A Blessing in Disguise: Escaping the World of Retail

  

It was my dream to work at a makeup shop and wear the coveted brush belt which legitimized makeup artistry. I remember applying to Sephora a thousand times for a year just hoping I’d get a call. Finally I did. I thought I had hit the jackpot. There were so many perks that I heard of for Sephora employees. No longer would I be just a customer. I’d become a Beauty Advisor/ Color Consultant. My job was to match foundation to all skin tones, and I was quite good at it for not having any training. I just love makeup. Although I had good experiences working there and met amazing people, what happened on the job was not what I expected. I ignored all the red flags.

Make Me Look White

Do you know how exhausting and insulting it is listening to customers tell you day after day they want makeup that makes them as white as possible? They might as well have said they don’t want to look like me. Racism and Colorism in the beauty community is more prevalent than I thought. I don’t know why people don’t get this, but applying lighter makeup does not make people look white. It makes people look grey. Is it that serious? It angered me seeing Black women wanting lighter makeup. We’re Black. That’s how we’re supposed to look. How is looking like an oppressor/colonizer ideal? So if a person looks lighter, does he/she elevate themselves from the oppressed to the oppressor? Does that person start belittling darker individuals? Is the goal to obtain privilege? Help me understand. There was one woman who broke my heart. She walked around the store looking at makeup but hesitated to buy anything because she thought she was too dark for the makeup to look good on her. Someone must have really hurt her growing up. Of coarse there are other occasions where customers want to look more tan or rosey. The whiteness factor is systematically engrained. I was tired of being insulted while still having to smile. The customer is not always right.

Sephora on Fire

Y’all, I can’t make this up even if I tried. My job caught on fire. Now at this time I asked the Lord to give me a sign on how to get out of retail. I’ve been working in customer service and retail for 10 years. I’d never been promoted in the retail world, although I’m overqualified, have a degree, and I’m bilingual. What? Where? How? Why? So I was frustrated. I just wanted to get out of this situation and I felt stuck. Well one day I got a call from my manager telling me there was an “electrical” issue at Sephora and to not come in for work. Turns out one of the wires in the makeup display counter got too hot and caught on fire. See I remember a few days before asking a coworker if she smelled something burning. I came back to work days later to help clean up. Parts of Sephora was CRISPY. So I took that as another sign to get out. Did it stop there? No

Job Satisfaction

I noticed how some of my coworkers were upset to be there. Many people quit, and the rest of us were there because of situational factors. People kept saying that there is no room for growth in the company. I didn’t know exactly what that meant at first. Now I realize that some people had been working at sephora for years while waiting on a promotion that never came. Many, like myself, were fighting for full-time employment. Sephora wanted all the availability, but scheduled people to work maybe four hours sometimes. My paycheck depended on customer traffic. I felt like I needed to prove to the company that I was dedicated. Also, I found out that full-time employees had only one day off. Some managers worked ALL DAY. In the world of retail, that’s rough for anyone. But I kept hope once I found out that Sephora had a tuition assistance program for cosmetology school, just what I wanted. I thought to myself that I could stick it out for a couple more years.  I still needed more cash though.. One of my coworkers, Imani, told me about a side gig she was doing to make extra money. She told me she worked in property management as a Concierge for apartments through a temp agency. I jumped to the opportunity and asked her to hook me up. I got hired on the spot. I’m grateful for her because I was STRUGGLING. With two jobs, I assumed everything would be fine, right?

Covid-19 Mass Lay Off 

Covid-19 caused companies to show their true colors. Once the pandemic hit, Sephora closed. Employees were promised to be paid and taken care of.  Still I was wondering how I would ever get out of retail. I prayed that God would get me out of retail. I told myself I’ll be out of retail by the end of 2020. Tell me why minutes later I got a call from my manager telling me that Sephora decided to lay off all part-time employees. I tried to mask the excitement in my voice. Sephora did us dirty though. All part-time employees were terminated days later, given a measly $200 severance package, and a deadline to use our Sephora employee discount..........I guess Sephora couldn’t scrape up coins to keep employees. Some part-time employees worked 28-30 hours, just a few hours shy of full-time. I gave my Sephora discount to friends and family. I’ll never spend a dime at Sephora again. Thank God Imani told me about that Concierge job, which is now considered “essential employment” during Covid-19. This wasn’t how I thought I’d get out of retail, but I’ll run with it.

Retail Relapse

I’m guilty of applying to work at Sephora again because o comfort and convenience. I knew I had a better chance of getting rehired. I was tired of the interview process. I wanted to skip all of that. Plus the temp agency I work at turned out to be sketchy.  I received a call from a Sephora manager asking to chat before proceeding with an interview. While talking, I was asked the basic interview questions about my work experience and where I see myself in the company. The phone conversation went well and we scheduled a video interview. For a few days I contemplated whether or not to cancel the interview. I thought about what was said over the phone. Why do I need to prove my loyalty again and explain where I see myself in the company? Sephora let thousands of employees go. Where is the loyalty in that. I sent an email to the manager.

Good morning,

I’v decided to cancel the interview. I honestly can’t imagine going back to retail and answering interview questions of how loyal I am to a company who dropped thousands of employees after being promised we had nothing to worry about. Thank you for your time.

Jordan

There was no response to my email. I mean what could anyone say to that? That is the first time I stood up for myself in the retail world. I’m worth more than this. I can do better than this. And I don’t want to settle for less because it’s comfortable. This lesson changed my views on careers and relationships. I guess it was a blessing in disguise after all.