I've been at Head Office full time for about 3 months now and have settled in somewhat. The office environment is definitely different to being in stores, and I can understand the pain and humour in The Office series. My role is liaising with staff and customers and Area Managers in a feedback role. Rather ironic really, seeing as I was Ranter, The Feedback Girl. I had a reputation before I even arrived on site.
So I take my role seriously too. Even though I am aware of my relatively lowly position in the office, I like to make sure no one pushes around and abuses the store staff. I've found that lately, most of the customer complaints about staff have been unfounded, widely exaggerated, and pretty much completely untrue. Abusing and yelling at our store staff is just not on. Getting your grown son and his wife in to have a go at our lone, 5 month pregnant staff member as well is just abhorrent. They made her so upset that she was about to burst into tears, she was so upset, she had to have a drink and go out the back to calm down. She'd been with The Company for 5 years. Obviously she loves her job and The Company, and was distraught that they'd written in about her. The daughter in law was going to have her on right there in the store!!
That, and then when I found out another one of my crazy emailing customers was abusing Geoff, one of the guys I worked with in Sunshine when he first started. Well, that was the last straw. Geoff is my age, finished uni, working full time at The Company as a store manager. He was managing Poshville spectacularly until he took up the offer to move to NSW to work in the Poshville there. He and his staff are abused by the customers daily up there. And then when his Area Manager told me how he was going, and how he snapped back at a customer (she was waving a pair of $5 thongs in his face) and was in tears over the incident... And how he'd had a fall out with Grant and then Grant had a go at him when he was over in NSW. Well. How dare they. Grant and I haven't really gotten along. Or rather, I've never thought much of him while I was in store, and less so while in HO. That was another one to add to the tally.
Well. That was it. I had had enough. I am overruled just as much as the store staff are. I have to BCC (blind carbon copy) all my responses to customers to everyone senior to me. They monitor everything I do and then overrule me when they see fit. So the customers always have their way. The store staff thought (and I thought it too when I was in store) HO had no idea and were always overruling them when they were doing their best and following policy. And it's true. They do. I do. Or I am made to. I am made to look as much a fool as the store staff.
Well, don't worry comrades, I am just as lowly as the rest of you. I had been overruled so many times, and then one staff member wrote feedback about it, so I made sure to assign that to the Boss, Lleyton (General Manager, basically The Owner's right hand man) that overruled me on that one. It has to have been two weeks now. Still no response. Will follow that up. I take my job VERY seriously.
Anyway, I am getting angrier thinking about it all. So I finally took it upon myself and sent out a mass email (big no-no) to all stores and all Area Managers telling em basically that they could give me a heads up when they had any psycho customers out there. I am all for them and I explained my responses and my role, and made sure that we are supportive of them out there on the front line.
Well, I sure got a big response from that! So many stores emailed straight back expressing their appreciation and surprise. Even an AM emailed back telling me what a relief it was for her staff to see that from someone up there in HO. But my boss, Debby somehow got wind of the email and boy did I get my butt kicked for that. She emailed our boss, and 2 other big bosses, including Lleyton (but not The Owner, thank goodness). It was completely inappropriate and just plain wrong. Our Admin boss also put in her condemnation of my lack of professionalism. I had already received something of a warning from Debby to watch myself. I have always been a trouble maker. I meant well, I just went about it the wrong way. I felt terrible and hopeless and pathetic. Not again.
But then I got an email from one of the NSW stores, and it made it worth it. They know I know what it's like, and I'm on their side. I called him back and talked to him (Debby was out) and let him know that I really appreciated their response. It was good to get in touch with the store staff again. I got my butt kicked but it was worth it. Staff morale. I'm all for it.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Sunday, December 17, 2006
I can't really be bothered posting much anymore, to tell the truth. But I was thinking that now I am in the office full time, I may have to change the focus and content of my blog... I had a few good names in mind while called in last minute at work today, but I've forgotten them already...
So I was going to go shopping (again, you say?!) today, but was called by Jen around 10 wondering where I was, as I was supposed to open Sunshine at 9. Extended trade the week before Christmas. Oh. Ok. Well, I wish someone had told me. I had told them again and again, Charlene, our area administrator, Sunshine, everyone, that even though I am full time in Head Office, I am still happy to work weekends, as long as they tell me! And no one CCs me on the rosters, or messages me to let me know (like I asked them to), so how am I supposed to know I am supposed to drive 40mins to Sunshine to pick up a key to open!? Honestly. So we didn't end up opening til about 11:20, poor Jen waiting outside, getting abused by customers. I ended up arriving at 11:30 after trying to call other staff who might have a key. The manager didn't pick up, the other girl opening tomorrow was away as well. What can you do. It was busy ALL DAY. And of course, the store was a mess, and I don't know what they were doing all week, but then I had to console myself it wasn't my problem.
We did our best to get the rest of the stock out and I managed to get rid of two trolleys of rubbish, and tidy and sort out the abyss that was the back room. I must say, we did pretty well, the store wasn't a complete disaster when we left. We served customers (well, Jen and Skye did, anyway!) and tidied and tried to re-merchandise the store. To some success. Well. Oh well. We can only do what we can only do. And I was so nice and cheery, I was impressed with myself! The coffee and/or the drugs, who cares! Christmas is fun! I am obviously still giddy.
Yes, Skye is still around. Haven't seen much of her, think she was at Howlong for a couple of shifts, but we hadn't seen her on the rosters in a while and assumed she'd either left or been let go. But nope...still here. She's a nice girl and nothing against her. Jen still thinks she's slow and slack, but I was more than happy for her to stay at the counter and out through the sales while I went to tidy and clear out the back room. Fine with me. Jen was reorganising the shoes and re-merchandising the women's section. We were on a roll!
