Gatchamania.net (http://www.gatchamania.net/index.php)
- [Speak Up!] (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=500)
-- General Discussion (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=2)
--- The Joys of Working in Retail (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=1279)
Posted by SJ_SwanJun on 21-09-2007 at 14:47:
The Joys of Working in Retail
No, that isn't a sarcastic title ....
Today, I learned just how beneficial working the corporate office of a clothing retailer is ...
I love jeans so much, especially Levis. Levis are my brand of choice! I love them!
So I wore my favourite low-cut long length blue Jeans that I've had for maybe 12 months or so, but have been worn, quite literally, to death. I head out on break today with my friend, Sarah, and she falls a few steps behind me and cautions me to "sit really carefully in those pants". I frown in confusion and ask why? They aren't a tight pant, they are a comfy fit...
Then she points out there is a hole at the back pocket.
Wha?!
I twist the body and there it is - a hole that shows my butt-cheek. (oh blush) I groan and think about my shirt, whether or not it is an effective "pull down" fabric ... Nope. It is a short baby-doll style shirt, black, with "BOMB SQUAD TECHNICIAN - If you see me running ... try to keep the hell up!" blazened across the front.
Not designed for pulling down over the butt.
Shit ...
three hours until lunch, where I can maybe head into Levis to buy another pair.
Then I remember. Spring buying has begun, and we're purchasing some great Jeans for one of our men's stores. A quick call to the buyer and she plonked a brand-new pair of mens jeans on my desk. Her only comment "I only have a 32" inseam ... I hope they'll be long enough."
Hey, they could be waders, right now as long as they cover my ass, I'm happy.
So now I am wearing a spunky, funky pair of dark denim jeans that LOOK HOT on my tushie, and am actually more comfy - because Men's jeans are much, much more comfy than women's.
Lucky me, eh?
:grin:
SJ
__________________
Sighhh
Why do men snore when lying on their backs?
Because their balls fall over their butt holes and they vapour lock.
Posted by Transmute Jun on 21-09-2007 at 16:40:
Sounds great! DH used to work for a company that did custom clothing on the internet, and he came home with so many pairs of custom pants! At least you're getting good freebies... imagine if you worked for a company that canned prunes.... 
Sounds like you're having fun in your new jeans!
Can your old ones be saved?
__________________
Posted by Firebird on 21-09-2007 at 16:55:
Sj that sounds wonderful and given how hard you work you deserve some perks!
__________________
Like the Phoenix I rise from the fire. Beware all who try to tame me, you may get burned 
Posted by Metaliant on 22-09-2007 at 07:57:
At least you aren't working in a DIY retail shop like me, it's terrible, low pay (5 pence more than the miminal wage people), staff (some are just blind and stupid), customers (don't get me on that) and finally the managers and directors who are just cheap and think up of these clever ideas which are just shit and doesn't quite work out the way they want them.
__________________
Eagle in Residence
Tempory Frisker
Posted by amyltrer on 22-09-2007 at 08:29:
Yup, SJ, you can sew the gatch logo on the hole.
__________________
It is the tiny spark of humanity that adds blaze to a villain
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 22-09-2007 at 08:36:
Well I guess I just got home from running around a Big retail store today...I was managing a big new series 7 store for 3 days while Denise the manager was off.(I am a manager of another store.)
If you don't know what that is, it is an upgrade in design and new concept layout and it is upper Managements baby.
So I had in store all at once on my first day;
The owner of the company(he owns Brazin a very large retail corp in Australia...basically he owns about 8 chain store devisions at least here, and he is currently buying up more.)
The General manger,
State manager,
Project manager,
area manager,
And anyone else who felt they would be left out if they didn't show up at the store.
NO PRESSURE EBONY!!!
Lucky we made budget that day..phew!
So my poor little footsies are very tired from jogging around that big store for 10 hours...But we made well over budget today...so that is great and the bosses were happy.
But I do get a good discount...40% off all lingerie and sleepwear,so i have lots of good stuff, my DH is amaazed at the amount of satin sleepwear I have.
And they did give us all a free bra(managers only) at Road show(once a year national meeting and party afterwards.)
