I went back to “proper” work today for the first time in quite a while. It’s nothing fancy or exciting — just a seasonal retail job in our local video game emporium — but I enjoyed my time there last year and was fortunate enough to be called up to help out over the impending holiday season.

While retail is fairly mundane work for the most part, it is at least a nice opportunity to get out of the house, do something and actually interact with human beings, which is something I feel like I’ve been sorely missing for a while. Don’t get me wrong, social anxiety is still present and correct, but I feel like I can usually cope better with interactions in a structured environment such as retail, where both parties involved in a conversation are there for a specific reason. The customer is there to either get some information or buy something, and I am there to provide whatever it is they are asking for, or to provide them with a suitable alternative if the thing they want isn’t available.

It can be quite rewarding, too — not financially, since retail pay remains fairly poo across the board, but in terms of knowing that you’ve helped someone. At this time of year in particular, a lot of people come into shops they might not normally go into wanting to buy presents, and this means that they often need advice. Well, that exhaustive knowledge of video games had to be useful for something, didn’t it?

Since I worked my first retail job — I’ve done several over the years — I’ve found that the way I communicate with customers usually puts them at ease and encourages them to trust what I am saying. I’m not sure exactly what it is — perhaps it’s the fact I display genuine enthusiasm for the things I’m talking about, or perhaps my teacher training lets me explain things suitably for all levels of knowledge — but it usually seems to go down well, and I’ve sent many a customer on their way with a smile on their face over the course of the last few years.

I’m not sure I’m cut out for anything more than working the floor, keeping things tidy and ringing up sales — although I guess you don’t know until you’re in a position to take a bit more responsibility and try it for yourself — but for now at least, this is providing both something to do and some money coming in, which is what I needed.

What will happen to me next year is anyone’s guess. But I suppose that’s the holiday period covered, at least.