Reddit users came together to complain about their managers after a user made a post on r/retailhell asking whether retail managers actually do any work. The post, titled "Is there such thing as a retail manager who actually does work," was shared by u/anxious_society697 on November 12.
At the time of writing, the post had received 22 upvotes and 18 comments. r/retailhell is a subreddit for people who work in retail to complain about their working environments and managers.
"Vent about your bad experience," the description of the subreddit reads. "Tell us a heartwarming story about the customer who turned your day around. Post a funny meme." The subreddit has more than 40,000 members who post memes and share personal anecdotes.
In the recently shared post, the Reddit user asked whether retail managers actually worked or whether it was a position in which the person simply ordered people around without doing anything themselves. "Every one I've had just sits in the office, goes to 'meetings' (where they talk about what they're getting for lunch) and then has the nerve to come outside and nitpick," the user wrote in the post.
Several users were quick to agree with the OP (original poster) that retail managers did not, in fact, work. However, others chimed in with their experiences of having managers who were actually hardworking.
"I've ONLY had 4 managers that have really worked, but 2 of them, one from Whole Foods and my original manager at IKEA, were awful people," one user wrote. Another revealed that their manager worked, but in all the "wrong ways."
"He's active when it comes to workplace bullying, and he gets rid of staff in what can only be likened to Stalin's purges," the user added. "This morning, when he started a new one, he got rid of four members of staff." Surprisingly, someone who had worked as a retail manager also joined the discussion.
"I was one, but I burned out and decided retail management wasn't for me," the user wrote as another manager shared their personal experience. "Until recently, I was the store manager of a $30 million/year grocery store, and I routinely worked the registers, did cart runs, covered breaks behind customer service, stocked groceries, helped customers, and so on," a person wrote.
"In my experience, it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. I was just one guy. Some employees appreciated it more than others. I’m very burned out on retail management. This will be my first non-retail Thanksgiving since 2005."
Despite the hate against retail managers, the majority of the commentators who had worked the job were "burnt out" and did not like working in the industry.
The Daily Dot could not independently verify the claims in the post. The commenters’ identities have not been confirmed.
