Monday 16 August 2010

Mini rant

This week has been really good. I'm happy at work and everything is going well. But there's one little thing I feel the need to rant about.

People keep telling me that they're jealous of how I get to spend all day playing with toys. They seem to think I have the easiest job in the world and I just spend all day playing. This is not true. I work bloody hard. I'm not complaining, I enjoy the work, but it irritates me that people don't realise it is still a job.

I spent all this morning restocking the baby and toddler section, which involved making a list of everything we were missing, filling four huge sacks with the products, dragging them down two flights of stairs and then putting them on the shelves, making sure they are all correctly priced and well-presented.

I will also bend over backwards for a customer. I frequently open up two or three different products so they can have a proper look, have to figure out how on earth to get them back into the stupid boxes, and then they still often buy one or none. I will run up to the stock room if necessary. I would ring every shop in the country to track down a product if a customer really wanted me to. Again, I'm not complaining, I enjoy providing good customer service, it just irritates me that people don't really that this is the main part of my job, not playing with toys.

And mostly when I do play with toys, it is for one of two reasons. Sometimes it is just because we're really quiet and I've finished all my restocking and repricing and all the other tasks in my job description and have nothing better to do. But mostly it is so that I can get to know the product, so I can sell it better. I will work out the best way to demonstrate it to a customer, I will look at it through a parent's eyes and work out what their main concerns will be, what questions they are most likely to ask me, how the toy will benefit their child's development. That is the main reason I play with the toys.

Working in a toy shop is definitely fun work (at least most of the time...), and I'm happier there than I have been in a long time. But it is also hard work, and it annoys me how many people don't realise that.

3 comments:

  1. Great rant (I love a good rant). You're quite right, work is work what it is doing and I don't see how playing with toys all day can be enjoyable anyway. Great read.

    CJ xx

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  2. I work with kids teaching gymnastics...and people think I play with kids all day! Its hard work and little "play" is in the job description. I so understand your frustartion with people's perception of your job! Hang in there!

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  3. CJ, glad you enjoyed my rant! I've already got my next one worked out in my head, but today was a happy day so it will have to wait for now...

    TC, glad to know I'm not the only one with this problem! I can imagine your job can get very tiring, kids have so much energy. And as my training manual frequently points out, play is a child's job and it can be very hard work!

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