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Working as a cashier has made my mental state...not good. On my days off (like today) I don’t have motivation to do anything; I feel mentally drained almost all the time.

The second you put the uniform on, you're no longer a person anymore 😞

I don’t mind retail but there are factors about retail that make retail jobs unbearable. 1. Inconsistent schedules. 2. Understaffing 3. Poor training 4. Bad work culture/management/co-workers 5. Low pay

Tbh I feel like there’s gonna be a behavioral shift in society because now at work I just talk back to the customers. I don’t take it anymore lmao

Working any customer service job makes you hate the general public!!

retail literally had me in the most toxic and unmotivated mental state of my life . when i left it was literally like the clouds parted and all this weight was lifted off me . retail is one of the biggest scams that exists .

Retail made me have nothing but disgust for the public. It showed me how stupid and rude people could be. My stress levels seemed to increase exponentially, I drank a lot, and had zero motivation despite being in school while working retail. After one day I lost it and hurt into tears in the back inventory room. I quit, and never looked back. Now training in my clinical rotations as a general scientist. Theres way more responsibility, but I couldn't be happier. I make a point to be super polite, pleasant, and smile when talking to customer service people, and I always thank them for their help because I'm sure they've dealt with some crappy people.

I worked ten years in retail and it changes you. It gives you a more negative outlook on society because you see so many people that are trash human beings.

Me in high school: I'm depressed AF Retail industry aka my first job: Hold my beer

I've caught myself wishing the most horrible and painful forms of suffering on customers because retail just brings out the torturous dictator within me.

The problem is that genuinely stupid customers have so much power over you, and ability to get you in trouble when you don't deserve it. The customer is NOT always right. They are dishonest, and out for their own best interest. Tons are straight up scammers.

I absolutely agree that retail makes you a bitter person. I’ve worked several different retail jobs now and have a total of 7 years altogether. Retail makes you lose most of your faith in humanity to be honest. When you do get those select nice customers you want to hug them and cry because you wish every customer was like them

Retail has left me with dreaming about retail. I wake up angry and stressed.

This is why I am ALWAYS careful to be kind to people working in retail- aside from the fact that it's what is proper and humane.

i worked in retail as my first job, for a month during the chirstmas season. i am very extroverted and good with people, and smile a lot, so i thought i would be good at it + i needed the experience. never again. i've been insulted for my looks, my "rude attitude" and for things out of my control (like the prices). customers look at you and treat you like you are lesser than human... Retail: A New Level of Hell.

It made me realize how fake and selfish people truly are

I work for Walmart and... I used to joke about hating everyone, but now I really do just hate people. I try to come to work with a positive attitude, and it's like customers can sense it and they just want to suck all of that out of you.

I’m still scarred from this time at my first job where there was an extremely long line. I was under a lot of pressure as the only cashier in the thruway stop that day (and being new to the job) and I find it hard to do basic calculations when under a lot of stress. The older man I was cashing out saw me struggling, so he found it in his right to tightly grab my hand with anger, manually making me count the change as he said “Kids these days can’t even count change. Here, we’ve got a nickel and that’s 5 cents-“ and so on and so forth, only letting go of my hand when he stopped counting. I had never felt so publicly humiliated in my life. Retail is horrible.

I have nightmares from my experience in retail. Seriously it’s like a super mild form of ptsd

I must admit I was one of those customers until I started working at Home Depot. I kid u not, now when I walk into any retail store, I don’t even ask for help anymore I do my own research before I go into the store if not I’ll go into the store and just READ THE SIGNS. People are lazy mentally they want you to think for them. I call it “consumer panic” they walk in, get overwhelmed by all the options.

Working in retail destroyed my ability to stand up for myself and set healthy boundaries. It became like a reflex to stoically endure verbal abuse, accept blame for anything thrown my way, and go beyond what’s healthy in terms of working to keep everyone around me happy regardless of my own happiness. I often wonder if there is an overlap between retail employment and a tendency to endure toxic relationships/family dynamics.

Most likely, the negative things stick in human brains, because it is important for your survival to remember what things to avoid.

Hate hearing “HaVe YoU dOnE cOnStRuCtIon” Yes I have, and it was no where near as bad as when I worked at Walmart. Yeah it’s physically demanding, but the emotional and mental drain that retail has on you is way worse

I want an office job so bad. Everyone desribes it as boring but id rather be bored than feel like im being mentally abused everyday.

Working one month in fast food I've learned to say "sorry" a lot.

