Review: Not Just a Uniform: "Secrets of Retail" shows life beyond the job of a retail worker.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 30, 2013
"Secrets of Retail" was a story I picked up on my Kindle a long while ago, but just finally got around to reading in between one mammoth text and another.The story is about a young man named Wade who works in an electronics store. As a supervisor in a poorly managed branch, Wade does what he can to make the days go by quickly. Most of the time this means practicing his one-liners with women and having sex whenever the uniform is off.I used to work in retail, and his descriptions of the way employees feel is pretty spot on. I had to shake my head and roll my eyes at the nostalgia of a few of his more "classy" customers. But then there were the wonderful, human moments of connection, just for a few moments, that reminded me why, yeah, I did like my job too, at least for a little while.The surprising element of this story was the personal growth of Wade, and how his personal life, which is out of control, eventually collides with the security and stability of his work life. The interactions of the characters felt very real... and juuuuust when I was starting to get annoyed by his continued exploits, the author produced a wonderful flip that thrusts all of these casual occurrences into a conflict that I couldn't predict, and couldn't put down.Though a short, casual read, "Secrets of Retail" is a great story, with a really interesting cast of characters that all feel like different people. An excellent debut from a very talented author!