Working At A Toy Store During Christmas

As promised, here is my blog about working at a toy store during the Christmas season.

You're probably expecting a bitter rant about how mean people were and how horrible my life was for the last week and a half. But that's not what I intend to write at all. For the most part, I enjoyed my time working at the toy store. I like people and I like being able to help them find the stuff they are buying for their kids. You meet a ton of really nice people when you work in retail. The kind of people who tell you thanks a million times when you tell them where to find a Dora doll or who nearly give you a hug when you tell them the Mall of Georgia location has 17 Easy Bake Ovens. Plus I had really great co-workers who kept me smiling and laughing all day. Of course, it wasn't ALL fun. Being scheduled to work close was like my worst nightmare. We closed at midnight and for some reason there were always people still at the store when we closed, sometimes with their kids in tow. Who is still shopping at midnight? And who has their kids out of bed that late?!?! The last night that I closed I was at the store until after 2 AM because we had to clean up the store after everyone left. And it was a disaster. But that's extra money, so you didn't hear me complaining!

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. I really did not enjoy being called a racist because we did not have an African-American family for a particular dollhouse. As if I personally loaded the truck that brought the stock to our store. And then got called "just Christmas help" by the same person. And being nearly run over by shopping carts was less than enjoyable too. Although that was nothing compared to being nearly run over with cars while chasing down shopping carts in a parking lot the size of my college campus in the 35 degree weather. But these were minor incidents. Nothing big enough to stop me from doing it again next year!

Oh...one last thought. If you call your salesperson "boo" you are probably making them slightly uncomfortable. At least if I'm your salesperson, you are.