Former Retail Employees Spill Secrets 

*_"Sorry, there's no more in the back"_*

Rude Customers need to realise that retail workers who are also students can clapback because RETAIL IS NOT WHERE WE WILL WORK FOR OUR WHOLE LIFE. thank you for coming to my ted talk

Definitely feels like this video should've come out BEFORE Black Friday.

people under 35 are usually nice and understanding and anyone over 35 is usually as rude as humanly possible thanks for coming to my ted talk

This customer told me off for not knowing the price of milk and that I should know all the prices of the products off by heart. I told her it’s a supermarket with 4000 different products and five different brands of milk and that I can’t memorise all the prices. She complained to my manager that I was “abrupt and rude” in my service. I was 16 and earning a quick buck

I love getting rude people because no matter how hard they try, they never can get me angry. When they try and proclaim "I'M GONNA SHOP SOMEWHERE ELSE", I just give them a heart felt smile and say "well, there is a Wal-Mart right down the street." Retail workers really don't care if you say stuff like that. We don't want your rude swag in our stores anyways.

I had someone return a bag from 1993..... it was 2018

If only retail workers could talk to the customer the same way they talk to us.

Hello, I work retail 😇 1. If you’re rude I won’t do anything for you 2. If you’re nice I go above and beyond 3. Leave the store when we close (I’d like to get home to dinner and my family just like you) 4. You asking for a manager never has and never will scare me 😇 5. At my retailer we don’t keep stock in the back, it’s all out on the floor in secret drawers so if you ask my to go look back there I’ll take a sip of my coffee, scroll through my phone and come back out to the floor with nothing 😇

As a former Dollar Tree employee, I will say that the thing about looking in the back is true. If someone was nice, I'd always go above and beyond to try to find the item they need. You're rude? I just stood in the back and texted about how rude you were. When I finished my text, I put my phone away and walked back out ready to face the rudeness.

As a former cashier having to deal with this as well, for the love of God, PLEASE UNDERSTAND, that people misplace things ALL THE TIME in the store. Don't come up mad to the cashier when they ring you up and it's actually 2x the price, CUZ IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT. We cannot give a 50% discount, just because "you thought" it was a certain price.

The same customers that complain that the store is always messy are the same ones that make a mess out of it. I swear, I cleanly fold the clothes on a table and give it 15minutes it would look like a hurricane just went through it. 🤦‍♀️

When I was 17 I worked at Toys R Us and I almost had a fist fight with like a 60 year old man because I told him we ran out of hatchimals

PSA to the unpleasant customers:We are NOT mindless robots placed around the shop just for you to assault us verbally and/or physically just to feel like royalty. In fact,don't even assault robots either! >:(

I think more people’s first jobs should be in retail. It made me grew thick skin quick! The experience humbled me as well. Don’t make retail a career choice in your twenties though! Get out now!

Me: Hi how are you? Customer: I don't need a bag Every. Time.

If your child gets sick,spills a drink or food (ice cream mainly) offer to clean it up don't ever say eh you clean that and run out of the shop!!! It's not my child I don't mind doing it too much if the parent atleast offers to clean up😑 clicking your fingers will never help to get good/quick service either 😑

My favorite this is when customers think you know every single thing about every product you sell in a drug store. They ask me a bunch of questions and I read the label and point to them the answers.. can you not read yourself?

1. "Can you check in the back," literally meant to me 7 minute break because if you came back too fast they'd "know" you didn't look, but a good 7 minutes and coming back looking like you were extra concerned that you couldn't make the customer happy, literally did the trick. Seriously, I did freight 3x a week, every week---I knew what all was back in the back because I opened every single box, but since they didn't believe me which no one ever did because how could I who worked there all day long know anything right...then yes, I absolutely did just go to the back and sit down and have a snack.

Rude customers CLEARLY haven't worked retail. I work at JoAnn Fabrics, and we don't get the worst of the worst, but I always hate those customers that argue with us over sales and coupons.

