Jackson Pryhuber, senior, Target

Q: What is your most awkward experience?

A: I work in the clothing department and every team member has a walkie talkie, and the protections person calls me on the walkie, he says, ‘Jackson, can you bring me a pair of childrens shorts?’ I had no idea why, it was such a strange request, right? Then I hear over the intercom, ‘We have a code brown, a code brown,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I have not heard this code before.’ So I give him the pair of pants and he’s like, ‘Can you help me cleaning the boys bathroom?’ I see them escort this poor little boy out of the bathroom. That was the code brown.

Q: What is it like working retail?

A: Working in retail is interesting because you have to deal with a lot of different people, and it is more of you skills and reacting in certain situations because you never know who is going to walk through the doors.

Q: How do customers treat you normally?

A: For every bad customer I get, there is at least one decent customer, but recently, more bad than good. They make snarky comments, they act like they know how to do your job, they don’t believe you when you tell them something, like, ‘Oh, we don’t have this product in stock’ and they’re like, ‘Can you go check in the back?’ and I am like, ‘Sure, I will go walk around the back for a little bit, waste your time and waste my time.’

Q: How do you work with these kinds of customers?

A: It really depends. I have had situations where I have had to literally had to hand off to a different team member because I am done with that person and I know I have reached my limit where I could say something that I probably shouldn’t. It’s a lot of patience.

Q: Out of all the places you have worked, what is your most memorable experience?

A: [When I worked at Mariano’s] Bob Mariano was in the store, and he asked me to mop the wall. Literally mop a wall. It was the strangest thing I have ever done. He was completely serious, like it was a normal thing to do, so cue me 30 minutes later, I am literally hitting a wall with a mop because you can’t really mop a wall.

Sarah Gleich, senior, Target

Q: What is it like working retail?

A: I guess it’s kinda fun cause you get a lot of experience with lots of people. At times it is kinda terrible, like these people are sometimes so rude and they think that they know it all. That part is hard.

Q: What do you love about your job?

A: I really like the people I work with, that’s probably the only reason I want to be there. They are like a family. I have been there for two years now and they have been through everything with me and I am there so often and it’s like, ‘I am going to work but it’s still really fun.’

Q: How do customers treat you?

A: Usually people are very nice, but occasionally you get that terrible customer who makes you want to quit your job and you’re like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening’

Q: How do you deal with tough customers?

A: After a while of them bickering with you, you’re like, ‘Fine, you’re right, whatever, you can have it, like whatever,’ but you can’t let them walk all over you.

Q: Most memorable experience?

A: There was this girl (employee) and a customer got so mad at her over like this stupid coupon and literally  went up to guest service and was trying to help her and all of these customers like sided with the employee and they’re like, ‘you can’t treat her like that.’ It was nice to see that everyone  thought she was crazy, too.

Alyssa Davis, junior, Walgreens

Q: What are some of your most awkward experiences?

A: When you call over the intercom and you say the wrong thing or you stutter for a little bit and you just kinda laugh about it. Sometimes you just put the phone down and and pick it back up and re-say what you were going to say. Also, all of our co-workers and managers act like high schoolers and there is so much drama and you are just kinda in the middle of it all, and it’s really awkward when they fight and you are in the same room.

Q: What makes working in retail interesting?

A: Well there are a lot of nice people even though you always remember the mean ones. I work in the cosmetics section and I love when people ask me about makeup and my favorite brands.

Q: How do you work with customers who drive you crazy?

A: A lot of the problems deal with pricing and I honestly can not do anything about it, so I have to call up my manager and have them deal with it because the customer won’t listen to me and just write me off as someone who does not know what they are doing.

Q: What is your most memorable moment?

A: One time I was checking someone out in cosmetics and she wanted to buy root hair color and she is looking at two shades of brown hair dye and she asks, ‘which one looks better?’ and I responded with, ‘probably the darker one’ and she is like, ‘I don’t know,’ and she looks up at me and she is like, ‘I would hate for it to come out looking like your color.’ I was so offended and this was like when I had darker hair color.

Sydney Benson, freshman, Merle Norman

Q: What is your most awkward experience?

A: The most awkward experience I’ve had in retail was one time when we first started using the chip readers. I was checking this lady out and I had thought that the payment had gone through but as soon as she left I realized it hadn’t. I had to hurry across the street and ask her to come back. It was so embarrassing but I know I definitely won’t do it again.

Q: What is it like working in retail?

A: Working in retail can sometimes be repetitive since you might be doing the same task over and over again but you just have to get it done because every job has its ups and downs.

Q: How do customers treat you?

A: When you work in retail when you are young you have some people that judge you, especially since I work with makeup. A lot of people question whether or not I am going to know how to apply their makeup since I’m usually a lot younger than them, but by the time I finish, they’re totally in love with the look!

Q: What is the most memorable experience?

A: The most memorable experience I’ve had with Merle Norman (cosmetic studio) is before it had even opened. I got the chance to help put the store together, stock the shelves, and organize everything in the store. Because I got to do this, the store really feels like home to me.

Francheska Perfetti, freshman, Always Healthy(Vitamin shop)

Q: What do you like about your job?

A: It’s nice because you get to help people, but it’s also very frustrating because people are annoying

Q: How do customers treat you?

A: Our customers are nice, some are cranky, but most are really nice

Q: How do you deal with difficult customers?

A: You just have to put a smile on your face and wait and be calm, because if you let them see that you are frustrated they won’t think that you can help them.

Q: Memorable experience

A: When I first started working, I didn’t know where anything was in the store. It’s really hard when the store is really busy and my boss is telling me to do things and hurry up.