Download or read book Retail Hell written by Freeman Hall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-09-18 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Act I: "I think you left these behind," I said, handing them to her. This happens all the time when women try to return bags they've used. Tampons, lipstick, coins, Tic Tacs, and condoms are the top treasures found. "Greasy" let out a sigh as if I were the problem. "I really don't see what the problem is here. It's none of your business what I keep in my handbag." It is when my commission is at stake! I'm not your Designer Handbag Rental Service! My name is not BagBorrowOrSteal.com! This is a place Freeman Hall, a twenty-year veteran "on the floor," knows well. While delivering side-splitting stories alongside brutally cynical commentary, Freeman recounts his most shocking experiences in Retail Hell. From the time he was attacked by a customer's four-year-old, who grabbed onto his leg like a poodle and wouldn't let go, to the day he found the fitting room walls covered in s**t, Freeman has seen and heard (smelled and felt) it all! Horrifying and hilarious, this behind-the-scenes look at what really goes on at the Big Fancy Stores is rollicking, ready-to-wear wisdom for readers everywhere.
Download or read book Malled written by Caitlin Kelly and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-04-14 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One woman's midcareer misadventures in the absurd world of American retail. After losing her job as a journalist and the security of a good salary, Caitlin Kelly was hard up for cash. When she saw that The North Face-an upscale outdoor clothing company-was hiring at her local mall, she went for an interview almost on a whim. Suddenly she found herself, middle-aged and mid-career, thrown headfirst into the bizarre alternate reality of the American mall: a world of low-wage workers selling overpriced goods to well-to-do customers. At first, Kelly found her part-time job fun and reaffirming, a way to maintain her sanity and sense of self-worth. But she describes how the unexpected physical pressures, the unreasonable dictates of a remote corporate bureaucracy, and the dead-end career path eventually took their toll. As she struggled through more than two years at the mall, despite surgeries, customer abuse, and corporate inanity, Kelly gained a deeper understanding of the plight of the retail worker. In the tradition of Nickel and Dimed, Malled challenges our assumptions about the world of retail, documenting one woman's struggle to find meaningful work in a broken system.
Download or read book Return to the Big Fancy written by Freeman Hall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bigger, Fancier, and more cutthorat than ever! When Freeman Hall left The Big Fancy to pursue his screenwriting dreams, he thought the horrors of working in a handbag department were finally over. But instead of fame and fortune, he found himself stuck behind a wall of script-killing rewrites, unable to make a living. In Return to the Big Fancy, Freeman shares his wildly entertaining journey back through the fiery gates of Retail Hell. He thought he had seen it all in his day, but with the bar set higher than ever before, employees are now graciously bowing before Corporate as they climb over fellow salespeople, and even friends, to earn enough transactions and commissions to actually survive. As he learns more of the wretchedness that has befallen the sales floor, he realizes that The Big Fancy has its customers and its employees on a short leash. But leave it to Freeman and the threat of disappearing commissions to rally the retail slaves and show Corporate who's really in charge!
Download or read book Coworker Hell written by Freeman Hall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Backstabbers and Slackers and Mismanagers, Oh My! On the battlefields of retail hell, sometimes your “allies” turn out to be your worst enemies . . . When managers can’t run their stores and when coworkers refuse to actually work, shifts in retail go from bad to hellish and fast. There’s no one to turn to when the customers get mean, and there’s no one in to play defense when patrons complain. In these 28 hilarious-but-true stories, RetailHellUnderground.com bloggers pick their bones with the worst coworkers in memory - from lunch-stealing liars to power-hungry managers to snide corporate reps and more! It’s time these retail slaves - and even the customers - gave them what they really deserve!
Download or read book Pretending You Care written by Norman Feuti and published by Hyperion. This book was released on 2007-10-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ah, retail. It has lured in the best of us with promises of employee discounts (a sham), the "fun" of working with people (not so much), and flexible hours (dont make me laugh). What we got instead: cranky customers, sadistic managers, idiotic coworkers, and, oh yeah, the hell that is doing inventory. But there are ways to lessen the pain, and this retail handbook will show you how. Inside youll learn how to handle the crazies (both customers and coworkers), feign product knowledge, and make the best of working the register, all the while, of course, pretending you care. This book takes years of retail experience and condenses it into a guide that is as funny as it is useful. If you work in retail now, have done so in the past, or plan to do so in the future: this is the book for you.
