Have you ever walked into a store, and just thought “dang, this is overwhelming"? Because I know I have. Specifically, the time when I walked into a certain boutique on 5th Avenue in NYC, because I'm a freelance writer, and I don't have 5th Avenue money. I'd consider those price points a rather painful experience.
But guess what? Retail can be painful in many other ways, as explained here by the shoppers of Reddit. RelapsedCatoonist asked:
Which store is the most painful to shop at?
Speaking of painful, let’s talk about the stores that are hella confusing to navigate.
Sears was a beast.
“It used to be Sears when they were still around.
It was impossible to find anyone, they never had what I wanted, and I went to the same Sears for most of my life. When I was younger, it was a beast, but near the end, you can tell it was dying.”
“Sears has become a case study of poor management. With their early history as a catalog store they could have repurposed themselves using that image arcing to the internet age and competed with Amazon. Instead the CEO pitted different parts of the organization against each other in the belief that the competition would make the company stronger but all they did was eat each other and aid in its destruction.”
Why are Hot Topic stores so small, anyway?
scared hot topic GIF by South Park Giphy“Hot Topic. I never understood how every Hot Topic store I've been to has the same squished layout. I still occasionally go because it's one of the few in person places I can shop for fandom merch (at least where I live). But c'mon, why it always gotta be so thin and narrow?"
The smell in these shops are unbearable.
“Abercombie and Fitch and Hollister are not ideal places to shop when you have asthma.”
“Also, why do they advertise clothes by plastering the walls with photos of topless models being photographed from the chest up? The guy isn't even wearing anything that you're selling; why is he there?”
These guys are totally right about Hollister and Hot Topic. But what about the smaller stores?
People do this???
“Most of the convenience stores in my neighborhood. There's almost always a person buying lotto tickets. They can't buy them all at once though. First they need to get their previous tickets checked/cashed in. Then they need to buy their weekly tickets. Then they need to buy a couple scratch'n'win tickets, which they quickly scratch off just the verification area. Depending on those "winnings" they'll buy more. When that's done, they'll look at how much change they have left and buy a couple more tickets.
Meanwhile, there's a line of people forming behind the gambler as they treat the cashier like a slot machine.”
It’s a clothing store, not a club.
Animated GIFGiphy“Any store that I can hear before I see. Dark lights and thumping music is really not necessary in a clothing store and I'll walk straight past every time no matter how good the clothes are.”
This is so messed up.
“Any stores with their exit located behind the cash registers forcing you to cut through a line of people waiting to pay.
F*ck your tricks.”
“My local Walmart has blocked off every unused register so you have to go through a line to exit the store. And they want you to stand in line with nothing (or a bag of meds you picked up from pharmacy) wait your turn, and tell them you don't need to checkout before you can leave.
I refuse to do this and usually just squish past people if I have to go in.”
The most painful of all retailers.
“Cellphone carriers.
You can't get anything done at AT&T or similar without them trying to sell you 15 things and services that are totally irreverent to what you need.
That is why I switched to Boost because they will actually just sell you a phone without trying to sell you half the store.
What should be a 10 minute experience of buying and activation of a phone ends up being about half an hour.
On that note, rereading this, this is totally a first world problem.”
On second thought, maybe we should just shop online instead.
Looking at you, LUSH.
How Are You Help GIF by Your Happy WorkplaceGiphy“Any store where employees are constantly hounding you about helping find something. Please leave me alone to browse in peace, if I needed help I would come ask.”
“I used to work at a Target and were told we'd get yelled at if you didn't ask. It was also a theft deterrent. I go to Target all the time and no one asks me which I am okay with actually.
I really hate how the American meaning of good service is bugging your customer/patient/whatever constantly as opposed to just flagging someone down when you need something.”
Nothing wrong with boring underwear.
“Victoria’s Secret can suck it. Went there as a teenager with a group of friends to get "properly fitted" for bras. The sales lady was all positive and enthusiastic and assured us that they had the perfect bra for each of us. Get to me, and I measured at 34AA. She frowns and says, "oh we don't carry that small a size, you will have to special order it." So I had to sit there on a stupid pink velvet bench and watch my "normal" friends pick out frilly bras.
That experience ruined my self-esteem for years. Luckily, now I love my little t*tties and my boring underwear!!”
Nothing wrong with being barefaced, either.
“Holy sh*t, Sephora 100%. If you're not wearing at least 7 shades of eyeshadow they think you're either stealing or don't belong there.”
“Ulta is like that too though. They try to steer you towards the super expensive brands or they talk down to you. when joked I was just looking for a concealer in almost white because I'm pale to a girl there, she got snippy with me and was like ‘actually you mean fair skinned’ lmao.”
So to sum it up--turn down the music, stop cleaning your carpets with nasty perfume, and leave me the hell alone. Shopping would be a much better experience that way.
They gotta make money, sometimes they just go about it in an unethical way. Retailers--be the change!
An unwillingness to learn
"I feel like the classic example is being unable to change your opinion or idea when you are presented with new information."
"You don’t have to set everything you believe in stone."- Rusty_of_Shackleford
"I think a key thing that separates the intelligent from the less intelligent is curiosity and how far you actually go to learn."- TuxedoWolf07
When even they don't know what they're talking about.