Well, The Owner. Friday he drove the fire engine red Ferrari. Don't know the model type, but it was a two seater, and you could see the engine or whatever from the windows of the back side windows. I don't know if that makes sense, but I thought it was pretty crazy. And there was also the black, bigger Mercedes S500, with roof rack and sled(?) on the top. You know, those big plastic case thingers that you'd probably put your snow stuff in. And there was also the big Toorak Tractor white BMW 4WD (or SUV, if you like). And his mum apparently has a Bentley too. Yet to see one of those at work though.
Hot day again tomorrow, wonder what car it'll be then?
So I was going to go shopping (again, you say?!) today, but was called by Jen around 10 wondering where I was, as I was supposed to open Sunshine at 9. Extended trade the week before Christmas. Oh. Ok. Well, I wish someone had told me. I had told them again and again, Charlene, our area administrator, Sunshine, everyone, that even though I am full time in Head Office, I am still happy to work weekends, as long as they tell me! And no one CCs me on the rosters, or messages me to let me know (like I asked them to), so how am I supposed to know I am supposed to drive 40mins to Sunshine to pick up a key to open!? Honestly. So we didn't end up opening til about 11:20, poor Jen waiting outside, getting abused by customers. I ended up arriving at 11:30 after trying to call other staff who might have a key. The manager didn't pick up, the other girl opening tomorrow was away as well. What can you do. It was busy ALL DAY. And of course, the store was a mess, and I don't know what they were doing all week, but then I had to console myself it wasn't my problem.
We did our best to get the rest of the stock out and I managed to get rid of two trolleys of rubbish, and tidy and sort out the abyss that was the back room. I must say, we did pretty well, the store wasn't a complete disaster when we left. We served customers (well, Jen and Skye did, anyway!) and tidied and tried to re-merchandise the store. To some success. Well. Oh well. We can only do what we can only do. And I was so nice and cheery, I was impressed with myself! The coffee and/or the drugs, who cares! Christmas is fun! I am obviously still giddy.
Yes, Skye is still around. Haven't seen much of her, think she was at Howlong for a couple of shifts, but we hadn't seen her on the rosters in a while and assumed she'd either left or been let go. But nope...still here. She's a nice girl and nothing against her. Jen still thinks she's slow and slack, but I was more than happy for her to stay at the counter and out through the sales while I went to tidy and clear out the back room. Fine with me. Jen was reorganising the shoes and re-merchandising the women's section. We were on a roll!
Well, The Owner. Friday he drove the fire engine red Ferrari. Don't know the model type, but it was a two seater, and you could see the engine or whatever from the windows of the back side windows. I don't know if that makes sense, but I thought it was pretty crazy. And there was also the black, bigger Mercedes S500, with roof rack and sled(?) on the top. You know, those big plastic case thingers that you'd probably put your snow stuff in. And there was also the big Toorak Tractor white BMW 4WD (or SUV, if you like). And his mum apparently has a Bentley too. Yet to see one of those at work though.
Hot day again tomorrow, wonder what car it'll be then?
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Flavour of the Week
One of my jobs in admin is to send, collect and separate the mail. Of course, The Owner's in tray is at the top, and my "Customer Feedback" tray is at the bottom "where we belong", according to my departing trainer.
The Owner is notoriously private and paranoid and doesn't like to disclose his name or address to anyone, which I suppose, is why he has correspondence forwarded to his work address and email addresses such as the standard FirstnameSurname@TheCompany.com as well as
CanteenLady@TheCompany.com and CaptainSpock@TheCompany.com. To highlight his sense of humour, of course.
Well, in the process of sorting his mail, I came across a thick catalogue, obviously printed on heavy, glossy paper. The plastic wrap was silver coloured so as to ensure privacy and confidentiality of the documents. I was really curious then. What could be so personal and private that he is having delivered to his work address? And Head Office, no less. So I pulled at the plastic and peeked in from the top, it was a Bentley catalogue. Because of course, everyone needs to update their Bentley with each season!
It is rumoured that he has several Bentleys and other assorted flash cars. This was told to me by a former staff member (made 'redundant' and since quit) who was sent to his house to drop off something, and was so impressed with his collection of cars (as her boyfriend would've been so jealous) that she took photos with her digital camera. Then she looked up and realised, 'Sh*t! There's a camera staring right down at me" Knowing The Owner, it was probably being beamed to his home office or something.
Well, given the hot weather today, the car of choice was the canary yellow, convertible Porsche Carrera. The other day it was the silver Mercedes S500. One for each day of the week, huh. Don't worry if you forget something at home, you can just send one of your "blondes" to go home and fetch it for you.
The blondes thing: our reception/admin department has our open office area right outside The Owner's office, and so he often strolls out and gets us to do random tasks of his. Like clean his office. Or stand at attention while he tests something. Or work out how to operate the spiffy new label machine he ordered be bought as he couldn't find the less new one. It's not uncommon to hear him yell out (as you always hear him before you see him) "Now, I need a blonde to help me...." Some staff are his favourites. He even addresses them casually by nickname or surname. The admin girls all happen to be blonde. Except me, I am replacing one of them, so I suppose now he can't use that demand anymore. In any case, when he does, I ignore him, as I am obviously not blond. I have work to do. And so I do it.
"Wow, a Bentley catalogue... I wish I could afford a Bentley."
ponder for a second... "I wish I could afford to eat..."
I realise that final comment would probably be funnier if I was big... haha. "I'm wasting away..."
The Owner is notoriously private and paranoid and doesn't like to disclose his name or address to anyone, which I suppose, is why he has correspondence forwarded to his work address and email addresses such as the standard FirstnameSurname@TheCompany.com as well as
CanteenLady@TheCompany.com and CaptainSpock@TheCompany.com. To highlight his sense of humour, of course.
Well, in the process of sorting his mail, I came across a thick catalogue, obviously printed on heavy, glossy paper. The plastic wrap was silver coloured so as to ensure privacy and confidentiality of the documents. I was really curious then. What could be so personal and private that he is having delivered to his work address? And Head Office, no less. So I pulled at the plastic and peeked in from the top, it was a Bentley catalogue. Because of course, everyone needs to update their Bentley with each season!
