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Photo by Mathias Hoefferle

As junior Cole Lehnen reaches up for pair of hockey gloves for a customer, he explains that retail is a good high-schoolers job. “Working in retail doesn’t require a whole lot of skill to complete the job. Just some time and learning the hang of it.” Working in retail is all about a company selling products to a customer. Clothes, food and shoes are just a few examples of retail sales. Retail jobs are typically on the ground jobs, meaning mechanical work is typically not required, nor are jobs such as construction, teaching, or design.

Many students juggle school, sports and work, which can be extremely challenging at times. Working in retail part time has some great advantages and disadvantages. Even though school work should be students number one priority, students find it hard to do that.

If a student is over the age of 16 and under 18, the law says that they cannot work more than eight hours a day, or more than 40 hours a week. Students must have twelve hours’ rest between each working day, and 48 hours of rest per working week. They are also entitled to a 30 minute break when they  work for longer than four and a half hours. They cannot usually work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. If they are contracted to work after 10 p.m., they must stop work at 11 p.m. and not start again before 7 a.m.

There are some exceptions for young people who work in hospitals, agriculture, retail, hotels and catering, bakeries, post/newspaper deliveries, or in connection with cultural, artistic, sporting or advertising activities.

“I get stressed out because I don’t have a lot of time when I have to go straight to work after school, I do not get home until late, so I lack sleep and it just gets hard. But I do have a great time because I love the people I work with at American Eagle. I really like working in retail because I get really good discounts on the clothes and accessories, there’s a lot of different positions you can work in retail which is nice,” said senior Tally Ross.

Ross continued, “I work at a mall so it is kind of a drive. There’s busy seasons which means you have to work long shifts so it gets pretty tiring and then during the slow seasons there is nothing to do and it gets pretty boring when you just stand there. But I love clothes and helping other people pick out outfits. It sucks having to constantly fold clothes and stock everything, it’s very repetitive and not much change.”

Students get some benefits by working in the retail. Many of them like to work local and see the people they know.

“I like working in retail at Heritage Embroidery, I love working around things I like. I am super friendly with customers, and since it’s local I get to talk to people that I know. It can be boring, but it gives you something to do. I have some pretty attractive co-workers, so it makes it fun,” said senior Jenny Hammer.

There are also a few downsides to working in retail. There are approximately 27 million shoplifters (or one in 11 people) in our nation today. Approximately 25 percent of shoplifters are kids and 75 percent are adults. 55 percent of adult shoplifters say they started shoplifting in their teens.

“One time we had a group of four boys come in that were wearing sweatshirts with sensors on them so we knew they stole from other stores. We had a pretty good idea that they were going to steal from us too. And we were right. As they were leaving, we called the mall security and they got everything figured out,” said Ross.

Working as student in retail can have some ups and downs. Students just have to decide if working in retail is worth it or not. Many say the discounts make up for the excessive boredom.