Why working retail can suck

As promised I would tell the tale of my past working in retail. I will not be using real names of places and not real names of people because I don't want to be sued for defamation.

During COVID-19 I had to graduate from college online and during that time many businesses were on a hiring freeze. So I was stuck at home desperate for a job to get some income. The only places that were hiring near me were retail or fast food and I can't work in fast food due to the fact that I get heat sick very easily so that was out of the question. A strip mall near me had multiple stores hiring so I applied to all of them to see where I can get an interview. Long story short I ended up getting a job at a well known clothing store. You might be able to guess which one as they were one of the few whom recently started saying they were being body positive and all size inclusive. So I start my job and it seems to be going well pretty straight forward at first and people seem to be friendly. First red flag I should have noticed is when a manager told me that we are not allowed to talk to other coworkers on the floor even if it is about work related topics. Especially, if we are doing our job of folding and assisting customers but if a manager/lead talks to you about anything work related or not it is okay. You can tell the power dynamic already. Also with this clothing store in particular they are more concerned about getting credit cards and loyalty enrollments. I was threatened by a person of management telling me that after I worked there for two months that if I didn't get one credit card by the end of the month they will fire me. Mind you in all of the paperwork and orientation it was never mentioned and not in the job description that it was a requirement of employment. Mind you I'm scared I could lose my job so I beg my mother to sign up for the card just so they could get off my back.

The job only got worse from their mind you. I am half Hispanic/half White and it is something I am proud of. A certain manager we are going to call Jennifer who is a White woman would go to the other coworkers who were different races/skin tones from her own and make microaggressions "innocently" to them. Still not a 100% if she knew what she was saying to them. I caught her with a coworker pulling her natural curly hair and said "I wish I could be like you guys and change my hair whenever I wanted to". She was referring to a weave and the look on this coworkers face was like she couldn't believe what she just said. Jennifer also knew that I am half Hispanic. The other managers and the GM were discussing how to decorate the breakroom for the next Holliday. This was after Easter and I was on break and I suggested something for Cinco de Mayo or Spanish history month. Jennifer pops off with "Well that might be great and all Kaitlynn but we can't just have Tequila bottles and tacos as decorations. Just because you are a half Mexican but you can't speak Spanish I don't think you should include that on your resume." My Gm seemed speechless at this and he said "I didn't know you are half Mexican". I told him I'm half Hispanic as my father's family come from Spain not Mexico and in my household we never spoke fluent Spanish so I only know a couple of phrases. The whole thing about the resume confuses me to this day because I never once said I spoke Spanish. Jennifer was one of those managers that if she wasn't saying something as a microaggression she would be angry at you for something else. She was also the person who would act like your best friend to get you to do something. She did this with all the High School kids to get them to stay longer even though child labor laws exist.

So I stayed at the previous place for almost 2 years before I finally had enough decided to quit to go to another job I thought I would be treated better at. This store was mainly an accessories and toy store for little girls that also do piercings. Now I was told during the hiring process that I would be thoroughly trained before I pierced anyone. Yeah at most the training I got was watching someone load the gun clean the ear, use a marker to dot, and then pierce and explain the cleaning process to them. Once I got to my store after training the previous week at another store I was expected to be able to pierce. I thought I did fairly well even though I had two people come back days later for a re-pierce because it wasn't even enough. I had a Karen whose daughter didn't want to be pierced because she knew it was going to hurt and she was physically saying "no". I told mom and dad that she is verbally saying "no" and I am not allowed to pierce an unwilling person. Mom told me that I will pierce her daughter regardless of her wanting to or not if I value my job even if she has to hold her child down and sit on her. I was so uncomfortable but my GM wouldn't be in for another hour. So i get the gun loaded and tell the girl to remain still. I hit the trigger and she moves making it off by not that much. Mom starts freaking out at me saying I butchered her daughters ears for the rest of her life and how can I live with myself knowing this. I call the GM explain the situation and she tells me that if they refuse to pay they need to hand over the earrings or I will call the police. The mom gets the earrings out and throws them at me so I have to search for them on the floor. Then she proceeds to tell all other customers to not let me pierce as I will butcher their ears like I did her daughters. A customer came up to me and said "I hope you are happy her ears are bleeding. Not that you care". I wanted to cry at that point.

At this same job it got worse with my GM. She was acting GM at my store until we could get a permanent person hired. Everything seemed to work great at first. Then she started sending some very aggressive text messages to me. Telling me to never contact her if it was her day off and only if it was a true emergency. The only times I contacted her on her days off were because it pertained to work problems like the internet being down or the registers being down. Fine so I stopped contacting her. There would be times that she would be several hours late to her shift and leave me or another coworker by ourselves when we really needed a break. If I ever messaged her asking how long she would be she would blow up on me saying that "I can't control traffic". "The weather is crazy. There is a wreck. A family matter has come up. I think I'm sick". Excuses that when you asked her more details about them later you could tell she was lying. One day she waits until every customer is out of the store and pulls me aside and lays into me. Telling me that several "black families have called corporate on you and if you are racist then that is a conversation for you and Jesus to have because clearly you need him". I asked for more details and she didn't elaborate. Then she goes on to say "Leave my name out of your mouth because if I hear you talking about me behind my back I will personally deal with you myself and you won't like that. I am not the one that hired you our DM did because if I did hire you, you would have been fired by now." I suffer from panic attacks and a trigger of mine is being yelled at. She went to the back to make a phone call and after she left 20 minutes early I started to have a panic attack in the back room . I sent an email to my DM that night detailing the conversation and ready to quit on the spot. Turns out that corporate never called her about be because my DM would have known and called me herself. That this person has a history of this and I told her about the time card fraud that the GM was doing so I've heard there is an ongoing investigation under her at the moment. Karma at it's finest.

That is all I have for today let me know if you guys want to hear more Karen or horrible boss stories because I got plenty.