Is working retail a disappointment after receving a college degree?

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by gator1986

Half of them eat donuts, and sit around. I respect them I do not go get in trouble, it's just their job is not that high risk, especially if your a cop in a low crime rated town... Give me a break

Where do you live? Mayberry RFD?

Actually it does not matter where you are a cop, Smallville or Metropolis. The job is not dangerous every minute or every hour or every day. However, almost every call can turn deadly in a split second.
Do have any idea how many cops are injured or killed on: Answering domestic disputes, neighbor disputes, pulling over a drunk driver or a traffic violator, serving a warrant, answering a call for a rescue, or just driving around on patrol?

None of the above scenarios include the often deadly hostage, chase/pursuit, or robbery situations that are portrayed on the TV and the movies.

Just a mont ago two cops here in the Atlanta area died in a copter crash while they were looking for a young boy who had run away from home. Just the other day a cop had to be cut out his patrol car and transported to the hospital. He and his car was rammed by a drunk driver. A mont or two ago another cop was killed while assisting a stranded motorist. He and the motorist were well off the road when a drunk driver plowed right into him. A year ago another cop was shot from a good distance by a sniper. The snippet was caught. His story was that he thought the cop was coming out to serve a warrant. The truth was that the copy was on his way home from work.

By the way I am going to be guilty of using facts to confuse you. In 2011 the USA had:
1, 72 law enforcement officers Feloniously Killed.
2, 53 law enforcement officers Accidentally Killed.
3,535,651 law enforcement officers Assaulted

Doesn't sound like a low risk cushy job to me!
He'll let have a doughnut or two. It maybe their last chance to do so.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr...cers-assaulted

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by northgagator

I agree with this post. In a former career I sold electrical switch gear and other elec supplies. That type of selling is very hard because that type of market has the factors of politics, collusion between the manufactures, distributors, and unethical customers makes it real dirty. Also the ups and downs of the economy makes for periods of feast and famines.

After a eight years I got out of that game and earned a computer science degree from UNF. In the three years I was there I tended bar 30 to 40 hours a week and went to school full time. Some of you may laugh, but bar tending is a retail sales job. I was able to use my seven years of wholesale experience and my ability to accurately and quickly crank out hundreds of drinks in a night.

This bar was part of a four star hotel/restaurant/nightclub. I just did not take orders and serve drinks/food. I worked hard on providing fast and high quality service. I also provided good conversation and amusement for the customers. Another thing I did was sell up on the transaction. When a customer requested a beer or a drink, I always recommended a premium brand. When I provided service I did it with professionalism and class.

Frequently i worked the Sunday night shift in the bar (nightclub was closed on Sundays) and it is usually slow. it was a nice change of pace from the craziness of the nightclub. It was about a half hour before closing and a guy wearing a nice tuxedo entered the bar. The guy apologized for showing up right at closing time. I interrupted by saying that the apology is not needed and that I was here for his convenience. He smiled and said that he got married earlier that day in Palm Beach and that he and his bride were in route to New York. He went on saying that they just checked in for the night and they would like to have a bottle of champagne. I had feeling that this was going to be a good sale so I recommend Dom Perignon (this was in 1986 and it was over $100 a bottle). The guy did not even blink an eye and gladly accepted the recommendation. I went to the walk-in cooler and discovered that I did not have any Dom chilled. I advised my customer that the Dom was not chilled but I had another brand already chilled. i also offered to chill the Dom if he could wait thirty minutes He asked me to chill the Dom and that he would be back in 30 minutes. I then said said that coming down would not be necessary that I will get room service to deliver it and that there will not be a room service charge. This guy was real happy with the suggestion an again apologize for being a pain. I told him that he was not a pain but an opportunity to do what I do, which is to make the customer happy. Especially a customer on his first day of marriage. He smiled and asked me to ring up the sale. I offered to put it on his room number. He said that was ok but he wanted to take care of this transaction now. I rung up the sale, ran his Amex Card, he signed it, shook my hand, thanked me, and went up to his room. After he was out of sight I looked at the tip amount. I was floored when I saw the amount of $100. This was my first C-note tip (there were more to follow). I chilled the Dom, got out best champaign bucket/stand, our best champaign fluted glasses, and nabbed the room service guy (a buddy of mine). I told him do not blow this run that this call was special run (I did not tell him about my tip). He took off with the order and was back in twenty minutes grinning from ear to ear. He said that he entered the room and the bride was a knockout 10+. I asked how the delivery go. He told me how he did the presentation, opened the bottle and poured two glasses. As he left the room the guy shock his hand and slipped him a twenty.

