Norm Feuti's "Pretending You Care..."—My Review

“I am of the opinion that everyone should hold a retail job at least once in their life—not because I think it’s an enjoyable experience, but because I think it builds empathy for the human condition.”

I couldn’t agree more with the opening words from Chapter 1 of Norm Feuti’s Pretending You Care: The Retail Employee Handbook. Feuti draws the King Features-syndicated cartoon “Retail”, and when I found out he had a book about the subject, I knew it was going to be a must-read.

Feuti’s cartoon is absolutely hilarious, especially when you've experienced retail work.  I suggested Buffalo News pick up the sydicate.  My letter to the editor remains unanswered.  (For now I read it online.)  Anyway, the book is quick-reading because it’s near-300 pages are heavy on the “Retail” strips relating to the current chapter/topic.

For all of his retail-inspired humor, Feuti is a guy with a chip on his shoulder. It’s as if he went into publishing so he could give a giant middle finger to every customer who has ever tried his patience during his 15-plus years in retail. At times his language is crass and immature, while his cynicism is of shock value.

In spite of this, Pretending You Care is a fun, useful book. Feuti provides good tips such as how to escape for your lunch break when you’re trapped with a clingy customer, how to feign product knowledge (most big-box employees are not trained in product knowledge), and what to do when a customer insists you go looking for an item that the store is sold out of. He even provides insight into the typical retail management structure from the corporate offices to the district manager on down.

With my current career being a supervisor with Kohl’s, I can mostly relate and commiserate with Feuti. However, I do think when it comes to working in retail that your location and your team make all the difference. I’m fortunate to work at a well-performing store with a great team of co-workers. Having a good management and support system in place makes dealing with the unpleasant customers a little less harrowing. And not every customer is a pain. Every once in a while you assist someone and clearly you’ve made their day and they express genuine thanks.

Retail is a tough industry, and it’s my hope in the near future to move beyond the “front lines” and up into a corporate-level position. But until then, I plan to keep on enjoying Feuti’s comic strip, and I would give high recommendations to this book. Even for those who’ve never worked in retail, it gives insight into what store associates go through every day. Maybe it’ll even make people think twice before yelling at a clerk for something beyond his or her control or before abandoning a cartload of merchandise.  Yeah, who am I kidding.  Anyway, my shift starts in a little under an hour.  Guess I better get ready to go clean up messes in the shoes department at Kohl's...