Download or read book Ask a Manager written by Alison Green and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together
Download or read book Stolen Hell written by Freeman Hall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-09-24 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Greedy Grabbers, Privileged Pinchers, Shady Scammers, and More! Whether they’re swiping merchandise or conning cashiers, Nasty Ass Thieves (NATs) can be retail’s worst nightmare. Do they honestly think they can return merchandise they didn’t buy? Or muscle their way out of a private chat with Loss Prevention? Or short-change drawers every time they shop? Apparently they do - or there wouldn’t be these 36 hilarious-and-true stories from RetailHellUnderground.com bloggers about NAT run-ins of every shape and size. From food scammers to hulking shoplifters to the unthinkable tale of “Paint and Poo,” these stories will make you look - and laugh - a little harder at your fellow customer.
Download or read book Rant of a Retailer written by Macy May Marcus and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rant of a Retailer outlines the true-life adventures of Macy May Marcus, a seasoned department store manager, complete with insane customers, worse employees, and one horrendous boss. This is a non-fiction humor book on the trials and the (mild) triumphs of working in retail. According to The Wall Street Journal, roughly one of every 10 Americans is employed in the retail sector. This means 30 million of you readers will be able to relate to Macy's stories of agonized fitting room explosions and the horrors of the holidays. All stories are 100% true: every crazy, silly, disastrous, bumbling, lunatic story comes straight from the linoleum-covered racetrack of a major big-box retail store. With Chapters like, "Crazy Customers Make It All Worthwhile", "Returns, or Seriously? You're Really Returning This?", or "Loss Prevention, or Don't Steal! (But if You Do, You Won't Get Caught)", plus a bonus chapter on how to actually get what you want from bored, burnt-out, unmotivated retail employees. This is a laugh-out-loud, must-have manual for anyone who works - or shops - retail!
Download or read book Our Valued Customers written by Tim Chamberlain and published by Penguin Group. This book was released on 2012-07-03 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While working for several years in a comic book store, MRTIM started drawing the more memorable customers and the things that they said. Based on the blog of the same name, and featuring popular entries as well as brand-new cartoons, Our Valued Customers chronicles the lively, witty, and often acerbic opinions and comments of the customers who shop at comic book stores, providing a fascinating glimpse into the inner world of the devoted comic book fan.
Download or read book Paperbacks from Hell written by Grady Hendrix and published by Quirk Books. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An affectionate, nostalgic, and unflinchingly funny celebration of the horror fiction boom of the 1970s and ’80s Take a tour through the horror paperback novels of two iconic decades . . . if you dare. Page through dozens and dozens of amazing book covers featuring well-dressed skeletons, evil dolls, and knife-wielding killer crabs! Read shocking plot summaries that invoke devil worship, satanic children, and haunted real estate! Horror author and vintage paperback book collector Grady Hendrix offers killer commentary and witty insight on these trashy thrillers that tried so hard to be the next Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby. Complete with story summaries and artist and author profiles, this unforgettable volume dishes on familiar authors like V. C. Andrews and R. L. Stine, plus many more who’ve faded into obscurity. Also included are recommendations for which of these forgotten treasures are well worth your reading time and which should stay buried.
Download or read book Discount Hell written by Freeman Hall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-09-17 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These Discount Rats want more than sales To Discount Rats, the world should be free . . . and retail slaves are to blame when it isn’t. These crazy customers show up with purses full of coupons and intend to leave with enough swag to impress a thief. They’ll negotiate, scream, complain, and threaten - so long as the sale is in sight! These 33 hilarious-and-true stories of penny-pinchers and stingy shoppers are straight from the bloggers of RetailHellUnderground - and boy do they have some history with these misers! From the Meal Voucher Rat who needs an amusement park escort to find the right restaurant to the Credit Rat who gets a black mark in the customer database, these denied bargain hunters will have you in stitches!
Download or read book Little Monster Hell written by Freeman Hall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is no wrath like a Hellspawn scorned . . . They scream. They cry. And they’re worse then just miniature versions of their entitled, rude, and too-often crazy parents. They’re Hellspawn. These child terrors didn’t get their name for being cute. They have ransacked stores, turned on their parents, and tried to get employees fired. And the retail slaves that suffer their tantrums are tired of keeping quiet. In these 43 hilarious-and-true stories from RetailHellUnderground.com bloggers, little monsters like Pee Boy, Pony Girl, and the Little Ice Cream Devils give kids everywhere a bad name. But when Mouthy gets his smart-alecky due and the Screamer is offered an exorcism, you’ll find yourself rooting for the Underground heroes in no time!
