Working in retail and having SA

I have been working retail for over 12 years working directly with customers. At first I was afraid to approach customers, however, over time it did get eaiser. I have worked in a clothing store, box store ( electronics/photo lab), and now a commissioned sales job selling cell phones.

Although I work in retail I still have trouble having close relationships with other people. Once I come home from work I just want to be by myself and chill out. Somedays I do feel overwhelmed by customers esp if I get yelled at or they are too demanding.

At my job I am easy going and get along with my coworkers and use humor some days. As for customers I am friendly and want to do my best to serve them.

Sometimes I wonder that my SA hurts me since if I was more open to friendships and have better social skills my job would be more successful.

I am wondering how anyone else who works in retail with SA can manage thier position and how it affectss thier personal life?

I guess that teaching is not dissimilar to retail - forced contact with people. I find it wears me out over time, I'm glad there are regular holiday breaks. Often I'm so frazzled during the day that I cannot socialise with workmates during breaks, I simply need to walk outside. At home I crave my own time and space so this affects family stuff sometimes.

Back when I didnt realise I had s.a I was working in a supermarket on the checkout and had some fast food jobs ( the fast food jobs didnt last very long tho) mine was fairly managable and I always needed some alone time to recharge after work I was funny and talkative in work also I hated dealing with some customers but I did I usually held anger in I think thats why we have s.a coz we "cant" seem to comfront ppl :-(

i'm a cashier/stockman at a pharmacy. i deal with customers all day long and i have to "upsale" these membership cards to customers or heckle them into using the ones they already have (some people just hate digging through their purse/pckets to get their cards out). it's real stressful, standing there trying to convince somebody to whip out their club card out when all they want is a slim jim and a stick of gum, but my damn superiors threaten to fire us if we don't maintain a certain percentage of card usage. then when i get off work and my buddy who lives 50 miles away in LA wants me to drive all the way out there to hang out, i'm like- nah man i'm tired as hell and i had to deal with a-hole customers all day. i'm not a natural salesman, i have trouble lying to people trying to convince them to buy something i don't even like myself. sucks.

I think the number one key to being a good salesperson is to show excitement for the product(s) that you are selling. This does not require a huge level of social ability, but you really need to be able to control your thinking in order to maintain the excitement. If you are having a bad day, it can easily show up, so you need to be extra vigilant when faced with a few challenges or annoying customers.