Aladdin Central Messageboard

[AladdinsGenie]

I was in Food and Beverage, and the restaurant kind, too, so I can't even say I sold the food and pass it off as retail

[APK]

Why not?? It's not wholesale!

[minimonster17]

On a somewhat related note, I have often heard of retail and restaurant being compared by coworkers of mine who have served as employees under both fields. Both fields require relatively unlimited work schedule flexibility for full timers, are fatiguing on workers, and are very hard on personal/family life. The turnover rate also tends to be fairly high.

Restaurant also tends to rely heavily on customer service and presentation, both in the atmosphere, and the final product the customer is purchasing. As noted before, these are the main things that other industries idolize retail for.

[AladdinsGenie]

Yeah, when I was at Disney, something was horribly wrong when my schedule was below 40 hours a week and I had more than two days off a week. I've been told restaurant experience can be even better than retail, but it still doesn't replace. People want to see you did some, but you can't get any without the experience already. It's kind of ridiculous

[minimonster17]

Well, the company I work for, Lowe's hires people in on as seasonal/temp workers with a set termination of employment date. If you are a good worker, you are kept on and put into a permanent position somewhere in the store. If you are a marginal worker who does the minimal to get by, you'll probably be the first to be let go when your season ends up.

Lowe's doesn't require any prior retail experience to be hired in, so maybe you might want to look into working there. I'm not going to glorify it, they're still a shitty corporation to work for, but if you need/want the experience you can get it there.

[AladdinsGenie]

Even when you don't know anything about appliances and all that? I can mix paint and gives artsy advice

[DLN001]

I like music and anime and other animated things. I also like to collect stuff like vinyl, video games, and other things.

[minimonster17]

Yeah, don't be surprised if you get put on as a cashier at first, and then get moved to paint, lawn and garden, or somewhere else later. Appliances on the other hand is a department that is very difficult to get into. I have been working for Lowe's for six years, and haven't gotten back there yet. The advanced product knowledge comes with time, management knows this. They look for willingness to work hard, and a desire and capacity for learning.

For example, prior to working for Lowe's I had no heavy machinery training. Over the past six years working lawn and garden and lumber, I have probably accumulated over 2,000 hours of forklift training.