My memoir has working beginning paragraph...

I found a beginning for my memoir and I wanted it down on paper. Here it goes. I will work with this btw in pieces and try to perfect it as the book comes together.

“As a child I was given paper money and coins and a toy cash register. It was so much fun to play with ringing people up and buying things. It made me realize how neat it was and how much fun it would be to do it later in life. I did not know back then that I had begun to be a retail person at such a young age. Playing with money is not as fun as an adult as a child and running a register in real life is so much more responsibility then it seems as a kid. But yet that fun thing I did with money and coins really installed a love of this and I believe inbred in my desire to make that the type of job I would do later in life for many years to come…”

What do you think? I am working on this and want to perfect it but it came to me while at work the other night how kids today still play with money and coins and registers and how I did the same when I was young and LOVED it! It went along with dolls and the kitchen and stuff. It was there a founding part of my childhood. Who knew it would become my career for many years to come?

That is all for now. Carry on my retail friends till next entry!

What is customer service: I am a slave to you

Since it is nearly September which marks 16 years since I began to work retail I would like to say this:

I am a slave. I work for a master and I am a slave. Now you are wondering what I mean but it is the truth. The slave is the people I give customer service to. You might not think of yourself as a master but they are your slaves.

After all the customer is always right and I know that to be true. Even if they are wrong we try to “keep them happy” because the business I work for depends not only on them buying stuff now but coming back and telling others.

If I am bad to them they wont come back and could tell others like wise. Empty threats are real when you work for the customer. I do not work for the company I work for the customer.

I guess that is why it doesn’t make sense when other jobs similar like those just in customer service but not retail think that retail ISNT customer service. Hi I work for the customer who do you work for?

I pitty those who think that retail is the end all to be all. As I have seen several people along my line say and I say it to: you cant move up very often so you are stuck doing these part time jobs making little hours as possible if its “slow” because after all you work for the customer.

Retail is easy but not for everyone. You have to be a people person. Your joy in life like me must be because you like to be with people. You like to talk to them, observe them, help them, and serve them. Why else is it called “customer SERVICE”? Yeah that.

I worked at a theme park for kids for a while. We served the customer but the biggest one was the little people the kids. We always were trained to talk to the kids even if they were just with their mommy, daddy, aunt, uncle, etc. So in that case you serve the kids not the adults. It was an odd job but I still love it.

I think the worse part about not working in retail is when you aren’t you feel weird. You realize that you don’t have to smile all the time, force yourself to act nice when someone is acting stupid, help people even if it’s a burden to you. You are okay because that is how it is when you don’t work in retail anymore.

But you miss it. So you crave it like something you cant have and shouldn’t. Its addicting but not in the best way. I don’t think anyone would admit that much but working in retail isn’t good for you in the long run. Unless you are a higher up someone lucky or made for that kind of job. But if you like me are only meant to be in the bottom part the part time person the person there to serve and respond to work the least amount of hours and get the least pay but still work the slave part of it.

Hi I am a slave. You are my master. Please be kind. And maybe just think about all this next time you shop at a store of any kind. (Although fast food places and restaurants have their own issues and another form of customer service). That we serve you. When you say jump we have to say how high. Because that is what we do!

My future memoir has a title! Yes it does...

I have decided on a title for my RETAIL memoir. I need to work on details but thought I would comment on that. It will be called “How may I help you?” “My __ (age to be determined) years in retail and how I finally escaped”.

The book will detail all I can and want from EVERY retail job I have had over the years starting in 1998. So at this point its 16 years worth. I am unsure for now when my last retail job will be and so I cant say how long it will be in the title but it would be nice for my current retail job to be my last and for this to all end by next year (therefore it would be 17 years!). Shall see.

I just need to dedicate myself to writing details down and working on this. I can work on past jobs while working this one. And leave this one till last. All the gory details I can recall.

Since 2004 I have been keeping work journals for all my jobs. I began with Barnes & Noble when I knew they were closing and my original idea was to just write about a job I loved because it was going away. But figured it would be more interesting to do ALL my retail jobs. However B&N was only my 2nd retail job so I have held MANY since then some I don’t even tell anyone about as the jobs ended badly or were very short.

This will all come out in the memoir and wont matter as I wont be in retail anymore. I have decided to not change names of the business either who cares at that point. It wont affect me. I wont name actual co-workers I can change that but the business itself will be there.

I need to get my work journals they are currently in my garage (or in storage but I do think they are at home and not there) and that will help too for jobs before my move out here in 2011).