A Letter to the Retail Industry

3 lessons I’ve learned from my part-time job

Hayley Miller
Sep 3, 2018 · 3 min read

Dear Retail,

I’ve wanted to work in your industry since I was a young girl. My mom and I would go shopping at the Bridgewater Commons Mall, and I’d go into my favorite store — Francesca’s — and think it would be such a perfect job for me. When I went off to college, there was a Francesca’s within walking distance, and I got a part-time job there during my sophomore year. I worked there for more than a year and a half, through staff changes, new POS systems and snowstorms. I didn’t always love it. It wasn’t always easy. And maybe the discount didn’t always feel worth it. But I am so grateful for my time with you, Retail.

I’ve often heard that everyone should work in the restaurant industry or your industry for a little while. It’s not hard to see why — they teach you so much about dealing with a wide range of people, personalities and emotions. Working within these industries definitely changes the way you interact with everyone on a day-to-day basis. These are three lessons I learned because of my time with you.

Accepting fault

Customers aren’t always satisfied, and it typically isn’t the employee’s fault. Maybe it’s company policy, such as returns, or an item not being available in their size within 30 miles, or not even being available online. The biggest complaint I always got was that stores don’t ship between each other. There’s nothing I could do about these things, but that doesn’t stop some customers from getting extremely frustrated. They aren’t actually mad at me, but I become the face of this disappointment/annoyance/frustration. Keeping a positive attitude and smiling isn’t easy in these situations, but it becomes routine. Learning to accept the fault and just apologizing and helping to find the best solution is something I’m so grateful I’ve learned for situations outside of the industry and in everyday life.

Not making assumptions

When someone walks in the door, it’s always easy to make assumptions about their style and their current attitude. For example, people with headphones don’t want to talk or want any help. There are a lot of customers who wouldn’t have been helped and a lot of big purchases that probably wouldn’t have happened if I had made these assumptions. Making a point to talk to every customer who walks in the door, whether it’s about the clothes or the weather, is good business and just good for you.

Working under pressure

There are plenty of times when the store is empty and I get to do nothing for a little while. But there are also plenty of times when the store is packed, and I’m the only worker or one of two workers there. Juggling multiple customers at once and trying to remember their names, the occasion they are shopping for and getting fitting rooms started and checked on constantly is definitely a high pressure situation. With a boutique store like Francesca’s, we value making each customer feel important and balancing multiple at once is something that I use now in new my day job.

Speaking of that new day job, it’s time to bid you farewell, Retail. I’m so thankful for the year and a half we had together, and will use the lessons I’ve learned from you for the rest of my life.

Sincerely,

Hayley


Thanks for reading! :) Leave a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter for more: @hayleymm14

Hayley Miller

Written by

Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism. Currently @ IdeaBooth

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