I was working in retail and in the three years I worked there the grosest thing I've seen in a dressing room is a girl who was on her period tried on a bathing suit bottom and left a bunch of blood inside of it. There was also an old lady who pooped in the dressing room and put everything she brought in with her in a pile over her poop 🤮. Another lady tried to return sheets from 1996 and got mad when our system couldn't find her purchase. There was this other lady who said she bought a pair of pants the week before and now they were cheaper and she wanted a refund for the difference, but didn't have the pants or the receipt with her. So I tried looking up her purchases using the card she said she used and still couldn't find them, and she said that it was my fault that she wasn't getting the $2 she thought she deserved. I worked in the jewelry section too and there was an old lady who worked in Jewelry as well who wouldn't do her job and wouldn't communicate with the other employees working jewelry (all 3 of us) and this man bought a ring for his wife from her. The old lady was supposed to send it off to get sized but never did and put the ring in a drawer that nobody used so when the man came in to pick his ring up it was never sent out and I couldn't find it because it was in the complete wrong spot. He starts yelling at me and telling me I need to open my cash register and give him back the $5,000 he spent on the ring (we only keep $90 in the register). I ended up calling the lady who sold him the ring and she told me where she had put it, so when I found it I looked at the receipt and he had spent $750. He then proceeded to tell me that I had forged the numbers on the receipt and wanted to speak to a manager...I was the manager. There are so many more stories I could tell but I'll stop there 😂

I just started working retail about two weeks ago and omg I've never wanted to slap some of the customers so much as i do now BE NICE TO RETAIL PEOPLE PLEASE

When I'm anywhere and asking an employee for help I try to be as nice as possible, because I don't know what kind of day they've had, and they've probably had people yelling at them all day. And they're people too, I'm gonna treat them how I would want to be treated by them.

Whenever a customer is rude to me now I give it right back. They always look stunned and quiet down real quick. You talk to anyone else who isn't in a uniform like that and what do you think they'll do? Just because someone is working doesn't mean they aren't human. I'm patient and understanding but if you're going to be straight up nasty then I'll make sure you know I don't appreciate it.

TO CLARIFY THE COMING OUT STORY: My complete recount of that is edited. It was amazing because her mom basically said she already knew and was just wondering why the hell she(the daughter) felt so scared to tell her about it. It wasnt a fight or anything,rather a really loud celebration about her being glad she finally said something. Lots of cheerful yelling and hugging lol so it definitely caused a scene(but not a bad one...so maybe Jerry Springer wasnt the right reference). But anyway, I was ecstatic that her mom was awesome and completely accpeting. It made me happy for them😊. The editing kind of makes it look like I watched a big fight or something...it was the complete opposite of that. Thats why I said it was amazing.💚 -Ngozika

My crazy/weird retail experience 1. Elderly lady pooped on the floor. It was all over the floor and my manager cleaned it up. Also a customer stepped on the poop which it smeared on the floor. I was trying to avoid eye contact with my manager so I wouldn’t help him clean up. He pulled another team member to help him clean the poop. 2. A random young man ran inside my job and had an illegal substance. I say it was drugs because the police were chasing after him. He threw it in the kids clothing department. We all had to stop what we were doing and have a search party. We didn’t find anything on the floor. Someone’s he knew must have taken it . 3. Someone poop inside a napkin and shoved it inside of a winter scarf display. 4. A man came up to me and ask me if we had a bubble bath section. He told me he wanted to feel sexy tonight and take a bubble bath. I pointed to the kids bubble bath section section and his mood change completely. He said “this don’t make me feel sexy”. He took a strawberry shortcake bubble bath product and said “this will do”.

Wtf what just happened you just skipped the part that she got slapped

Shirt: $20 Me: "ew, that's expensive" Shirt: 50% discount to $20 Me: "what a deal!"

As a retail worker all I have to say to customers is that if you have a complaint about ANYTHING that's against the policies, the chances are I can't do anything for you. You can save your energy from getting frustrated with us and go straight to write a complaint to head office. If customer service/Head office approves your request, we'll have to do what we're told.

One time when I was working at Target, someone bought a decorative jar, peeled the sticker with the barcode off, placed the sticker on an empty pickle jar, and then returned it. The customer got $15 for a cleaned out pickle jar and then one of my coworkers actually went and put it on the shelf with the other decorative jars as if they were going to sell it cause they didn’t realize they got tricked into returning a pickle jar with the label peeled off. Just one of the many, many interesting stories I have working retail.

Worked at Lowe's and the customers would bring in their toilet seats and say do u have this size n shape while they are trying to place it in ur hand 😖

I SWEAR TO GOD IF ONE MORE PERSON EATS ALL THE FOOD AND RETURNS THE EMPTY PACKAGE IM GONNA LOSE IT

I will say - one time an employee went into the back and found my size!

