You know, Deb, I was great at retail back before I chose a career. I sometimes wonder if that would be my retirement job in a few years, but I know I have lost that "customer service" attitude now that I have spent 27 years seeing how people can be. I could still function very well as long as they were being reasonable, but when that stopped, my tolerance would, too.
I ran a pet shop as my first full time job. I had been a part timer for the four years of college. I kicked butt! The store had never turned a yearly profit prior to my taking over and within three months we were in the black and stayed there till I left. It was fun! I was always trying new things, seeing how they worked out and either expanding the good ones or dumping them and trying something else.
The owner offered to sell me the store but I wasn't ready, too young to want that responsibility. He ended up selling it for WAY more than it was worth, but he didn't get quite the profit he thought because there was three times the amount of inventory in the store than he estimated (without my input - he should have asked me!)
The stupid buyer had no clue about the business and the store went under in a couple of years.
