The reason why these memes are so popular on the internet is quite simple. According to McKinsey & Company, around 20 percent of US employees—or approximately 31 million people—work in the retail and hospitality sector.

That is roughly 9 million more employees than in each of the two next-largest industries (the public sector and professional and business services).

But this sector faces a much more serious retention challenge than any other.

The quit rate in US retail and hospitality is outpacing the overall US quit rate by more than 70 percent.

Frontline retail employees are recognizing that they have more employment options—and more tools to access them—than ever before.

Despite that, retail sales in the US, which are adjusted for seasonal swings but not inflation, rose 0.6% in August, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That’s a slightly faster pace than July’s revised 0.5% gain and marks the fifth straight month of growth. It’s also way higher of economists’ expectation of a 0.2% increase.

"August retail sales picked up steam as consumers kept spending, though categories like furniture and home furnishings saw a drop," Bob Phibbs, aka The Retail Doctor, told Bored Panda in an email.

"No matter how much we're being told a recession is 'just around the corner,' people still want to go out, meet [others], and discover what is new."

"What I'm seeing?" the internationally recognized business strategist and customer service expert asked rhetorically.

"One-person coverage that was needed as the pandemic waned is now the norm. Customer service suffers and store refresh between rushes never happens."

Phibbs, who also released the book The Retail Doctor's Guide to Growing Your Business, said companies need to hire more people than they think they need.

"Pay as much as it takes to get people who won't quit on day 1 and can think on their feet," he added.

But while we're still waiting for that to happen, fire up our earlier publication on the subreddit, called 40 Pics From “Retail Hell,” A Place Where Retail Workers Come Together And Support Each Other.

It's just as good as this one!