cheerios

Ok, so, i work for a lower-scale department store, in the backstock, pulling things out to get re-stocked to the floor to be sold. I've been there a year, and I could write a whole book on the things that i've seen that I consider bad-business practices. I really don't understand how my store makes money! They are CONSTANTLY understaffed, so the store looks like crap, the management is demoralizing to say the least, and they never SOLVE the problems they create, they just create little stop-gap procedures to fix things.

Case in point: I worked all weekend. 2 8 hr shifts, one sat from 1 to 10pm, one sunday. As I said, my job is to find what needs replaced, and gather it up to one place so it can be placed on the floor of the store for people to buy. We do this for the entire store 3 times, daily. once in the morning, once at 2 pm, and once at 6 pm. if the 2o'clock pulls are not complete by 6, when the next round starts, our "rating" for lack of a better term, goes down. basically we look bad, the store looks bad, the management looks bad. Now, saturday was the last day of a 2 day "no sales tax" sale, as WELL as being the day before mothers day. Any LOGICAL person would think to themselves, "gee, there's gonna be a lot of merchandise to move. One person can usually do this job in around 4 hrs, which is how long is allotted, so I should add at LEAST one more person on, to make sure things are completed with the increased sales."

The person who does scheduling is not logical. They scheduled me, and ONLY me, to work from 3 pm on. Needless to say, I couldn't' do my job on my own. There's a finite limit to the speed I can attain while carrying 30 pairs of levi jeans, and it's just not fast enough. So, management pulls people off of the truck team (unloading and locating merchandise into the stockroom), to help me finish up. at six, this help gets sent back to their job, and I'm left to start all over again, all by myself. I had to take my lunch in there, as well, leaving me with only 3 hours instead of four to complete this task. This time, instead of pulling people at least familiar with the stock room to help me, they pull one of the lower managers, and a new hire to help. God help me I still haven't seen what a mess the new hire made of my stockroom. :/

So, I come in today, praying for help, and lo and behold, for the first run through of batches, I have it. YAY! for the second, I'm on my own, but that's all right, the store's been a little quieter... only, I fall a little short at the end, because everyone did last minute mommy shopping, and there's a TON of women's clothing to pull. so, the manager who helped me out yesterday makes a couple of snide comments about slacking off, and finds another girl i have to TRAIN to use the scanners we use, to help me out. we finish 20 minutes before I'm scheduled to leave, with me working through my 15 minute break but instead of taking it, I'm pressed into folding down tables on the floor. 10'o'clock could not come too soon.

Maybe it's just me, but "quit slacking off Cheers, i don't wanna do your job tonight" just doesn't seem to be motivating, coming out of management's mouth. And maybe, just maybe there should be enough staff during a sale to keep up with demand. but, ya know, that's just silly. bah. can't WAIT till graduation and a REAL job, where at least i will be doing something that requires a brain while being driven crazy by managers!!

World's King

You win.


Your life sucks worse than mine.

__________________
heavy is the head that wears the crown

juanvaldes

They get one sap (you) to do all the work pocketing the savings from not staffing needed workers.

suviko

Nothing is as annoying as having to train someone while you work. Boss tells you that "hey, you can do stuff faster 'cos you have some assístance" but that holds true only in the Perfect World scenario. I quit my last job, told them I want to have more time for studies, because I got tons of responsibilities (making shifts for the weekend team) but not any kind of freedom to use my own head or rights to change the stupid policies that didn't work so I could really do stuff properly. They were also trusting me to train the newcomers when I was relatively new myself. I got 1,5$ extra for an hour for all this and if someone couldn't do their part, I had to do it. Grrrrr.

Before I left, the two ppl one of which was going to be asked to replace me and I had a bit of a chat. To the first one I told about a better job that fits her studies better so I guess she also has left that place by now and the second one said she had figured out on her own that this department store has a hidden rasistic code not to take a foreign-born person with poor language skills as the team leader. Not because they couldn't manage with English in Finland, but because the department store doesn't want 'em to be in sight of the customers and having on occasion to be able to talk with them. Ehh...

