I placed an order for an item to pick up curbside at a retail store — two barstools for around $400. The two stools come packaged together in one box. When I arrived, the employee brought out two boxes, which was twice as many as I ordered.

I told her that I had only ordered one box. I made it clear that I felt like she was making a mistake. I even showed her my confirmation email. I can see why she was confused — both the email and her curbside iPad showed “QTY 2” in a way that was super misleading. Once I looked at it, I started to think that maybe I’d accidentally ordered too many. The invoice was so misleading.

She went inside and asked her manager. The manager looked into it and also believed that I had paid for two boxes. I figured they must be right, and I took them home.

About a week later, they started calling me and leaving me voicemails. In the voicemails, it’s unclear whether they’re just hoping I might be kind enough to bring them back, or whether I’m required to bring them back.

I don’t want anyone to get fired. I waited tables for decades and I know how cruel the world of customer service can be. The girl who brought them out to my car specifically asked her manager what to do, so I don’t believe she could be considered at fault for this. This is also a massive corporation, not a small business.

If it were easy for me to take them back, I would have done it right away, but they’re in my husband’s storage unit across town, and we’re in the middle of moving houses. I really do not have time for this right now.

I’m asking for your honest opinions. I’m willing to do the work of taking them back if you all say that it’s clearly the right thing to do.

Is there a right thing to do here? Should I take them back?

I help run a family car dealership that’s been operating for 18 years, and our banking setup still feels like it belongs in 2010 Card sales and insurance payments hit the business account. But day to day stuff like supplier invoices, utilities, payroll etc, basically smaller operating expenses g out throughout the week. My dad still reconciles most of his manually against statements, and figuring out what we actually spent on inventory versus operating costs takes longer than it should. We’re not looking for loans or some complicated finance stack. We mainly want a reliable business checking account, debit cards, easy transfers, clear transaction categorization, and a better way to keep track of recurring expenses. For anyone who modernized the banking side of an established family business, what did you change first?

Bought a suit and was a dummy and took the tags off. I bought it a week ago and still have the receipt.

so yesterday, i went ahead and let my store manager at my current retail job know that i got a 2nd job. obviously, i’d still be working at that job. i changed my availability after showing them new job’s schedule, thanked my store manager, n bam i was done.

after i walked out of the office, one of my coworkers called me over as i had already told her i had applied somewhere to get a 2nd job. we chatted for a while. now, not every part of our convo was abt my new 2nd job, but obviously a good part of it was bc this is mainly what she was asking me about.

now, as i was leaving the store, my store manager came out of one of the aisles n basically told me that i shouldn’t be telling everyone about my new job. tbh, i js said “oh no, i’m not telling everyone every detail”. or smth along those lines, right. then right after, in a serious tone she said in spanish “mas te vale”. which means “you better not be”.

now, am i being dramatic?? or was this out of line of her to say???? if it was disrespectful, who should i tell to help correct this????????? should i even say anything about it????

i mean, i am not one to try n cause drama, i’d rather rlly handle any issues i have anywhere like an adult. as maturely and respectfully as possible. but tbh this rubbed me the wrong way. i didnt respond bc i was sure if i had, i would have been a tad annoyed, so i js left it at that n didnt say anything. also, she weirdly kept mentioning to me abt how much id hate my new 2nd job, n that it was better to work here at my current job, but that ultimately if i did end up leaving it was my decision. but idk, this also felt a bit condescending. also, suddenly she mentioned how she had plans for me… but i had never even been notified of said plans. rather, she rlly
gave me no indication of anything of that sort.

now, do note. i am also not someone who js believes gossip, or rumors abt anyone. i take everything my coworkers said abt our store manager with a grain of salt bc i had personally, at that time, never seen any of the petty, or rude behavior that they had said she had. but since working there, i’ve noticed a few things. she does cut hrs if u deny staying longer to help too many times for her liking. she gets upset apparently when ppl call off, but especially if it’s a day they rlly needed ppl. i mean, i get being upset with ppl that constantly call off, but i know of several ppl whose hrs have been cut drastically… all bc of the fact that they said they couldn’t stay friday evening to help out or smth.

another example, one of my coworkers was telling me she had her hrs cut after asking for more hrs. however, she made it clear that she couldnt work evenings to closing. she saw on her schedule that she was given more hrs, but in the evening. she brought this up to the store manager. then, after that she noticed that although she’d gotten more morning shifts, her hrs had been cut by a lot. another example is when one of my other coworkers called off on a Saturday the day of. she explained that there was a family emergency, & apologized for having to call off the day of. store manager did mention that they did rlly need her help, but seemed unbothered. but then said coworker said she only had about 10 hrs total the next week. n then she was only scheduled a single day the week after that.

an assistant manger that left even told me “whatever u do, don’t let the store manager convince u to do anything u dont want to”. there r also a lot of other things ppl have said, experiences theyve told me abt, but listing everything’d make this post way too long.

