman who came into the restaurant to moan and complain the whole time every week bumped into me one day and she was very nice but admitted she couldn't place where she knew me from. I told her I served her dinner at least twice a week, she flustered a bit and walked off, she knew she was unjustifiably rude to me at work.

Alisvolatpropiis · 20/08/2017 21:42

Sally

Correcting a poster's spelling and/grammar when it is entirely irrelevant to the point they were making makes you look like an arse.

marymoosmum · 20/08/2017 21:46

I work in retail because it suits my life at this time. If I decide I want more I will just work my way up in retail.