I see posts here and I have to hope they're not the norm. I have to hope that there's some response bias.
I used to work for a pharmacy that was part of a regional grocery store (They operate in like 3-4 states and is pretty big). Man did they ever bend over BACKWARDS to meet my school schedule.
I've gotten texts from our scheduler (at one branch that was my boss, at another branch I worked at, it was one of my co-workers) saying something like “Tracelyn called in sick, can you cover a 4-9?”.
To which I would often say “oh sorry I can't, I'm working on a school assignment due at midnight” or “I'm out of state at this moment” or honestly any given excuse, it was never vetted. Since I knew that being short handed didn't affect the companies bottom line, it only inconvenienced my coworkers, I made an attempt to cover shifts if I legitimately had the ability to.
I start to realize how good I had it there. I'm out of retail thankfully, but as far as retail goes, it was pretty great. I started at like 8 dollars an hour and made my way up to over 15. For a part time retail job, this was pretty decent. I noticed that starting pay climbed up and up to the point where I was hardly making more than people were starting at the last 4-5 years but that's kinda typical nowadays. I see lots of places starting higher than they were a few years ago even pre covid.
For a part time gig that also gave me 2 weeks of paid vacation and pretty great health insurance, it was pretty great honestly.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, not ALL retail is bad. I mean its bad, but they're not all the same kind of bad.
Even if you have no choice but to work retail, find you a place that treats you well. Its an employee's market right now.
They treat you like shit? quit. they won't give you pto or insurance? quit. The good places are out there.