Sorry for the long story but this is how you sell up by hitting the customer's hit spots and doing it with professionalism and class. I was not the only one to profit that night. My buddy made an easy $20 and the hotel got a satisfied customer. By the way a day later the hotel management showed me the comment card from the newly weds. They gushed about me, made nice comments about the room service guy , and the rest of the hotel staff. They even said that they will plan for a repeat stay on there way back from New York.

My three years (in the 80's) as a bartender were very profitable. I average about $25K a year, paid for three years of college, got a degree, got married, and started an great IT career. Like Brain I have done very well and now entering the management level of the business.

I only work at a courtyard but get tips quite often, I love it too because I don't think that I'm doing anything special at all and most guests say that I go above and beyond what they'd expect and make them feel at home.

I spoke with a wife and husband where the wife was telling me during check in that they were military. I checked to see if the military rate was available (It's stupid that it's not all the time but I digress) and it was. I was able to get $70 off their rate for the night and when she told me that the husband has a plate in his head and two purple hearts from Iraq I was floored. I spoke with them for about an hour, basically just being a 'shoulder to cry on' type of thing, I told the family that I couldn't express the admiration that I have for the family for what they have sacrificed for my freedom and when I went to shake his hand he gave me a hug. They ended up tipping me $20 that I turned around and donated to the wounded project under their name for $40. I didn't care about the tip, I was heart broken to see what they had to go through and it made me feel so much better to know that they felt like they were treated as if they were royalty. About 3 days later I got a nice hand written letter at the hotel expressing how much they loved it here at the hotel and that they have never been treated so well and couldn't thank us enough for how we treated them. My new GM is former Air Force and he got choked up a little and something like that makes me proud.

I love doing things like that, makes you feel good as a person.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by oxymoron

My cousin worked for Target and worked his way up to VP in Minneapolis. He made big time money and has had a great career. Nothing wrong with retail.

I know they pay their techs in the Pharmacy decent (a lot better than everyone else) I also think they pay the pharmacist pretty well too. The fiance loves it there except the new pharmacist is lazy and they moved a dude from electronics to the pharmacy as a team lead and hes a douche. Well that was until I went in to pick up a Rx and his little skinny New York ass was scared of me and has treated her really well since then. lol

[gator1986]

Originally Posted by northgagator

Where do you live? Mayberry RFD?

Actually it does not matter where you are a cop, Smallville or Metropolis. The job is not dangerous every minute or every hour or every day. However, almost every call can turn deadly in a split second.
Do have any idea how many cops are injured or killed on: Answering domestic disputes, neighbor disputes, pulling over a drunk driver or a traffic violator, serving a warrant, answering a call for a rescue, or just driving around on patrol?

None of the above scenarios include the often deadly hostage, chase/pursuit, or robbery situations that are portrayed on the TV and the movies.

Just a mont ago two cops here in the Atlanta area died in a copter crash while they were looking for a young boy who had run away from home. Just the other day a cop had to be cut out his patrol car and transported to the hospital. He and his car was rammed by a drunk driver. A mont or two ago another cop was killed while assisting a stranded motorist. He and the motorist were well off the road when a drunk driver plowed right into him. A year ago another cop was shot from a good distance by a sniper. The snippet was caught. His story was that he thought the cop was coming out to serve a warrant. The truth was that the copy was on his way home from work.

By the way I am going to be guilty of using facts to confuse you. In 2011 the USA had:
1, 72 law enforcement officers Feloniously Killed.
2, 53 law enforcement officers Accidentally Killed.
3,535,651 law enforcement officers Assaulted

Doesn't sound like a low risk cushy job to me!
He'll let have a doughnut or two. It maybe their last chance to do so.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr...cers-assaulted

Their job is more high risk than others, but more civilian Americans die everyday trying to protect themselves, or prevent incidents, and they do not get a badge of honor. I respect them I said, and what they do I just personally think most of them aren't here to protect and serve, and a lot of them just harass people just to do it. I have family and friends in the business, it's different when you see it from a personal point of view. Yes there are a few who risk their lives a lot more and those who die trying to protect and serve and I greatly respect them for doing that. And 3 million cops are assaulted? That's weird FBI stat sheet shows there is only 708,569 total in America? Of course to normal civilians its a high risk job because they do not show you cops who just sit around all day on TV, of course they're going to show cops who are in dangerous predicaments because that's what sells in America...violence... There are definitely cops who risk a lot, but there are far more who don't, the high risk name just goes along with the job title, and it makes them a hero .. But it's all my opinion... Might as well mark a JC Penney mall security guard a hero too since he's in dangerous situations or at any time can be with thieves, robbers, and skateboarder kids!

