Oh man - this. When I was 19 (Canadian) I was working two jobs in university: one at the cosmetics counter at a Shoppers Drug Mart and the other at a provincially run government liquor store. It truly was the split of ‘best’ and ‘worst’ retail environments.

At Shoppers I was making minimum wage, it was open 24 hours, had to work all holidays, clientele were often in a rush or sick (drug mart), had to greet all customers (12% reply rate), I had minimum sales goals, the store was too cheap for security so I had to defend the wall of expensive beauty products/tools, and lastly because it was 1) a franchise and 2) a drug store it took much more to take away someone’s access to the store and thus my hands were essentially tied when creepy customers came in and ultimately it came down to my good relationships with other staff who would help me when needed.

At the Liquor Store, I was making $19/hour, closed at 9 PM, closed all holidays, clientele were typically happy to be buying booze or often for occasions (Christmas at the liquor store compared to Christmas at the drug store - night and day), no sales goals - if anything lots of training to avoid illegal sale, hired security with many cameras and staff who were trained to instantly remove anyone who made anyone uncomfortable, clientele were much more polite because they knew we could restrict their access much easier and who wants to be banned from the liquor store? So I got a lot more apologies there.

The only commonalities were that I had to wear uniforms for both, and at both there were genuinely great people I worked with - who I miss. But I do recommend liquor over cosmetics in terms of retail environment rights, which is shocking I know.