The super duper important corporate guys...who never show up.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I don't know if I'm the only one that's experience these but there have been at least 5 different occasions in the past few years I've heard that a big corporate guy is coming to our store/location.

So of course we all bust our asses to get the place looking neat and tidy and brush up on all the stuff corporate requires us to do but that we don't do most of time and so forth.

And then the big day comes...and nobody shows up.

Once, a guy did show up...a week later, the other times no one ever did and it was never spoken of again.

Sometimes I wonder if the "corporate visit" threat is just something they use when they think the store is too dirty or we're not working hard enough or something.

Still thought, it sucks to do all that work for nothing.

[Becks]

I don't know if I'm the only one that's experience these but there have been at least 5 different occasions in the past few years I've heard that a big corporate guy is coming to our store/location.

It's been well documented on here that it happens a lot more often than people would like.

[blondemarmot]

Or, you get told that your department's area director is coming by for an inspection and when that person comes in they glance at the department from 50 feet away and that's it.

[Catwoman2965]

We had that happen to us once; only it was investors in the venture company that owns us, coming from JAPAN – so of course this was a red alert situation!!! We stayed until almost midnight making the every item was folded, hung, fluffed, etc. (we close at 9). The next day, they came, in a limo, the limo stopped, they got out, looked at the OUTSIDE of the store, got back in the limo and left…yes, that’s right, they didn’t even come inside!

I also hate when the managers speculate; they’ll either say, oh, corporate people are “in the area” meaning there is a VERY VERY slight chance they might stop into our store, or recently, we had a couple LP incidents, so the “rumor” going around was they might be sending “spies” to make sure we are doing what we should.

Of course, me being the big mouth I am, said do we know for SURE someone is coming or is it just speculation??? They tend to get all in a tizzy about nothing, and no one ever shows. All the times we’ve been warned corporate is on the loose in our area, not one time have they come to our store.

[bhskittykatt]

Our AM is supposed to do monthly visits with Boss Man. The past few months, he's been a no show. Probably a good thing that he doesn't see the absolute wreck the back office has been in lately.

[MoonCat]

I always know when Superrich Company Owner is coming.

That's when they wash the windows.

[amazins20]

Oh my gosh, this happens where I work all. the. time. I work for a convenience store/gas station that's part of a chain, and our store is the busiest on the east coast. So, we frequently have threats of the CEO coming in. We spend the whole night making sure the store looks perfect, and then....nothing. No show. I agree with a PP, I think it's just management's way of making us work harder.

[Android Kaeli]

I hate when this happens, because the peons work hard and then nothing ever happens.

A few years ago some Big Important People were coming from corporate HQ but luckily there was at least a week and a half worth of notice. I don't remember who it was that was coming but everyone stayed a good twenty or so hours extra overtime, just to get the store looking decent. The day before the Big Important People were supposed to come, the Bosses took those who had been working the most hours and told them that the Big Important People were not, in fact, coming. They had canceled a half hour before.

Saying we were pissed would be an understatement, the Bosses saw that there would be a mutiny if they didn't do anything. So we got a big pizza party for the next few days.

[dalesys]

... Eff ah'm a gonna polish these turds, the least they can do is eat them!

[Bandit]

I'm just stuck with the Board of Director's meetings once every few months.

That's when I have to put on the suit and shine up on the off-chance one of them can't figure out how to dial a phone. Thus pissing off the people in the plant when I have to tell them they have to wait for a couple of days because of the meetings. Either that, or I piss off the boss when I claim the cleaning expenses for the suit when I'm crawling under desks.

Can't Win. Don't Try.

B

[Chromatix]

We have a different problem in the office: customers visiting the conference rooms. Fortunately these are right by the front door, and us engineers are relatively out of the way, so we just have to make sure we don't look like complete scruffs when we arrive.

[BrenDAnn]

My manager does this, too. Now, the Area Supervisor usually shows up when she says she is, because we're her home store. The District Manager/higher-ups however...are usually "in the area" and I've only seen them in the store a handful of times. Manager sure does like to freak out and make sure everything is dusted and faced and all the corners are swept though!

[eltf177]

My take on this is Upper Management does this to do one or more of the following:

1) Keep the peons on their toes
2) Make sure the stores get a super clean up once in a while
3) Pretend they know what's going on in the trenches
4) Makes them look good to the underlings which makes them look good to their superiors

But it still ends up a mess when they never show, and you know the reason they don't show is a poor one at best!

[simplyanother]

We have been threatened with corporate visits fairly often recently. They have shown twice, I think. Last time they were in town, they were supposed to come to our store (because apparently, we suck) so they had people at the store until 3:30 am trying to make it look less like ass.

During the fall, there was a corporate visit/ audit that was supposed to happen, and instead of putting up freight, we did a bunch of other stuff (like endless go-backs, recovery, etc.) We were one truck behind, then two, then three, then six, and it was like this never ending WTF of freight that didn't get put out. I mean, okay, sometimes the trucks will run together, but in my years of being there, I've never seen it so bad.

I have seen it take a couple of extra days to do the repack, or to make sure that the seasonal is done, but never have come up to 3 and 4 and 5 weeks worth of repack that couldn't be worked on time. And it all traces back to that stupid corporate visit, and I can't even remember if it happened. I think it did, because he bitched that we didn't say "thank you for shopping at Glitter Hell", or something.

Because, you know, that totally matters. Give a customer a good experience, and that's all negated because you didn't say "thank you for shopping here...and paying money so that i can have a job, might i also lick your boots?"...

Fucking HATE corporate visits.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Generally speaking, at the swamp, when we're told a corporate visit is coming, the visitors always show up.

Then again, corporate headquarters is only about 40 miles away.