The store is like a Greek tragedy.

[notalwaysright]

Alright, fair warning, this will be a bit random and LONG. I’ve just been too tired to type anything up properly. Also, death in the family (we all knew this was coming, she was nearly 100 years old), so I had a couple days of driving five hours a day. This is in General because it encompasses everyone; CWs, managers, corporate, you name it. Also, there is a TL;DR at the bottom, because… Yeah.

New Store Manager. *sigh*

I want to like her. I really do. She’s upbeat (mostly), with lots of energy. I’m not good at nicknames, but I’m arbitrarily giving her the name of Hilde because that name sounds… Viking? She’s over 6 foot tall and blonde, but built more like an athlete than a model. I felt good about her for about a day. Then she started making me sad. She focused on small details, while ignoring big picture issues. For example, she got on us because sometimes we don’t put our aprons (with our name tags) on in the morning, before the store is open. Why? Because she says that we have to have our name tags on AT ALL TIMES, even if the store is closed. There are so many bigger problems. She will often just work on fabric while the store is crazy busy. I understand that SMs aren’t supposed to get tied down on a register, but she is just calmly in an aisle while we’re all running around like crazy. More than once she’s just leaned against the cutting counter to imput remnants while the line was super long.

She came out and said that she wants to be a district manager, and I have never met a DM who I liked. While on the floor, in front of customers, I asked if she wanted me to do a certain Best Practice procedure that we’ve done for a long time. She made an off the cuff remark that implied that I was silly for even asking, no we don’t need to do that, duh! Obviously I added the “duh” but it was there in her tone.

She isn’t super considerate that we actually LIKED our previous manager, and has said that she was brought in to fix the store. Maybe that’s true, but Scary (the previous SM) did not break the store, she was fixing it until corporate treated her so badly that she found a better job. Now Hilde is making big sweeping changes and acting like our procedures are all strange and bad. Some of the things that she’s changed, she claimed are because they are audit issues, and I know for a fact that she is incorrect. How do I know? Because I’ve been present for multiple audits, and the auditor has gone over these specific things and we have never lost points. The auditor has even said that for that part of the audit she was “very happy.” So we were not doing it wrong.

Still, she’s not as mean as New Manager was. She’s almost… Crap. She’s almost worse because she puts on a friendly front. At least NM just crapped on everyone and didn’t bother to sugar coat it. But again, I’m trying to give Hilde a chance. She will be gone for several months to do a store remodel in the Mid-West. Maybe when she gets back I won’t feel the same way. *hoping!*

Abandon Ship!

Meanwhile the store is hobbling sadly along again without an SM. The ASM is actively job hunting, and is very stressed out. She has to essentially be the SM, but isn't being paid for it. Another manager is just so airheaded that she’s driving me crazy. I really like her, but she’s only a year or two from retiring, and she’s just not on the same level as she used to be. We’re having to rely on a closing part-time key holder who is very young (in college) and she pretty much just puts in the time while not actually making the closers do any work. She’s been talked to before about things like not sitting on the cutting counter while the store is still open. She’s nice, but she’s more like a friend than a manager.

Everyone is talking crap about everyone else. Pages go unanswered unless a person calls many, many times. My CWs have started walking in the store, clocking in, going to the break room to “put away their stuff” and it is about 10-15 minutes before they get to the sales floor to do their job. The store is full of boxes, since we’re getting holiday shipments now. Our DM has sent emails saying that we have to get all the Halloween stock on the floor before we touch our basic items. (normally basics take precedence over seasonal) So if you walk into the store and want a certain glue in the basic craft aisle and the shelf is empty, it’s probably because all the stockers have been putting out pre-made tutus and velvet pumpkins. This is the same DM who made our store cut two shifts during the busiest part of the Labor Day sale. Somehow our store is doing amazingly well for sales, yet we're still overspent on our labor? Bull.

My cat could run the store better.

