I, for one, enjoy reading about your job adventures.
Looks like you’re getting the hang of things! Keep up the good work.
9-hour shift! I wasn’t as exhausted afterwards as I thought I might be, but my feet really hurt and I don’t want to stand for more than a couple minutes at a time.
Next shift: Tomorrow from 1-5. Boss wanted me to work at noon but that’s the time I get outta church.
Two more interesting customer stories today:
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I had a customer come in, wanting to pay for gas with a credit card, but he couldn’t do it at the pump (which requires his ZIP code)-- because he’s from Quebec. He and his wife were traveling from Orlando back home.
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I had a customer from Virginia Beach come here to the much smaller (in terms of population, not geographical size) city of Suffolk to do some house-hunting. I told her I’ve lived both places and I love Suffolk much better, and I told her why: Easier traffic and friendly people. I recommended not one, but four restaurants in the area. (I should have also invited her to church; I didn’t think about it.)
Yep.
The store I work at also sells clothes. A couple times a year the store winds up buying new pants/shirt/socks/etc. for a worker experiencing an inventory malfunction.
You’re hitting all the rites of passage.
“You can start tomorrow. Bring three rags. Oh, and a change of pants.”
“Why?”
“When it happens, you’ll know.”
Day 7. Scheduled as 1-5; ended up being 1-3:30. We had two other people there, and the store manager allowed me to go home after stocking the cooler (to the best of my ability. It’s probably still not perfect.)
When I came in before church to get something for breakfast, there were no breakfast sandwiches out. I had to get an Italian Job instead. Turns out we had some, and my coworker put them out later, but the lady who worked the overnight shift couldn’t be arsed to fill the sandwich cooler. Or maybe she didn’t know where anything was.
By the time I got there at 1, my coworker (the one who later put out the sandwiches) had been there for several hours by herself. A lady started bugging us wanting to know why we didn’t have coffee (“ain’t it free, then?”), but at that point we had several other people in line, two pizzas in the oven, and cookies in the oven as well. We didn’t have time to make coffee. I rang her up for everything else, got everything caught up and the line wiped out, and by the time I said, “Okay, let’s make coffee”, she fucked off out of the store.
I went to check, and we did still have all six flavors of coffee available. At least up to one-quarter capacity, if not considerably more. My co-worker figured she was just trolling for free coffee.
I told yesterday’s beer story to several of my friends at church, and one of them in particular laughed SO. HARD.
Check out some good shoes for standing and walking. Nurses like SAS, Dansko, and Crocs. I like Asics brand running shoes. The only shoe I recommend against is Nike Air anything because air is fine for walking and running but it is as hard as concrete to stand on. But you find a shoe that works for you.
A good pair of insoles also gors a long way towards making a long day on your feet bearable. These are the ones I use;
A little pricey, but well worth it.
Agreed. I put them in my boots because no pair of boots should be without arch support and heel stability.
Bruh, hope you’re getting a kickback. 
For my work last year the owner got everyone a coupon for $140 in credit for shoes at a local store. This place also can make/form custom insoles as well.
This year I bought a pair with custom insoles and that was about 200 all told. But worth it for my feet not to hurt standing and walking on concrete all day.
I agree that getting some support and cushion is a great idea.
That is quite generous. What a good place to work, and well managed.
Being a Doper, I have to ask: Why a hundred and forty dollars?
I definitely prefer my current career but one thing that my retail days were good for were stories. Getting random people coming into an establishment, you are bound to have some wacky stories every now and then.
Like the lady who came into Toys R Us looking for a life-sized inflatable doll. I gave her directions to a local sex store that would sell that sort of thing.
Or the guy who came into the computer store I worked at, and I tried to sell us a monitor that had blood on the stand. (We bought, built, sold, and repaired old and new computers.) When we expressed concern, he explained that it was from his hamster. We insisted that made it so much worse.
The amount was never mentioned, it may have been to keep the total under a certain amount.
My own standing-on-concrete-for-8-hours shoe is a New Balance walking shoe in their 900 series. They are not the only suitable shoe out there. Don’t get a running shoe.
I work in a warehouse, and the only shoes that really worked for me were Asics running shoes. Of course now they are banned and we have to wear safety toe shoes, despite my job being an athletic one that rarely involves safety hazards. I agree with the importance of finding a good shoe/sole/sock combo that works for standing on feet long hours. When I used to work 7 days a week in a kitchen they had some pretty good options from “Shoes for Crews.”
It was personal preference for me, because A) I used to be a runner, and B) in racing, I might have needed to run with no time to think about it. Asics runners are still my fave.
If you’re moving constantly then a running shoe might work well for you, but if you’re standing in one spot (like I do at a cash register) then a walking shoe can work better. It has to do with the padding and support. My walkers are heavier than a running shoe, but also with a lot more padding and in slightly different places.
Needless to say, individual circumstances have an effect. I’ve taken to wearing light compression socks in the past couple years due to the standing job and getting older and it really makes a difference. On days I’m constantly moving from place to place, though, I don’t need the fancy socks so much.
Your mileage may vary (and probably does).
For sure, though, investing (and it is an investment) in good foot gear is important. What you might save with cheap shoes now you could wind up spending in a doctor’s office later.
My current foot gear is a New Balance 928v3 with Spenco insoles and light compression kneesocks.
Anyone else want to share their current equipment? It might give the OP an idea of what’s out there and what other people use.