[PIMking]

oh jesus lets not get this shut down or sent to too hot

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by PIMking

I only work at a courtyard but get tips quite often, I love it too because I don't think that I'm doing anything special at all and most guests say that I go above and beyond what they'd expect and make them feel at home.

I spoke with a wife and husband where the wife was telling me during check in that they were military. I checked to see if the military rate was available (It's stupid that it's not all the time but I digress) and it was. I was able to get $70 off their rate for the night and when she told me that the husband has a plate in his head and two purple hearts from Iraq I was floored. I spoke with them for about an hour, basically just being a 'shoulder to cry on' type of thing, I told the family that I couldn't express the admiration that I have for the family for what they have sacrificed for my freedom and when I went to shake his hand he gave me a hug. They ended up tipping me $20 that I turned around and donated to the wounded project under their name for $40. I didn't care about the tip, I was heart broken to see what they had to go through and it made me feel so much better to know that they felt like they were treated as if they were royalty. About 3 days later I got a nice hand written letter at the hotel expressing how much they loved it here at the hotel and that they have never been treated so well and couldn't thank us enough for how we treated them. My new GM is former Air Force and he got choked up a little and something like that makes me proud.

I love doing things like that, makes you feel good as a person.

You did your job very well!

Most if all you made someone very happy.

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by gator1986

Their job is more high risk than others, but more civilian Americans die everyday trying to protect themselves, or prevent incidents, and they do not get a badge of honor. I respect them I said, and what they do I just personally think most of them aren't here to protect and serve, and a lot of them just harass people just to do it. I have family and friends in the business, it's different when you see it from a personal point of view. Yes there are a few who risk their lives a lot more and those who die trying to protect and serve and I greatly respect them for doing that. And 3 million cops are assaulted? That's weird FBI stat sheet shows there is only 708,569 total in America? Of course to normal civilians its a high risk job because they do not show you cops who just sit around all day on TV, of course they're going to show cops who are in dangerous predicaments because that's what sells in America...violence... There are definitely cops who risk a lot, but there are far more who don't, the high risk name just goes along with the job title, and it makes them a hero .. But it's all my opinion... Might as well mark a JC Penney mall security guard a hero too since he's in dangerous situations or at any time can be with thieves, robbers, and skateboarder kids!

Read my post again.
I did not say three million plus cops got injured,
What you saw was bullet item #3 with 535k injured. Improve your work ethic by improving your reading comprehension.

I see from that you use a few key words that show that you have some hostility toward police.

Did one of them reach into your pants when you were a little boy..,,(sound familiar?)

Anyway I have respect for most anyone who takes a security. Why? At any given moment they may have to do something very brave. Even if it is just one moment in their lives.

I am done with you because I violated one of my rules. That rule is to keep it fun here in the pub. Take your rant there.

[NJG8tor]

Its disappointing for sure, but you do what you have to do. I worked at a college bookstore for two months after grad school in my later twenties. And thats not the worst post-college job Ive had. A friend of mine makes a good living working as an assistant manager and waiter at Outback Steakhouse. The key is dont get down on yourself and keep looking.

[NJG8tor]

Originally Posted by Swampmaster

it depends on the degree. Some degrees have no market value and job prospects are slim.

With a generic bachelors degree you will meet the mininum qualifications for a many corporate and government jobs. That doesnt mean you will be the best candidate for those jobs, but should the door open; you will at least be eligible. I know people with history and sociology degrees doing very well in corporations. Unless you have a major directly applicable to a career it doesnt really matter that much. Ultimately the candidate is more important than the degree, and the cream rises to the top.

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by NJG8tor

With a generic bachelors degree you will meet the mininum qualifications for a many corporate and government jobs. That doesnt mean you will be the best candidate for those jobs, but should the door open; you will at least be eligible. I know people with history and sociology degrees doing very well in corporations. Unless you have a major directly applicable to a career it doesnt really matter that much. Ultimately the candidate is more important than the degree, and the cream rises to the top.

Goods words NJ!!

A lot of people are hung up on degrees and GPA.
In some cases those are valid factors.

What you are saying is that all you need is to get your foot into the door you are getting your chance shine. What you do with it is your option. Many employers will hire an over qualified employee or an employee whose background may not appear at first glance to be a good fit for the company. The reason these guys get hired is that the employer either sees a future opportunity to use these guys and is willing to take a chance on them. As is said earlier, that is the new employee's chance to shine and to take advantage of the opportunity.

[LeafUF]

I have a poli sci degree, spent 8 years as an IT consultant with IBM and now I am a fitness professional. So, in my experience degrees have meant very little especially when compared to skillset. But without my degree I never get that consulting gig.