Do you suffer from Retail Employee Traumatic Stress Disorder (RETSD)? If you have ever worked in retail, or any service industry where weekends and holidays mean nothing, you will know what I am talking about.
So what, exactly, is RETSD? I can only describe it by example. Today, on TV, I saw this year’s first ad for Presidents’ Day sales, and I immediately tensed up. The first thing that crossed my mind was, “Oh, shit, time to get ready for that again!” Obviously, having been retired for almost a year, I DON’T have to steel myself for that or any holiday sales, but just that brief moment caused me to feel the old stress.
Those of you who have never worked in retail may not understand what is so stressful about working during any holidays, short or long. Well, start with the constant pressure from upper level leadership to “get ready”. Make signs. Make sure the signs are out. Did you tell your customers about it? Did you call your leads? And on and on! It doesn’t matter that the holiday might not necessarily be a traffic draw; YOU HAVE GET READY!
Added to that pressure is that which comes from friends and family who have worked Monday thru Friday, 9 – 5 jobs their entire lives. They have no idea had hard it is to hear them talk about the three-day weekend, and the barbecue or party they are having on the holiday. It gets worse when they ask why you have to work on Thanksgiving or the 4th of July or any other holiday. They don’t get it that the banks are closed, school is out, and they don’t have to work, so why are you? You can’t imagine the sadness and depression comments like this cause.
A word of advice to those of you who have a relative who has to work on holidays and weekends. Don’t ask them why they can’t join you! Don’t tell them they should ask their boss for the day off! Don’t talk around them about what a great time you are going to have or what a great time you had. It hurts more than you could possibly imagine.
Another annoying thing about working on holidays are the customers who just don’t get it. How many hundreds of times did I hear this from a customer in my 42 years of working in the restaurant business and then in retail: “So, you have big plans for the weekend?” Me: “Yes, you stupid asshole, I am going to have the time of my life waiting on idiots like you!”
Another word of advice, to people who shop on holidays: STOP! ¡Alto! Any time around the holidays, don’t ask retail workers what they are going to be doing. Figure it out: WE’RE WORKING!
Retail employees have something in common with the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey. When hearing someone talking about the servants having the weekend off, she replied, “What’s a weekend?” For her, every day of the week was a day off. For retail workers, not only is it “What’s a weekend?” but “What’s a holiday?”
Obviously, now that I am out of it, I no longer have to work holidays ever again. I have risen to the status of the Dowager Countess. Sometimes I am not even sure what day of the week it is.
But that doesn’t stop me from regretting all of the good times missed; picnics, parties, special family events, even Christmas for a few years. And even after almost a year, I still get anxious when I see anything that reminds me that a holiday is coming. I remember the bad times, and I empathize with all of those poor bastards who are still stuck in it.
So if you are one of those who suffer from RETSD, I am with you. We suffer together.