WORKING in Topshop might have seemed like a dream come true to most teenage girls ten years ago.
With celebrities making regular appearances and a £200 voucher every quarter it seems that the fashion store boasted plenty of benefits for its employees before its closure in 2020.
However, for one employee the perks of the job didn’t always outweigh the jerks of the job.
As part of Fabulous’ new series, Talking Shop, we’re finding out what it’s really like to work in your favourite high-street stores.
This week we meet Martina Brannigan, 25, from Newcastle, who worked at Topshop for five years.
Here, accountant Martina, who lives with her partner Josh, 30, reveals the strangest customers she encountered and why changing room duty was the worst…
read more fashion stories
I worked at JD Sports – there’s a reason why staff greet you at the entrance
The seven fashion mistakes which make you look vulgar rather than sexy
I breathed a sigh of relief as the clock finally hit 5pm and my eight-hour Saturday shift at Topshop finally came to a close.
“Where do you think you’re going?” my manager said, “There’s still a lot of tidying up to do.”
I sighed – this wasn’t out of the ordinary, I’d often find myself staying 40 minutes late clearing the shop floor and for no extra pay.
But it wasn’t always the customers who were causing the mess.
Most read in Fabulous
MUMBELIEVABLE 
I'm midsize & women always give me the same backhanded compliments
I’ve found the most flattering swimsuit for women with mum-tums from Shein
My husband rushed choosing our girl’s name – I hate it so much I call her ‘baby'
Prince Harry was 'iced' by Charles after Duke REFUSED to reveal book details
The managers at Topshop would often ‘test’ members of staff by deliberately chucking clothes on the floor and monitoring how long it took us to pick them up.
Anything longer than a few minutes and you’d be in for a b*****king.
FABULOUS BINGO: Get a £20 bonus & 30 free spins when you spend £10 today
On the whole my job would be to keep the shop floor tidy but occasionally I would be put on changing room duty which I dreaded.
I found the most disgusting things imaginable in those fitting rooms.
On one occasion I noticed that a woman hadn’t brought out the two skirts that she had taken in to try on.
I went to collect them and as I picked them up I felt that they were sopping wet.
It became obvious that she had urinated on the floor and attempted to clean it up – I would have been happy to point out the toilets!
Another time I was doing a sweep of the fitting rooms and someone had stuck a used tampon to the mirror.
I had to get the body fluids kit from upstairs to remove it.
And you weren’t even safe on the tills.
A woman was attempting to return a handbag claiming that she hadn’t used it. We have to check the interior of the bags to ensure there aren’t any personal belongings.
As I opened the inside pocket I discovered a soiled sanitary towel – the woman was so embarrassed she just snatched the bag away and left the shop.
While they left me heaving, bodily fluids were certainly not the worst part of my customer experience.
One regular was a man who was obsessed with leather.
He would come into the shop most weekends to try on our latest leather looks, but insist on showing us.
When a man is wearing a pair of leather leggings there is nowhere for him to hide… It was rank.
While it didn’t quite make up for the horrors of the fitting rooms, the discount was the best part of working at Topshop.
Every three months we got a £200 clothing allowance and then 25 per cent off after that which could be used across the sale too.
We did have a few secret codes, if you heard us say ‘Is Sally at work today?’
That would mean that we thought a shoplifter was nearby and we’d keep an eye on them.
The thing that surprised me most was the fact you could return anything and we’d always accept it.
Sometimes it was obvious a dress had been worn the night before but we’d refund customers all the same.
It could have no receipt, no tags, we’d happily still take it back.
ASOS, who bought Topshop in 2021 after the claims took place, declined to comment.
Your shopping habits in numbers
We polled our readers to discover your experiences of shopping on the highstreet.
- 80% love charity shop hauls
- 85% find it hard to buy clothes for bigger boobs
- 80% have had problems with inconsistent sizing
- 70% have had an online fashion fail experience
- Over 60% are worried about their spending
- 80% are tempted to buy returns pallets.
Source: Read Full Article