About half of our handheld scanners are broken. Some just refuse to connect, and one got its screen rather spectacularly shattered. For about a week three of our nine registers would not work. Not that it matters, since we only have one or two cashiers at a time. Oh, so a huge amount of merchandise is now on locking pegs (because THAT’S always a sign that a company is doing well, right?) and we have a shortage of keys for these pegs. Not only that, but there are not one, not two, but three different locks! One takes a regular key, one key is magnetic, and another key is for the cages. They tried to keep a set on a hook behind the cutting counter, so that cutters could at least help a bit, but this lasted less than one day before the keys got lost. For about two weeks we ran out of white register tape. We had to use yellow cutting slip tape. We also ran out of paper bags, so we had no bags except smaller paper bags which we still have to charge five cents for, which pissed people off because we didn't have any big bags, and the little ones aren't free.


TL;DR: Our store has had four SMs in three years, I’m not optimistic about the new SM, we are being prevented from getting out our stock of basic craft items because our DM is a controlling idiot, almost nothing in the store actually works, including (haha) a large number of employees due to the lack of any coherent leadership. Oh, we can't even get bags or register tape ordered properly.

[XCashier]

If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were talking about my store. Apart from the store manager (who's been there since before I joined up in 2009), this mostly describes my store.

We've only got eight handhelds, and two of them are kaput. The rest aren't all that great either, and even when all eight are working, there are never enough for everybody on shift, especially during the overlapping hours. It's stupid. Even just two extra handhelds (we've got two extra spots in our chargers) would be a tremendous help.

One register keeps going down and having to be rebooted several times a day.

Our backroom is nearly full of boxes, we keep getting more and more in, and we just can't keep up with it. Our stock crew consists of four women, one of whom is very pregnant and two are getting up there in years. We need more new people, particularly strong young folks for the stocking crew, but nobody wants to work those hours. And of course, when hours get cut, guess who's first on the chopping block? Us stockers. We can't sell the merchandise if we can't get it to the shelves, yet they keep cutting the hours of those whose job it is to get the merchandise to the shelves.

[eltf177]

Sounds like Zeus can't hit this place with a lightning bolt quick enough...

[notalwaysright]

We've only got eight handhelds, and two of them are kaput. The rest aren't all that great either, and even when all eight are working, there are never enough for everybody on shift, especially during the overlapping hours. It's stupid. Even just two extra handhelds (we've got two extra spots in our chargers) would be a tremendous help.

We have 10 handhelds, but about half have notes on them saying they're broken. Also, they came with straps, and most of those have broken off.

One register keeps going down and having to be rebooted several times a day.

The other day both my register and my CWs froze for a while, and we were nervously looking at each other, but thank goodness they decided to work at exactly the same time. The closing MOD has to call store support every single night because the registers won't close properly.

Our backroom is nearly full of boxes, we keep getting more and more in, and we just can't keep up with it. Our stock crew consists of four women, one of whom is very pregnant and two are getting up there in years. We need more new people, particularly strong young folks for the stocking crew, but nobody wants to work those hours. And of course, when hours get cut, guess who's first on the chopping block? Us stockers. We can't sell the merchandise if we can't get it to the shelves, yet they keep cutting the hours of those whose job it is to get the merchandise to the shelves.

The freight manager we used to have got full time work else ware, so our new manager has only been doing it a few months. She has experience with this, so it's not as bad as it could be, but she's also not a spring chicken. She does her best, but she's just not as energetic as the previous manager. We had um... five stockers, not including the manager. But one got another part time job, so she doesn't work mornings anymore, and another quit after being trained to cut fabric during the Labor Day sale. I think another CW got transitioned to the stock team, so maybe we're back to four? Oh, at least the managers at my store don't cut stockers when we're tight on hours. They will cut a mid-day cutter, which also sucks. We're already bare bones, there just isn't anyone we can spare.

Sounds like Zeus can't hit this place with a lightning bolt quick enough...

