Think retail work is a cushy gig? Think again.
The brave men and women who staff our local strip malls are actually underpaid American heroes. They have to deal with some serious shit — sometimes literally — when customers go rogue.
One such worker recently posted the following pic of a soiled-looking bathing suit bottomto Reddit. The blunt caption? "Working at Target has shown me no one washes their ass."
The NSFW (well, unless you work in retail...) post garnered 16,000 upvotes and counting. Scads of fellow retail workers are now adding their own horror stories after working at the Targets and KMarts of the world. (To be fair to our beloved Tar-jhay, one poster added, "I worked at Target for 6 years and never saw this shit.")
We're re-posting some of the best (read: grossest) tales of fitting room woe below. Let's all be a little extra friendly to the next retail worker we encounter — and for the love of god, wear undies when trying on swimsuits!
Think a more upscale mall haven would be immune to this stuff? Think again:
"I had this happen super frequently when I worked with Victorias Secret ... still not the worst part of that job surprisingly." - miiiiumiuu___
One erstwhile worker explained why their local Targ canceled carpeting:
"I’ve worked Target fitting rooms. They took out the carpet because people kept shitting and pissing on the floor. Women would stick used pads to the walls. Target fitting rooms are second only to hell." - dazedhoney
Guess a lot of these perps just walk out pants-less:
"This happens if you work fitting rooms in retail. I’ve seen full period blood stains. People’s shit in pants just left behind." - lilbaby_shark
These two might have cracked the case for why bikini bottoms are so much harder to find than tops:
"I also used to work the fitting room at Target. The number of bathing suit bottoms that I had to damage out due to period blood stains was TOO DAMN HIGH." - Graceless33
"even after reading all the comments before this, it wasn't until now that I realized why I can always find a bikini top at Target, but NEVER a matching bottom in the right size." - nachobrat
Apologies in advance for the word "frumunda":
"Once had a pack of hippies/hobo's come in and try on clothes. a.k.a. shed off the bad ones and steal a few good pairs of clothes under their disheveled outerwear. They left behind the more ragged of the layers for use to dispose of. The fitting room area smelled like B.O. and frumunda for about 2 hours, even after we febreezed and disinfected the area." - ImaThaBean
When you gotta go, you gotta... okay, no:
"I worked at Belk’s in college, and we found used tampons AND pads in our department’s dressing room. In Men’s Formalwear, someone PISSED all over the mirrors, and someone walked through the store, shitting all the way to the bathroom." - BubbaChanel
It was nice of this rogue urinater to stay around and take questions afterward:
"The store I used to work at had an incident where someone had pissed on a pile of clothes in the dressing room, and while he was waiting in line my manager pulled him aside for a bit of public humiliation ('sir, why did you piss on these clothes?') although I bet the guy loved it." - Sparklewhores
Parenting on-the-go:
"I work at a furniture store and in the department furthest from the bathroom, I found a diaper brand plastic bag filled with liquid, tied shut and thrown under a bin of chair cushions. I think a parent actually had their kid pee in a bag. Accidents happen but instead of throwing it in the trashcan at the entrance and exit of the department, they chose to hide it." - lowpowermode
Yeah, this is just wasteful:
"My friend worked at a target and said that one lady sprayed her breast milk on the mirrors once.........like dude that’s your babies food. What’s wrong with you?" - joshy5lo
A tanning salon tale proves this kind of behavior isn't limited to fitting rooms:
"[In a tanning salon,] things that are normal: dudes leaving a small mound of cum on the bed, women pissing in the tiny trash can, anyone pissing on the carpet in the room, women hiding used tampons behind the bed, your shitty underwear hidden behind the bed, etc... You think it? Yeah, that's normal for someone." - TalesFromAChad
Someone was trying too hard to be the "cool dad":
"Worked at Michaels and have seen some nasty stuff. Worst time was when a man let his boys pee in the fake topiary trees." - Patina_Pentaghast
And finally, while it didn't take place in a fitting room, this batshit customer gets points for creativity:
"I think my grossest retail story is when a girl returned a used pregnancy test poorly wrapped in a sandwich bag, told me it didn’t work." - lragdel