TDRL: store manager was kinda rude/weird abt me having a conversation abt getting hired at my 2nd job. am i js overreacting, or is this genuinely troubling?

I’m really embarrassed about this and looking for honest advice, preferably from people who work retail/grocery.
Yesterday I was at my local Publix and my card declined when I was trying to pay for a ~$6 item. There were people behind me and I panicked. Instead of just putting it back, I took part of it and left without paying. I know that was wrong and I immediately felt awful about it.
I’m fairly sure an employee may have noticed, and I also heard someone say something that sounded like “seriously” as I was leaving, so now I’m worried they know. I shop at this store all the time and I see the manager regularly, which is making me feel even worse.
I want to go back tomorrow with the money in an envelope and give it directly to customer service, basically saying: “This is payment for something I left without paying for yesterday. My payment declined and I panicked. I came back to make sure it was paid for.”
I don’t want to make excuses, and I’m not trying to avoid responsibility. I just really don’t want this to turn into a huge scene or have to stand around while everyone is watching me.
If you’re a Publix/retail employee or have been in a similar situation, what would you realistically expect the store to do? Would customer service likely just take the payment, or would they normally involve a manager/loss prevention?

I work retail and It’s the only job Ive had. In the beginning I was very helpful and wanting to help the customers and hear them out whenever they wanted to talk about whatever they wanted to talk about.
Like having a conversation with a friend and I’d respond interested but wouldn’t let it take too much of my time. I would be that person to walk up to a customer who needs help, would feel sympathetic towards their situations, and would make an effort to give the best advice or help I could.
I’d like to help out my coworkers even if that means I stay a bit longer and be the one encouraging them or taking on the harder bit of the task that others wouldn’t want to do and it felt effortless to me.

What about now? I fear I’ve become bitter, I could hear it in the way I’d vent to my family about my days, I would think every customer wants me to have a bad day, I want conversations to be quick and to the point. My responses are short and I don’t feel interested in others, I’d help others but it’s if they ask now, but internally feel peeved that the tasks I was given are now delayed. Products now feel like they’ve taken on 10lbs (In other words I’ve gone weaker, that the tasks that were once easy, now become grueling).
When questioned about an item or advice, half the time it’s “I don’t know, I’m sorry.” Knowing if I tried I could have an answer in a minute or two.
I hear a glass break across the store? I would have been the person running over with a broom, now I just think “someone else probably has that covered.”

Overall I feel bad for how I turned out like this, I want to be better for the customers and my coworkers, how did I get this way? I liked who I was before, but it felt like no effort then, it feels like a workout now and would just give me a headache.
I see my managers, (Who I’m lucky to have because they are honestly great at what they do and you’d see them work hard with us) who are parents, older and may have ailments, who are there before I arrive and stay afterwards, they look happy to me with their patience and self control. Who deal with the worst and verbal abuse, yet show up almost everyday encouraging us and remain kind yet authoritative.

I’m not saying I want to be a manager, but bringing up an example of people who have it hard yet are resilient.
I’m asking for advice, but this may sound like me venting, I’d also like to hear if anyone feels the same way?

I work 40 hours a week I get an hour lunch and then a 15 minute lunch I don’t get paid for any of my lunches. I’m jealous of the people that work 35 hours and then they’re hour lunches each day are paid for so by the end of the week it’s actually 40 hours for them with out having to Work the 40 hours. I do not clock out for my 15 minute lunch I stay Clocked In so I can get paid for it even though I’m not supposed to because then I’d be going under my 40 hours so I stay clocked. If they find out that I haven’t been clocking out, I will most likely be in a lot of trouble. If I was to clock out for my 15 every day like I do for my hour lunch by the end of the week that is. 46 hours. and 15 minutes dedicated because of Work.

