What are the pros and cons of working in retail? I've been

Pros:
>its not strenuous like manual labour
>you can get a bit of slack off, its not too intensive, so you can browse /adv on the job.
>skills are transferrable
>vidya are cool, maybe the staff are nice.

Cons
>youre 31, a younger person might steal your job, companies like employing attractive people at the front desk, it sells better and the labour is cheap
>its not upwardly mobile, like say accounting is.
>might get lonely.
>do you really want to do the same thing day in day out? Isnt that why you want to leave cooking?

>pros: none

>cons: you're working in retail

>>18146853
Thank you for this anon

To add to the OP, I'm a board game designer myself (game is still in prototype status, been working on it for about a year and a half).

The current kitchen I work at is 6 nights a week, full time with crap pay, but I get by. It's the 6 nights that are burning me out. It's one of those jobs that, everyones old, nobody takes a day off, nothing really changes, so I'm used to that.

I'm hoping a retail jobs like this would be a start to possibly networking (not shoving my game down peoples throats, I learned that the hard way already).

>>18146870
Well fampai, your problem is that you want to go somewhere with your life, but are 31 and stuck in a shitty job. If you want networking, try working with events companies (companies that set up tents and stages for things like concerts or festivals) Its hard work, but if you can prove your worth you can easily become your own boss. It also has loads of variety. It pays very nicely too, and with the money you could try getting a degree in finance? Im just throwing ideas at the wall.

As for game design, you will want to make a thread on biz, as for any venture you would want advice from other entrepreneurs.

>>18146841

How are you 31 and the career switch you're considering is one godawful minimum wage job to another?

People baffle me. At this point, shouldn't you have learned a trade, gone to school, something like that? How do you even scrape by on a kitchen salary? Money isn't everything, but holy shit.

>>18146841
Nigga set your sites higher man.

I mean I'm sure there a people who legitimately enjoy retail, but the pay is shit, your susceptible to being let go for arbitrary reasons, and you have to deal with people.

There's 40 year olds changing one lucrative career for another. Time to start improving yourself, I believe in you.

>>18146956
Yeah I know...long ass story short I got trapped at home by a severly abusive (mentally/physically) alcoholic sociopath of a single mom, LOTS of issues to work on, but I'm on the path to recovery. Getting married in august, and my fiance and I have been together/living together for almost 3 years. Late start I guess, but I'm glad I got out of there.

Anyway, my fiance is helping me get back into school for an entepreuner certificate at the local CC, I figured retail, as shitty as it can be, would be somewhat mentally stimulating in what I want to do in the future, rather than be "that guy" working in a diner down the street chopping tomatoes for the next 40 years. (seriously there's a guy at work whos been there 40 years. He's not even human anymore, just a shell).

>>18146966
>Anyway, my fiance is helping me get back into school for an entepreuner certificate at the local CC

I mean I'm sure there is some value in that, but if you're at the point you have been working in a kitchen the majority of your life do you think you're just going to start a business out of no where? Don't get me wrong it's possible but let's be real and please don't take this as a slight. Businesses fail all the time even with seasoned individuals at the helm. Employers aren't going to see much value in that certificate.

Why not consider an associates in IT? 2 years (shorter if you go during Summer as well) and you can have yourself a 40k job in no time with massive upward growth in a growing field.

>>18146982
Definitely agree with you there. My end goal in all of this nonsense is to create a board game company. Not some massive muti-billion Wizards of the Coast thing, but a decent-ish operation that builds on what I'm doing on. Might open a store, might not, who knows.

The current class lineup for the fall semester seems to have everything I'd like to know; Marketing, Accounting, Management, Intership, etc etc. Never really looked into IT, but I'll do that right now.

>>18147008
Hey chase that dream man, but first thing is first you need a good job. IT at the very least is a great fall back assuming the worst. You'll be in demand especially once you get past help-desk and you don't even have to start there if you really know your shit.

It's fine. It sucks to work at a big supermarket or something because everyone is in a rush and doesn't actually want to be there, but it's different when you sell a product that people are enthusiastic about (I sold chic chocolate for two years).

Pros are that you see a lot of faces, it's easy, typically not a high stress environment. It's a job you can easily do on autopilot if you're having an off day.

Downside is that it's repetitive (even more so if it's a big store with specialized employees so you literally do the same one thing all day). All the interaction follows the same template and you are treated as the cashier (or the cash register, if you're unlucky) or store clerk, not a person. (That's not necessarily insulting, just boring as shit.) You will run into some shitty people, not just rude and entitled ones but also passive aggressive, condescending ones. And you will have to remain superpolite with them.

Retail suits you if you are naturally perky (I am, I'm not the best employee in all regards but I can give someone a sincere, sunny smile after having smiled for eight hours already that day) and have a talent for connecting with people beyond what is absolutely necessary. If you are able to subtly joke around or make just a bit of small talk with customers, or put a bit of enthusiasm in your help beyond what is necessary (loving the product helps a LOT), that will make a world of difference because you get better interaction in turn, which makes it more rewarding and makes time go by faster.
Whether it's a good job or not largely depends on the other elements. What kind of store it is, whether you have a connection to their product, whether you have nice coworkers. I used to always work alone so I opened and closed the store, made all the decisions etc. That's nice because you have an added sense of freedom and responsibility. (But no one to chat with.)
Hope this gives you an idea.

it's hard to call out sometimes.

You always have to have shift coverage, and the doors must be open no matter what.

So, aside from being overly relied on, it's okay.

>>18147008

The guy suggesting IT wasn't me, but he has the right basic idea. Getting the capital to start your own business is likely going to require some kind of a loan, and if your degree doesn't help you succeed (he made a great point that seasoned individuals sometimes fail), you won't have much to fall back on besides debt.

It sounds like you have your head on more straight than I was originally implying, though. I hope it works out!