Confessions of a Serial Interviewer by Steven Ra Ga

For a spell in 2019 I got work at a local big brand retail store. Fashion is one of my passions and figured this would be a great fit for me. It kinda was.

During the interview I was applying for one department when the person interviewing me thought I would be best for another dept. because their training started well after I was hired and because of my sell’s experience I hit the floor running weeks before. Things were great I sold $5,000 worth of product in my first month.

The products I sold the most of were winter jackets, these weren’t in my department, so I got reprimanded a few times for selling too much product from one department and not my own. My guess was that your sales manager made bank on items you sell, so if you aren’t selling for your own dept then your manager wasn’t making bank each month.

After that uncomfortable exchange it started to say on my self confidence a bit. I am a fragile person and don’t do well when women superiors are talking down to me.

After that training started. Training was the typical boring this is how we do things stuff. During which I got called on a few times to talk about how well I sell. I should have kept my mouth shut because my methods contradicted the sales trainers methods so I was immediately shut down in-front if the new staff. Basically she was making an example of me.

When training was over the in-house stylist had asked my opinions and I spoke truthfully.

Should not have done that.

He being gay told me “you should just pretend you are gay it may help your sales” I didn’t think that was a good idea. Although I could pull off an awesome Bird Cage performance, I didn’t want to get caught mid act.

After that I had some odd experiences. Near the end I lost my voice for a month that sucked.

Prior to that, my co-workers constantly hit on me, sure I love the attention, but I found it hard to do the work, I am sure if I was the one doing all the flirting I would have the HR called on my for inappropriate actions.

One single mom co worker came to me one day to inform me her dress was see through and that she wasn’t wearing any panties. Sure I thought about looking or engaging in said behaviour but I am and was in a committed long term relationship, so that was off the table, I recall keeping my eyes on the floor and saying aloud “this isn’t that kinda sales job” before she disappeared into the change room.

Another co-worker kept asking me questions hinting that she wanted sex, that’s when I told her I was closer to her age than she thought. She was in her 40s divorced and I at the time was 36ish. She had told me she often hooked up 23yr olds. When she saw my ID her attitude turned from seduction to being upset. I think it’s because I may look 21 yrs old. My family and I have great skin.

Another time See through dress girl decided to show me semi erotic photos on her phone prior to her gaining all the weight after her divorce. What was I to say but “how wow, very good looking photos.” I know what she wanted me to say, but I wasn’t going to engage.

One time, this guy from another department was upset about his sales, I told him not to complain to HR because they wouldn’t do anything (which I found out for myself when I complained about my manger, they ended up telling my manager who then came back to confront me on this issues) he went to HR and told them what I said, last time I help a co-worker ever…

I have to say standing on your feet for long periods is difficult but trying to look busy is much harder. Fighting the boring laid back time of nothing to do.

I actually would have stayed at that job for a while longer but felt it was conflicting with my time to study for the Real Estate exam. My goal was to become a realtor. Before the pandemic hit.