When your alarm goes off at 7am, chances are you will not be in a very good mood. But you have been trained to slap on a smile and just laugh it off with your collegues. Yet somehow, despite the grogginess, once you put on your work uniform, its like someone sprinkled happy dust all over you. A certain confidence appears when you don your work attire and the right make up for your shift. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to being a retail assistant for the day.
For the sake of everyone’s sanity I will not go into any kind of detail of how you get to work without a driver’s licence when you live in the North and have to travel to the Southern parts of the Island to work. Every day. You may encounter a few eager (old) customers standing outside your shop window while you are minding your own business sweeping the shop floor and opening the till. Need I mention the constant tapping on shop windows asking you what time you open? Yes, I thought so too. Ah, the church bells tell you it’s 9 am. Slap on that smile again honey bunch, open the doors, turn up the music as loud as you can and brace yourself. Customers are coming.
As most of you know, sale season is at its peak at the moment, which tends to cause just a tiny bit of confusion in our dear customer’s minds as to which items are on sale and which are not. It’s okay, just smile and nod! Andof course, regular customers always pay you a visit at exactly the point in time in which you need them to. They never fail to leave a smile on your face, bless them. And nothing is more satisfying then helping a customer pick out the perfect outfit and accessories for that one special occasion : “I have a wedding tonight and I have no idea what to do. Please help!”
Of course you are only a part-timer so this only happens for a maximum of….30 hours a week maybe? So it’s okay, love. In a job like this, talking from experience here, the worst thing is, if not rude customers or (God forbid) theft, is receipts refusing to come out of the printer, making you look like a smiling, anxious idiot. But you’re lucky. Most customers you encounter have the biggest "Driving Miss Daisy’ attitude you’ve ever come to witness in your life, so you’re good! And you know deep deep down inside you that this is the BEST job you’ve had so far , so count your blessings.
It’s 1pm. Your shift is over. You gladly hand over all tasks and till updates to your collegue before you gracefully grab your bag and run out of work. All your plans for the rest of the day involve going absolutely nowhere near the shops unless you need to. That is until tomorrow when you have the afternoon shift to work.