I did find out that we have twice the range of Lingerie than Victoria secrets has...mmm interesting.
I know what you mean SJ it can be a joy at times working in retail...even under pressure...
__________________
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by Metaliant on 22-09-2007 at 11:37:
I think the store managers we had (and we had 5 store managers since I have bben there for 8 and half years), lok at internet porn in the store manager's office.
The third one we had reminded me of Dave Brent of The Office. The 4th one had a huge beer belly (looked like he was pregant with the uniform had had on) and this one we got now seems to tell me what to do, even though I do know what my job is.
__________________
Eagle in Residence
Tempory Frisker
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 22-09-2007 at 11:43:
What is this dodgy retail chain you work for Meta!!!
__________________
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by Metaliant on 22-09-2007 at 12:09:
Homebase. the American version is called Homedepot. The only perks we get is 20% off everything, except electrical stuff like telly and such at work and 10% off everything at Argos shops (I don't know about the Argos catalogues though), but the Argos staff and get 20 % off everything from both places.
I also used to work at Index, which was owned by Littlewoods and did their own catalogues and stores but was closed recently (big surprise) and they were ABSOUTLY SHIT at the distribution centre I worked at.
I got the job of filing clerk at Index and was told that someone from another distribution centre would come and show me how to do their filing.
So, first day there and I found out that they didn't even had a filing system in place at all and the person who was supposed to show the the imagined filing system just told me to do something completely unrelated and left and never saw her again.
2 weeks of this and I decided to tell someone, so I did and since then for about 4 months I was given all these different filing systems about once a week at my guess to deal with and even 3 changes in one week. I was fired on Friday, 5 days before Christmas, with the part time receptioist who was doing overtime to buy her hair spray with the filing systems.
In the first 2 weeks, I was getting a full time salary, even though I was part time because they didn't hire a person to do the wages, so had to get someone else to do it with. I wish I never mentioned it at all now.
AND because I worked at the distributation centre, the managers decided that everyone who was below the supervisors had to wear a uniform, even those, like me who worked at the other end of the building, where on visitors would see us. They couldn't even distribute the uniforms probably.
In short, Index was the worst place to have worked, the managers couldn't even work out how to open a door to a brewary, never mind organsing a piss up in it and they probably work for Homebase at HQ.
__________________
Eagle in Residence
Tempory Frisker
Posted by kimiko on 24-09-2007 at 17:41:
Ahhh...fellow retail workers...I work for the Hudson's Bay Company...I know the hell you speak of!
Presently I am waiting for my Worker's Comp to come through as I had to visit the hospital due to inhaling sulphuric acid fumes coming from a faulty battery in one of our fork lifts. Some stupid git thought it was a good idea to recharge it even though the repair guy said not to use it at all!!! And to top it off both my store manager and my shift supervisor thought that the rotten egg/sewer smell that permeated our stockroom was nothing to be alarmed about!! Yes hydrogen sulfide does wonders on your respiratory tract! Suffering from asthma or allergies? No need to worry...a couple of hours exposed to this stuff and you won't need that puffer because you won't be breathing anymore! Not to mention that 3 out of 4 of the people trained in first aid were put out of commission and the 4th (being my idiot supervisor thought that we didn't need to call 911!) Sorry if I could breathe I would have got on the phone myself! So in the end they have a huge bill to pay with ambulances, hospital care, lost wages, labour inspector coming in and burning them for various other code violations..etc...when all they had to do was put a friggin' sign saying "Out of Order" on the damn thing and pull the keys out! It might have helped if they just coughed the money up to get it properly maintained in the first place...but that would have cost money. These are the idiots I work for!
Though I love to bitch about work ...but I must admit I have a pretty good benefits package, descent wage and above average vacation and employee discounts. If only there wasn't any idiots working there! 
__________________
Putting the "Con" in Condor....Ooooo... shiny red button!
Posted by Metaliant on 24-09-2007 at 18:02:
Homebase is split into Regions and ours had a night out last night in Telford (not too sure where that is) and it was a quiz night (madness all around) beer and a disco (not the best but not the worst I been too) and I could tell a few stories that night. Only one store didn't come and I suspect it has to do with one member of their staff who used to work at my store.