I worked in retail for almost two decades. The customers act like that because they're told they can. It is the dark side of the customer is always right.

This is even worse if you have Asperger's. Dealing with the general public can stress us out even more, and its because we have communication and social problems.

I absolutely hate people in stores now, it's not their fault it's just my mindset that just views all customers as rude inconsiderate people. I hate how retail has made me view people now...

I worked in a bar for 3 years and I can say that retail and hospitality are the absolute worst jobs in modern society.

I needed this. I sort of accepted fate when I didn’t get into the school I wanted. Then I ended up working retail for 3 years. The other day, I had a breakdown when I got called in. I dread my closing shift later tonight lol but when I get home, I’ll do some job searching and see if I can get into a good school. Thank you Fanta, I really did need this before just going with the flow.

I worked for Walmart 15 solid years. Two strokes while working there. 2017 and 2018. I'm literally in therapy now due in part because of the time I spent there. I cannot believe I stayed there for the time I did. I literally shiver every time I pass a Walmart. I can't bring myself to step foot in one. Walmart ruined my whole outlook on life. I'm still trying to get my life back. Thank you for doing this series. I hope it saves someone before they make the same mistake I did.

I've been told by more than one retail store clerk that they can tell who has worked in retail and who hasn't. I got burnt out from retail and the shift works sucks! I'm an introvert and I had to be an extrovert and it took a lot out of me! I was so drained I had no energy to do anything! I would wake up and dread going to work and hate my life and feel like I was dying more inside with the passing of each day!

Honestly I work in a backroom in a retail store its not half as bad compared to ones working on floor dealing with customers.

Customer: "hey can you tell me where (blank) is?" Me: "oh I'm sorry our store doesn't carry that." Customer: " I got it here last week" Me:" ...nope"

Ive worked in retail a long time! It’s made me extremely introverted! On my days off, I just stay home. Dealing with people is mentally exhausting!! I only leave the house for specific reasons, like a doctor’s appointment, grocery shopping etc, but other than that, I stay my black ass at home! Fuck society!!

For some reason I just felt like the biggest looser when I worked retail. I didn’t even want to tell anybody where I worked.

As a cart pusher. I was unfairly fired because my pace was sloppy...however the store was in a huge plaza with an extremely large parking lot. Also they admitted to not having more than one cart pusher in one shift because they're cutting corners. Oh and my co-workers told me that the company was planning on not giving me the benefit of the doubt and plotted to fire me for 3 months. Luckily I made friends among the employee base. After I was terminated 7 of my co-workers quit.

Every major civilization was built on the backs of disposable people. It's not right, it's just history. I'm six foot seven and people would run into me with their carts and claim they didn't see me. They would shake ladders I was standing on and get offended when I didn't think it was funny. One guy flipped out on me because I couldn't explain why Bounty prices had gone up the same amount all over town. He thought I should know just because I was the guy taking the paper towels out of the box and putting them on the shelf. After I got out of retail, it took me years to realize how ridiculously bad I had been treated. If you are in retail right now, please know, other jobs are not like that. Get out if you can.

In regards to Overtime. I had a co-worker who’s ways tell me that I shouldn’t mind working 6 days, because I could use the overtime pay to take my wife out to a fancy dinner. If I’m working all the time, when am I gonna be able to do that?

Working in retail 20 years has turned me into a total miserable asshole. I just can't stand people anymore. My faith in humanity is so low now. I was unhappy before but never this bad. With me it's fellow employees that piss me off.

The first thing that hit me was low energy from depression. I kept chasing it with sodas and energy drinks. Late nights, weekends, and holidays. No social life really. I smoked and drank on and off and ate junkfood because it was cheap and quick. Too tired from being on my feet all day for 8-16 hours to exercise. Lots of clopens and doubles. There were days id hit the pillow after a double shift to go to my other job in 3 hours. I would dress in my uniform for the next day and put a redbull by my bed to wake up with. Sometimes I had 2 fulltime jobs working 70-80 hours a week. I was not very compassionate when Karen wanted to see the manager.

People need to remember, that your coworkers are not your friends. Lean how to separate the two and you'll be better off at life in general in retail.

I needed to see this. I got a new job recently, and today an old man told me I needed to go back to school because I was new. I lost my previous job because the manager viewed me as an aset, not a person. I want to draw RWBY comics when I come home. I come home exhausted. My parents tell me it's normal, but... This is not life. This is sickness. This is not how human beings should live.

I judge hard when I see somebody mistreating an employee.

Boomers, man. They’re awful.

