Every holiday season, the marketing teams in the company I work for are assigned to stores to become storefront personnel. Although our main tasks are to observe and note what needs to be done to improve the store during the holiday season, I ended up being a sales staff which, for me, is both fun and tiring. As a store staff, I assist customers and arrange the display. (I am quite strict with the boxer shorts display. I don’t like people messing with it. This year, I put the alphabet mugs under strict watch too because, heck, I ALPHABETIZED IT. TWICE.) I know I will not survive being one of the frontliners but occasionally being in front has helped me understand not only the customers but the store staff well.
Of course, we all have seen many retail stories on Tumblr and I have shared a couple of my own retail stories last year on Facebook but this year, I’ve decided to just write it here on WordPress. Image may be NSFW.
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Two people have given me a once-over — their eyeballs looked down and then up, looked right at my face — and I’m like, “B*TCH, PLEASE. I AM ALREADY HELPING YOU. FOR GOD’S SAKE, ACCEPT THE HELP OR JUST SAY NO.” You see, I am not wearing the company’s official ID lace because I wasn’t given one. I am employed under a sub company that does not have an official ID lace. Our store staff wear the same ID lace as the ones in the store I am assigned to. I am also not wearing the uniform because we are not really store staff. We are expected to be in civilian clothes and so we are. Most people are just surprised that I’m helping them because of the attire but they accept it with grace. I wanted to gouge out the eyes of the two people who have given me a once-over but meh, it wasn’t worth it.
Moving on to happier things, I have met this boy named Gio two Sundays ago. He is only five years old and carried an Captain America robot — at least, I think it is a robot because it had what looked like mechanical joints and the toy looked more like a Transformer with Captain America’s colors. The boy stayed in the area where the gift sets are. He was poking this box (ugh, parents, please do your best to explain to kids and to yourselves that poking the hard plastic of boxes isn’t good). Since the customers at that time could fend for themselves, I spoke to the boy to make sure he doesn’t run off and well, get lost in the throng of people. He said he has three (or four) other siblings who were at home. He also has a loose tooth and someone bullies him at church. We didn’t get to why someone was being mean to him because his mom was already in front of the cashier. Lovely boy.
I met another lovely boy last Tuesday. His aunt (apparently) was picking many gifts and we had no baskets so I offered to carry things for her while she looked around. The boy was a bit fidgety and went out to join the other members of his family. I assisted the customer until the very end. We parted ways in the other section of the store. When I got back, the boy appeared and asked for his aunt. I offered to escort him since there were a lot of people and he could get lost. I also told him I thought she was his mother but he said that his mom was at home. Then, the following day, he was back with his mom.
Even with these really nice kids, I still don’t understand why parents bring their children Christmas shopping. They get bored easily. They cry when they don’t get what they wanted to you, as a parent, tend to spend more just to get the kids to stop. They are an additional worry and well, keep your hands occupied. I have seen mothers carrying babies and I do what I can to help them. SO WHY, PARENTS? I gave it some thought and saw it as a relatively free bonding activity but still… I’d like to hear what parents actually think of while shopping with their kids.
Then again, there are parents who seem to be so stressed out with their kids that they blow off steam at other people. There’s this one mom who was shopping with a three year old boy. He opened one of the boxed stuffed toys. He left the box and just carried the toy around. I did ask her if that is her son because the toy is already outside and it’s supposedly kept inside a box until bought to avoid damage. She just scoffed and said that she would’ve bought it but it appears that we didn’t want to sell it to her. By leaving the box, it appeared that she wasn’t really planning to buy it. She was busy opening up the cupcake canisters without seeking assistance. I didn’t offer to help her because she didn’t want help. I waited for her to leave before fixing the display again. The manager and I had to refold the garments inside the containers she opened. The manager asked me why some customers like to mess-up the displays. I just said that they like visuals. They need to see it clearly to understand the thing they are buying.
Speaking of visuals and cupcake canisters, the store has this one gift item — a piece of ladies’ underwear bundled up in a cupcake canister. (Everybody thought it was a coin bank but nope, just a canister with a slit on top.) I had to open the canister and held up the underwear after unraveling it just to make a point. (Customers tend to need the visuals so I give them as much visual as I could. I open, unravel, and fold every hour because, as mentioned, I am very very VERY strict with my display.) Then, the father, a bald guy in his fifties, tucked imaginary hair behind his ear and said, “Di yan kakasya/babagay sakin.” (That won’t fit/suit me.)
There was this other couple I helped out and they were debating on whether this size would fit the husband’s mom. The husband turned to me and said, “I wouldn’t know because I don’t wear panties.” I laughed and nodded.
Since we are on the topic of underwears, I was assisting this old man buying gifts for who I assume to be his grandchildren. Apparently, there is this particular grandchild named Joan who is a bit fatter than I am. He is thinking of buying this tin case with three pieces of underwear. The last tin case was a size XL and then, he asked me, “Is this your size?” I answered yes because, I think for this particular brand, that is my size. (I remember owning underwear from this company and I think that is the size I got.) For other brands, I am a size lower. Then, he asked me if the person (who is named Joan) is a tad bit bigger than I was, would it still fit. I still said yes because it has garter. I have explained the garter size to many people and I am confident enough that it will fit. I found the experience weird because I never talk about my underwear size. Besides my sister and the seamstresses who have made some of my gowns for prom and a wedding, and my costumes, only a few of my friends know my bra size because we got our busts measured that one night we hanged out. So having this conversation with a complete stranger was weird, regardless that it is in a professional setting.
Also, I have overheard this last Tuesday. Two people were looking for a gift. One person said, “Hinahanap mo ba ay forever? Walang forever dito!” (“Are you looking for forever? There is no forever here.”) My trail of thought led me to thinking that if I could buy forever, I would’ve bought it already. Hahaha. (But tbh, I don’t believe in forever because I know that nothing lasts that long.)
During the one instance I was assigned to my brand’s actual store, I was able to assist this couple — a Filipina and a foreigner. I couldn’t determine whether he was American or European but both of them conversed in English and so I did too. I offered them a P695 mug from a European country — which they bought, much to my surprise. What was fascinating about this experience was that… the woman spoke with a relatively tiny voice — KIND OF LIKE HOW ANIME GIRLS SOUND IN ENGLISH. I was also watching Kokoro Connect, dubbed in English, and damn, she sounded like she’s a character from that anime. After reflecting some more, I decided she’s not from Kokoro Connect but from Pokemon.
These are pretty much all of my stories for this year. I hope that everyone had a beautiful and festive Christmas and are ready to celebrate the New Year. Image may be NSFW.
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Looking forward to the fireworks later on~
XOXO,
Anj