It is rumoured that he has several Bentleys and other assorted flash cars. This was told to me by a former staff member (made 'redundant' and since quit) who was sent to his house to drop off something, and was so impressed with his collection of cars (as her boyfriend would've been so jealous) that she took photos with her digital camera. Then she looked up and realised, 'Sh*t! There's a camera staring right down at me" Knowing The Owner, it was probably being beamed to his home office or something.
Well, given the hot weather today, the car of choice was the canary yellow, convertible Porsche Carrera. The other day it was the silver Mercedes S500. One for each day of the week, huh. Don't worry if you forget something at home, you can just send one of your "blondes" to go home and fetch it for you.
The blondes thing: our reception/admin department has our open office area right outside The Owner's office, and so he often strolls out and gets us to do random tasks of his. Like clean his office. Or stand at attention while he tests something. Or work out how to operate the spiffy new label machine he ordered be bought as he couldn't find the less new one. It's not uncommon to hear him yell out (as you always hear him before you see him) "Now, I need a blonde to help me...." Some staff are his favourites. He even addresses them casually by nickname or surname. The admin girls all happen to be blonde. Except me, I am replacing one of them, so I suppose now he can't use that demand anymore. In any case, when he does, I ignore him, as I am obviously not blond. I have work to do. And so I do it.
"Wow, a Bentley catalogue... I wish I could afford a Bentley."
ponder for a second... "I wish I could afford to eat..."
I realise that final comment would probably be funnier if I was big... haha. "I'm wasting away..."
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Office Slave
Well, I finally got a full time position at The Company, but not in stores! I'm now a full timer in the Admin Team at HO, no longer in Operations or in stores, which isn't bad in itself. My role involves answering customer and staff feedback emails, as well as general admin work as well, which will be introduced a bit later. A bit tedious and brainless so far, but there is more than enough excitement in the gossip and office politics. The Owner and his presence is entertaining enough. More on that later.
So now I am no longer a retail slave, having worked my last store shift this afternoon, and am now an Office Slave. Suits me fine. No more battling for a car park during Christmas, crazy, stressed out, impatient customers, and I can finally go to the toilet whenever I want!
So now I am no longer a retail slave, having worked my last store shift this afternoon, and am now an Office Slave. Suits me fine. No more battling for a car park during Christmas, crazy, stressed out, impatient customers, and I can finally go to the toilet whenever I want!
Monday, November 20, 2006
AWOL
I haven't posted in a while because I've been working pretty much all day every day for the past two weeks and have been too tired and lazy to rant. I guess that's an effective way to minimise dissent amongst the ranks: keep them too busy and overworked to have time to complain.
I've been working at Sunshine, Mooball, and helping set up a new clearance store in Blowhard. And then I've also been at the new HO helping Helena with the weekly reports (which were a few weeks behind as a result of the move) and even had the pleasure of 'meeting' The Owner, which I suppose deserves a post of its own. I've also been picking up shifts at The Supermarket, being a checkout chick, and getting to know more about The Company and maybe beginning to take on a bigger role and being trained in all aspects.
I've just finished a shift at Mooball, as Charlene roped me into doing (training new staff to do) stocktake today, and I will be back again tomorrow night. I just had the great fortune of 'doing' stocktake last week at Sunshine. Looks like I'll be doing the rounds where I'm needed. Anyway, it's 10:30, so I want to have some dinner!
I've been working at Sunshine, Mooball, and helping set up a new clearance store in Blowhard. And then I've also been at the new HO helping Helena with the weekly reports (which were a few weeks behind as a result of the move) and even had the pleasure of 'meeting' The Owner, which I suppose deserves a post of its own. I've also been picking up shifts at The Supermarket, being a checkout chick, and getting to know more about The Company and maybe beginning to take on a bigger role and being trained in all aspects.
I've just finished a shift at Mooball, as Charlene roped me into doing (training new staff to do) stocktake today, and I will be back again tomorrow night. I just had the great fortune of 'doing' stocktake last week at Sunshine. Looks like I'll be doing the rounds where I'm needed. Anyway, it's 10:30, so I want to have some dinner!
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Misinformation
In typical fashion, The Company, or rather, its Owner, likes to keep things secretive and keep its staff in the dark as to what exactly is going on. Even if it concerns them. So, I rocked up to HO a few minutes past nine (I'm still in the 'sleeping-in-can't-be-bothered' phase) after having rushed there and broken many speeding limits. They were packing the place up. I had heard they were moving, but Helena said it wasn't confirmed yet, as The Owner changes his mind like the weather. I was NOT impressed. I could've still been asleep. I had a coffee in preparation for some straining boredom and brain work. I even made my lunch! Helena called me last week to ask me to come in on Thursday, as now Grant and the other Upstairs people want their reports by Friday morning. I said that was fine. So I made the effort to go only to be turned away by the removalists.
Someone warned/joked to me when I first started at The Company, that they treat us like mushrooms. Huh? I was confused. Hadn't heard that one before.
"They keep you in the dark and feed you sh*t" they replied with a knowing, cynical laugh.
I was to understand all too soon what they meant by that. I wasn't that surprised when the office was empty and I obviously didn't know. At least I got my payslip today, and they have 'overpaid' me an extra 2 hours, so that makes up for some of the trouble I went to, I suppose. And all the unpaid overtime we do.
Today was just one of those crappy days. I suppose it started this morning. Then I went to The Supermarket to talk to Cindy to ask to move to night fill, like Trev had said. I ended up picking up an extra shift and covering 11AM-6PM. That was fine. I went back home to change into my uniform, picked up a newspaper on the way and was back again in plenty of time. I was early, and it was busy down at the checkouts, so I went down earlier anyway to speak to Cindy. She was less than impressed with the fact that I had just stayed back on Friday night. Without authorisation, blah blah, you can't just do that, you won't get paid, blah blah. No, you can't just move to night fill, because you were hired for checkouts. Well, I was less than impressed with her response too. And here beginneth the ranting:
No one had told me I was hired for checkouts. My initial 5 minute interview with Therese, the previous Checkout Manager just asked me where I'd like to work, I specified night fill. Sally, the hiring manager and 2IC (2nd in charge) at our induction training, asked us where we'd like to work, I said night fill, as I'm mostly available nights as I work days at The Company. So then I turned up for training with Cindy, who had just been transferred to that store that day, and Sally had only told her that day that I'd be coming in for training. So she wasn't at all prepared for me.