__________________
Eagle in Residence
Tempory Frisker
Posted by CricketBeautiful on 24-09-2007 at 18:06:
Oh, shit! Hydrogen sulphide is one of the true nasties; at the concentrations you can smell it's relatively safe, compared to what it does at the higher concentrations, when it overwhelms your sense of smell, and you can't smell it any more.
So glad they've got a huge bill to pay.
__________________
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
- Viktor E. Frankl
Posted by SJ_SwanJun on 24-09-2007 at 18:17:
Ahhh Kimi - you are obviously a fellow Canadian!!
Anywhere near Toronto, dear? I can hook you up in one of our stores (or even this office) ... Gotto get you away from morons like that!
Or we could trade our discounts - I get 40% off our stuff, even if there is already a discount on it ... Works greaaaaaaat at T****land ...
I gotto be honest with you, girl. Even if there was a sign on the damn thing, noone would read it. That is something that completely amazes me in this city.
I can put a giant fucking sign on something that is out of order, and still get some moron wandering up to me scratching their head and asking me to show them what they're doing wrong ...
"Yeah, asshole. I can tell you exactly what you're doing wrong. You're not reading the fucking gigantic sign that says OUT OF ORDER!"
I'm somewhat mysified that noone could actually smell the sulfur, though. I mean that's a pretty distinctive smell.
I'm glad you're okay, though. I mean, shit, that stuff works its horror pretty quickly ...
WSIB are pretty kewl, though. They'll get you hooked up soon enough!
And look at the really bright side ... You get to hang out with us!!
SJ
__________________
Sighhh
Why do men snore when lying on their backs?
Because their balls fall over their butt holes and they vapour lock.
Posted by kimiko on 25-09-2007 at 17:00:
Yes Swannie I'm from Hamilton, work in Burlington, just down the road from ya. Ahh discount trading sounds great! I get 15% most things in the store, and 10% off grocery items and large appliances & electronics *removing dog-slobbery KONG that her furchild has just placed in her lap*
The problem at work is the lack of communication between management. No teamwork amongst this bunch, everyone seems to be out for their own career. What they don't seem to realize is that if they work together it makes everything improve and everyone gets kudos and promotions. After all we're a retail store and sales and service are supposed to be priority- if you don't make money or make your customers happy- nobody has a job!
Then again, having rotting corpses lying around might just take priority over anything else! But then again we would make a great sales presentation in the seasonal dept. 
There just seems to be a very selfish outlook towards everything.
When I visited during the day to turn in my paperwork for WSIB (I work overnights) everyone I knew was clamouring all over me! I got a barrage of comments from "Thank God you're alright!", to "What happened?", to rather cryptic "You realize you'll never live this down...".
Seems that the office politics were fully in swing! Most of the average Joes had absolutely no clue to what happened (ie didn't realize that they were expose to hazardous stuff), upper management was busy white-washing, and those with issues with upper management were drooling and having a fieldday! The person who said that I'd never live this down, practically kissed me. I've known her since I started working here and she's incharge of our Health & Safety. Seems she was having a heck of a time getting the store manager to ok funds for repairs, and since he was on record for noticing the odour and did nothing but pass the buck to my supervisor who again did nothing about the problem, placing the blame squarely on their shoulders and not on hers. What can I say? She is more than delighted that those of us that went to the hospital are ok, got time off, fully compensated, and is having her concerns dealt with without having herself dragged through it.
I know my supervisor is not well respected, I didn't realise that the store manager was that reviled. All I really care about is that there was no permanent health concerns for myself or anyone else. Having my supervisor held accountable for his lack of concern and lack of action...PRICELESS!
This is a guy who feels that he doesn't have to follow protocol because as he puts it..."I don't have to do that because I'm like this with the store manager. *crossing fingers*" and that's verbatim!!! So maybe now he'll learn something...then again maybe not...
The new rumour is that there is a new store opening up in the area and the store manager had his eye on taking over that store. Imay get rid of this problem...then again whose to say there won't be another idiot even worse to replace him? We'll seee what happens...
__________________
Putting the "Con" in Condor....Ooooo... shiny red button!
