When people act like retail jobs are akin to working in a coal mine.

Look, I get it, I worked in retail for years throughout college. I know how it is. I know the pay is shit, I know there is limited to non existent support and training, hours are spotty, etc. But we have got to stop acting like retail workers are getting whipped in a field… it’s a kind of shitty job, but it’s not that bad.

Every time somebody has a complaint about a retail worker, not matter how small or fair the complaint is, people will crawl out of the woodwork to defend them. “What do you expect, they’re being exploited, how can they be expected to do the job they’re payed for, just accept the bad service”.

As an example, I went into Best Buy with a friend yesterday to buy an printer, and went up and told the employee in the printer section my budget, the type of things I need to print, and the approximate size I’m looking for, and asked him what he’d recommend. He looked at me confused like nobody has ever actually talked to him before, and just said he didn’t know with a shitty dismissive attitude. I tried one more question, and then he just started picking up the boxes and reading them to me. I told him never-mind, and just googled it on my phone and picked out my own printer.

On the way out, I told my friend how annoying that was, and how there was literally no point to him even being there. My friend went on and on about how it’s unfair to expect him to know anything since he probably doesn’t make much money, and how we need to be understanding and patient. I’m sorry, but no. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect the guy who works in the printer section to know the bare minimum about printers. We don’t have to have such low expectations for retail workers.

We have to be able to strike a balance between being kind, patient and understanding for retail workers, but still be able to take issue when they aren’t capable of doing their job.