I had no The Supermarket shirt, no locker, they literally threw a random shirt at me (I wanted a short sleeve, but no matter) and left me there, promptly forgetting about me. I was waiting outside their office, confused. So where do I go from here? What do I do now? Once one of the other guys noticed me waiting outside, he interrupted whatever important meeting they were having and told her I was still outside. First I was put with some of the other Checkout Chicks and 'helped' pack bags for a while. She didn't have the training books for me to work with on the POS. Then she just put me on a terminal/checkout and had me work through the theory and exercises. Sure, whatever. I can do that. So I did that for about 6 hours in total (over two shifts) and finished it all, but still had little idea of how to process sales on the POS by myself. What if an item doesn't scan? What if the customer says they are discounted? What if I need change? So after a while, they left me on my checkout, with a 'L' plate and I figured it out eventually, with much help from the Checkout Chicks on the next lane.
Back to today... So when I went downstairs 15minutes early to talk to Cindy about transferring, she didn't recognise me at first. The other staff had told her I wanted to talk to her about transferring to the night fill department when I went back for my uniform. She asked what I was after, and when I answered, it clicked. 'Oh, I remember you, Ranter. I trained you'. I was flabbergasted. What?! You TRAINED me?! You left me at the Checkout to go through the training POS and said to go look for you if I had any trouble. The computer froze on me several times, I went to go look for help, and you'd already gone home for the day. I stood there for hours going through the POS training and you didn't even come to check up on me. I was given no introduction to the store, where things were, where I could put my things, the clock on machine, where to collect pays, who to ask if I had any enquries... And you think you TRAINED me?! I was cross. As far as I'm concerned, she logged on the terminal for me to start my training, and that was it. I didn't see her for another week after my initial training shift. Thanks for nothing. And then she tells me off for working in a different department without consulting anyone, and I should never, ever do that. I'm sorry, I didn't know. The guys asked if I wanted to stay back, as they were short staffed, and I agreed. I thought I was being helpful. So sorry. (note sarcasm)
'How long have you been here?'
'Three weeks'
'No, you can't transfer to night fill, you've been hired for checkouts'
'But I wasn't told that when I first came in. I told Sally and Therese that I wanted to work night fill, and Trev said they needed another person'
'Well, I'll have to ask Sally about that. You can't just go changing departments by yourself'
Well, sor-ry. I thought they wanted us to experience different departments and be multi-skilled so we can be called in to cover shifts if necessary. Quite frankly, checkouts suck because the meat and food stinks, is squishy, slimy and generally gross. And customers ... well, I wanted a position at The Supermarket so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. I get enough crap at The Company as it is.
Blogging about today is making me angry (and I was fine before I thought about it again) and I am tired. I'm going to sleep.
Someone warned/joked to me when I first started at The Company, that they treat us like mushrooms. Huh? I was confused. Hadn't heard that one before.
"They keep you in the dark and feed you sh*t" they replied with a knowing, cynical laugh.
I was to understand all too soon what they meant by that. I wasn't that surprised when the office was empty and I obviously didn't know. At least I got my payslip today, and they have 'overpaid' me an extra 2 hours, so that makes up for some of the trouble I went to, I suppose. And all the unpaid overtime we do.
Today was just one of those crappy days. I suppose it started this morning. Then I went to The Supermarket to talk to Cindy to ask to move to night fill, like Trev had said. I ended up picking up an extra shift and covering 11AM-6PM. That was fine. I went back home to change into my uniform, picked up a newspaper on the way and was back again in plenty of time. I was early, and it was busy down at the checkouts, so I went down earlier anyway to speak to Cindy. She was less than impressed with the fact that I had just stayed back on Friday night. Without authorisation, blah blah, you can't just do that, you won't get paid, blah blah. No, you can't just move to night fill, because you were hired for checkouts. Well, I was less than impressed with her response too. And here beginneth the ranting:
No one had told me I was hired for checkouts. My initial 5 minute interview with Therese, the previous Checkout Manager just asked me where I'd like to work, I specified night fill. Sally, the hiring manager and 2IC (2nd in charge) at our induction training, asked us where we'd like to work, I said night fill, as I'm mostly available nights as I work days at The Company. So then I turned up for training with Cindy, who had just been transferred to that store that day, and Sally had only told her that day that I'd be coming in for training. So she wasn't at all prepared for me.
I had no The Supermarket shirt, no locker, they literally threw a random shirt at me (I wanted a short sleeve, but no matter) and left me there, promptly forgetting about me. I was waiting outside their office, confused. So where do I go from here? What do I do now? Once one of the other guys noticed me waiting outside, he interrupted whatever important meeting they were having and told her I was still outside. First I was put with some of the other Checkout Chicks and 'helped' pack bags for a while. She didn't have the training books for me to work with on the POS. Then she just put me on a terminal/checkout and had me work through the theory and exercises. Sure, whatever. I can do that. So I did that for about 6 hours in total (over two shifts) and finished it all, but still had little idea of how to process sales on the POS by myself. What if an item doesn't scan? What if the customer says they are discounted? What if I need change? So after a while, they left me on my checkout, with a 'L' plate and I figured it out eventually, with much help from the Checkout Chicks on the next lane.
