How to survive working in retail

Physical survival

Before you can mentally survive retail, you need to ensure you have the chance of physically surviving it.

Working in retail full-time = living an active lifestyle. It’s a shock to the body if you’re not used to it.

And if you’ve a history of restrictive eating disorder(s) or other unhealthy eating/exercise obsession habits, your body’s bound to panic.

Rotate comfortable shoes

Nursing or athletic shoes are good shoes for retail employees.

HOKA shoes are recommended by nurses and surgeons (people on their feet all day.

Cheap, $15 athletic shoes with memory foam inside last me about 1-1.5 months. However, I’ve been alone due to bad coverage so my shoes are wearing out faster, lasting me about a month.

I greatly recommend built-in memory foam insoles — the cushioning makes a huge difference when walking/standing on concrete flooring all day.

Stay away from arch support soles unless you’ve been diagnosed with a condition requiring it — you could seriously mess up your feet!

Get fresh air on breaks

Look at the scenery around you.

Take photos of nature or wildlife around you.

Find ways to romanticize it, even if that means you sit in your car with the windows rolled down a little, longing for a nap.

Prop up your feet when not working

I have a firm pillow specifically to prop up my feet after work. I even sleep with it under the blankets, my feet propped.

This is the only way to prevent them from swelling and hurting. You can add foot soaks, but they only help soothe — not heal.

What your feet need after a long day working in retail is to be elevated.

Emotional & mental survival

Physically surviving retail only works short-term.

Neglecting your mental health fuels impulsivity and other negative side effects.

If you’re going to truly survive retail, you need to nurture your mental health; it covers several human needs, after all.

Find pockets of joy

Not to engage in toxic positivity, pockets of joy exist everywhere if only you know where to look.

(Even abusive relationships have good times…that’s why they’re so hard to leave!)

Pockets of joy may exist in other employees at your store, who acknowledge your existence and say hi.

But these people are rare, I find, and sometimes wishy-washy — like, they may be welcoming one day and ignore your existence the next.

So look for pockets of joy you can enjoy without relying too heavily on other people.

I’ve found setting mods and changing mannequins are public displays of my care and creativity, respectfully.

Changing mannequins are the professionally acceptable way to play dolls at work — and the retail employee equivalent of displaying my artwork.

Or like life-sized Sims.

I see myself and the coworker(s) I’ve set or fixed mods with in those mods.

Mannequins sell clothes. Clothes on mannequins I changed = me directly influencing those sales.

Have an after-work “Human Again” ritual

Remind yourself of your humanity, lest you sell your soul to the CEO.

When I get home, I eat a small snack, feed my cat, shower.

Then I go about the rest of my day — cook and eat dinner with my cat, blog, watch TV, eat a snack with my cat, sleep.

I also mute all my notifications via turning on Do Not Disturb mode.

Break your unhealthy habits

• Cook more, order in less.
• Choose your battles & fret over less.
• Discipline yourself out of the dopamine trap.
• Drink less soda.
• Enrich yourself instead of letting your brain rot.
• Practice self-respect.
• Stop biting your fingernails.

Maintain strict boundaries

Think of your boundaries as the Magic Shell and everything you hold dear as the ice cream.

Other people want your ice cream. They’ll try to break through.

But your Magic Shell chocolate topping — the kind that hardens when cold — is thick enough to not break so easily.

Someone would have to jab through your chocolate shell to get your ice cream.

If someone does manage to crack your shell, you can add more and put it in the fridge a bit.

Boundaries work like that:

• Identify where a boundary is needed.
• Create an appropriate, healthy boundary.
• Reinforce that boundary as needed.

What can you change about your behavior to guard yourself against your retail job?

A boundary is about your behavior and controlling yourself.

If your “boundary” dictates how someone else behaves, that is a control tactic — not a boundary.

A few of my boundaries include:

• No working overtime unless the ROI benefits me long-term.
• I don’t read or respond to messages/calls outside of work — that’s my time. (I’ve slipped on this; need to return to it.)
• As a mere salesfloor associate, I’m not responsible for carrying the weight of responsibilities to my department/store on my shoulders. I’m responsible for doing what I’m told.
• Having clothes I wear only to work.
• Not visiting the store I work at on my days off…if I must visit any store at all. Few exceptions exist.

Not quite a boundary, but…I’m probably going to laugh before I cry. I don’t always have that control over myself.

The pseudobulbar affect (PBA) happens the more stressed, thus anxious, I grow.

Long-term survival

Once you get to a place where the short-term survival tips are second nature, long-term survival tactics help you love yourself.

Build a life outside your job and live it outside of work.

Work to live — don’t live to work.

I know, I know. Easier said than done, especially in the US where the culture ties a person’s worth to their job title.

Stop befriending people at work and start befriending people outside work. ‘Tis much less awkward when they get fired or one of you are promoted.

And maybe you don’t even know how you want your life to look yet.

Your age doesn’t matter.

These “fresh beginnings” are mere social constructs. You can literally choose to change your life right now if you want to.

Maybe you wake up and decide you’re tired of being the gem who smiles at people who don’t even smile back, so you’re not gonna do it anymore

Or that you’re sick and tired of smiling at men out of obligation when we all know you’d choose the bear.

Or dressing with the male gaze in mind.

Try different activities until you find a few hobbies you like or a special interest that gives you life.

Do things solely for yourself, because you want to or like to and they help you feel alive and make life feel worth living.

Develop an escape plan

I’d recommend this regardless of your job/career path.

Retirement? Counts as an escape plan.

I’ve seen a lot change in the blogging landscape, so I know my escape plan looks something like this:

• build L&L income to my necessary minimum
• build up a financial cushion
• quit after 4-6 months of consistent baseline net profit after taxes
• start 1-2 new blogs as part of my media company or to sell

I know how unconventional my escape plan is — because with mine, my career = I’m gonna be the boss, the decision-maker, the one who can get sh*t done because IT’S ME, HI, I’M THE BOSS, IT’S ME.

I don’t find financial security or stability in the concept of salaried positions. And I’m reminded everyday at work why I don’t fit in long-term as an autistic adult.

Starting my own business and working for myself is the only path to me feeling financially safe.

Your path to escaping retail is likely different.