Is Management Supportive

[dougiezerts]

Is mamagement at your company generally supportive towards you, as far as SC encounters go? Or do they take on a "the customer's always right!" attitude?
My company generally sides with SC's, I'm sorry to say!

[Aethian]

Mine can be great at times...and then very very stupid at other times.

My direct has a hubby who brings food in for us.

[BethB]

I work at Wal-Mart. There are NO management members with a spine.

[Peppergirl]

Mine varies by each manager. Some are always great, some are sometimes great (depending on their mood), and some of them bend over and take it up the bum.

[Retail Associate]

The words "management" and "team member support" do not exist in the same sentence at Meijer. The customer IS ALWAYS right. ALWAYS! We are expected to take anything the customer dishes out with a smile on our face.

Their new motto is, "Say yes to the guest."

If you receive a complaint, no matter how trivial, you are immediately written up. I've had one complaint in 9½ years. As my manager wrote me up, privately she agreed she would have done the same thing I did and even worse. You should hear the managers talk about some of the asshats they've dealt with.

I will never understand this policy because most of the SC's cost the company money with their unreasonable demands. It's unreal.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If you receive a complaint, no matter how trivial, you are immediately written up.

Pardon my French, but that's fucking stupid. Does that mean if I don't like you, I can send a bunch of bogus, made-up complaints to management and they'll fire you? How is that even remotely close to fair?

As for management at the swamp--depends. Store manager and GM manager (my manager) can generally be counted on not to cave into SCs. Customer Service manager (aka Moon Unit) is more likely to give in, but that may be due to the "customer service" in her title. Our former apparel manager was pretty much a dishrag when it came to SCs.

We're supposed to be getting a new apparel manager sometime. If so it'll take a while to make a judgment.

[Retail Associate]

Pardon my French, but that's fucking stupid. Does that mean if I don't like you, I can send a bunch of bogus, made-up complaints to management and they'll fire you? How is that even remotely close to fair?

It's not. But it's a great way to get rid of long-termers. My manager didn't want to write me up but she was forced into it. I think it was on my record for 3 months or so and is gone now. I remember her saying, "Don't do it again...at least for the next 90 days or so."

One day a woman made a complaint about a co-worker in my dept but she didn't know the co-worker's name. (I knew who it was.) Management came to each one of us and asked if we were the one that helped that woman. For some reason, no one owned up to it.

[Dreamstalker]

Game Store boss would tend to side with the SCs, even when it was clear they were being ridiculous and unreasonable. Sadly, the store didn't have any cameras so it was he-said-she-said (except in the rare case when a regular witnessed everything...and sometimes even then I'd get chewed out).

The weekend manager was the exact opposite...unfortunately I wasn't allowed to switch my hours to work with him.

[Green_Fairy]

my manager's pretty cool. she'll tell the customer to never come back, or that they're wrong...she pretty much always has our back. it's just one shift lead that reeeeally rubs me the wrong way.

[mikoyan29]

The words "management" and "team member support" do not exist in the same sentence at Meijer. The customer IS ALWAYS right. ALWAYS! We are expected to take anything the customer dishes out with a smile on our face.

Their new motto is, "Say yes to the guest."

If you receive a complaint, no matter how trivial, you are immediately written up. I've had one complaint in 9½ years. As my manager wrote me up, privately she agreed she would have done the same thing I did and even worse. You should hear the managers talk about some of the asshats they've dealt with.

That's kind of amazing given that Meijer is unionized (or at least in Michigan they are). I can understand getting written up for a major legitimate complaint, but every complaint seems a bit overboard.

And I wonder just how much some of these customers are costing the companies.

[Retail Associate]

That's kind of amazing given that Meijer is unionized...

It's the UFCW. Absolutely worthless...'nough said.

Just last week a co-worker who had been with the store for several years was fired. I don't know for sure what she was fired for because everyone tells a different story. But since the last contract was ratified many long-term employees have been fired or pushed to the point of quitting/retiring early.

We are written up if we call in sick more than 1 day in a 90-day period. Even if it is a two-day illness and we have to call in 2 days in a row. We're written up if we are late (even 1 minute) more than once in a 90-day period. We're also written up if we are late clocking back in from break more than once in a 90-day period. If either of these happen 3 times in a 90-day period, we're gone.

Last winter a co-worker lost control of her vehicle on slippery roads and went into a ditch causing her to be several minutes late for work. Since she had been late once before within 90 days she was written up and told to leave her house 15 minutes earlier every day to allow herself time for such delays.

I kid you not!

[mikoyan29]

It's the UFCW. Absolutely worthless...'nough said.

Just last week a co-worker who had been with the store for several years was fired. I don't know for sure what she was fired for because everyone tells a different story. But since the last contract was ratified many long-term employees have been fired or pushed to the point of quitting/retiring early.

We are written up if we call in sick more than 1 day in a 90-day period. Even if it is a two-day illness and we have to call in 2 days in a row. We're written up if we are late (even 1 minute) more than once in a 90-day period. We're also written up if we are late clocking back in from break more than once in a 90-day period. If either of these happen 3 times in a 90-day period, we're gone.

Last winter a co-worker lost control of her vehicle on slippery roads and went into a ditch causing her to be several minutes late for work. Since she had been late once before within 90 days she was written up and told to leave her house 15 minutes earlier every day to allow herself time for such delays.

I kid you not!

Geeze, Meijer used to be one of the decent companies.

[Peppergirl]

That's awful!

Does it vary by store? I have a friend at one of the Meijer's here in southern Ohio and they are alot more laid back with their emps. Or maybe it hasn't trickled down here yet.

Ugh - you have my sympathies. Although I did at the manager going around asking who it was. Like someone is gonna raise their hand and say "Oh, it was MEEE, Mister manager. I'd like my baseless write up now please!"

[Shpepper]

I LOVE my boss where I am now. I just hope that the new ones are half as cool. I think they will be.

But on a side note, is it bad that every time I see this thread, it makes me think that I need to go pick up a new bra?

[Retail Associate]

Geeze, Meijer used to be one of the decent companies.

Yep, they used to be. When I started there in the late 90's I liked my job, my manager, my co-workers...we used to have a lot of fun working together. (Still didn't like the SC's though.)

Since about 2002 it has gotten worse and worse every year. Sometimes I think the union and management are in cahoots together to screw over as many employees as they can. Some of my union steward's best friends are also managers at the store. She's a bit too pro-management for my taste and so are the union reps.