Oh crap, it's a corporate visit! Time to act all phony...

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

A few weeks ago we had 4 people from corporate visiting our store. So of course we were told to make sure to say all the right greetings and pitches and do all the other stuff corporate wants us to do but we don't bother with.

It's kind of comical to me how when corporate visits they always see this fake show and not what actually goes on in the store on a day to day to basis. I asked my manager about this, and she said that more or less these guys are super important and outrank all of us so whatever they want us to do, we need to do it and not complain.

This particular visit lasted maybe 2 hours and we did well on our evaluation. One of the VPs who was in gave me a pop quiz on our sales process (sidenote: I HATE it when managers do this to me) and had me do a quick roleplay of a transaction to make sure I knew my stuff.

They also decided to move a few things around to places that they don't really fit into. I don't think it looks appealing, but if that's what corporate wants then so be it.

The good news is that now that we've got this visit taken care of, you can guarantee it will be at least 6 months before we see anyone higher than a district manager through here.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

It's kind of comical to me how when corporate visits they always see this fake show and not what actually goes on in the store on a day to day to basis. I asked my manager about this, and she said that more or less these guys are super important and outrank all of us so whatever they want us to do, we need to do it and not complain.

I think a big reason for this is because a bad visit reflects just as badly on them as it does on you, so they give you some advance warning so you can do some cleaning up and practice your BS role-play spiels.

[Teysa]

I've always said that if I ever get a job in district or corporate management, on my first visit, I will wear plain jeans and a t-shirt. I will then spend my time seeing how the employees act on a normal day. (I'm not talking showing up on Black Friday. I'm not quite that evil.) After I finish making my observations, I will come back a day or two later and speak with the store manager. This time I will be dressed in more business like attire complete with name tag. I'll introduce myself and talk about any issues I saw. This won't be a job threatening type talk but more of a here is where you're doing really good and here is where you can improve type talk.

I would also not announce any of my visits and just show up at random times. If people are doing what they're supposed to be doing, it should not matter when corporate visits. That being said, I would be realistic. If the store happens to be super busy, I'm not going to get bent out of shape about product not being perfectly straight or a dust bunny hiding somewhere most people wouldn't even look. My main focus will be making sure the customers are being taken care of. I'd even get my hands dirty and help out if need be.

[sylvier]

That would be a great way to really assess what is going on, but it would not fit into the scheme of things with most corporations. A big boss must come in flying the corporate flag, and the workers must be whipped into shape, even if only for a day or two. Funny that nobody has figured out that the "mystery shopper' approach would be way more effective.

[Teysa]

Yeah, you're right Sylvier. Of course the chances of me getting any sort of corporate job are about on par with me being on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. ie not gonna happen.

[Hyndis]

I've always said that if I ever get a job in district or corporate management, on my first visit, I will wear plain jeans and a t-shirt. I will then spend my time seeing how the employees act on a normal day. (I'm not talking showing up on Black Friday. I'm not quite that evil.) After I finish making my observations, I will come back a day or two later and speak with the store manager. This time I will be dressed in more business like attire complete with name tag. I'll introduce myself and talk about any issues I saw. This won't be a job threatening type talk but more of a here is where you're doing really good and here is where you can improve type talk.

I would also not announce any of my visits and just show up at random times. If people are doing what they're supposed to be doing, it should not matter when corporate visits. That being said, I would be realistic. If the store happens to be super busy, I'm not going to get bent out of shape about product not being perfectly straight or a dust bunny hiding somewhere most people wouldn't even look. My main focus will be making sure the customers are being taken care of. I'd even get my hands dirty and help out if need be.

This


If I were in charge of things, I would want to know how things are actually going. Anyone can play nice and pretend everything is going well. I don't want to see a bunch of yes-men telling me everything is perfect. I want to see how things really are.

After all, without knowing how things really are, I have bad information, and with bad information I won't be able to make any good decisions.

Things being off a bit or not going completely by the letter is fine. So long as they're going by the spirit of the rules rather than the letter of the rules, its okay.

I would think that VIP's would want to know how their business is going. How its actually going, not what a store is pretending to do.

[bhskittykatt]

I've always said that if I ever get a job in district or corporate management, on my first visit, I will wear plain jeans and a t-shirt. I will then spend my time seeing how the employees act on a normal day. (I'm not talking showing up on Black Friday. I'm not quite that evil.) After I finish making my observations, I will come back a day or two later and speak with the store manager. This time I will be dressed in more business like attire complete with name tag. I'll introduce myself and talk about any issues I saw. This won't be a job threatening type talk but more of a here is where you're doing really good and here is where you can improve type talk.

