Life Lessons from the Clothing Rack

For those who do not know, I work in Retail Sales. I am the Asst. Manager at a women's clothing store. Scary, I know. Believe me, there are many days when I just want to lock the doors and hide behind the counter. But I have to say there are also lessons to be learned in watching how people shop. How so, you ask? Let me explain.

There are those customers who come in knowing exactly what they want. There is no discussion. No venturing off the path. No being tempted by the new stock. I admire these people. They know what they want. I wish I were more like those single-minded people who know their goals and stick with them. I am not often like that. I tend to be all gung ho at the start of something, but then it tends to lose my attention fairly quickly. I am VERY often distracted by the shiny and new. I am much like that dog in the movie Up - "I love you. I love you. I love you . . . Squirrel." I bounce from hobby to hobby never really staying with one thing for too long. I can even be this way with people. I am working on being more mindful of how I spend my time, but I still have a long way to go.

Next you have those who are "just looking". They come in with nothing particular in mind they want. Maybe boredom brought them in. Maybe they saw a sale sign. Maybe it was plain and simple curiosity. For them, life is adventure. They never know what treasures they might discover. Now, I do have a bit of this trait in me. I feel life is an adventure and we need to be open to the journey. I love going into new little shops and exploring new places. There is a line from the TV show CSI which fits this type of person - "You never know if the next thing you find might be the very thing that changes your life." Another line which fits is from one of my favorite movies Auntie Mame - "Life is a banquet and most poor fools are starving to death." So, go out and eat from the banquet of life. You never know what delicacy is around the next corner.

Then you have the really needy customers. The ones who cannot make a decision on their own to save their lives. From this customer you will hear things like: "Are you sure this looks okay?" (This question is asked about 15 times - in a row.) "Are you sure you don't have this in such and such size?" (This is after you have already told them 19 times that all the sizes are out and you keep nothing in the back room.) "What was the price again?" (This after you have looked it up on the computer, written down the price, created and performed a musical entitled - The Price and the Pauper, hired a skywriter to write it across the sky, and shown them a DVD of the making of the price which also includes the bonus feature of the trailer for the movie version of your musical.) They will have you running from rack to rack all the while demanding new sizes and draining the very marrow from your bones and the life blood from your body. Then, when the feel you have nothing left to give, they will leave empty handed, but with an explosion of clothing all over the dressing room floor that will take you two hours to put back on the racks. We all have people like this in our lives. And sadly, I must admit, I have been this person. I used to demand those around me fill all the voids in my life, to jump to my every whim, to be everything I needed them to be. But no one person can be everything to us. No matter how hard they try, they will eventually let us down, even if they do not want to. Sometimes we need to learn to be our own best cheerleader. I am not saying we should isolate ourselves. Going too far the other way is just as harmful. No person is an island. I am saying we need to learn balance. We need to learn to stand on our own to feet, but also be willing to reach out to grab some support when we feel ourselves start to fall.

So what are the lessons in all of this? Set goals and be diligent in pursuing them. Learn to be adventurous. Learn how to be flexible, being neither too demanding nor too stubbornly independent. If you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. Know that fit is more important than a number on a tag. (Sorry, hazard of using retail as a topic. Consider it a freebie). Basically, live, love, and learn. You never know that you might end up leaving the store with if you do.

-Buffy