Posted by Transmute Jun on 25-09-2007 at 19:17:
I'm glad that people are having to pay the consequences, Kimiko. It sounds like you did the right thing reporting it.
Most importantly, I'm glad you're okay!
And whoo hoo! Another Southern Ontario gatch fan! It's amazing how many there are. I myself am a transplanted Torontonian. CD and Cricket are also in the area, along with SJ.
__________________
Posted by Metaliant on 25-09-2007 at 19:50:
| quote: | |
|
SJ, we have customers like that. Our old uniforms were totally green with the polo shirts with an orange collar. They still come up us and ask if we work here.
Our uniforms now have HOMEBASE in big letters on the back and we must have name badges, which even a partially sighted person like myself can read and EVEN then they ask us if we work here. I have couple of times said that I didn't work there.
I got one customer who thought that Homebase and it's 2 main competitors B & Q and Focus Do It All were the same shop.
Also, some staff can't exactly read properly and put stuff in the wrong place, even though the descrption on the price label is different to the stock in their hands.
__________________
Eagle in Residence
Tempory Frisker
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 25-09-2007 at 22:23:
Well speaking of retail mentality ...they are taking me out of my store when I am short staffed to work in another store because they are short staffed...and want to know why I am now behind in my work!
Oh...Ebony why didn't you make budget in your store last week??? Because I was off making budget in another store...So now they have decided that I am to manage another big store for 2 weeks...I hate to think of what the mice will get up to while I'm away...
well of to work I go now...
__________________
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.
Posted by clouddancer on 25-09-2007 at 22:23:
| quote: | |
|
Oh! The memories!!! I remember working at a Nursery/Greenhouse/garden Centre and being asked that question. We would wear the apron and/or green shirts with the company name on it. Or, the even bigger clue, be holding a watering hose watering the plants.
How often I was tempted to say "Uhhhh, NO, I am just holding this hose becasue I like watering." Or "Did you not hear? You have to water a row of plants before they let you walk out of here."
I think it is just a way of people opening a dialogue with a store employee. Or habit. How often have you walked into a store, tried finding an employee to ask a question to and when you do find someone you discover they do not work at the store they are a customer too. (Or maybe I am the only one silly enough for that to happen to.)
__________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Posted by SJ_SwanJun on 26-09-2007 at 12:28:
Wanders into the room resembling something like a wounded animal as she pours herself the strongest coffee available grumping that there is no Tim Horton's within walking distance to the office
Gawd food poisoning is a BITCH! Anyone in the Toronto area DO NOT EVER go to JJ Muggs at Woodbine .... The place is a hole, the food sucks and is full of nasty bacteria, and the washrooms are filthy!
And their server is too intent on chatting with people to actually do her work.
Off that though ... Digression queen strikes again ...
I remember back in the day when I did work at store level and the amazing shit customers did.
There once was a fantastic forum called "Customers Suck" a little while back that I'm not sure still exists. It was for all us retail jockeys to vent and tell some stories ... quite a fun place to play, although there was wayyy too much spitefulness to really enjoy things ...
Especially against us smokers ... gah ... got into many heated debates with the anti-smokers on there.
Oh, and their intense dislike of Corporate Office sometimes offended me. I work at Corp, and we aint too bad. Oh sure, you have the piths of the Earth in some departments. Ours is the Planning and Logistics Director ... aka Bitch from the Ninth Circle of Hell. For a woman with an Engineering Masters Degree of whatever it is (Cricket help me out here) she's really quite awful. Since she started she had made lives at Corp and Store level HELL!!! Not to forget hired on "friends" who are as lazy and as useless as she is.
She asked me to proof read (and Don't Y'all laugh at me being the correspondence beta-reader here. I may not be able to put together a decent sentence in a fic, but I can sure as heck write a legal/professional letter) Thanks to Cricket's training way back, I actually do have a decent grasp of grammar. Anyhoo, after three months of her sending out store emails that had to be resent several times EACH TIME because of errors. They were Price Adjustment Letters that have errors in style numbers and pricing that I couldn't double-check - I am the only one with access to send to store level - I complained endlessly that we are beginning to look like useless morons. (the final straw was a store sending me a fax with "How about you *DO* your job and get it right!". So she finally brought me an actual memo to proof.