My mental state during my retail years was bad. I was a happy and positive person before I started working retail, but during those years, I was depressed, negative and hated life. Dealing with difficult customers turned me into a misanthrope. I stopped smiling. Once I left retail, I started feeling 1,000 times better and I'm finally enjoying life again. Working retail is a drain on you mentally and physically.

My personal favorite of all retailisms, when you get a monetary raise and cut hours to compensate.

I hate my retail job so much that when I hear or see their commercials I turn off the radio or tv. I can’t even listen to certain music because they play it at the place I work and it just drains me to hear those songs.

I got fired from my golf course job because I’m not legally allowed to drive and my supervisor told me to drive and lied to the boss when asked if he gave permission. That was my first job EDIT- the supervisor is 75 years old

When I started my job at walmart, I never smoked or drank or anything. 8 years later, I've had a severe nicotine addiction with cigarettes but i switched to vaping. I used to drink all the time, but I stopped that and mainly stick to weed to help. My insomnia is an issue all of its own. Retail is cancer.

My motto for literally all retail positions: Just do what you can! Don't sweat the small stuff. I know that's easier said than done and cam be ESPECIALLY hard if you work with some dickheads, but keeping that in mind has at least helped me compartmentalize it and not bring it home with me. Some days I'd be at the register ALL DAY and not get to do anything else during my entire shift and you know what? That's OK. Because I'm one person. Also don't overwork yourself, EVER. And try to figure out ways of doing things that make it easier/more efficient for you. After working somewhere for a while, that kinda comes naturally so don't sweat it if it doesn't come right away. Last but most definitely not least: have something else to look forward to outside of work. I have my own activities that I can do that personally help me recharge. And if you have to, have a separate category of stuff you like to do that require minimal effort for those days that are SUPER draining.

I worked as a cashier almost two years ago and absolutely hated it. I remember one of my worst days - I was just about to clock out and it was at the busiest time. A lady and her friend came through with two carts loaded up with Tide and wanted to use 24 coupons for it, but our store had a policy that you can only use so many coupons per purchase. I explained that to them, but the one lady wasn’t having it. She started cursing and yelling, making a big scene while customers lined up behind her. I kept apologizing and trying to explain, finally she yelled that she wanted to speak to the manager. He came over and angrily explained that we couldn’t accept that many coupons, but he got tired of arguing and said ”fine, just give it to her, I’m going to lunch.” So I rang up all the coupons (which I had to do manually for the majority) and then I tell her her total (which was significantly small after all the coupons). Except this time she tells me she has two more coupons on her phone to be scanned and they’re both worth $25, which would have made the total cost nothing for the two carts full of Tide. The coupons were also completely bogus, and the machine wouldn’t even recognize the barcodes, and I can’t manually enter in such a large amount. I told her I couldn’t take those coupons, so she screamed and cursed at me again, and left both her carts of Tide in my check lane so she could go complain about me to customer service. Her friend apologized to me though, which I appreciated. I moved the carts out of the check lane so other people could move through and then clocked out as fast as I could (the whole ordeal lasted about 20 minutes after I had to clock out). I remember feeling so defeated after that, and I dreaded going in to work. Luckily I quit a few months after that and have now moved on to a much better job!

You can almost always tell who the managers are. Often the most chain-smokiest or obese employees in the store.

I worked in a Sam's club for 5 years and it took me just as long to repair the mental damage it did to me.....on the bright side it motivated me to go to college and get a degree "never work retail again" was my battle cry while during that time.

I'm going to be single for the rest of my life because after a long day of work the last thing I want to do is to spend time with anyone. People be telling me "you need to get out and meet more people" and I just reply back with "F people"

I almost did two months of my current retail job but it's negatively effecting my mental state and my manager is shady asf. Thanks for the video, it's a wake up call.

Had a general store manager at a grocery store that mocked me for choosing school over more hours at that job. Karma: that store closed 3 months after I quit. I have my associates, which had gotten me jobs in my field of study. Currently in a job that is willing to help me pay for school 😜.

People who work retail need videos like these as a kind of therapy because they work retail and obviously cannot afford therapy

Couldn’t be more true. When a customer comes in on a hot day and says”how do you work back there on such a hot day?” Or on a nice day “it’s so nice out! I hope you get to get outside” triggers the hell out of me

Lots of people will get stuck in the mindset of "this is all I can do" because you get put into a very difficult place to crawl out of. I really advocate for trade schools & programs because that's one of the few realistic options to get a foot up in life if you're close to rock bottom.

