My Two Cents on Working for Uniqlo
I worked for Uniqlo for about 3 months after I graduated. It was my first official ‘stable’ job. When I told my friends I was working there, their initial reactions were shock then disbelief. I didn’t envision myself in a job that relies heavily on customer service either. I wouldn’t consider myself a huge extrovert but I’m not the type that will voluntarily offer help to others either. Anywho, I applied for several jobs and only Uniqlo got back to me. I passed the interview and landed the job. My initial goal was to pass time since my parents disliked me wasting my time at home, but as time passed, making money and friends became equally important as well.
The pay was $8.50 per hour (it was $8.20 previously) and I had to commit a minimum of 20 hours per week. I was assigned to Suntec, which I later learnt it’s because they needed manpower since it is a very large store. I was lucky enough to have a co-worker around the same age as me who joined as well. Her first words to me were “Is this your first day here”, which was pretty obvious cause we reported in black tee and pants. We were both lost as we didn’t know where the staff room was. As we joined during the peak period (aka festive season), we were tasked to do menial tasks for the first few days. We were mostly unpacking clothes in the stock room, and occasionally running (aka replenishing) the items on the shop floor. During our time in the stock room, we met other youths, mostly younger than us, dressed in black tee and pants too. We learnt that they were temp workers, who were hired specifically for the peak periods. They also earned the same wage as us, but had no staff pass, meaning they didn’t have staff privileges like the 30% staff discount. They also weren’t able to man the cashier or fitting room. As time passed, more part-timers got hired.
The workload wasn’t that heavy, but it required long hours of standing, which I was not used to when I first joined. Sitting during work hours was prohibited unless necessary. I accustomed to it, and eventually found ways to lessen my slack during work. The amount of break you received depends on the number of hours you work. For example, when I first joined, I would work from 8 am/8.30 am till 6 pm/6.30 pm, which would grant me 1.5 hours of break. I soon realised that such an arrangement was too taxing on my body and thus decreased my working hours. Eventually (after a month or so) I was working the bare minimum (around 21.5 hours a week) for 4 days (Mon/Tues/Wed/Sun). I had an hour break on weekdays and 30 minutes for the weekend.
This new arrangement allowed me to be more flexible when it comes to planning my outings and exercise routine. I am not encouraging everyone to just commit the bare minimum hours, but if you always put in 110% effort during work, I don’t see any reason why your superiors would object to such an arrangement (you are within your rights as stated in the contract). And also, don’t be that guy who clocks out on time every time and leave, it’s better to read the situation and act accordingly. I would usually extend 30 minutes to help if there is a huge crowd (especially during weekends). Working more equates to more pay as well (the company calculates wage by the minute).
The contract I signed required me to work weekends as well, but it didn’t specify both or just one day. It was up to the store manager’s discretion, I guess. I was not okay with committing both my weekends to work. That’s absurd in my opinion, whether you are working part-time or full-time. I understand retail stores earn greater sales during the weekends, due to larger crowd volume, but it’s also not fair to my social life. I got lucky and managed to just work on Sundays with no questions asked. But my other friends needed to work both weekends. For a month or so they reported at 8 am to the store while the majority of Singapore was still sound asleep. They decided to change their schedules a few weeks later. One even told me that he was told he needed to work both weekends during the interview. I’m glad all my friends managed to gather some courage and put themselves first in the end.
They taught us the majority of the stuff during orientation, which was like on the 3rd or 4th day of work. That was the foundation of your skills while working there. Things like how to fold the shirts and pants, how to tidy an area, what to do if customers approach you, etc. I learnt fitting room about 2 weeks later, then cashier after a month or so. They had orientation for those 2 as well. The steps to serve the customer is quite straightforward and logical, but the devil is always in the details. There was more to remember for the cashier (as expected) but surprisingly I preferred it to the fitting room (while all my other friends think otherwise). I screwed up quite often initially because I was nervous and panicky (one of my superiors told us that it was best to serve a customer within 100 seconds), but I later realized that it’s totally fine to go at your own pace. The goal is to always engage the customer, make them feel valued, and create some small talk to seem approachable and lively, so they’ll return.