Download or read book Pirates of the Retail Wasteland written by Adam Selzer and published by Delacorte Press. This book was released on 2008-04-08 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leon and his miscreant buddies from the gifted pool are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore! Their favorite downtown coffeeshop, Sip–the only survivor in the barren moonscape of decrepit Old Downtown–is in danger of being run out of business by the ubiquitous and oh-so-corporate coffee chain, Wackford’s. Wackford’s doesn’t host readings or smell funky or support the arts the way Sip does–it’s basically a glorified office. With the help of the Wackford’s manager–a self-described “McHobo” who’s worked for every chain along the strip–Leon and his friends decide to protest by taking over the Wackford’s and making it into a middle-management office. Meanwhile, Leon deals with an unwanted crush, a Mohawked father, and his friend Dustin’s ongoing quest to take down the gym teacher via depressing poems. Nothing quite goes as expected, but that’s the great thing about life in the gifted pool.
Download or read book The Secret Life of Groceries written by Benjamin Lorr and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A deeply curious and evenhanded report on our national appetites." --The New York Times In the tradition of Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma, an extraordinary investigation into the human lives at the heart of the American grocery store The miracle of the supermarket has never been more apparent. Like the doctors and nurses who care for the sick, suddenly the men and women who stock our shelves and operate our warehouses are understood as 'essential' workers, providing a quality of life we all too easily take for granted. But the sad truth is that the grocery industry has been failing these workers for decades. In this page-turning expose, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on the highly secretive grocery industry. Combining deep sourcing, immersive reporting, and sharp, often laugh-out-loud prose, Lorr leads a wild investigation, asking what does it take to run a supermarket? How does our food get on the shelves? And who suffers for our increasing demands for convenience and efficiency? In this journey: We learn the secrets of Trader Joe's success from Trader Joe himself Drive with truckers caught in a job they call "sharecropping on wheels" Break into industrial farms with activists to learn what it takes for a product to earn certification labels like "fair trade" and "free range" Follow entrepreneurs as they fight for shelf space, learning essential tips, tricks, and traps for any new food business Journey with migrants to examine shocking forced labor practices through their eyes The product of five years of research and hundreds of interviews across every level of the business, The Secret Life of Groceries is essential reading for those who want to understand our food system--delivering powerful social commentary on the inherently American quest for more and compassionate insight into the lives that provide it.
Download or read book Revolutionizing Retail written by K. Coulter and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-02-20 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a modest but growing body of scholarly literature on experiences of retail work, with only a handful of studies existing on retail organizing. Before Revolutionizing Retail, no scholar had captured or analysed the breadth of political action being pursued in this crucial economic sector. This book was awarded the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies 2015 Book Prize.
Download or read book The Retail Doctor s Guide to Growing Your Business written by Bob Phibbs and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-05-03 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's one of the toughest economies in years, but don't fear-the doctor is in Are you among the thousands of retailers frustrated by market challenges and looking for ways to take control of your business? Are you looking for the advice of an expert consultant, but unable to spend the money? Then The Retail Doctor's Guide to Growing Your Business is for you. By providing a step-by-step approach to evaluate your current business practices, The Retail Doctor offers professional guidance Redesign your organizational structure Reap the maximum returns on your investment Keep your business financially healthy Following the advice in these pages will help you devise a sound strategy to accomplish your goals and outperform your competitors. You'll also gain clear insight into all areas of human resource management, sales training, merchandising methods, and marketing. While your competitors are looking for a magic bullet to solve their problems, with The Retail Doctor's Guide to Growing Your Business, you can be making changes that will guarentee enormous returns and financial success.
Download or read book Resurrecting Retail written by Doug Stephens and published by Figure 1 Publishing. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few crises in modern history have so completely disrupted every aspect of daily life as has the Covid-19 pandemic. What began as a small medical ripple in Wuhan, China, a city many of us had never heard of, quickly erupted into a tsunami of epic proportions. Every market, industry, vertical, profession, service, and category of product was in some way rocked by its impact. And, for the first time in recorded history, every wheel, cog and gear in the global retail industry ground to a virtual halt. From two-time, international best-selling author and futurist Doug Stephens, Resurrecting Retail is not just a riveting story of the unprecedented crash of an industry during this time of crisis but a roadmap for its rebirth. Meticulously researched in real time from inside the crisis, Resurrecting Retail provides a comprehensive and surprising vision of how Covid-19 will reshape every aspect of consumer life, including the very essence of why we shop.