And servers/hostess. They’re the ones working on the holiday so you can spend time with your family and/or shop. Be nice

I work retail and i have 1) Found poop in the fitting room 2) Seen returned clothes from the thrift store that had stolen tags on them 3) Grabbed a cup from the Starbucks in our store to give to a woman that was in the fitting room, who had peed in a bowl she had in her purse, so she could carry her pee inconspicuously out of the store 4) Seen coworkers (mostly managers) absolutely destroyed from the stress of the job 5) Been approached to be a sugar baby

What I’ve experienced at Forever 21: Someone left a dirty diaper on a table full of clothes Some girl left a used pad next to the cash register. Gross. also, this one customer asked me how much our Gucci bags were and I just told her we don’t sell named brands here and she goes “you serious? Well guess I’m shopping somewhere else” then gave me the grossest look ever then left. Like damn this is forever 21 lmaoo

The Oreo story reminded me of a similar situation that happened to me once. I was working in the returns department one day and this lady comes up to me with a half eaten chocolate bar and said “it tastes really weird, can I have a refund?” and I just stood there dumbfounded. So I called my manager to see if this was even physically possible and you guessed it, this customer got her $1 back because “she eats this particular chocolate bar all the time and it doesn’t taste as good as every other time”. Customers are strange.

A lot of bad businesses are busted after they let go of former employees.

Customer: Do u work here?🙄 Me in my head: yes I f** work here! I'm wearing the uniform for this retail store!!😑😡 Me holding my tongue: Yes! How may I help u?!😁😑

On the stealing topic, I once caught an 80 year old woman stealing the day AFTER Black Friday. She had shoved 4 shirts in her little purse and tried to walk out. Guess she didn't realize there were sensors on everything because she freaked out when the door beeped as she tried to leave, and tried to fight one of the employees And yes, she was arrested 😂

“Check in the back” is code for going to have a snack while I pretend to look for what you want.

I work at a grocery store. This lady came in, bottle of wine empty, and said it tasted different than usual. She wanted a refund, we had to give her one, she wanted to trade it for another bottle of wine then got mad when she couldn't get a more expensive bottle of wine for free...

Going to the back = me checking my phone for a couple of minutes or taking a toilet break. My manager doesn't even care as long as you stay out of view

**Comes to work next day** Boss: YOUR FIRED GET YOUR STUFF AND LEAVE Employee: let me check the back

Oh damn, you gave away their secrets. Our store stopped taking refunds because people kept returning stuff that was 5 years old. Also people tried to take stock directly from the shelves to the Refunds department!

Also remember that it’s the holidays and employees are sacrificing time with their family to be at work. Be nice. And tip people at the restaurants you visit. Idc how much money is “tight” for you. If u can drop $70 bucks on food u can tip.

I used to work in a grocery store and one day when I was working in customer service, this lady came in with a heft looking turkey and demanded a refund. The turkey was rock solid and usually we don’t let people return meats, but whatever. We didn’t check until after she left, but the turkey was 9 years old.

1:15- 1:19 pretty sure everyone ever in retail has done this. Especially this time of year 😏😂🤣

I work at Walmart, and I can't agree more with this video.

I work at Kroger and I once saw a guy buy $650+ worth of MIO just because they were half off. The original price was, like, $1300. He then asked me to bag them by flavor and tie them up so they'd not spill in his car.

The going to the back part is sooooo correct!!!! I have done it soooo many time!!! I smile and say yes. I will check. And go back there to text for a minute and come out. Lol. Ooooooh. The holiday season. People just want to fight! Lol. I had customers who fought each other for their places in line! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣🤣🤣

Praying for all retail works during Christmas🙏

I once had a customer FOLLOWED me into the back room when I went to get him the supervisor AFTER I told him we only allow employees back here

Something I wish more people knew about is conversion. Most retail stores will have a "conversion counter" which counts how many people enter and leave the store, and calculates that against how many people buy something. (For example, 10 people enter a store, and 2 people buy something, your store has a 20% conversion.) So stores will have a conversion goal, usually in my experience the goal is around 40%. I understand that you're not always going to find what you needed, or maybe you are just walking around a mall with friends and having a good time, like, I get that, it's fine. But the people that keep coming in and out of the store, or the massive families that bring their 10 kids in that keep running in and out of the store, or people who come in to use the bathroom, just like, keep that in mind please? Obviously this is me being extra because I work in retail and I know about conversion, but if I'm looking for something specific or if I just have a question, I'll ask at the door if the store has conversion before I walk in and then just ask my question there. And like, I'm not expecting that anyone else is gonna do that, like I said, I'm extra, but trust me, most retail workers will appreciate it.