Retail has taught me to automatically view everyone as a jerk before getting to know them. I don’t necessarily treat them differently, I’m more so bracing myself in advance because of how frequently you get crappy customers. I’ve began investing a good portion of what I make so that there’s hope that some day, my investments will take off and I’ll be above all the crappy people that look down on me right now. And I would be sure to be kind to everyone. Even after college I’ll be investing as much as possible. Liked and Subscribed

Retail is true hell and you never really recover from it completely

I worked retail for over 10 years before deciding to go to hair school to escape it.... only to find out it was worse. The school was so awful to its students that myself and others are still trying to recover mentally 2 months later. They completely destroyed our sense of worth and self. The retail and service industry as a whole is completely fucked up and revolves around you loosing your identity and sense of worth with subtle manipulation.

When I worked in retail my life was going nowhere. Since I left retail my life has gone nowhere but up. Now I have benefits, full time wages, and I’m about to finish a degree in business through part-time coursework. Leaving retail is the best thing you can do for yourself and your family.

I Developed depression and it ruined my life...Thanks walmart....Thank you for forcing me out of college because you wanted me 7 days straight. Thanks walmart for ruining my Engagement.....Oh thanks for taking 4 years of my life and not giving me a managment position.

I worked at Walmart for two years and am a year out of it, and my mental health is still recovering. The utter shit retail puts you through is horrible and it can take a while to recover

I've been in retail for 20 years. I can't even function in everyday life anymore. No motivation to even leave my house on my day off. Just mentally numb.

Stuff like this just makes me wish society in general was just POLITE, at least. Maybe it's just me, but I try to be as polite as possible to the workers whenever I go into a place like walmart or target. Smile, say please and thank you, and talk in a pleasant tone and try to act as unaggressive as possible.

i had a job as a cashier for a month. During the first week, i knew that humanity must be purged. Getting fired was the best thing that has ever happened to me!

Retail has really changed me. I used to be such a warm and happy person. Now, I just bitter, depressed and I cuss a lot. Everyone been telling me to get a new job. I should start taken this more seriously.

I'm not really religious... But God bless the people who worked in retail and/or got out. I'm so...so sorry....

Working retail destroys your faith in humanity because the people you come Into contact with all day are: Miserable. Entitled. Petty. Inconsistent. Playing favorites. General assholes. I'm not just talking about at work. I'm talking all day, everyday life. Working retail bashes you until you're a scared little wimp who apologizes for everything and hides in a corner. I'm here because I work retail. Help 😂😢😵

I worked at micheals there are always angry old ladies, karens, and people who ask if I speak English cus the way I look...

I worked at movie theaters from age 16-21. Concessions, box office, ushering, cleaning theaters. Those years really gave me a lot of perspective and also gave me an appreciation for people who work such jobs. This one time a woman ordered nachos. We had 2 sizes, small and large so I asked her which she wanted because she didn't say. She repeats "nachos". I again ask which size. Her son, probably about 10 years old then says to me "she said nachos, it's not hard dumbass!!". No reprimand from the woman, she says "I told you I want NACHOS" with a pissed off look on her face. It took every ounce of willpower to not tell them both off. This type of exchange was commonplace. What retail teaches you is that people are scumbags and it's something that definitely stays with you. But I think it's also a good wakeup call about how the world is. Humans suck more often than not. I used to think the opposite, that the good outnumber the bad but I was very wrong.

Hearing all those stories about retail work and the psychological damages it can cause has me convinced it's more suited as a punishment than an actual job.

I'm currently stuck back in a part-time grocery job that I left when I tried to enlist. Long story short, those plans fell through and now I'm desperately trying to restart my pre-retail career that I went to school for (retail was originally only a side gig). But now it feels like there's this conspiracy behind the scenes to keep me trapped in retail, like the organizations I apply to see it on my resume and think I'm more valuable preparing their groceries for them. Frustration and stress...

Vietnam style flashbacks. Target still gives me chills.

It took me a long time to have any hope for humanity after working retail for years. I feel like if everybody had to work 2 years of mandatory retail, the world would be a better place, because everyone would begin to understand.

I worked retail and I work in a wearhouse now. Retail is worse. The place I work at will give us food and lots of breaks they go out of their way to remind me to eat and drink and take breaks. In retail they wouldn’t let me go to lunch without a guilt trip.

Not just retail, I’ve worked in an office environment for over 25 years and we go through the same thing, backstabbing coworkers, psychopathic bosses, you are just a number, super high and chronic stress, cube prisons...basically we are all just slaves to the system.