Haha, the shopping center my store is in was built in the 70s, and I don't trust the wiring. Another store had a small electrical fire in the ceiling a few years ago. Sometimes, when I'm surrounded by walls of fabric, or towers of boxes, I think "boy I hope there isn't an earthquake or fire..." The smoke alone would kills us, I think the walls probably have asbestos, and the merchandise probably has lead and formaldehyde.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

TL;DR: Our store has had four SMs in three years, I’m not optimistic about the new SM, we are being prevented from getting out our stock of basic craft items because our DM is a controlling idiot, almost nothing in the store actually works, including (haha) a large number of employees due to the lack of any coherent leadership. Oh, we can't even get bags or register tape ordered properly.

I can apply all of those things to the swamp.

[XCashier]

We have 10 handhelds, but about half have notes on them saying they're broken. Also, they came with straps, and most of those have broken off.

Same here, nearly all of the short straps are broken off right at the base. They also used to have long straps you could sling over your shoulder like a purse, but most of those have broken as well.

Haha, the shopping center my store is in was built in the 70s, and I don't trust the wiring. Another store had a small electrical fire in the ceiling a few years ago. Sometimes, when I'm surrounded by walls of fabric, or towers of boxes, I think "boy I hope there isn't an earthquake or fire..." The smoke alone would kills us, I think the walls probably have asbestos, and the merchandise probably has lead and formaldehyde.

Sounds like our old store. I'm very glad to be out of there, the building was horrible; huge cracks in the walls, an open sewer grate (!) by the bathroom, just...yuck. I don't know about formaldehyde, but fabric and crafting paper are, of course, highly flammable and a fire in our store...yikes. I don't even want to think about that.

The local Founding Father craft store is going out of business. I'm sorry for the employees, but this might help our store during the holiday season. (Who knows, some of them might come and work for us, as well. We can certainly use some experienced crafters in our crew.)

[notalwaysright]

The local Founding Father craft store is going out of business. I'm sorry for the employees, but this might help our store during the holiday season. (Who knows, some of them might come and work for us, as well. We can certainly use some experienced crafters in our crew.)

Aw, that chain used to have a store in my hometown. I took a crocheting class, and my mom took a class to make lampshades, and she still uses the shade she made from that. It's a bummer that there's really only two (?) big chains now. Lack of competition isn't necessarily a good thing. We also could use people who at least know how to do ANY craft. We end up with the people who get confused if asked for fabric glue.

I can has training??

So I got "trained" to ring a few weeks ago. By trained I mean "log in, scan things, hit total." I'm super serious, that's all I got. Today I had to ring for hours, and it was so awful. I closed the drawer without giving change once. I got a lady who gave exact change and as I was putting it in the register and waiting for the receipt to print she snapped "can I go now??" I'm like if you don't want your receipt...?

I know I messed up one lady's transaction. I really hope she notices and comes back, because I feel super bad. Nobody told me how to do remnants. I assumed that you just scanned the bar code, like most other things! NO. WRONG. You put in the yardage, then scan the bar code, then do the 50% discount. This poor lady paid for whole yards. I had asked the cashier next to me, and to be fair she did tell me, but she was half talking to her customer, and half to me, and it didn't really click in my head.

There are certainly other instances where I screwed up. I'm pretty confident of that. It was hard to get any response over the headset when I had questions. Some coupons were being assholes, and not working right. Some would scan (making the beep) but not show up ANYWHERE. Some would scan, then tell me they weren't used. And I'd look at all the fine print, and the item was not excluded. I'm talking regular stuff like elastic, which should work with a regular "any one regular priced item." It's not excluded, and the computer freaks out of you try to override a price more than 50%. So you have to do the math yourself (with a calculator) and find the amount that the item should be, and manually enter it.