Some customers are cold and prefer not to talk, but some will initiate the conversation. And it’s not the “can you help me get xxx in size x” type of conversation, I remember me and my friend were serving a couple in their mid-forties on a weekday morning. They asked if we were working part-time and were interested in what we did. I don’t want to delve into the specifics of the conversation (it might bore some of you) but that was the first time I felt valued in the job because customers rarely strike a conversation with us with nothing to gain out of it.
I have also met quite a fair bit of self-righteous/arrogant customers. Sometimes it’s just due to language barriers, so they come off as fussy and we still have to maintain our composure. But the ones that irritate me the most is our Singaporeans who dress nicely that commit such atrocities. Things like waiting in line, passing their clothes nicely to us, and responding in a nice courteous manner are the most basic thing one can do at the fitting room (or the cashier). You could do all of the above and bring in 12 items to try in the fitting room (another one of my pet peeves), and I would still serve you with a smile, not because I have to, but because I feel respected.
After working in the retail sector, I have even more respect for the people who continue to dedicate their lives to such jobs every day. Just like any other job, it is not easy to work in retail. But because I’ve experienced both the highs and the lows, I am urging everyone to be more gracious to service staff. Just treat people with kindness, it isn’t that difficult. Or at the very least, don’t be a burden for these staff. Their job is as demanding as it is, don’t complicate things further. Cooperate with them. They will serve you because more sales equal more bonuses at the end of the month, and they are always looking for compliments, not complains.
One of the company’s motto is “Customers always come first”, which is how they stand out from other competitors like H&M, Cotton On, Zara, etc. During my time there, our superiors often reminded us of the importance of customer service, even though all of us have at least one bad experience with a customer. We share about them, laugh about them and ultimately put them behind us and continue our tasks. It’s not like we have the power to do anything, or are going to cross paths with them again, so it’s useless pursuing the matter anyways.
The people working there were mainly students, which was good cause I managed to make some friends. It isn’t easy to make friends when you are the new guy, so I mixed around with the other new part-timers. I found it weird to just intrude into a friend group, without any prior connections. Like if someone just inserted themselves into your conversations, you would feel comfortable as well. It’s not that the people weren’t friendly, they cracked jokes and made fun of each other in the staff room all the time, but I prefer the status quo, and just being a moth on the wallpaper. Being friends with my superiors was out of the question as well, as they also had their own tightly knitted friend group. I felt that some of them were stricter (to me) at times, while others were more lax and chill. I tried to please every one of them, but I still have a feeling that one or two have a negative impression of me, due to something silly I did or said. Over time I did get to talk to different people, got to learn about their backgrounds, and exchanged socials.
One thing that new part-timers have to do every morning would be to clean the shelves and tables. I still am surprised at how much dust there is in the store every morning even though we clean them every day. I’m not much of a cleaning dude, it’s like a never-ending battle between me and the dust. I always take too long to clean my section of the store, and the superiors almost always find areas I did not clean when they check. It’s not a fun task, and I would say it was one of my most dreaded task. I would rather throw the rubbish (push carts of garbage bags to the trash collection point in the mall) than clean the shelves. Over time I managed to get a grasp of it, largely because I learnt the different requirements of different supervisors when they check my cleaning, but still it was not my forte.
Overall, I would recommend others to work at Uniqlo, as I feel that it is a stable yet flexible job. Although the pay isn’t as fanciful as what your other friends are earning, it is still above average as compared to some jobs in the F&B sector. That pretty much concludes what I have to say about Uniqlo. I would still patronize it because it sells the necessities I need, although if you want more fashionable/trendy options, you wouldn’t find them here. Uniqlo is like an IKEA/FairPrice, where it sells everything. If you want to buy a good desk chair, you wouldn’t grab any chair from IKEA (unless money is an issue), you would purchase a Secretlab or ErgoTune (you get the idea). The same applies to Uniqlo and its products.