I worked at Hot Topic as a manager making 8.50 an hour but it was the most fun job, and my manager and the workers under us were like a family. What killed my soul was call center jobs. And server jobs.

*vietn- walmart flashbacks*

Working retail ( customers) stamped on my self esteem until it was gone, the day before work i was having anxiety attacks and was frightened.

Worked for Walmart for almost 4 years. While I was there I was miserable, sleeping excessively and eating mostly junk. For nearly 4 months after leaving I remained in that state. I avoid Walmart like the plauge, to the point I refused to even want to see the building /commercials/ delivery trucks. My wife equated my behavior to ptsd because of how far I would go to avoid it. Their entire " company culture" is a facade. People have asked me if I'd recommend working there, my response is always the same. " No. If you need a job to keep you afloat financially then you can apply for it. But it is not worth staying there for any longer than a year".

You're speaking to my soul. Working at Walmart was a horrendous experience for me.

I once drove 23km on a country road in a blizzard at 5am to get to work for 6am. Just to be fired once I got there. I lived outside of the City.

It’s really funny how most of those customers that make life harder for workers and will talk about them to their face won’t do it to a random stranger on the street. Seriously, people need to understand that you don’t know what people do when they’re not in uniform and it’s very easy for someone to snap and go into a rampage. Everyone has a story before you meet them.

I did it for 17 years. I work a decent union job now. I still get panic attacks from my retail days. I had a couple customers try to fight me.

Working at a bank is no different. It’s still retail and it’s the same environment. I quit a week ago and I’ve never been happier.

I have a college degree and i'm still working at walmart 12 dollars the hour and you wanna know why? Because of lack of self confidence i'm always afraid of change and i don't feel good enough i just can't avoid that feeling

I was diagnosed with C-PTSD, and part of that trauma was from working 6 years in retail. 6 years of my life I can't get back. Sometimes I still have nightmares that I'm working there again.

This makes me feel so much better I worked at a gas station and I thought something was wrong with me I got to be so depressed and literally cried before work I had a man toss coffee on me it burned and my boss laughed at me I finally had a mental break down and had to quit. But before that I was such a mean person retail turned me into a glaring unempathetic person "you're supposed to smile" I couldn't...I'm better now and I'll never go back

This applies so hard to food service too. Worked those jobs for three years, and now I'm finally free from that working at the school I'm attending as a secretary, but man working food just made me absolutely loathe people in general.

Working with the general public made me realize how entitled, oblivious, & dickish people can be. Great video!

I fucking hate working at Walmart it’s destroyed my view on people in general. I’m angry all the time and even after work right now I know I have to do it again tomorrow morning I fucking hate it. When I’m in the parking lot I hope people hit me with their fucking cars just so I don’t have to work, I don’t have any patience left, before I worked retail I could prevent myself from getting mad but now I feel like I can’t stop myself from wanting to just stomp someones head in. Some of my friends work retail as well and we are all 17/18 and it’s concerning seeing my friends resort to nicotine addictions and drinking all the time or staying up until 2am getting up at 5:30am and just chugging a monster instead of sleeping. I come home and I feel like I never left work it’s fucking horrible how people treat each other especially because it’s mostly grown ass 30-40year old people just treating literal high schoolers/college students like fucking shit

I was going to work at Walmart, but I could sense the depression around the happy interview. I chose not to work there.

I’m currently working at a dollar general and my god, is it awful. If it wasn’t for my awesome coworkers and the convenience that it’s right down the road to where I live, I would quit tomorrow. The hours are odd and demanding, the pay is ass, no holiday pay on holidays and the only holiday you get off is Christmas DAY. On top of that, I get some pretty cool customers but those nasty ones tend to stand out the most and it’s just .... stressful. I thought the whole “karen” thing was a meme but my god, it’s all too real in retail. Edit: I finally quit back in late February of 2021. Best decision I ever made. My entire time spent working there was 2 and a half years. I will never recommend nor push anyone (including my kids) to ever work retail. The lowest point of my life and my psyche will never fully recover.

When I worked at Walmart I used to get drunk in my car on my lunch break every single day.

Mate… I completely understand…. I understand your frustration. Retail made me hate people. All people… even the tolerable ones. I see retail customers at my work now, as a completely different species, literally don’t see them as people. I never talk to retail workers like crap, because I know how it feels, and I definitely don’t treat their workplace like a dumping ground. G’day from Sydney, 🇦🇺.