A couple of years ago, I needed some extra cash for a holiday I had coming up. It was around Christmas time so the easiest job to was as a Christmas Casual at a shoe store.

Shittiest. Idea. Ever. Working in retail has to be the worst idea for a former-hoarder/wannabe minimalist. During training you are told that you must try and sell customers extra shit they don’t need so you can make a few extra bucks to your daily sales record – “it’ll be fun,” they said. Also, if the shoes don’t fit, you have to convince customers to buy extra shit to make them fit. “Try this jelly shoe insert. It’s super comfortable and sure to do the trick!”, you say choking on your own lies.

They say the worst thing about working in retail is dealing with the customers, but on a whole, I actually found that to be the more enjoyable part of my day (more interaction = less sales) – well, except the “too cool for school” teens (they won’t give you the time of day) who came in looking like cheap hookers. Where’s self-respect gone these days?

The hardest times were the people would say they don’t need a new pair of shoes or that the current pair they were trying on was just like a pair they already own. AND you still had to sell to these people! With forced smile and through gritted teeth, all I wanted to do was tell them to do something more worthwhile with their money – because there is no better job satisfaction than someone going bankrupt because they bought too many pairs of shoes. Bah humbug.