u/schwing710

After a few years of working office jobs (first as a banker at a financial firm and then as a graphic designer for a cosmetics company), I now find myself back in retail, working at Trader Joe’s. To be fair, it’s probably the best retail job out there, considering the benefits are great, the hours are flexible, and the pay is decent. However, I can’t help but feel that I’m selling myself short, despite the fact that I’m the type of person who doesn’t want my job to define who I am.

Basically, I’m a little conflicted because I’m really not the career focused type. I have a decently successful side hustle selling my art and I record music on the side as a hobby. I’d rather have a job that allows me the downtime to focus on these passions (which is why I crawled back to retail). I guess I’m just wondering if anyone can relate to living a bohemian lifestyle that is more accommodating to making art / having free time? And if so, what do you do for work? Lastly, do you like your job?

Long story short, I work with someone who smells like they're in dire need of some major dental work. Anytime this person is standing near me, I feel like I’m in a cloud of toxic fumes. I can only describe the smell as pure rot. When they’re helping me bag groceries or vice versa, I literally have to plan my breathing like like I’m a professional deep sea diver, inhaling when I’m scooping groceries out of the cart. It’s truly a sickening experience and it’s putting me on edge when I’m behind the register. Anybody have any tips on what I should do here?

…Casually dropping $300 on tickets to see Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and Anthrax this fall. Ahh, the freedom to impulsively buy tickets to shows!

Everyone with kids always seems to be so cash-strapped and even if they have money, they have no free time. Best case scenario, they hire a babysitter which comes at an additional cost, and then they spend the whole night worrying about their kid. Hard pass! Anyway, I’ll be in the pit! 🤘

Former video store clerk over here just looking for a plex share. If anyone could help a dude out I would be eternally grateful. My plex handle is Schwing710. Party on!

Long story short, I just found out that Fox News bought Roku and now I’m considering snapping my Roku stick in half and throwing it in the trash. Does anyone know if the Rifftrax app is available via Apple TV or anywhere else?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that the band is finally putting out deluxe editions of their albums, rare live vinyl, amazing merch, etc but WHY did they wait until America was plunging into a full blown recession to do it? Like damn, I would’ve made it rain in the Ween store had they dropped some of this stuff two years ago.

To those wondering, yes, I am employed, but making significantly less than a few years ago, thanks to somewhat recently entering a bogus job market. And between paying for expensive groceries, gas, and trying to survive in the most expensive state in the country, there’s very little leftover for a $70 record, let alone all the other sweet merch. For those who can afford to buy all this cool shit, I shall live vicariously through you for now.

I’ve worked a lot of retail in my life but never have I encountered so many customers who treat store employees this way. TJ is well known for going above and beyond for the customer, which is all well and good, but I do think this encourages *certain* customers to really take advantage of crew members. I’ve had customers order me around, tell me how to bag groceries, complain that I’m not fast enough, make fun of my name, and even cough directly into my face repeatedly. Some refuse to even acknowledge my existence altogether! The lack of respect is simply staggering. Unsurprisingly, most of the perpetrators fit a similar profile: rich people who live in a bubble and are used to being waited on constantly. They’ve clearly never had anyone talk back to them or step out of line, so the disrespectful behavior continues ad infinitum. For the record, I’m all for creating a pleasant experience for the customer (and most of my interactions are pleasant), but it’s a very hard problem to ignore when it occurs with such frequency. I know rude customers can be found in every retail environment, but I think TJ caters to this behavior more than most.