If you don’t have a career, you just have a job. Of course it’s not a bad thing but you work towards eventually having a career at some point in your life. You want to wake up ready to get the day started and have fun while doing so. Most people’s typical day at work: struggling to get out of bed, rushing to get dressed to make it on-time, get there on-time but praying “Lord pleassseee let today go by fast” before walking into the office/store, laughing at your managers corny jokes, doing what you’re told, conversing with fellow employees about life, looking forward to taking lunch before anything else, conversing some more and finally clocking out for the day. The happiest part of most people’s day honestly! Sad but true.
So let’s talk about my typical day at work in the lovely world of retail. I work at the Gap as a Lead Merchandiser, started out in Banana Republic as a sales associate and then to stock. Now that’s out the way. I had my fair share of assholes, stuck ups, bougie, and the ones who just care about a paycheck but nothing like what I experience at this location. Now around my way, I constantly see the girls/women wearing big bags, scarves on their heads and boots since it’s cold out. In the summer it’s just flip flops or some chucks or something light for the feet. So when I see women dressed as such coming into the store, I treat them no different than anybody else that walks in. Mind you the majority that shops at this location are white men and women from the King of Prussia or Plymouth Meeting areas. Nothing is said to them or about them over the walkie as they shop and take a million items into the fitting room and aren’t monitored. A black girl with the descriptions listed above walks in: “watch the girl with the big black/red/silver/blue bag walking around in womens adults, she looks fishy”. My issue with that is EVERY AFRICAN AMERICAN DOES NOT STEAL and especially from the Gap! Are you serious? If I’m going to get locked up for something, it’s going to be something that’s getting me a ton of money in my pockets for my kids kids to be cool….not from stealing ANYTHING from Gap. It pisses me off and working as a manager with mainly white women, it’s automatically going to look like a black and white thing and Lord knows I don’t need that bs while still working there.
Now a while ago, the GM comes to me and mentions that we have to start watching the Gap fit clothing due to about fifty something items gone missing. Now, I’m not saying my people don’t work out but damn if they are spending almost $70 on a pair of workout pants unless they have a credit card with the company. If we spend that amount, it’s somewhere where the material and name is worth that amount of money on any given day. It could be income tax time claiming 5 kids, a bonus from work or your man just wanted to treat you to something special, it’s NEVER that deep. We sweat in it and after 7 - 8 uses, it’s done anyway. Crazy. Anyway, white women are the ones who mainly buy the Gap fit clothing at full price not blacks. Grant it, I seen the black girls come in and steal kids items on camera, not so much adults though….there is mosty adult items being stolen on a daily basis. You mean to tell me that’s nothing but African Americans?? Really? FOH. What’s pissing me off is I have to work with these people. We (management) all keep our stuff in the office. That makes me think they may feel I could be the same way since I’m black and may carry a big bag sometimes depending on what I’m wearing. Not cool. It’s funny because they will come to me with a straight face and say “oh she just looked suspicious” after they see my face when saying some of the dumb shit they say about blacks shopping in the store.
There were a few customers who came to me about shopping at another location because they feel uneasy, were not helped, watched or followed a bit too much. I told them to do the survey and complain. And you know who’s mostly doing this...the GM. White woman in her 40’s or so who was probably raised in Plymouth Meeting and doesn’t know any better except from how we’re depicted on tv or on the news, you know, the usual bs. It’s to the point where these two black muslim women came in on the kids side and were looking around and I was asked, by her Miss GM, to watch them because they look “fishy”. How ignorant!! Does she not know that’s their religion? I wanted to say “bitch, you watch them! You getting on my nerves with the constant stupidity you display on a regular towards African Americans like they are the only ones in here stealing! If you paid the fuck attention to EVERYBODY and not just certain people, then you would know what race buys what items and the shit that goes missing most of the time. Fucking idiot.” BUT I still need a paycheck… to a certain extent, a bitch about to quit or get fired, whichever comes first at this point. Then there’s me, the black girl that just came in from another location, that doesn’t have a voice because she’s not in with the “work clique”, whos work and work ethic is constantly criticized about what could be done differently and with them failing to realize where they lack with my training, whom travels the furthest to be there and is looked at in a weird way when she’s not in the mood or displays attitude because she’s physically and mentally drained from a bullshit “job”.
So with that said, my typical day at work: FORCING myself to get up in the morning no matter the time, getting to work depending on traffic 5- 10 minutes before clocking in, rushing to grab coffee, going to the bathroom throughout the day checking indeed (lol), I may have shipment which needs to be opened by 9am after starting at about 6:30 am, watching the frowning faces of whatever manager is opening that day due to every box or item not being opened when they want it too, taking out boxes for trash with other associates, start giving jobs to the shipment team BUT that being stopped by another manager and them jumping in and telling the team what THEY want them to work on instead, go on break damn near running out the door without a coat on to rant to a listening ear about whatever just happened that morning, go back with an attitude towards management of course and buss it up with everybody else instead, say nothing on the walkie about clocking out and just clean up my mess, no convo at the door about future plans for the following day or about their kids or neighbors because I don’t give two shits. Home I go until the following day. Yup, sounds about right. Of course it wasn’t always like this. Feel free to email me about an opening somewhere😂😂 The search continues...
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