There are tins of chocolates mysteriously appearing in the veg aisle. There are mince pies growing from the floor into tasty pastry mountains. And, yes, they’re playing Mariah Carey on a loop.
This can mean only one thing: it’s Christmas shopping time.
Of course, this time of year is ‘all about the children’ and, if you want to work in retail, you’ll need to know how to cope with tiny humans whose energy levels are faster than Santa’s sleigh.
Get ready people . . . this alert is redder than Rudolf’s nose!
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Prepare in advance
When those shop doors open at 9am you need to be fully prepared for the invasion . . . erm, we mean incoming wave of youngsters.
In order to calm things down, put all chocolate out of reach and set up a temporary festive play area for families.
Fifteen minutes using up some of that energy will make for a better, calmer shopping experience for everyone.
Food is good
Kids can sometimes get super cranky when their excitement is finally beaten by the realisation they’re hungry.
If you work as a sales assistant on a food counter, why not suggest to the manager of providing tasty, healthy, bite-sized snacks for them?
It’s a double whammy: quiet, contented kiddies and parents who might be tempted to buy larger portions to take home.
Slow it down
Having an army of kids running through your store is not only unnerving it’s also potentially dangerous.
Responsible managers will put measures in place to keep things at a gentler pace, such as signs in the aisles and tannoy announcements to remind mum and dad to put the brakes on Wee Davey Jnr.
Top tip: it’s not a good idea to put the display of crystal tree baubles next to the toy aisle.
Be alert
You see that little angel over there jigging up and down on one leg, waving his arms and trying to draw his mum’s attention away from squeezing ripe avocados?
Well, that’s not an audition for Britain’s Got Talent, it’s the I-need-to-pee-right-now dance.
Being able to spot such signs will help prevent having to getting the mop and bucket out again. And again.
If you enjoy working with the public, and especially with children at this time of year, s1jobs has a wide range of vacancies in Retail.