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The Amusing World of Working Retail
Sometimes all you can do is shake your head and laugh
Sometimes I think everyone should be required to work in a retail establishment at least once in their life. If you or anyone you know is looking for a crash course in human behavior, this is the ticket. There is no tuition or teacher per se. There are, however, many tests, mostly of your patience.
I have worked second jobs in retail for a number of years. My primary occupation, teaching, lent itself to second jobs very well, if you get my drift. In doing so, I not only had a secondary source of income, but I also learned much about human beings, including myself.
Helping the do-it-yourselfers at Home Depot
One of my retail positions was at The Home Depot, where I worked as a sales associate in the tool rental department. The tool rental department rents tools that most people don’t own, either because they are too expensive or because the customer simply has a one-time need for the tool, which makes buying it a waste of money.
Most of our customers were do-it-yourself types, though we did rent tools to contractors as well. The contractors generally knew what they were doing, but the do-it-yourself crowd represented a broad range of competence. Some did their…