I just wanted to apologize to everyone, because this is not on them. I'm fully aware that I need to ring more to become more comfortable with the processes, but some training would be nice. Part is because I only get called to ring when it's hyper busy. Part is because we lack any sort of leadership, and everyone is pretty much ignoring backup calls on the radio. When I ask a question I don't get a clear response, and is often slightly snarky like I shouldn't even need to ask that question. Arg.

[chimera]

Our store is verging on tragic, too. You know it's a bad sign when nobody wants the full time position that freed up because the stress isn't worth the extra money. Even though sales have been up, hours are being cut because we have "overspent" on labor. It doesn't matter how hard you work, how many people you upsell to, how many sign-ups you get, the customer service you give, you're only getting the same amount of hours as always or fewer. There are only ever more hours to be had if someone calls out or quits. If someone comes back or someone new comes on, we all get fewer hours to help pay for that extra person. How motivational. I've gotten to where I just don't care anymore about putting in any extra effort at that place. I don't care enough anymore to worry about all that needs to be done but can't because the time just isn't there. I clock in, do what I can in the time allotted, and clock out.

[notalwaysright]

You know it's a bad sign when nobody wants the full time position that freed up because the stress isn't worth the extra money.

I would never be management, or even a key holder, at my work. They are treated so poorly it's not even funny. Did I mention that since our SM is gone for months, the ASM is doing the SM's job, but not being paid accordingly? Plus, I don't think I could deal with getting called for all the SC complaints.

Even though sales have been up, hours are being cut because we have "overspent" on labor. I've gotten to where I just don't care anymore about putting in any extra effort at that place. I don't care enough anymore to worry about all that needs to be done but can't because the time just isn't there. I clock in, do what I can in the time allotted, and clock out.

Yup, that's how I feel. I mean, I think I've posted almost exactly the same sentiment about clocking in, doing what I can, and clocking out. There's no point in putting in too much effort. I'm not wasting time, I'm just not killing myself. Oh, our ASM is convinced that corporate does something hinky with the sales numbers. Our store sales will be different than what is listed in the statistics from corporate. So we check our sales and it says $15,000, and then the next day we check our sales on the daily report and it says $13,000. (for example) Mostly it goes down, but sometimes it goes up. And yes, when we check we are checking net, not gross.

[chimera]

I've noticed that, too, that the sales numbers at the end of the day are different from what were are told in the reports made the next morning. No idea what's happening there.

I'm having a hard time not letting the corporate and customer bull get me down. Most of the time the customers aren't that bad, but it still wears on me to be so fake cheerful and subservient. I have to bite back a lot of sarcastic thoughts every time we're told to sell sell sell. I think it's unrealistic to expect us to be "salespeople." Especially with low pay and no commission. What exactly is the incentive to sell?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I think it's unrealistic to expect us to be "salespeople." Especially with low pay and no commission. What exactly is the incentive to sell?

Keeping your job. That's exactly what they'd tell you.

[EricKei]

NAR - Not 100% sure why they're doing that, though an inquiry could very well end up with them either saying "Prove it" or with some long-winded odd explanation. Maybe they're taking stuff like overhead (power, rent, etc) out? I dunno.

[notalwaysright]

Our State Flower: Mildew.

Well, we received a few boxes on the truck this week that are straight up molded. I don't even want to think about the contents, I don't think the boxes even got opened. The outside is just... Mold. They now sit in the little hallway by the stock room, customer bathroom, and loading doors. Because that makes us look super classy.

We also need to be able to walk in the store.

Our trucks have been 800+ boxes for two weeks now. We have no room in this entire store. Our topstock is full, not that anyone has time to downstock any of it. The main aisles are full of fleece. The back corner of the store is full of fleece boxes. We have corporate's approval to rent a storage container which will sit in the already small parking lot. We haven't been able to get approval from the mall land lord about this yet, because no one can seem to contact him or his office. They try calling, and when no one answers they just hang up and say "maybe I'll look up the email." Then get distracted and do nothing. Meanwhile the store is filling up even more, because we get smaller shipments during the week.

