Caitlin Kelly
Caitlin Kelly’s tell-all working retail behind the cash register is both shocking and unsurprising. Everyone knows that retail is a dead-end and most would work almost anywhere else. However, the total blind-eye that management and the average shopper turns to those working sales is both a sad, sickening and clearly why companies still continue to make massive profits. Despite often being the only contact a shopper may have with a company, these poorly paid peons have to know products (often with no training), clean the store, stock, ring up sales and returns and a myriad of other exhausting tasks, all with a required smile. Kelly does her research well and, in addition to her own battle stories, talks about retail work and workers in general. She quotes other fascinating writers like Paco Underhill. I am tempted to send Kelly and email inquiring whether she got any blowback, or in fact any response, from her former employer The North Face. While what she says is not flattering, many small cheap adjustments she suggests would greatly increase their sales and customer service.