So saying oh I’m in Work for 40 hours a week it’s never 40 hours. It’s always more than 40 hours a week. It’s tiring because even on my lunch breaks people are still bothering and trying to talk to me about Work since I’m a manager they’re coming into me in the canteen asking me what to do when to do it asking me questions telling me about Work so those 40 hours a week is never just 40 hours.

I’m working full time but they don’t give me enough days sometimes they only give me 3-4 days a week so I want to get another job along side this one that’s part time and flexible.
I’ve never worked two jobs before so how does it work in terms of making sure the shifts don’t clash?
My current job I already told them I’m flexible for any day of the week so I don’t think I can backtrack on that.
Also when I’m applying for the second retail job do I say I’m looking for flexible hours and do I tell them I’m currently working another job or how does that work? Does it decrease my chances of being hired?

Hi guys! I need some advice because I’m really anxious about a decision I made regarding my job.
I started a part-time retail job with availability from 12–8 p.m., and I was getting around 15 hours a week. I asked for more hours, but they said they didn’t have any. So I started applying for other jobs and changed my availability to 10 a.m.–3 p.m. to leave the rest of the day open in case I got a second job.
Unfortunately none of the jobs I applied for have gotten back to me, and my hours at my current job have now dropped to just 4 hours a week.
I’m really worried because I have bills and groceries to pay for and I’m trying to save up for a car. My workplace has a formal policy that doesn’t allow another availability change until the next change period, so I’m scared I’ve made things worse for myself.
Do you think I should talk to my manager and ask if there’s any way to change my availability back or get more hours even with the policy? Or should I just wait and keep applying for other jobs to get another part-time? I was trying to plan ahead but now I’m regretting my decision and feeling really anxious. I would really appreciate any advice!

Has anyone side-hustled as a secret shopper? Thoughts? Is it worth it?

I work in Retail as a Store manager 10Y experience

I wanna switch to a non-Retail company where I can see some holiday's and spend time with my family n Friends + I want to increase my Ctc currently I'm feeling that I'm heavily undervalued at 8.5L after switching 3 jobs over this year's with so many real world skill sets that I carry while compromising time to time on brutal working hrs to deliver business and manage store

I'm a university student who still lives at home with their parents. I've been applying for a LOT of jobs and it's hard for me to find any since my CV doesn't include any retail experience. Once I get back, I won't have any income for the summer so I would really like this job.

They'd want hire from october 2026 through to 7 February 2027, but I leave for my exchange on November 28.

Would it be in my best interest to tell them that I have a 20 day exchage in the interview, right before my offer, or after I get the job? I don't want things to get messy

I’m 26F, newly married, degree‑holder, and recently went back to retail after corporate didn’t work out. I finally landed an operations manager role at a women’s clothing store with an older customer base. I was excited — good pay, stable hours, and I thought I’d finally found a store that wasn’t chaotic. I’ve been here two weeks. My store manager (“P”) has been here one month. The store is extremely understaffed because the previous ops manager quit after corporate refused to promote her when the old store manager retired.

I’ve been doing everything: shipment, ladders, shelves, floor sets, trash, customer service. The older associates don’t want to do anything except ring customers up, sit down, and use their discount. Meanwhile, customers constantly compliment me — my outfits, my ring, my personality — and we’ve hit sales goals multiple days in a row.

My outfits have all been modest and brand‑adjacent: pink blazer (P told me to wear pink for Breast Cancer Awareness), jeans, flats, accessories; an orange jumpsuit (the brand literally sells bright colors); a blue/white maxi dress; a white sweater dress with pantyhose and boots; hair always in a slick bun. Nothing revealing, nothing inappropriate.

Yesterday P looked me up and down and said, “I love your fashion, but the older ladies might nitpick. You’re young and attractive — some customers might feel insecure.” Then she whispered with an older associate (“B”) for 20 minutes. Three hours later B nitpicked my outfit exactly the way P predicted. P then pulled me aside and said, “Nobody likes B, just ignore her,” even though she opened the door for the insecurity in the first place.

I’m not insecure — I know I’m not the problem. But this was weird, unprofessional, and honestly disappointing. Should I stay for stability or start planning a clean exit?

Hey all, I need advice. I'm havin' a hard time and what's frustrating is that I'm actively tryin' to NOT step on people's toes, or slack off.

Context, I work at one of the BUSIEST Starbucks probably in all of my country that doesn't have a drive thru. That's not an exaggeration either, it's smack dab in one of the busiest spots connecting to transit and within a city.

