I got my review today. I was expecting the equivalent of a D, and I got it. Now, all of the positive written comments were about my work ethic, conscientiousness, reliability. And I'm discounting 5 of the "D" grades because I was specifically told every single person in the store got those because of bad survey scores and safety inspections. (Nice--we get dinged on stuff that may not even be our fault). But the rest of my markdowns were stuff like being willing to train and help people (seriously??--I love training newbs and often get picked to do so, and coworkers come to me often for help with stuff, which I don't mind at all). Another was my lack of urgency. Uh, I have urgency constantly, seeing as how I always try to get as much done as possible, since we're chronically understaffed, and over-shopped (tons of foot traffic). I'm like this whether feeling good or in pain, well-rested or tired. I just push myself harder when I'm not as good physically. Another "D" was communication, despite the fact that I overcommunicate with managers.
So I figured out the base problem is that I'm apparently not approachable, not friendly enough with coworkers (asked boss for advice about this and she told me to chat more--really). Yet, we are told to stop talking and get stuff done, and when staff is chatting, I see customers getting ignored and peeved. So all my hard work nets me nice comments, but my grades, which determine my review score and raise, are totally based on personality and things beyond my control (customer satisfaction scores, Building Services' assessment of safety, how long the lines are and the overall quickness of response to backup cashier calls, and call button response times [I'm not even salesfloor]).
So I figured out the base problem is that I'm apparently not approachable, not friendly enough with coworkers (asked boss for advice about this and she told me to chat more--really). Yet, we are told to stop talking and get stuff done, and when staff is chatting, I see customers getting ignored and peeved. So all my hard work nets me nice comments, but my grades, which determine my review score and raise, are totally based on personality and things beyond my control (customer satisfaction scores, Building Services' assessment of safety, how long the lines are and the overall quickness of response to backup cashier calls, and call button response times [I'm not even salesfloor]).
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