God.
This thing was awful.
In the end it had more red marks on it than actual black text. I politely asked her who wrote the memo, was told that was none of my business, so I tossed it at her and told her that whoever wrote it needs to take English 101. This letter HAS to be rewritten in its entirety if the author doesn't want to look like a 5th grader. I can only make grammar/spelling/typo changes ... I didn't understand it to even suggest changes.
Understandably, now I am on her hit list. She didn't like me to begin with, she hates me now.
Hell. I warned her when she handed it to me that I am anal retentive over store communications.
Well, I am only the Phone jockey, right? What do I know?
OH OH OH OH!! I have a new title now (wish I had the money to go with it). I am now Executive Assistant/Receptionist
Nice for the resume, but that's about it. I figure I hold onto it for 12 months, and then go find myself a better job. EA's get paid between $45 - $60K ... I'm still in the $30K range ...
HAHAHA!! Stick it to em.
Well lookie here, I found it ... Customers Suck
Look and enjoy!
Kimi. I'm glad you're okay. Tell your JHSC rep that I feel her pain. I am on our committee, and damn if noone listens. Ice is our biggie here in Winter. We had one of our girls slip on the ice, slide under her car and dislocate her shoulder.
And get this ... Our HR woman is a bitch ... Because walking in the carpark is not classed as working, she wasn't covered. She didn't get WSIB.
I was like, WHAT?!
Nuts ....
Anyhoo ... should go. The Logistics Bitch just called because an email from yesterday (I was off) wasn't sent out and she wants me to tell her why....
Glad you're okay, though, Kimi!! Stick it to them, girl! I wish one of our stores would ...
SJ
__________________
Sighhh
Why do men snore when lying on their backs?
Because their balls fall over their butt holes and they vapour lock.
Posted by CricketBeautiful on 26-09-2007 at 13:54:
Yep, "Do you work here?" is a conversation starter. We usually use, "Look! It's someone in a red shirt! Hubby, I bet that person can help us!" (At which point they usually consider running.)
There is no official branch of engineering for Planning and Logistics, although many engineers end up learning it. Especially in small companies, the Production Engineer is in charge of getting things produced, and that usually includes getting things moved around on time.
She might be a Systems Engineer, no one quite knows what they do; they had model trains in one classroom. I suspect, though, that she's a computer person.
If you want to make waves, look at her business card. Legally, she needs to be a licensed P.Eng. to have the word Engineer on it (Engineering Manager or her degree is OK).
We're taught a degree of arrogance; it's a tough program to get into, let alone through. They know it's impossible to teach you everything you'll need out there, so they teach attitude: I'm an Engineer, therefore I can do it! In theory, they also teach us how to learn what they can't teach us. (A financial advisor once told a bunch of engineers at Nortel (Dad's old job) that the math used to calculate how much they need to retire on was difficult. So they immediately cracked the spreadsheet and improved it.)
I've seen a Foundry Engineer do waste water reviews (the accountants were less qualified). One classmate (a sucker) did payroll (Hey, he's on salary! It's cheaper to not pay him overtime than to get a bookkeeper who already knows how to do it) and carpentry (since the rest of the company had actual job descriptions which didn't include it). Yep, this guy missed the two minutes on the difference between being a team player vs being a sucker.
Dad had one coworker, absolutely awesome design engineer, something to do with telecommunications, who couldn't spell at all; but she had the brains to ask Dad to proofread.
Congrats on the new title SJ! (And, yep, you deserve the salary to go with it.)
If someone slips under a car in my driveway, she gets paid from my home owners' insurance. There should be something similar at the company, especially in case a customer slipped. Does she have any coverage from another insurance, like an employee benefit package? Better still, her husband's? She should go directly to them, and they might be able to get something from the plant insurance. Most lawyers give 15-30 minutes free, long enough to see if it's worth suing them.
__________________
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
- Viktor E. Frankl
Powered by: Burning Board Lite 1.1.2c © 2001-2004 WoltLab GmbH
English translation by Satelk
Site Coded by Cep