Retail Management
Are you a current or former manager in a retail business? Do you work in a clothing, shoe, or discount store? Are you managing an electronics, jewelry, or specialty shop? Stand proud. Chances are you don’t get much respect, but you should. Yes, you have a thankless job with terrible hours, mediocre benefits, and a paycheck that barely covers rent, utilities, and the Value Meal Deal. But you work hard. You motivate and train other employees to excel. You are nice, even when others are not nice. You are responsible — day after day, sale after sale, policy change after policy change.
For All Those Reasons and More I Respect You. Here’s Why.
For seven years, I worked as a sales and training manager in a department store. I was young, not teenager young, but late 20’s early 30’s young. I had a college degree (in English), but no real management or customer service experience. I had worked in a bank in the IT Department and in a sub shop, and taught for awhile, but, frankly, I was drifting. I didn’t really have a career in mind. Then one day I was offered a sales manager job at a large department store. It was kind of a fluke actually, but I needed a job and I took it. I’m glad I did. I can’t image doing what I do now without that background, without that training, and without that guidance from thousands of employees, managers, and customers over those seven years. So, here’s my take on why retail managers should get more respect.