I turned in my notice

[XCashier]

This has been building for a long time. Corporate's rules and regulations are getting more and more insane, we've been getting 400+ box shipments every week for several weeks and are way behind in stocking, and just cannot get ahead because there simply isn't enough time, tools or personnel. The managers are getting abuse from upstairs and giving it to us in turn. Customers are getting more and more ridiculous.

I'm feeling a very strange mix of relief and guilt. I've got a tendency to stay in a bad situation too long, hoping it'll get better, and it never does. I can only take so much. I'm so mentally worn out I can't think straight. Two weeks notice will get me out of there before Black Friday, and I know I'm leaving my coworkers in the lurch, but I can't take any more.

I'm going to the temp agencies on Monday, and we've also got our home business which we're going to increase. One way or another, we'll be fine.

[csquared]

Good luck!

I can relate to the relief. After The Wife left retail (she turned in her resignation on Black Friday a couple of years ago), we actually decorated the house for Christmas for the first time in about eight years.

[eltf177]

It sounds like you've been pushed to the limit. And people have a point at which they can't/won't take anymore.

I hope your leaving causes management to wake up, but I doubt it...

[bainsidhe]

It sounds like you're making the right choice. When you burn out, it's that much harder to come back from. Best to leave the situation while you can.

[notalwaysright]

Yaaaay~ The company has gone to crap, for sure.

[XCashier]

The company has gone to crap, for sure.

Yes, it has. And I've been stuck in this rut for far too long.

Like I told hubby, I've seen many businesses fold, and they all do the same stupid things right before They always overstock the stores, mostly with chintzy decorative crap that has no relation to what they're supposed to be selling and very little of what they are supposed to be selling. They cut the hell out of payroll. They bring in all sorts of "new" and "innovative" policies that are blatantly obvious BS to anyone who isn't in corporate. They get a bug up their butts about add-ons, suggestive selling, coupons, cards, etc. Every single one of the businesses that are now kaput has done this, and now ours is.

[chimera]

I can't blame you for leaving. All the BS definitely gets wearing...as if you can actually simultaneously inundate customers with money saving coupons and then pressure them to buy more and more.

It's interesting that the company is acting like a place about to go out of business. Now that I think about it, it does seem like there's so much going on in so many directions at once.

[notalwaysright]

Like I told hubby, I've seen many businesses fold, and they all do the same stupid things right before

Not to mention when all the good, long time managers, start running for the hills. We've lost nearly all our managers who were here before the company started it's spiral. We have one left, but she has a secret, specific date that she's planning on leaving.

The long time DM quit, we got a new one, then they restructured the districts, so we got yet another DM. I'm convinced she's Satan. Our SM of 20 years quit, we got the SM from hell who was transferred away and then quit. Then we got a new SM who was considered a "fixer" and had been at the company for 10+ years. She quit. We now have a new SM who said in her first week that her goal is to become a DM. She's not great. Haha. I need to shop for interview clothes.

[Pixelated]

They get a bug up their butts about add-ons, suggestive selling, coupons, cards, etc. Every single one of the businesses that are now kaput has done this, and now ours is.

Hmmm ... that sounds a bit ominous. Or maybe I'm just lacking the seasonal cheer, LOL.

Anyway, I'm sorry for your coworkers, but you have to look out for yourself first ... nobody else will, certainly not the corporation you work for. Good luck!

[mathnerd]

I stopped shopping at your company years ago when it started going downhill. Shit got expensive, it was never put away right, everything was always difficult to find, employees were rarely available, and a long list of other complaints. It all boiled down to corporate couldn't get its head out of its ass and properly stock and staff the stores. Just a few more employees per shift and this could have gone an entirely different direction.

[Food Lady]

I hate shopping there so I can imagine how bad it is to work there.

[XCashier]

It all boiled down to corporate couldn't get its head out of its ass and properly stock and staff the stores. Just a few more employees per shift and this could have gone an entirely different direction.

Exactly right. It did not have to be this way. If they looked to long-term profits instead of short-term, the store would be staffed well, stocked well, reasonably-priced, basically doing everything right. Money would be made slowly, but it would increase as people had good experiences there and would spread the word.

Instead, they went the short-term profit route and sacrificed the future for the present. So this happens and makes everyone unhappy.

[eltf177]

But we all know short-term profits are the only thing in the eyes of corporate and the stockholders. When the company tanks the stockholders take a big hit but corporate has their nice golden parachutes to fall into...

[chimera]

Just a few more employees per shift

Sadly, this would mean doubling the amount of employees per shift most of the time.

[mathnerd]

Sadly, this would mean doubling the amount of employees per shift most of the time.

Yet, in a concept they can't understand, even doubling the staffing, they'd make more money if, ya know, people could buy stuff.

I go to a locally owned fabric store now. Their prices are at least 50% higher and they never have coupons. You know what they do have? Employees. There's always somebody nearby that can cut my fabric or ring me out or answer questions. And a funny thing happens when I'm not annoyed and I can find stuff: I buy *more*. So I might go in looking for x yards of fabric, but I come out with 3x yards of four other fabrics, plus a bunch of notions, extra threads, and other accessories because they were easy to find and an employee was able to talk to me for long enough to suggest actually useful add-ons.

But as has been pointed out, corporate can't seem to think long term to see that. They can't see that people aren't just not buying the extras, they're willingly paying more to go to other stores and not buying there at all. There's only so much you can cut back before customers just won't go there anymore.