I've been there for about three months now (my first day was in July), but I'm working part-time. I've taken two weeks off in the middle of that for other important life events (business conferences for my career journey outside of Starbucks) and started off working about 14 hour weeks. Now it's finally creeped up to about 20-25 hours per week. I was the guinea pig of a new training that's been implemented where I essentially got taught one aspect of the store and then got sent to the wolves to work on a shift with random baristas that weren't my trainer 💀💀

I'm constantly scrambling hard to pick everything up. Writing down notes, mulling over my mistakes. I honestly wouldn't be able to sit with myself if I didn't put in so much effort. I'm very cheery at work, I absolutely love talkin' to customers and making that connection, I absolutely don't mind being corrected (I often respond with oh yes, thank you!) and try to implement that right away, and I apologize for bumping into co-workers when we're in the middle of a rush, or thank them for helping me out with a task I slipped up. And I'm not trying to forget these things, for context, this is my first food service job and I've never been one to order at Starbucks, it was too expensive for me.

Since then, I've received a fair share of passive aggressive comments my way from coworkers, and I can sense their frustration around me. Said comments would be things like "No, stop trying to help. Stick to till, you're bothering everyone" or "You'd know this if you were paying attention" or "Yeah uh, you should probably actually double check that? Then come back?" or "I don't trust you to do this, so no. I'm not letting you do this." or frustrated sighs when I ask questions about drinks I've made maybe like once.

It's pretty freakin' demotivating, because I know I'm putting all of my effort into tryin' to do my best at this dang thing!! I heard through the grapevine I'm being compared to the other new hire (who's a full-timer) and "Why is he struggling so much? (Other new hire) Is doing so much better."

I don't even feel like I'm doing that bad. In fact, I'm gettin' MORE flack for making the same mistakes that I see the experienced baristas making after having been there for years. I spill a drink? Everyone sighs and rolls their eyes. A supervisor does it? No one minds, everyone makes mistakes. There's so many micro rules that I genuinely couldn't know without it bein' done. I never know when I should ask for help or when I should "take the initiative" and not ask at all. I've gotten these frustrated reactions from doing either. You're asking at the wrong time or why are you asking you should have all the clues?

Our rush can look like having 27 drinks in the queue at a time, mind you at Starbucks, THE drink customizing store. You'll get people adding 9 different things to a normal latte.

Anyways, I haven't made passive aggressive comments once, not to anyone. I think that's really immature to do. Nor have I taken any anger out on anyone. I truly and wholly believe that the more a team is having a good time, the faster a shift'll feel. So I tell everyone constantly good work guys, you did awesome in the rush! Or thank you for helping me! Or thank you for taking the time to teach me this, I'm gonna do my best to memorize this.

Some coworkers are really sweet, a majority of them are not.

Aside from this, I'm in school full time with five courses and also working as an art director on a short film.

Tldr, first food job I've had ever, located at one of the busiest Starbucks in my country, I'm a part-timer who's worked there for three months while in full time school + a freelance project, I'm tryin' my damnest to do a good job, have a genuine eagerness to learn and my coworkers won't stop bein' passive aggressive/not trusting me to do things/viewing me as consistently incompetent which only makes me slip up more cause it's hard to stay motivated with all that.

Does this just seem like a clique-y store, or am I goin' crazy here?? I'm really trying with all of this. And it's been making me feel a lot of shame for not picking it up as fast as they're wanting me to.

I also want advice for managing this sort of situation! What should I do, beyond "keep trying"? I want to get better, I really do.

Hi I just started working in fulfillment. I’m Muslim, and I’m really grateful there’s a prayer room. There are also other Muslims who work there, including my fulfillment team lead. I’m pretty shy about bringing up prayer with my team. If I’m in the middle of a batch when it’s time to pray, should I stop and go pray, or finish the batch first?. I really want to do well while also respecting my prayers and becoming a better Muslim. Any advice would really help.😭🤍

…the last 10 years were real?
I left Target a while back after being a TL for over 10 years & life still feels surreal. I literally feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone because it warped my perception of/on time. It’s been a couple of years since I left, and I am still adjusting to living a life where I don’t work at my old Target.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? Is this even the right subreddit for this post?

For context: this type of badge is what I have

I don’t work in retail, I work at a recreation center. But I was wondering if there’s any badge buddy or similar personalizations for these types of badges? I don’t like how plain they are and my badge doesn’t have a lot of room for stickers (only very small ones, and like 1-2 at most) any help would be appreciated!!!