My current job is cleaning 5 hours per day (5 to 10 or 4 to 9 in the mornings!!!) in an expensive five stars fitness club & beauty and massage salon + sports doctor. I get to train there for free (yaya!). I got 2 days training from the people who got fed up with that place and after whom I was to take over while they went to clean offices which they claim to like more. These two told me that the manager of the fitness place is a bitch that whines about nothing at all and that the rest of the staff is always keeping eye on the cleaner too. I was about to quit after the first week and then I whined to one person in the fitness salon's staff that I hadn't gotten instructions as I had thought I would and that I am not a mind reader and that while I still had my old job before it ended and worked the week days in the fitness place 4 to 9 and had lectures at university for the rest of the day, I was going to the department store on saturday from 6 to 14 but still I took an extra sifht from 21 to 02 on Friday night 'cos the weekend cleaner got sick. Yeah, I slept under 3 hours. I was kinda bummed when on Monday they whine in the gym that I had done something wrong so I snapped at 'em that "well perhaps if I had gotten some sort of proper introdution to my duties and not by some morons who got out of here 'cos you weren't happy with their quality".

That went to the manager's ears who called my boss in the cleaning firm and practically yelled at her. Then my boss arranged a person who really did know how to plan and schedule works to chart out the place. The actual job is really light now and I can pretty much manage doing it in 3 to 4 hours per day (and I get paid for 5, but I can read magazines and drink hot choco from the automat). The manager was so pleased with me that she gave me a bottle ofred wine and t-shirt. Cheers.

Nappa

Yeah that's how it usually was where I worked. The jobs were a horrible pain, but they were theoretically POSSIBLE to do by yourself, so the managers saw no need to hire more workers. It's cheaper to have one stressed worker than two casual ones.
Bah.

Dorian_S

Don't underestimate the massive destructive power of two workers without enough to do.

rogue49

That says it all.
Been there, done that, still doing it.

The only difference is that my company put itself in a trap
by having only one person know that part of the company.
And it is a necessity.
And so when I finally did scream, the walls came tumbling down.

My advice, if you can,
put yourself in a position, where you are paid for your knowledge,
not your effort.
They NEVER pay for effort.
People only pay for something they want, but can't do.
(decision making, serious sales, expert knowledge...)

Maybe find some computer intern job,
There's your angle, and it would give you experience to boot BEFORE graduation.
but as far as retail goes, management could give a shit about your needs.

And as long as they have customers, and low wage workers to do the footwork,
everything else is just semantics.

Life is not fair, especially in retail.

HeyAgain

Agree wholeheartedly.

With the current economy, employers know that they can afford to treat their employees in whatever manner they want. With the current excessive supply of individuals looking for work, if an employee quits, they can be easily replaced instantly.

cdwonderful

that sucks. maybe they make there money on volume?

__________________
Never try to teach a pig to whistle
it wastes your time,
and annoys the pig.....

billege

I hate to add fuel to the fire, but your degree does not mean you'll do any better at all.

I've got my degree this past Dec. I still have the same job, I've gotten ignored by almost 40 companies I've applied at, and the only lead I've really got (and I'm actually HAPPY about) is a job loading trucks. I want to load trucks, not because I'll use my brain or degree, but I'll finally get a pay raise over my current job.

__________________
I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence:
"My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend."

Liquor Dealer

Cheers I feel for you but like Levell says the degree doesn't give you much more than maybe a foot in the door. I have two Bachelor and a Masters that I am not using - I am self-employed now so it really makes no difference about the alphabet soup thing at the end of a name. Some employers take advantage of situtions and some really don't care for anything in the world other than their own bottom line. Retail has also changed because of giants like Walmart eliminating their competition. If you look at the Walmart that existed while Walton was alive and compare it to the Walmart of today the only thing you'll find to be the same is the name. Walmart at one time cared about their customers - they had enough help to take care of their customers - Walton had the motto that if there are more than two in a line we'll get more checkers - the you're always next in line theory - Walton died and these theories died with him - now, you're always next in line - right behind the thirteen people who are in front of you. I believe that the simple lack of competition that has resulted is the cause of much of what you are putting up with - jobs are hard to find - you have trouble saying I quit! I'll go somewhere else - the somewhere elses are much harder to find and unscrupulous employers take advantage of that fact.

