At the moment I am looking for work and so far times have been tough.
I noticed an advert for an adult novelty store that is looking for a sales assistant; this particular store is a fair short walk from where I live so it would be convenient for me as I don't have an independant driver's license (let alone any license).
Of course, I am desperate for a job, and I would apply for this if it meant I had a good shot at gaining the position, but considering that this is an adult store - a purveyor of pornographic material and such - I have fear that working there may awaken some sort of carnal urge, and I struggle with masturbation as it is.
Do you think that a Christian would be able to safely work at a store of this nature without being influenced? In the name of getting a job, I need some help urgently.
I can't really give you Christian-ish advice on this one, only some insight on what to expect if you do take the job, since my boyfriend works in one of these stores.
First of all, if you are working there, they will expect you to be familiar with what they're selling. My boyfriend has been encouraged by his managers several times to rent out the movies, in fact employees get free rentals. They want the people working there to be familiar with the different directors, actors, genres, etc. So if you don't want to watch porn, then immediately this will not be the job for you.There will be a lot of awkwardness to overcome, should you decide to take this step (people are into some very freaky things), and one big issue to deal with is you cannot get judgmental towards the customers (or at least show it anyways) or you'll lose your job, that's including the ones that want pornographic videos which include feces consumption... and no I'm not making that up, that is a real thing... sadly. He says its the worst when people want to demo those movies before they rent/buy them because you have to keep a strait face without gagging or showing any sign of revulsion. They want their customers to feel comfortable there so they'll feel safe to come back again. Along with not insulting your customer base, depending on the store's policy, you may have to throw out people who can get offensive to the other customers. Anytime someone wanders in to Rich's store, and they start shouting homophobic things, he has to throw them out because that's like half their client base they just insulted. Also they have a strict "no returns" policy on the adult toys (for obvious reasons) which tends to lead into some ugly arguments with customers stupid enough to not understand why the store cannot take their product back. So if standing up to abrasive customers isn't your thing, this may not be for you.
Another thing he's mentioned that becomes problematic is since around here adult stores are open 24/7 except on Christmas (I don't know about where you are), and his is conveniently located near a bar, around 2am, he gets to babysit the drunks that stumble in there, too out of it to even know their own names, let alone where they are. This of course would vary depending on the shift, you may not have a shift that comes after happy hour in which case this shouldn't be as big of a concern. The last thing I can think of to warn you about is the majority of adult stores also sell "glass pipes" for "tobacco" and while there are a few who genuinely come in to purchase them for that purpose only, most of the customers come in planning to use them for smoking illegal substances. If the idea of helping people get their hands on drug paraphernalia bothers you, this is probably not the job for you. And just like I mentioned before of how they have to deal with anyone insulting their client base, anyone who wanders in and flat out says they're looking for a bong or makes any references to drugs, or gives any hint that they will be using what they are buying for drugs has to be kicked out or the clerks can be in trouble with the law. So again, if standing up to customers and having to kick them out isn't something you want to deal with, this probably isn't the job for you.
On a final note, since I am familiar with the overall view Christians have regarding porn, if you really want to continue living a Christian life, I really do not recommend working in an adult store, especially if you're planning on doing it and avoiding the urge to watch porn. Watching porn will be unavoidable, in fact it will pretty much be expected of you, as I mentioned before, and just the very issue of helping to distribute it is another thing you'll have to explain to other Christians and it's probably not an argument worth having, or at least one you'll get tired of quickly.
I wish you the best of luck in your job searches and I hope I've helped give you some insight of what you'll be getting into should you chose this line of work.
