I CANNOT help you, I am off the clock.

[Food Lady]

If they're the type to 'ask' for help by making vague noises directed to nobody

Or they stare at you, hoping you'll notice they need help. I am queen of the blank look that rules out all peripheral vision.

[Dreamstalker]

I'm just focused on wherever I need to get to, be it the coffee bar and/or break room (my tendency to hyperfocus on something random when things get crazy is actually being channeled usefully). My general stride is quick and purposeful enough that either people recognize I need to get somewhere right NAO (if they think it's an emergency, fine by me) and I'm out of sight or otherwise don't register them by the time a starer decides they actually need help.

If the mall decided to issue a poorly-organized fire alarm test at the time, even better; for all they know it's not a drill (you have to be listening very carefully to the announcement to know) and I'm on the way to put out a trashcan fire in back.

[An Haddock]

"I'd like to ask you a quick question..."

"OK, my hourly rates are $XXX/hour, one hour minimum. Will this be check or cash?"

You don't want to know how I swipe credit cards.

[EricKei]

Just beware the dreaded Aura of Competence (aka the Retail Aura), whether you're in uniform or not! I can tell you, from personal experience, that the stench tends to linger about you for YEARS after you leave retail/direct service work entirely. Moving to a new town or state only reduces its efficacy, rather than eliminating it. Somehow, they just know...

[RealUnimportant]

I seem to emirate that aura when I go shopping after work. No matter that my uniform bears not a single similarity to those worn by the staff...

My only break is paid, but I still have to take the time away from serving customers. I'm usually able to avoid or palm off any possible delays, and if it's a simple issue i just help & add the lost time to the end of my break. I do get the odd one approach me on the street but thanks to my cane the majority of offenders have switched from holding me up to just noting I'm on duty and coming by once I'm back in my box!

[dalesys]

... thanks to my cane ...

... they're safer when you're not out of the box?

[notalwaysright]

My apologies if this was mentioned, but I always assumed that the time clock was far away from the break room because corporate thought that we'd all punch in and then hang out in the break room for long periods of time. However, as was previously mentioned, we did get TONS of complains that employees were going up to the front and then leaving without helping and seeming "uninterested" or "preoccupied" with other duties. I'll just leave that there, because I don't feel like ranting.

I avoided eye contacted AT ALL COSTS, I didn't care what people thought I looked like at that point! But here's the thing. When I started at the fabric store, we all came in the building, put our stuff in our lockers and then went out to clock in. I think that's fair, most of the time. With all the turnover with management, employees started walking in the building, going straight to clock in, then going to the break room for an unspecified amount of time. Congrats for proving corporate right! If it was time for you to leave and you started paging asking where your backup was, very often you'd be chastised, essentially saying to calm down and be patient. Because I'm the bad guy for wanting to leave on time.

[Pagan]

Just beware the dreaded Aura of Competence (aka the Retail Aura), whether you're in uniform or not! I can tell you, from personal experience, that the stench tends to linger about you for YEARS after you leave retail/direct service work entirely. Moving to a new town or state only reduces its efficacy, rather than eliminating it. Somehow, they just know...

Yep. Walked into Gordman's the other day to see if they've started marking down things yet.

I'm wearing a tank top, jeans, flip-flops, earphones, and sunglasses. I hadn't turned off my iPod and and realized some random woman was talking at me. Pulled an earphone out and said, "What?" She said, "Don't you work here?" Then she got mad at me because I said, "I'm wearing earphones and flip-flops. What do you think?"

[Ironclad Alibi]

Yep. Walked into Gordman's the other day to see if they've started marking down things yet.

I'm wearing a tank top, jeans, flip-flops, earphones, and sunglasses. I hadn't turned off my iPod and and realized some random woman was talking at me. Pulled an earphone out and said, "What?" She said, "Don't you work here?" Then she got mad at me because I said, "I'm wearing earphones and flip-flops. What do you think?"

How dare you suggest that she should think! She's never had to think in her whole life.

[Dreamstalker]

I've gotten far better with time management in that respect; I know approximately how long it takes me at certain times to get to the front so I haven't had extra minutes in a few weeks.

However, as was previously mentioned, we did get TONS of complains that employees were going up to the front and then leaving without helping and seeming "uninterested" or "preoccupied" with other duties.

I do take issue with our main time clock being so visible for that reason (its only use is for punching, the other ones also have restaurant-specific functions). In theory we could have one in the warehouse solely for warehouse/grocery use; warehouse manager is territorial and has no qualms about telling off anyone who's back there and isn't supposed to be.

My Retail Aura seems to have diminished...at least I don't get near so many completely random questions. I like to think it's due to the fact that I now have a real set schedule so I'm not rushing everywhere when off the clock. I've also been channeling my alter ego a lot more since escaping the tenth circle of hell, so that's probably canceling it out.

[notalwaysright]

I do take issue with our main time clock being so visible for that reason (its only use is for punching, the other ones also have restaurant-specific functions).

Part of the problem was that management was in such disarray at this point that the complaints were taken seriously and blamed on us. There were two computers that were mainly used to punch in and out, one up at the registers and one at the cutting counter. Both were also used to do special orders, BOPIS pulls (for those who didn't use the handhelds like they should, which was most people), and to check the company website for online price matches and such. So they were quite heavily used.

There was an easy alternative that management didn't offer. Use the computer in the office. You had to go the the office to check out a radio and handheld, so it's not like it was out of the way, yet most didn't do it. Very stupid. I also don't get many people randomly asking for my help in stores... I think it has to do with my facial expressions, and completely lack of eye contact.

[Dreamstalker]

Our space used to be the mall food court, so we were probably limited in what could be done to the space as a whole. The locker room is on the first level in a service hallway, and from the main timeclock the only way to get there--besides backtracking through the entire store--is go out the mall entrance, exit the mall entirely and re-enter on our street-level entrance next door. Not appealing when it's below freezing out, and in high wind conditions that entrance is closed entirely.

[Trixie]

Just had this happen to me tonight. The front cashier was outside getting a cart and I was walking up wearing my jacket and a customer who obviously recognized me asked me which register she wanted her at. Um, don't care I'm going home. My coworker who was not wearing a jacket but also on her way out didn't get noticed. I guess I made the wrong choice of aisle to walk down to the exit.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I've had people think I work in other places, even if I've been wearing civvies. I either ignore them or, if they're persistent, tell them to piss off. Hell, I spend enough of my time in forced politeness when I work without doing it on my days off.

[WishfulSpirit]

Just beware the dreaded Aura of Competence (aka the Retail Aura), whether you're in uniform or not! I can tell you, from personal experience, that the stench tends to linger about you for YEARS after you leave retail/direct service work entirely. Moving to a new town or state only reduces its efficacy, rather than eliminating it. Somehow, they just know...

I think it's that you know how a typical store is laid out and don't seem lost. I have such poor spacial awareness that I have to look for stuff in the store I've been shopping in for a year, but most of us can navigate well enough to not seem like another oblivious customer.