af-pak
EN
A job that changed me: Working at a toy store was my teen feminist awakening
['Maggie Zhou']
Guardian South Asia
I was 15 when I landed my job at Toys R Us.
So I became one of Toys R Us’s checkout chicks, dressed in a blue polo shirt, black pants, a lanyard and my school shoes.
Vomit and urine in aisles weren’t uncommon sights – though it was the floor staff’s job to deal with the clean-up.
As a burgeoning feminist, my least favourite part of the job was the gendered language entrenched in the industry.
Soon after, Toys R Us Australia entered administration and all stores closed the same year.