‘Tis the season for stressed out retail workers

by Sarah Farzaneh (words), Laura Dalton (video), Santiago Ramer (infographic), Tyler Griffin (social media/design)

Shopping malls get busier around the holiday season and as business peaks, retail workers can feel drained of their holiday spirit. 

Some retail workers find themselves working long, demanding hours in stressful environments, such as Yasmin Khosravi, a third-year environmental design student at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

“People are more aggravated and take it out on the staff. Customers lose their minds over things that aren’t even in our control,” Khosravi said. “I’ve even cried in the back room because of how customers interact.”

Khosravi said that by the time she gets home, she’s completely drained. 

The holiday season is supposed to be a joyful time for most people but for Cassandra Mungal, a third-year nursing student, it can be a nightmare.

“I politely asked a customer if she could hang her clothes after she tried them on and she got extremely offended and actually went to complain to my boss,” Mungal said. 

Mungal works in the fitting room of an Aritzia outlet store and says she deals with a lot of angry customers.

Mungal said because she works in an outlet store, people act irrationally trying to secure the best deals, especially during the holidays. 

Although the majority of consumers do their shopping in-store, 26 per cent of shoppers take advantage of online deals while holiday shopping, according to the Retail Council of Canada.

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Portray Sarder, a first-year psychology student at Ryerson University has been working at H&M for two years. 

“It’s really fast paced when you’re dealing with customers. You have to think on your feet because you’re constantly put on the spot,” she said. 

Sarder said she feels like customers become increasingly impatient during this season and don’t treat retail workers with respect. 

The holidays can be a stressful time for all. Try to be considerate of retail workers next time you find yourself holiday shopping.