Back to today... So when I went downstairs 15minutes early to talk to Cindy about transferring, she didn't recognise me at first. The other staff had told her I wanted to talk to her about transferring to the night fill department when I went back for my uniform. She asked what I was after, and when I answered, it clicked. 'Oh, I remember you, Ranter. I trained you'. I was flabbergasted. What?! You TRAINED me?! You left me at the Checkout to go through the training POS and said to go look for you if I had any trouble. The computer froze on me several times, I went to go look for help, and you'd already gone home for the day. I stood there for hours going through the POS training and you didn't even come to check up on me. I was given no introduction to the store, where things were, where I could put my things, the clock on machine, where to collect pays, who to ask if I had any enquries... And you think you TRAINED me?! I was cross. As far as I'm concerned, she logged on the terminal for me to start my training, and that was it. I didn't see her for another week after my initial training shift. Thanks for nothing. And then she tells me off for working in a different department without consulting anyone, and I should never, ever do that. I'm sorry, I didn't know. The guys asked if I wanted to stay back, as they were short staffed, and I agreed. I thought I was being helpful. So sorry. (note sarcasm)
'How long have you been here?'
'Three weeks'
'No, you can't transfer to night fill, you've been hired for checkouts'
'But I wasn't told that when I first came in. I told Sally and Therese that I wanted to work night fill, and Trev said they needed another person'
'Well, I'll have to ask Sally about that. You can't just go changing departments by yourself'
Well, sor-ry. I thought they wanted us to experience different departments and be multi-skilled so we can be called in to cover shifts if necessary. Quite frankly, checkouts suck because the meat and food stinks, is squishy, slimy and generally gross. And customers ... well, I wanted a position at The Supermarket so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. I get enough crap at The Company as it is.
Blogging about today is making me angry (and I was fine before I thought about it again) and I am tired. I'm going to sleep.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Bad things come in threes...
Ooh, I was so pumped Friday night! I worked 9-midnight on Checkouts, and then the night fill guys came in to purchase their stuff just before close. I was chatting to them, as obviously I am still quite new... and Trev asked me jokingly if I'd like to work on night fill. I jumped at the chance! Literally! It was earlier that very day, as I was woken from my afternoon nap (just cos I can) by Girl, who told me to change out of my Checkout Chick position and move to night fill, as I had originally intended. And then, just like that, I was offered the position by chance! Good thing I agreed to work that crap 9-to-close shift.
It was pretty quiet from 11PM, so I filled the time scrubbing down the registers and conveyor belts. Fun. Random crusted-on juices. Had a few interesting encounters selling smokes. Asking people for ID, and selling smokes to whacked out, stoned kids younger than me! I was reluctant, and quite glad when we had sold out of the brands that they liked. Unfortunately for me, most people with that kind of addiction will just go for a stronger one. I have no idea about cigarettes, brands, papers, milligrams of nicotine? tobacco?, and what the packets look like. So, I took a while to find the smokes and papers they were after. 'On your left' 'Right in front of you' -Er, yeah, be more specific, stinky. I'm still new and haven't even worked on the service desk before ok. Stop smoking!
So Trev took me on to work night fill, as I think one of the other girls is on leave, and they always need more competent, efficient staff anyway. I was shown how to use The Supermarket safety knife, disassemble and reassemble it, change the blade, and important safety aspects like not to keep it in your pocket. Of course, yet another case of what is procedure and what is actually done. Like stacking shelves, which proved relatively simple, once I could figure out where the category numbers and products were displayed. Who knew there were so many types of cake sprinkles. I learned quickly from Ellen, what is procedure for stacking and what is done. Random stuff in the wrong spot where you need to stack your goods: move it to the next random section. Random stuff shoved way at the back of the shelf from months/years ago, leave it there or bring it forward. Rip a hole in your pack of sprinkles while shelving it? Chuck it on the floor and the cleaners will pick it up. Can't fit all of your items into the one price point area? Put it on top of the next one. People will find them if they want it.
It was quite a lot of fun. Laid back, casual, I was forewarned that there was lots of cussing. The muesli bar aisle:
'If you're not a swearer now, you will be by the time you finish that aisle' Trev laughed as I moved on to the next aisle.
'Why?' I asked innocently. Muesli bars, all in boxes, looked easy enough
'There's sh*t everywhere!' he chuckled as he walked away.
Sure enough, those evil satan spawn kids had opened boxes to take out muesli bars, shoved random junk food on the shelves, and stuff would just fall down on you as you were stacking. There was no escaping it.
I might have stayed later if not for work at The Company at Sunshine the next morning (all day), and Ellen did a great job of making me feel welcome and showing me the ropes, keeping me entertained with her hilarious customer service stories and crazy customers and crazy supervisors in Deli. No one wants to work in Deli, because it stinks. And then you end up stinking.
Well, turned out Saturday was a crappier day than I could've imagined.
I was so pumped at 3AM when I arrived home and was in bed, that I couldn't sleep. Chatted on the phone for a bit, and then decided I'd better try and sleep anyway around 4AM, seeing as I'd have to get up by 8 at the latest, to get to Sunshine by 9. Oops. Overslept my alarm and woke up at 9. Holy moly. I am never this disorganised and late for work! Managed to make it to Sunshine half an hour late, only to find Jessi, one of the new girls, sitting outside the store. Turns out she didn't have a key to open either. It was her first shift at Sunshine. I'd called the store to let the girls know I was running late, but no answer. No wonder. She called me when I was on my way, and said she was inside. Or there was a misunderstanding to that effect. She didn't know what to do and just waited for me to arrive as she assumed I'd have a key. I'd assumed one of the other girls would.
So, 9:30AM, the shopping centre starts to fill up, but we are still stuck outside. I paged Charlene for help, and even called her on her mobile. No answer, no call back, despite the urgency of the message. I didn't realise she was on leave and had gone away for a few days. I hadn't been working since Wednesday and left my key for the other staff, as I'd assumed one of the other new girls, Karen, who was working Friday night and also supposed to be working Saturday, would take a key. I didn't want to keep my key if someone else needed it. Oops, I was wrong. Turns out Karen had asked for the day off or something. Well, no one bothered to tell us. Oops.
