For those of you that don’t
know, this summer I’ve had two jobs- working at Bath and Body works, and
working at Target, where I’ve worked since I was sixteen years old. As I write this, I am sitting at my current
job – the Target fitting room. The best
part of the job? The down time. This, ironically, is also the worst, because
we are not supposed to be doing anything during this time. Yes, right now I’m breaking the rules. Oh well.
What does this particular
task involve exactly? It means I get to
answer phone calls, hand out numbers so “guests” (or customers) can go try
clothing on, and sort through clothing to be put back out on the floor. While the job itself can be disgusting at
times, I at least have the benefit of being able to sit down once I’ve finished
my tasks, unlike my coworkers.
But while they often are
the source of my complaints, and the work-related migraines that I often get,
the customers, or “guests,” as Target calls them, have the potential to be the
most entertaining part of my job.
What do I do when I’m not
spending my time working in the fitting room?
Running around on the sales floor in an attempt to keep it organized and
clean. And believe me, this is no easy
feat. While the task sounds simple, you
learn something very quickly when doing this job: people are slobs. When shopping, people could care less that it
took you an hour to fold that table of shirts to make it look perfect and
organized by size and color; they’ll just throw the shirts around just to get
the one item that they want. People will
put items where they don’t belong, just so they are not inconvenienced, will
throw things on the floor and treat the employees as if they are their own
personal shoppers.
But despite all of the
negative that comes with being on the sales floor, it has given me the
opportunity to develop friendships with the people that I work with. Working on the floor with other people allows
me to work with another person, where in the fitting room, I’m all by
myself. At work I’ve made some
incredibly close friends, some of whom I still speak with today.
As I come up on 5-years
at Target mark, I’m still shocked at how long I’ve been with the same company
and store. Never did I expect that I’d
be working there when I originally got the job while in high school. The experience has definitely had its ups
and downs, but at the end of the day, this type of job is not going to be my
career, it’s just a job.
