How do I cope with being stuck between customers and management?

You stand in the hardest spot in any store: between angry customers in front of you and decisions made above you that you did not make. You take the heat for both and control neither. No wonder it wears you thin. You are absorbing pressure from two directions at once. The key is to get clear on what is actually yours. The policy from above is not your fault. The customer's anger is not really about you. You are the face they meet, but you are not the cause. Once you stop taking the blame for things you did not decide, the weight gets lighter, even if the situation does not change. When you are caught in the middle, do the one thing that is yours to do: treat the person in front of you with steadiness and respect, and pass the rest up the chain where it belongs. You cannot fix decisions made above you. You can refuse to carry them as if they were your sin. Do your part with dignity and let the rest go.