I'm warming to BOPIS. The service, not the acronym.

We're getting a few BOPIS orders per day. The computer system is a massive fail. Customer orders a whole bolt of fleece, someone goes to pull the order, sees that we have 0 yards on hand. Even if the computer says we have it, it's a toss up whether anyone can find it. Since the store is swimming in boxes of freight, it's likely that a lot of these items somewhere in the store. Oh, random. The town I live in is bag-less. Paper bags are five cents, as per the city. But if someone orders something online, they get bags for free. Not a huge deal, except some people lose these minds over that five cents. To be honest, I'm liking this new option. I just get pull lists, and go hunting. The customer isn't standing next to me asking if "antique gold" or "vintage gold" is a better color match. They aren't holding something in their hands asking how much comes in the package they are holding. They aren't telling me how expensive these are on Etsy, or asking me to explain a tutorial on Pinterest, while four other people try to cut in and ask equally pointless questions. I could get used to this.

A flood would be an improvement, actually.

This last bit is unrelated, but is morbidly fascinating to me. A few years ago our store had a remodel. We were supposed to get a bigger break room. They were going to get rid of the "upper office" to expand the adjacent break room. In the end there were pipes that weren't in the blueprints, and they would be too hard to remove, so they just closed off the upper office and left us with our crappy break room. (we're all still bitter about this) Why am I suddenly thinking about this? Because we're supposed to get a lot of rain in the next week or so. The last time we had a really big rain storm, water came in through a leak in the ceiling in the upper office. The ceiling tiles came down, and the water trickled over a light fixture. Now this office is closed off. They took away the small staircase. Technically it can still be accessed by means of a step ladder, and tiny padlocked door.

Anyhow, if there was another leak, it could go on for a long time before anyone noticed. No point to that, just musings.

[XCashier]

Our trucks have been 800+ boxes for two weeks now. We have no room in this entire store. Our topstock is full, not that anyone has time to downstock any of it. The main aisles are full of fleece.

I thought my 400 box trucks were bad! We've been getting multiple deliveries every week, though, and frequently when I'm not scheduled so I don't know how many we get each week.

And the fleece! We've got two levels of overstock shelves along the wall, and the fleece is stacked four high on the upper level shelves (I don't trust it any higher; I really don't want to see it capsize and hit someone.) Several of our u-boat trolleys are out of commission because they are stacked high with fleece and other fabric that we don't have room for out on the shelves.

The SM wanted me to stock the general craft section this morning. Problem was, all of the general craft boxes are in the center of the humongous mountain o' boxes in the stockroom. I could either spend hours shifting boxes in the limited room, or I could get the boxes I could reach on the outside and stock that stuff instead. Figuring it was easier to get forgiveness than permission, I chose the latter and stocked paint, fabric dyes, wood and thread, as well as bringing down floor overstock. Three cases of thread later and there are still bare spots in the display (though vastly improved). Same with the paints. That's how decimated the store is. And I was right about the forgiveness thing; the new stockroom manager agreed that trying to find those specific boxes would waste too much time, and what I was stocking could be considered crafts, anyway.

Oh yeah, we've got a new stockroom manager, as the previous one is very pregnant and due at the end of the month. Even though she's young and in good health, hauling 50 lb boxes around is not a good idea at this time. New stockroom manager has done stocking and has been with the company for a while, and she's doing okay, though had a bit of a at trying to figure out where to put all the boxes we got last time. (What we really need is one week without a delivery, or only a very small one, so we can unload what we already have. We are so far behind it isn't funny.)

[chimera]

Good to know we're not the only ones drowning in stock! Every U-boat is piled at least 7ft high with fabric. The fabric racks are already overstuffed. That fabric is pawed to death because there's nowhere to put anything and too much to do. Basic freight is piled against the walls in stacks that are probably 10-12ft high. We're starting BOPIS soon and wondering where we'll keep that. I'm kinda morbidly curious to see how stacked up things will get.