Working During the Holidays

     I work at a retail store.  Everyone knows that the holiday season is crazy busy, stressful, and ridiculous.  This is my first year working retail during the holidays and I never realized how true that was until now.  There's people that come out to shop only during the holidays so they don't really know the employees and think they are just annoying them and bombarding them with questions.  Customers are often times rude and will verbally abuse the employees without real reason.  The holidays can be a rough time for people already, you never know what's going on in someones mind, and the last thing they need is a person who they don't even know yelling at them and calling them names.  In this post I wanted to reflect on stress and mental health of those who work during the holidays.  

    Some people truly are just mean and don't realize the consequences of their actions.  Every time I think I've seen it all, I get surprised with another comment or decision made.  Customers in and out all day are fighting to get through crowds and yelling with other people or become upset that what they want is sold out, but that is nothing associates can control.  This season seems to be worse than others due to COVID-19 and almost everything being sold out on top of having a shortage of workers.  Many people fail to realize that.  Over time it has become more and more mentally draining having to go to work only to get yelled at, pushed, or ignored for 8 hours a day.  What I really want to get at is, focus on yourself.  Focus on your mental health and put yourself first.  Even with everything going on, it's still a great reward just being able to get up everyday and go to work or school.  Always put yourself first and make sure that you are alright before you make sure that others are.