I left high school and outside of maternity leave I've pretty much worked full time in fashion retail ever since! I am getting closer to 40 now!
I've worked as an assistant manager for a very good portion of that (still in that position) , I have really enjoyed it.
Last week in my store we started a completely new campaign. For anyone who's never worked in this environment, a new campaign means changing the whole store layout, creating new displays, hauling stock around, getting up and down off heavy ladders to change posters, banners and mannequins, adjusting wall brackets etc all while providing customer service as well. I did the whole change over alone due to being understaffed (we are ALWAYS understaffed).
Once upon a time I could do this and stop in at the gym on the way home, nowadays a full change over like that is leaving me absolutely wrecked! I woke up the next day and every muscle in my body was burning!
Even just on a normal day to day shift, I do on average 15000 steps. My feet and lower joints are protesting despite wearing the daggiest, most supportive shoes. I could once do a full 8 hours in platforms, now after like 4 hours in my fricken Homypeds my feet are literally screaming "bitch you need to sit down" 😂
If I'm being honest, it's starting to take a little bit of an emotional tax as well. People are more rude, entitled and demanding than I have ever experienced them to be. Shoplifting is at an all time high, some argue that it's due to the cost of living but nothing we sell is an item of necessity or something you couldn't get elsewhere a lot cheaper if it were an essential item. It's greed and it's super disheartening. Then there's also the youth crime and antisocial behaviour, I've heard of so many violent assaults happening in retail settings (a 2IC in a store the next suburb over from me got stabbed recently), so that's something that's always at the forefront of my mind when dealing with a rough crowd.
I'm spending my two days off recovering and resting rather than actually enjoying my free time, so I think it's time to concede that I might be getting too old for this lol.
This became a bit more of a vent than I was aiming for, so I thank you for reading this far!
But anyway - doen to my issue, it's time to move on but I'm not sure where to go next!
I don't have a lot of formal qualifications but I have the people management skills, I have a moderate amount of admin skills, I have the customer service and sales skills, I also have the visual merchandising skills and I can multitask like a boss lol.
Anyone who's been here, what did you do next? I'm not quite even sure where to start!
Any thoughts and advice would be muchly appreciated 🙂
1 Replies
Is there an option for you to stay with your employer but move into more of a buying role? Or other admin functions such as marketing, HR? There's many people in these roles who sit behind the scenes supporting frontline staff, perhaps chat with your manager or HR team and see what options are available. Your wealth of experience should be seen as valuable to them and they should be able to provide support in that space. Alternatively, look at retraining into a completely different field, check out your local TAFE and options available. Good luck!