What to do when shopping retail - making retail workers' lives that much easier by being a nice person I work at a clothing store. This is just based on what I have seen. 1. Do NOT be a cat. Let me explain. Sometimes, cats will stare you dead in the eye and knock stuff over. Why? I have no idea. I have no idea why people knock over piles of clothes and leave them there. Maybe they know someone else will clean it up for them. While this is true, it is polite to refold and replace articles of clothing that you move. Even if you don't do it perfectly, it's much nicer than crumpling it into a ball and throwing it on top of the shelves (people do that more frequently than you'd think.) Or hand it to an employee and ask if they can refold it. And please, ask before taking something from an employee. People have taken articles of clothing out of my hands as I fold them. Just be polite. I know most of you won't do this. Just thought I'd mention it. 2. Use (but don't abuse) what is provided. First off, please use the fitting rooms. Do not dress and undress on the sales floor. I've seen people do this. I don't think you will choose to take off your pants outside of the fitting room, but I've seriously seen people do that and I wish they wouldn't. Every time I've seen this happen, there were fitting rooms open. Also, be careful about what you choose to bring into the fitting rooms. If there are many identical articles of clothing that you like, but they're all different colors, only take one or two into the fitting room. Try it on to make sure you like the fit, then select colors from the sales floor. The fitting room is for choosing sizes, the sales floor is for choosing colors. Next, fitting rooms have a rack or a bin where you put the clothes that you do not want to buy. Use them! Instead of leaving your pile of crap in the fitting room, put it on the big pile of crap to be processed and put back onto the floor. 3. Be clean! This is more for your sake than the workers'. The amount of people who touch every article of clothing at a store is astronomical. I don't know about the manufacturing process, but at the store level, potentially a hundred hands touch each article of clothing per day. Customers shopping and workers tidying will touch clothes so many times. Most articles of clothing at the store have been on the floor. Have you seen the floor? The amount of dust bunnies would make my mother faint. Use hand sanitizer after looking through clothes. When you get home from shopping, put your clothes directly in the wash. In the back room of a clothing store, there is no washing machine. The clothes on the sales floor have never been cleaned, because washing damages the clothes. Please clean them. Your skin will thank you. About spills: They happen. If you spill something, tell an employee. That way, it can get cleaned up. If you leave it there without telling anyone, it poses a hazard to employees and customers. If you tell someone, they won't make you clean it up. Please just say something so it can get mopped up as fast as possible. 4. Ask for help! The employees are there to help you. If you don't know where something is, ask! Personally, I get excited when people ask me for help. Employees will almost never be upset when someone asks a question. 5. Miscellaneous things I've witnessed Do not... ...leave drugs on the floor. ...break hangers and leave them on the floor. ...tell the manager you are going to pull the fire alarm. ...come in after closing time. I do believe that most people are kind and have good intentions. By being aware of the effect that your actions have, you can improve your shopping experience and the jobs of retail workers.