Boss Man's wife is a DM. Everyone in her stores recognizes her, though, so she has Boss Man go secret shopping for her.

[JLG]

They also decided to move a few things around to places that they don't really fit into. I don't think it looks appealing, but if that's what corporate wants then so be it.

The good news is that now that we've got this visit taken care of, you can guarantee it will be at least 6 months before we see anyone higher than a district manager through here.

We have had several of these visits this month. During one of them we were told that we had to move our line queue to a different location and now it is confusing for the customers. It used to be in the middle of the registers and now when I am on the last register I have to practically scream for the next customer in line and raise my hands and jump up and down so they can see me. But this particular corporate guy wants it there after a once a year 30 min visit

[simplyanother]

it's been a fun year for corporate visits at glitter hell. I don't even know what goes on most of the time.

We have a full staff when we expect them. Then they don't show up.

They suck.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I've always said that if I ever get a job in district or corporate management, on my first visit, I will wear plain jeans and a t-shirt. I will then spend my time seeing how the employees act on a normal day. (I'm not talking showing up on Black Friday. I'm not quite that evil.) After I finish making my observations, I will come back a day or two later and speak with the store manager. This time I will be dressed in more business like attire complete with name tag. I'll introduce myself and talk about any issues I saw. This won't be a job threatening type talk but more of a here is where you're doing really good and here is where you can improve type talk.

I would also not announce any of my visits and just show up at random times. If people are doing what they're supposed to be doing, it should not matter when corporate visits. That being said, I would be realistic. If the store happens to be super busy, I'm not going to get bent out of shape about product not being perfectly straight or a dust bunny hiding somewhere most people wouldn't even look. My main focus will be making sure the customers are being taken care of. I'd even get my hands dirty and help out if need be.

I love this particular approach. On a general basis, we're a well run store, our surveys, low staff turnover and efficiency on inventory counts, as well as our sales numbers, will tell you that.

We work hard even when corporate is not around, but we also don't go to trouble of going through the "five steps" with every customer and follow them around pitching our promos as corporate wants us to.

[Retail Associate]

We were supposed to have 'the visit' tomorrow morning (Tues). The schedule was rearranged so there could be 2 people coming in to work 3rd shift tonight to make the place pretty.

In order to compensate for the additional hours, my Sunday shift was cut and start time changed without my knowledge. Thankfully, I arrived an hour early rather than an hour late. And because the dept was trashed, the boss lady let me stay. So, I got at least 7½ hours anyway.

Then tonight (Mon) a co-worker called in sick. The boss called me and practically begged me to come in (on my day off). Usually I don't answer the phone, but with Christmas coming I can sure use the money. So, I went in. There were just 2 of us there to cover 7 depts.

It's a good thing 2 people were coming in at 10PM to straighten all night because jewelry was super busy and my co-worker was stuck up there all evening. I was too busy with helpless SCs, price checks, non-stop phone calls and returns to get much straightening done.

But, when the (2) 3rd shifters arrived they were informed that the woman from corporate who was supposed to make her appearance in the morning had cancelled.

She did the same thing last year.

Bitch!

[Null Requiem]

The only thing I've dealt with more annoying then the cancel at the last minute, is giving a range of days for showing up, and not showing up for any of them.

"Yeah, I'll be in sometime between wed and sat."

Nothing happens.

... then repeat this for three weeks in a row.

>.<

[Shalom]

This is why the guys at Aid of Rite here in Jersey, when expecting Corporate to visit, always had someone keeping an eye on Teterboro Airport so they could spread the word when the corporate jet was on the ground there. The big wigs never just drove up from Harrisburg, for some reason...

[tropicsgoddess]

I hate corporate visits. I've worked in call centers for 6 years and everytime corporate and/or clients (for 3rd party call centers) come in for visits, the supervisors are "OMG,corporate's here!!! You gotta sit down and face your computer!!!!!!1111!!!!!" Ugh.

[Viper]

I don't miss those visits one bit. We recently had a 'VIP' come through our workplace, and it was just like being back in retail. I used to work for a company owned by a Billionaire, and once every year he would do his rounds. Even though he was just like every other human I've met, people were literally going CRAZY the day he was coming. They had every single person working (suddenly the budget disappeared) which was about triple the normal staffing levels. I was also warned NOT to work but to look extremely busy and SMILE as big as I could.

I've never been a butt kisser, so you can easily see how that turned out. One supervisor was blood red he was so angry I wasn't licking his boots and another was white as a ghost, afraid to cough wrong. The way I saw it, I want the owner to see the real me and the real job I do, not some phony baloney that he can easily see through. If I have to scramble to clean up, I haven't done my job. No wonder I was practically shown the door a year later!