There was this time a a kid, maybe 5 or 6, pooped in the shop, in an aisle over from where their parents were standing. It happened quickly. Pants down. Poop. Walk away.
A staff member saw it and approached the parents. They said their kid would never do something like that. The staff member told them they saw it. The parents asked the kid and the kid ran off. See, they said, not our kid.
The staff member said they could show them a video of their kid pooping because there is a camera in that aisle.
The parents said it was appalling that they filmed kids in the shop and left, shouting what a disgusting smell as they walked out.
The staff member cleaned up the poop.
This is not an uncommon story in local small business retail. People doing things in public that disrupt, damage and hurt a local shop. The shop team members and owner are usually helpless to defend themselves as people caught in these situations often go ‘feral’ and cause more noise and trouble than it’s worth to defend.
It is a dark part of retail that makes it challenging, and upsetting often.
People seem to think that an open shop is open game for behaving in ways that tend to not be acceptable at home. It’s why some retailers leave their shops earlier than they planned when they bought the business or opened it. Its;s a reason people leave working in retail.
Cleaning up poop, vomit and urine is challenging, as is dealing with theft, fights, and more. Every day in some shops there are challenges. Every day can be hard.
Sure, there are bright sides, too, but there are dark days as well.
What makes it a bit different for locally owned retail businesses is that anything bad happening in the shop is personal as the owner is often in or not far away from the shop. They feel it, see it and smell it, whereas in big business, the financial stakeholders tend to be a distance from the sights and smells.
We hear the stories when talk with retailers. We empathise as much as we can.
What’s this to do with POS software? Nothing except that we empathise with what retailers deal with every day.
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