There has been an ongoing mix up and change of rostering and shifts as staff quit, are hired and trained and not put on the roster, and when new staff are put on the roster without having finished their training. So of course, no one bothers to tell me this, so despite my feeling responsible for the smooth running of the store without a manager or experienced staff (it's just me, Skye and Alicia, new but extremely competent, experienced full-timer, and occasionally experienced staff Gina and Annie from Innaloo and Howlong), I can't find covers and know what's going on when no one tells us. And I'm not in every day. So needless to say, there have been more than a few hiccups.
Close to 10AM. Store still not open. Couldn't get hold of Charlene, so I paged Gemma, and she called back straight away. I explained the situation, we tried to get hold of Alicia, who doesn't work weekends, but when I finally managed to get her number from another store her phone went to voicemail. I called Gemma back in desperation, hoping not to inconvenience her to come in and open our store with her master key that all AMs have. She was 45 minutes away, so could probably arrive at 10:45. A few minutes later, Alicia calls back, after I've left a few strange messages on her phone, she was in the shower. What a surprise to get so many missed calls early Saturday morning. It can only be work. Thankfully Alicia could come by in 15 minutes, and I quickly called Gemma back and let her know she didn't have to come over anymore. So we managed to open up by 10:30. I felt so bad for Alicia, having to come in, but at least Gemma authorised her to be paid for driving in to open for us. And I bought her a box of consolation/apology chocolates as well. I was so embarrassed. Not only was I late, but I should've had the key to open. Charlene also called back as well, I was embarrassed to bother her about it on her day off and try to make sense of the situation as well. The music from the other stores was pumping (deafening) and it was hard to communicate. Yikes.
You'd think the day could only get better after such a disastrous start. Wrong! About 2:10, Gemma called me back at Sunshine and asked if I could go to Iron Knob, a new clearance store that'd opened 4 days ago. Apparently there were only 2 new girls on and they were in the weeds. And one of their computers had crashed and the other was going at snail's pace. So I agreed to go, and left a reluctant and hesitant Jessi on her own for 3 hours. It was her first shift at Sunshine, and I didn't want to leave her on her own either. And I didn't think she'd be able to cash up alone. It hadn't been that busy at Sunshine either, but I suppose I'm used to being on my own when the place is swarming with customers. I forget how more than 3 separate customers in store can be confronting and stressful to new staff.
Followed Gemma's instructions to Iron Knob, out in the sticks, got slightly lost and had no idea where I was headed, but had faith in Gemma's instructions and kept going. I arrived at about 10 to 3 and both the girls went on their lunch breaks then, and I sorted out the manual sales from the broken computer, and continued to process sales at the counter. Thank goodness the clearance stores are self serve.
Turned out that the day wasn't going to get any easier. The slow computer certainly didn't help. There were certainly less customers, but cash up proved a major problem. The other computer had crashed, and some sales had been processed on it during the day, so in order to balance the second computer and the cash and EFT takings, I added them all onto the 2nd (slow, but working) computer. In theory they should all balance. But the EFTPOS machine hadn't settled from the night before and were adding the previous day's totals to Saturday's takings. So our EFT amount was a massive amount more than the actual sales, which was obviously wrong... Hmmm so we stayed til 6:15 trying to figure it out, with the help of Gemma on the phone. In the end, we concluded that it couldn't be balanced that night, but the girls, and Caroline, manually added up the EFT takings today and found the problem, and it was all sorted.
Meanwhile, Jessi at Sunshine was still on her own, I didn't manage to get back to cash up with her, but was able to talk her through it over the phone. I think she was so nervous she couldn't think straight. She couldn't peel the plastic backing off to seal the banking bag, get the money to balance, fill out the daily summary paperwork, or find the key to close the store. In the end, I just told her to leave it, and I'd fix it up tomorrow. Sigh. What a day. I had plans to meet my friends at 7 and it took me about 45 minutes from Iron Knob to get to my friends' place. I didn't even get to go home and change or have dinner. What a day!
Hey, at least I haven't been cranky with the customers lately! And I think with all the running around and stress I may have redeemed myself for being late. Let's hope!
It was pretty quiet from 11PM, so I filled the time scrubbing down the registers and conveyor belts. Fun. Random crusted-on juices. Had a few interesting encounters selling smokes. Asking people for ID, and selling smokes to whacked out, stoned kids younger than me! I was reluctant, and quite glad when we had sold out of the brands that they liked. Unfortunately for me, most people with that kind of addiction will just go for a stronger one. I have no idea about cigarettes, brands, papers, milligrams of nicotine? tobacco?, and what the packets look like. So, I took a while to find the smokes and papers they were after. 'On your left' 'Right in front of you' -Er, yeah, be more specific, stinky. I'm still new and haven't even worked on the service desk before ok. Stop smoking!
So Trev took me on to work night fill, as I think one of the other girls is on leave, and they always need more competent, efficient staff anyway. I was shown how to use The Supermarket safety knife, disassemble and reassemble it, change the blade, and important safety aspects like not to keep it in your pocket. Of course, yet another case of what is procedure and what is actually done. Like stacking shelves, which proved relatively simple, once I could figure out where the category numbers and products were displayed. Who knew there were so many types of cake sprinkles. I learned quickly from Ellen, what is procedure for stacking and what is done. Random stuff in the wrong spot where you need to stack your goods: move it to the next random section. Random stuff shoved way at the back of the shelf from months/years ago, leave it there or bring it forward. Rip a hole in your pack of sprinkles while shelving it? Chuck it on the floor and the cleaners will pick it up. Can't fit all of your items into the one price point area? Put it on top of the next one. People will find them if they want it.
It was quite a lot of fun. Laid back, casual, I was forewarned that there was lots of cussing. The muesli bar aisle:
'If you're not a swearer now, you will be by the time you finish that aisle' Trev laughed as I moved on to the next aisle.
'Why?' I asked innocently. Muesli bars, all in boxes, looked easy enough
'There's sh*t everywhere!' he chuckled as he walked away.