"Maybe not unintelligence but ignorance."
"People getting angry when I ask them to explain what they just meant as I want to understand them and not misunderstand."- smokinstuff·
"Getting angry when someone ask them to explain their point."- SuvenPan
Working Julie Andrews GIFGiphyIt's never attractive to gloat
"Obsessively telling everybody how intelligent you are."- terribleUsername18
It's ok to admit defeat every now and then...
"Playing 'last word' in an argument you've lost."- LennonMcCartney65
"Being defensive when corrected instead of just accepting it."- Marthstewart123
"Claiming they are always right but not being able to argument why or have a serious debate about it."- GReatChinook
Drop The Mic GIF by In Real LifeGiphyAre you sure about that?
"Constantly saying 'facts' that are extremely false."
"Gets on my nerves."- Sharkifish
Read the instructions!!!
"I just started driving for UberXL."
"The amount of people who think they can fit 8 people with all their luggage into a midsize SUV is astonishing."
"You can see which car comes to pick you up and it says fits 5 people."
"If you have a piece of luggage each then it's more like 3 people."
"I had one group sit there and stare me down like they didn't understand."
"I swear some people just have a mental limit for figuring things out and they all find each other and never get anywhere."- predict_irrational
One should always reserve judgment, as one never knows for sure what lurks beneath the surface.
Even if more often and not, you are left with little to nothing which encourages you to see what's there.
Overprotective parents tend to be evasive about discussing the birds and the bees with their kids because they feel it's not up to them to have that conversation.
Remember Carrie White's religious mom who refused to talk about intimacy with her 16-year-old?
We all know how that turned out in the classic Stephen King novel.
Anyway, parents turning down an opportunity to have the uncomfortable convo or having their kids miss out on sex education can lead a child to potentially develop damaging misunderstandings about their body and puberty.
The effects of which were explored when Redditor sparklingshanaya asked:
"What’s a sexual misconception you had for way too long?"
It helps to have an earlier understanding about your body when you're younger.
Sex Education
"As a girl, I had no real idea of where/what the vagina was until I was like 11 or 12. My mom didn't give me a real sex talk, just a puberty/body book that said 'the vagina is between the woman's legs' and just had a full frontal diagram (legs closed) of a woman with an arrow pointing to her pelvic region. I also didn't know a period lasted longer than a day until I got mine at 14, and then wondered why it was still going on the next day."
"When my mom realized how abysmal my sex education was, her solution was to rent a video from the library about it and make me watch it on the big family TV in the living room at like 3pm. Granted— it was a very educational video but I won't ever forget one of the educators (a 50 year old woman) talking about how to give a satisfactory blow job."
– ash-on-fire
Hard Epiphany
"Ok so I grew up in a VERY conservative household. Was not allowed to take sex ed in middle school and they helicoptered in high school. Any internet access they had access to view so I never watched porn/looked at pics. Absolutely nothing. So for a long time I thought penises were shaped like a smaller pringles can. I thought it was just like...a straight up cylinder. Moved out at 17 and googled some things and man I had men's anatomy SO wrong."
– WholeLottaIntrovert
Wrong End Of The Stick
"Friend of mine has a similar background and I just about lost my mind when she said the balls are the END of the penis. Like she had seen those doodles and had it upside down so they just dangle off the end of the shaft lmaooo."
– xchakrumx
Let's get verbal about getting oral.
Satisfy A Woman
"Learn to go down on a woman, like become a master at it. Do this."
– ecallawsamoht
Excuse For Supper
"I second this. Been married for 20 years and it's something I'm happy to do."
"Get involved, people."
"Edit: thanks for the medals and upvotes, people! Be assured that I'll be celebrating tonight."
– AhabVanCleef
Semantics
"Friend of a friend thought it meant kissing. And they were like 19. So glad they found out through a conversation and not through a dude asking for it, or her talking about it. That would've been extremely confusing for everyone."
– SilverWaters793
Pucker Up
"My friend back in middle school thought a blowjob meant to literally blow on it. I still tease her about it to this day."
– Ashurii_desu
Failed Expectations
"Man, I thought I was gonna get so many blow jobs. That’s just not true."
– Studying_Politics
As young adolescents, these Redditors got these terminologies mixed up.
Dirty Talk
"When I was around middle school age I thought that oral sex meant talking dirty :’)"
– strawbrykat
"I used to sext with my girlfriend in high school. When we broke up, she just went crazy and told everyone in our grade that I was great at 'oral sex' (she meant sexting💀) School hasn’t been the same since then."
– Particular-Ad4356
Learning By Example
"I was kind of sheltered growing up, and like most sheltered kids, I learned a lot about sex through porn. I kept seeing 'blowjob' videos, and (i had no idea what a blowjob) assumed it was some kind of sex blooper. Like, something got messed up and the director said 'Oh darn, you blew it! Let’s take it from the top.'”
– Danny_my_boy
I had sex education in sixth grade after my parents gave the school permission for me to attend the special assembly centering on the topic.
But I remember how vague the instructor was. By the time I eventually had my first nocturnal emission, I remember being terrified, yet simultaneously elated. It was very confusing, and I didn't know what happened.
I remember reflecting back to sixth grade and thinking the school must've skipped that part in sex ed.