I've been in and out of retail since I graduated high school in 2000.
In that time I've been:
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Told after two years of working at a bookstore “this job isn't right for you”. This is the same job that scheduled me 4pm – 12:30am four days a week then 8:30am – 5pm on Sunday because I didn't go to church. And Sunday was the only day I could see my boyfriend (now husband) because he had a 9 – 5 an hour away.
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Gotten four strikes in one weekend because I told the GM's mother-in-law to sit her ass down somewhere else (We were in a ticket booth of about eight people and switched out seats for lunches). I was stressing out and everyone bends over backwards for this wench who is grandfathered in at 40 hours with health benefits. She has “her spot” where she has the best view and gets all the commission money. I got written up after three years for “talking back to a supervisor”, “reading on the job” (never mind that I'd done it for three years when it was slow XD; ), and two other things I actually don't remember now. Three+ strikes and I was out. To this day I still ain't even mad.
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Told after a day of being left alone in a store that it wouldn't work out.
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Had the owners come up to me on my first week asking if I wanted to go home because it was slow. I said “I… guess, if you don't think you need me?” I called soon after my scheduled day off to see what my schedule was, was ghosted for about two days then was told “I assumed you quit when you went home”.
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Told I was unable to be hired back (summer job) because I was “difficult to work with” after I told them I wouldn't be in to go to a funeral for my friend who was killed in Iraq. — They made me come in after the funeral and I purposely/understandably was a mess coming in afterward. I was too young and desperately needed the money for my next university semester to tell them where to stick it.
This was also the same job that wrote me up for not coming in on my scheduled day off. I wasn't asked to cover anyone's shifts, either. I argued that it was on the schedule that it was my day off. They wrote me up, sent me on my way, and told me to “not let it happen again”. Sadly, I'd thrown out the week's schedule the day before because I knew what I was working the rest of the week and didn't have anything to back my claim with.