__________________
Life isn't always a bowl of cherries, sometimes it's more like a jar of Jalapenos --- what you say or do today might burn your ass tomorrow!!!

cheerios

heh. i wish rogue. i live in the central valley. only things OUT here are tech support (The last windows OS i was intimate with was '98. I'm out of date ), retail, or farm work. Now, my job may suck, but it sure as fuck beats the living hell out of tree-harvesting! And it's DAMN hard to get an internship that doesn't mind you working a 15 hr week, because you have school, and all that on weekends, to boot. So, based on the necessities of paying the bills, I'm stuck there. And you are right, they DON'T give a shit about their employees.

LD: you'd be surprised that "no more than 1 person waiting" thing is actually taught to new hires in training. problem is when we run out of employees to ring, it all falls apart. You get 3 different departments calling for help, and no one to help them. It's a nice theory, but without an abundance of employees, it doesn't work. :/

denim

Someone in management doesn't seem to understand one of the basic concepts of project management: adding man [woman] power to a late [...] project makes it later.

suviko

That's true in creative and project kind of enviroment. In good ol' manual work..

rogue49

I hate to tell you this cheerios,
but maybe you SHOULD get up to date on Windows.
I know you don't work on Windows, and you probably don't like it.
But it's where a SIGNIFICANT part of the market is.
Principles only go so far, when you are looking for a paycheck & experience.
Get as much under your belt as you can.
Be willing to attempt ANYTHING, even if you only know the basics.

Considering the quality you put out here, anything that you do will be better than the shit most idiots put out.
Remember you probably know more than they do, almost always.
All HR & management knows is "names" for the most part.
And most techs are lazy shits with no followthrough, you have probably experienced them on the other end.

ANY experience in the computer field you are going into is a leg up.
And you can probably do off-hour, or even peak-time
part-time work at those tech-centers you are talking about.
People are sick, and take vacations all the time.
And companies would rather fill in with part-time labor than full-time with benefits.

You might have to kick it up a notch, but the rewards will be helpful,
extra cash, experience, resume filler & more.

Everything counts, don't dismiss anything.
Focus on your goal.

juanvaldes

You are missing one simple fact. With the fallout there are zip, zero tech jobs out there. The market just sucks that bad.

Knowing how to fix windows will not open up any jobs out there.

Loki

and this is the main reason why im doing medicine after my systems engineering degree =)

MSD

I used to work at Radio Shack. As we were struggling with three registers and five or more people in line, with nobody out on the floor to help customers, the district manager pressured the store manager to cut hours. After a while, the DM snapped, laid off over half of the district employees, and moved people around. My former store was left with three people; company policy dictated that at least two people must be in each store at all times. The assitant manager, a friend of mine, was moved to a store that had been cleaned out by the layoffs, and currently has two employees. I stopped by to say hello last week, and in the week prior to that, he had worked 105 hours because there is only one other person working in the store. As much as I wish I could find a job, I'm glad I'm not there anymore.

guthmund

With attitudes like that in current management it's no wonder everyone I know is ripping off their bosses blind.

Most management types, myself included, are big assholes in small ponds. And middle management guys are worse. Sorry to hear about your situation, but you work in the two fields that seem to attract asshole middle managers ; food service and retail.

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No signature. None. Seriously.

clavus

I've gone through the hell that is retail, and the hades that is food-service. If you ever want to be victimized by mind-numbingly piss-poor management, be a part of the US Army during peacetime. fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

Frowning Budah

I thing one answer is there isn't any penalty for doing a bad job in management. Look at the big companies that are going belly up. They are paying huge bonus to the very same management that took them into bankruptcy. Why? And the biggest laugh is they say they have to pay large salaries to retain key people during the shut down!????