As an Ex-Target employee I can DEFINITELY CONFIRM the backroom stories. In my case I would always look for the item HOWEVER if I know we don't have the item I tell the customer we don't have it, but customers think its magically always in the back so I just use the restroom and come back to tell them we don't have it 🤣🤷‍♂️

I LOVE these kinds of videos!! SPILL THE ☕️

I always know when people say “I can go check in the back for you” They ain’t have whatchu looking for 😂🤪💀

Lil nas: I got the horses in the back Retail worker: sorry we’re out

I worked in mall retail for a year when I was 18. One of the worst experiences with strangers on a daily basis (besides a call center) hands down.

And it's always the same type of woman who wants to speak to a manager 😂 I remember once some crazy woman was yelling at my colleague about the 5p bags and asked for a manager then my colleague replied "I am the manager and that bag will still be 5p" lmaooo

I work at a thrift store and one of my co-workers told me that a lady once went into the dressing room to change her baby and grabbed a shirt off the hangers to wipe up the baby poo and just left it there. When she confronted the lady she said it wasn't here but she the only one there w a baby. Ppl be nasty af. And we are LITERALLY right next to a dollar store. Could've bought wipes if she needed it

While working in the fitting room a woman came in to try on a few pairs of pants. Several minutes later, she darts out leaving the pants along with pee and period blood all over the floor. Mopping that up was the highlight of my retail life 🙃🙃🙃

I wish I was a part of this. 7 years of retail sooo many stories. Superstore is the truth

Lololol brings back so many suppressed memories

Most hilarious retail moment was when i was working mornings like (5am) at vons, I rolled up on my bike to see a burning log in a cart, apperently the bums got cold enough to steal a log off the shelf and light it.

u should do restaurant employees , like not fast food but sit down restaurants

I straight up got screamed at by a customer...over a pair of s h o e s. Needless to say I quit retail months later. Def not for me.

I felt all of that, three years in retail can give you good stories to tell lol

*“SoRrY tHeRe IsNt AnYmOrE iN tHe BaCK”*

I work at Starbucks, but people are super gross with the bathrooms. A couple weeks ago a girl never threw out her dirty pad. She left it on top of the toilet paper holder 🤦🏼‍♀️

So I work at H&M (as a student) but I haven't experienced crazy situations like that lol. People often steal rings from the store, which is really easy to do. People ask weird questions all the time, and I don't know how to answer them most of the time. Also, I had to work in the back the first couple of days. Unpacking new clothes, putting an alarm on them and sorting them by type and size. The clothes that arrive there are... weird. A real thing they sell/sold at H&M was a maillot that made it look like you were riding a unicorn (it was for kids). Oh and if you want to get a discount on clothes and you know how to use needle and thread: Try to rip a button off, rip the seem open, idk do something that is easily fixable, but at least at the H&M where I work they will give you a discount if you tell an employee.

This NEEDS to be shared to everyone

Since when did Keegan work retail?

I do get a little past sometimes because 1. I'm a big black woman and 2. I'm tattooed and pierced and 3. I'm normally sporting a mohawk, so let me know give me a lot of attitude. ( even though I have a cute face I think they're not sure if I would flip out on them or not) I have worked in retail off and on for 3 years at the same store and the best example of when someone was trying to steal was a co-worker saw a girl put some leggings in her purse and she walked up to the girl and said hey would you like to try those leggings you put in your purse on? The girl's face was priceless and she said yes and went to the back to change and paid for them! Our store is known for customer service so you can always tell people who are trying to steal because they want you to go away. Which is when I normally hover by where they are & pretend like I'm organizing the store.

wow, reading all these horror stories makes me wish i had a few of my own to tell :( i worked retail for a year and i NEVER had a bad experience, on the contrary i had customers ask for my manager to tell them i was “genuine” or that my customer service was great lol. i loved working retail bc the customers were so nice, the pay wasn’t tho so i had to leave /:

We are the unsung heroes of Christmas 🎄

I relate to this whole video, I work at Old Navy💀

I used to work retail and I can attest that if you ask us to look in the back...9 times out of 10 we are not gonna look in the back, we are gonna reply to some texts, maybe drink some water, or something and then we will come back out and be like "sorry its not there". Also, I used to hate working holidays! and it would be so condescending when they would say "Oh its Christmas eve you shouldn't be working." it's like seriously Brenda!! you are here too!!

