Retail Myth #2: There Is No Money In A Retail Career.

My Uncle loves to tell the story of my first paycheck. He and my beloved late Grandpa picked me up after work one Saturday night to meet up with the rest of the family for a dinner out. I was working as a clerk at a record and video store; I think I made $4.20 an hour and minimum wage at the time was around $3.75 - I thought I was doing pretty good for a high school junior. Apparently, I'd gotten my paycheck and eagerly opened it in the privacy of the backseat only to blurt out "what the heck is FICA and why did it take so much of my money?!?" I have no memory of this but it was two decades ago and it sounds like something I would say. Amusing to gentlemen-the-wiser, not at all amusing to a teenager saving up for a car.

I think it's a weird misconception that all levels of retail pays on this scale to this day. If you think about it, in many cases, a part-time sales associate/ cashier/ customer service person is pretty equivalent to a mail room clerk or receptionist for a larger company. Depending on the type of retailer you work for, that can be either the task-oriented workhorse or the pretty face of the larger company with very little responsibility, thus lower pay. But not all retailers are comparable to each other, a cashier at a big box retailer is highly likely to make at or near minimum wage whereas a sales associate for a high-end front-line fashion boutique can make a ton of money (especially if commission is involved.)

I once had teaching aspirations. I love, love, love kids and really love summer and Christmas break and weekends and thought that teaching would be the perfect marriage of all of this. Also, that sort of career is just tailor-made for family life and I always wanted to have a big one. So when I first started out in retail, it was to save for a car... then it was to pay for college... then I realized that I was already making more money as an assistant manager than I would as a teacher unless I went for my masters. So masters was the plan until I was promoted to store manager and was making too much money to walk away. Then multi-store management and now multi-million volume management... it just snowballs.

Back in the late 90's I was managing a home and lifestyle boutique - think Anthropologie on a very small scale - and had a customer who perpetually used table linens, stained them, attempted to launder them, and then return them. I let it slide the first time but as is usually the case, she saw it as an opportunity to continue her dishonesty and I had to have the most uncomfortable conversation with her and let her know I would no longer be able to accept returns from her as it was very clear she was taking advantage of the company. Her response was "Working in retail must not be very lucrative for you, I bet it's upsetting to deal with people day in and day out who make more money than you do." I thought that was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. I get that she was embarrassed about being essentially banned from a store for chronic returns but, seriously, I could afford to buy and keep table linens. I remember telling her "I'm sorry you feel that way." and walked away, leaving her with her stained tablecloth and no refund.

Even now I'll occasionally see the surprise on a customer's face when it comes up in conversation that I own my home, or that I have traveled extensively, or about my recent car purchase. They always say that my husband must have a good job and I correct them with "Nope, I'm single... feel free to fix me up with any cute single guys you know."

And there's the rub. Making really good money but in return I work all summer, every weekend, and it feels like every moment during the Christmas season. I haven't had those kids that I wanted and meeting men on a retail schedule is relatively fruitless. I guess money can't buy happiness but it has bought me a lot of table linens.

Image credit Life Magazine, December 1953. And what's up with the creepy dude?