This isn’t about a specific retail horror but the experience as a whole. I’m going through a transition in my life. I don’t need to make a lot of money right now, and my previous job was burning me out. I decided to take a job working at a grocery store in the deli so I’m not just laying around the house. I worked retail when I was a teen and it was rough then, but now in my 30s, OMG. I thought it would be a little taxing, but holy shit! I’ve only been here for a week and my whole body aches all the time. How are people able to do this for years?! The customers are consistently rude and the physical demands are far beyond what I remember. I’ve always felt that retail workers are severely underpaid, but this one week has shown me just how true it is. I’ll never understand why retail jobs don’t offer any seating. It’s like these companies do everything they can to make these jobs as terrible as possible. I’m going to stick it out for as long as I can, but I can’t get over how unnecessarily cruel these companies and their customers are.