1:44 - 1:56 😂 honestly

People look directly at my face and see I saw them having stuff in their shopping carts but they never give them to me and I can do absolutely nothing about it!

1:58 Speaking of panties. I had a woman approach me to let her in the fitting room to try on a bra and panty set. I told her that wasn’t allowed and she looked at me like I was crazy! 😂 She was a fully grown woman too. She really walked around this earth all these years thinking that was ok

I was waiting for this video.

5+ year warranty on a pair of panties sounds like the most insane thing ever, couldnt believe she said "she was well in her rights to return them" lol

Yes alot of this stuff happened to me I used to worked at Kmart, AAFES, Target, Macy's. I also had a woman run in to my store at Macy's from the mall being chased by mall security because she didn't have any pants or underwear on

why is that one girl literally screaming

I had the best experience the other day the employee was so nice, like out of the ordinary nice. 🥰🥰 Be kinda, Christmas is soon approaching and its hell for retail workers.

I work electronics at Walmart and I go to customer service to pick up returns and someone return and ps4 controller box, the controller wasn’t in it they were able to return just the box. 😂

I saw a guy watch his dog pee on a magazine rack *inside* a book store. One woman touched my blouse and called me "my dollie." I saw a woman try to return a pair of shoes that still had the magnetic tag on them, while *wearing* the actual, identical pair of shoes.

This isn’t really a secret, but target is really aggressive about calling customers “customers”. tHeY’Re GuEsT!! 😂 It’s like it’s some slur or something

Nothing is more soul crushing than working in retail.

I love where I work cause the managers and all my co workers are amazing, we’re like a family and I honestly don’t think I could work retail if it weren’t for them keeping me sane

To be fair, Im one of those people that doesnt like to be asked if I need help while browsing a store. I know it's part of the job, that's indisputable; but often I find every single store I walk into, I have not only several representatives coming up to ask me if I need help and to explain their promotions (even though the multiple signs clearly show what deals are going on), but they also follow you with a close eye, sometimes even right beside you as you shop to make sure you dont shoplift anything. Look, I get that I look a little younger than my age but that doesnt mean Im going to steal your items. I just dont like being observed every moment I am shopping, and having to constantly take out my headphones to listen to the same deals/if I need help over & over & over again. I actually like to take my time shopping.. There are times where after a certain amount of time and patience, I just walk out straight out of the store when Im being approached by the representatives. If you want people to feel more comfortable shopping in your stores, perhaps simply let the customers ASK if they need help on their own accord. You're there, we see you, we just dont want to waste more than half of our shopping time with these unecessary interactions. Cuz once we get to the cash register, sometimes we gotta whip out our info (email, phone number, discounts, etc), and already that's a lot of fluff when a shopper simply wants to purchase an item.

Man they said everything i've ever wanted to say ever, haha. One exception though, If there is a fair chance somthing is in the back. I will ask someone/ look. But around 90% of the time its a popular item or a sale item i've probaly been asked to check already, and I know we are out.

nessa!! in my bernie mac voice 😂😂

My older sister used to work at JCPenney’s and once caught people doing it, had someone have an accident in a pair of jeans, had someone try to reuse several coupons, and other crazy stuff. Retail workers I applaud for everything you deal with.

I used to work at a clothing retail store and when people go in and change but when they come out the fitting room smells like a$$.

1% of the people will read this but if you do please have a good Christmas and New Year’s Eve 😚🌸✨

When you work in retail but you watch the video anyway to know som secrets😂😂😂

Oh my goodness I used to work at Sears and I have the craziest stories that would beat this video tenfold

My biggest annoyance has been people that leave used kleenex/facial tissue just wadded up on the floor when I'm working. It's freaking disgusting. Or the ones that wreck clothing, and don't buy it. Like "thanks" just let me return it to the company. Lol.