Sure enough, those evil satan spawn kids had opened boxes to take out muesli bars, shoved random junk food on the shelves, and stuff would just fall down on you as you were stacking. There was no escaping it.
I might have stayed later if not for work at The Company at Sunshine the next morning (all day), and Ellen did a great job of making me feel welcome and showing me the ropes, keeping me entertained with her hilarious customer service stories and crazy customers and crazy supervisors in Deli. No one wants to work in Deli, because it stinks. And then you end up stinking.
Well, turned out Saturday was a crappier day than I could've imagined.
I was so pumped at 3AM when I arrived home and was in bed, that I couldn't sleep. Chatted on the phone for a bit, and then decided I'd better try and sleep anyway around 4AM, seeing as I'd have to get up by 8 at the latest, to get to Sunshine by 9. Oops. Overslept my alarm and woke up at 9. Holy moly. I am never this disorganised and late for work! Managed to make it to Sunshine half an hour late, only to find Jessi, one of the new girls, sitting outside the store. Turns out she didn't have a key to open either. It was her first shift at Sunshine. I'd called the store to let the girls know I was running late, but no answer. No wonder. She called me when I was on my way, and said she was inside. Or there was a misunderstanding to that effect. She didn't know what to do and just waited for me to arrive as she assumed I'd have a key. I'd assumed one of the other girls would.
So, 9:30AM, the shopping centre starts to fill up, but we are still stuck outside. I paged Charlene for help, and even called her on her mobile. No answer, no call back, despite the urgency of the message. I didn't realise she was on leave and had gone away for a few days. I hadn't been working since Wednesday and left my key for the other staff, as I'd assumed one of the other new girls, Karen, who was working Friday night and also supposed to be working Saturday, would take a key. I didn't want to keep my key if someone else needed it. Oops, I was wrong. Turns out Karen had asked for the day off or something. Well, no one bothered to tell us. Oops.
There has been an ongoing mix up and change of rostering and shifts as staff quit, are hired and trained and not put on the roster, and when new staff are put on the roster without having finished their training. So of course, no one bothers to tell me this, so despite my feeling responsible for the smooth running of the store without a manager or experienced staff (it's just me, Skye and Alicia, new but extremely competent, experienced full-timer, and occasionally experienced staff Gina and Annie from Innaloo and Howlong), I can't find covers and know what's going on when no one tells us. And I'm not in every day. So needless to say, there have been more than a few hiccups.
Close to 10AM. Store still not open. Couldn't get hold of Charlene, so I paged Gemma, and she called back straight away. I explained the situation, we tried to get hold of Alicia, who doesn't work weekends, but when I finally managed to get her number from another store her phone went to voicemail. I called Gemma back in desperation, hoping not to inconvenience her to come in and open our store with her master key that all AMs have. She was 45 minutes away, so could probably arrive at 10:45. A few minutes later, Alicia calls back, after I've left a few strange messages on her phone, she was in the shower. What a surprise to get so many missed calls early Saturday morning. It can only be work. Thankfully Alicia could come by in 15 minutes, and I quickly called Gemma back and let her know she didn't have to come over anymore. So we managed to open up by 10:30. I felt so bad for Alicia, having to come in, but at least Gemma authorised her to be paid for driving in to open for us. And I bought her a box of consolation/apology chocolates as well. I was so embarrassed. Not only was I late, but I should've had the key to open. Charlene also called back as well, I was embarrassed to bother her about it on her day off and try to make sense of the situation as well. The music from the other stores was pumping (deafening) and it was hard to communicate. Yikes.
You'd think the day could only get better after such a disastrous start. Wrong! About 2:10, Gemma called me back at Sunshine and asked if I could go to Iron Knob, a new clearance store that'd opened 4 days ago. Apparently there were only 2 new girls on and they were in the weeds. And one of their computers had crashed and the other was going at snail's pace. So I agreed to go, and left a reluctant and hesitant Jessi on her own for 3 hours. It was her first shift at Sunshine, and I didn't want to leave her on her own either. And I didn't think she'd be able to cash up alone. It hadn't been that busy at Sunshine either, but I suppose I'm used to being on my own when the place is swarming with customers. I forget how more than 3 separate customers in store can be confronting and stressful to new staff.
Followed Gemma's instructions to Iron Knob, out in the sticks, got slightly lost and had no idea where I was headed, but had faith in Gemma's instructions and kept going. I arrived at about 10 to 3 and both the girls went on their lunch breaks then, and I sorted out the manual sales from the broken computer, and continued to process sales at the counter. Thank goodness the clearance stores are self serve.
Turned out that the day wasn't going to get any easier. The slow computer certainly didn't help. There were certainly less customers, but cash up proved a major problem. The other computer had crashed, and some sales had been processed on it during the day, so in order to balance the second computer and the cash and EFT takings, I added them all onto the 2nd (slow, but working) computer. In theory they should all balance. But the EFTPOS machine hadn't settled from the night before and were adding the previous day's totals to Saturday's takings. So our EFT amount was a massive amount more than the actual sales, which was obviously wrong... Hmmm so we stayed til 6:15 trying to figure it out, with the help of Gemma on the phone. In the end, we concluded that it couldn't be balanced that night, but the girls, and Caroline, manually added up the EFT takings today and found the problem, and it was all sorted.
Meanwhile, Jessi at Sunshine was still on her own, I didn't manage to get back to cash up with her, but was able to talk her through it over the phone. I think she was so nervous she couldn't think straight. She couldn't peel the plastic backing off to seal the banking bag, get the money to balance, fill out the daily summary paperwork, or find the key to close the store. In the end, I just told her to leave it, and I'd fix it up tomorrow. Sigh. What a day. I had plans to meet my friends at 7 and it took me about 45 minutes from Iron Knob to get to my friends' place. I didn't even get to go home and change or have dinner. What a day!
Hey, at least I haven't been cranky with the customers lately! And I think with all the running around and stress I may have redeemed myself for being late. Let's hope!
Friday, November 03, 2006
Head in the Skye
Charlene has decided to give Skye another chance and has asked me to help with her training and so she now has two weeks to prove herself. So Skye has been put on full time hours in an attempt to expose her to as much experience and opportunity as possible. Problem is, I've still got one more exam and am not yet available full time. So I've only got Wednesdays and Sundays available to train her. It has proven to be a challenge, as her attention span is frustratingly short.
Understandably, there is a lot of information to take in, but she seems unwilling and lacks the sense of responsibility and initiative required to be able to survive running a store alone. She even told us unabashedly that she only got the job because her mother put in her resume for her online and applied for the job. She had no knowledge about The Company and didn't even want the job. It was out of sheer luck that she made it through the group interview and beat out the other more eager and needy of the job. She admits that she just wants a casual job. I assume by that she means no responsibility. She seems quite happy to stand around doing nothing. I think that is what her promotions job entails. Standing around looking pretty talking to people. Unfortunately, that is not what The Company expects of its staff.
So despite my best efforts to go through her training checklist, she doesn't put in the corresponding effort. She has her induction test, testing her knowledge of all that she has covered in her 20hours training at Howlong with Darren, and ongoing in store training with us at Sunshine. Yet she is still very unsure of how to complete a cash up and other relatively straightforward tasks.
In my opinion, her results in the induction training will determine whether or not she will be kept on. She exclaims that she doesn't think she will be kept on (she had been 'forgotten' on the roster for two weeks, as unbeknownst to her, it was expected that she would not be kept on) and has even less faith in herself to pass the test. Either way, I don't think she cares if she makes it or not. She left it four weeks to follow up not being paid at all. And that's the kind of slack attitude that I can't stand dealing with.
Understandably, there is a lot of information to take in, but she seems unwilling and lacks the sense of responsibility and initiative required to be able to survive running a store alone. She even told us unabashedly that she only got the job because her mother put in her resume for her online and applied for the job. She had no knowledge about The Company and didn't even want the job. It was out of sheer luck that she made it through the group interview and beat out the other more eager and needy of the job. She admits that she just wants a casual job. I assume by that she means no responsibility. She seems quite happy to stand around doing nothing. I think that is what her promotions job entails. Standing around looking pretty talking to people. Unfortunately, that is not what The Company expects of its staff.
So despite my best efforts to go through her training checklist, she doesn't put in the corresponding effort. She has her induction test, testing her knowledge of all that she has covered in her 20hours training at Howlong with Darren, and ongoing in store training with us at Sunshine. Yet she is still very unsure of how to complete a cash up and other relatively straightforward tasks.
In my opinion, her results in the induction training will determine whether or not she will be kept on. She exclaims that she doesn't think she will be kept on (she had been 'forgotten' on the roster for two weeks, as unbeknownst to her, it was expected that she would not be kept on) and has even less faith in herself to pass the test. Either way, I don't think she cares if she makes it or not. She left it four weeks to follow up not being paid at all. And that's the kind of slack attitude that I can't stand dealing with.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Money to burn
Having not grown up wealthy and being taught to be frugal, it often shocks me how people can spend so much money in one go. Sometimes I'd be surprised when my customers would spend $2-300 in one transaction on a few pairs of shoes, or on a few shirts. 'Wow, that's my whole week's wages.' (I judge many purchases and potential purchases by how long it'd take for me to work for). But what has been more shocking for me is what I have observed in my job as a Checkout Chick.
I recently scored myself a job at a major supermarket chain, The Supermarket, but unbeknownst to me, they put me in the customer service section (checkouts) instead of the higher-paid night fill department. Working on the checkouts is pretty monotonous. I originally thought handling all the smelly, squishy meat and other food and endless plastic bags would drive me insane. But then, like I say, you block things out and do what you have to do to come out the other end with sanity intact. The plastic bags sadden me, but I try not to think about it. What is less easy to think about is the amount people will spend on groceries and what it is that they are buying.
Customers who shop at The Supermarket usually have a significant amount of money to spend, according to some survey results I learned of in my training. I've processed several sales totalling close to or over $200. Their items poured out of the trolley and filled up both my front and rear conveyor belts. Hey, I'm new and therefore slow, but the amount of 'food' these people bought was shocking. But the packing and scanning itself wasn't difficult. There were almost no fresh produce items to manually enter and weigh. The whole sale consisted of assorted chips, biscuits, soft drinks, lollies and chocolates. Everything part of the sixth food group, artery clogging. I thought, maybe they're having a party, what with all the soft drink and chips and snacks. But then I shut my mouth and didn't say anything, because this is what some people live off. Colourful packaged goods. All in plastic bags, thanks.
We're pretty self sufficient and grow many of our own vegetables organically, and sometimes bake our own bread. The most common things we buy are milk, Weet-Bix and Milo. And then we buy in bulk when it's on sale! So to see people spending hundreds of dollars on 'groceries' with one lone piece of broccoli was quite confronting. Especially when they, and their children, were already overweight and bordering on obesity. But we can't discriminate against our customers either, and refuse to help them. It'd kill me to sell people cigarettes, so I don't think I'd like to work at the service counter. I have a hard enough time selling overweight people more junk food. In plastic bags.
I recently scored myself a job at a major supermarket chain, The Supermarket, but unbeknownst to me, they put me in the customer service section (checkouts) instead of the higher-paid night fill department. Working on the checkouts is pretty monotonous. I originally thought handling all the smelly, squishy meat and other food and endless plastic bags would drive me insane. But then, like I say, you block things out and do what you have to do to come out the other end with sanity intact. The plastic bags sadden me, but I try not to think about it. What is less easy to think about is the amount people will spend on groceries and what it is that they are buying.
Customers who shop at The Supermarket usually have a significant amount of money to spend, according to some survey results I learned of in my training. I've processed several sales totalling close to or over $200. Their items poured out of the trolley and filled up both my front and rear conveyor belts. Hey, I'm new and therefore slow, but the amount of 'food' these people bought was shocking. But the packing and scanning itself wasn't difficult. There were almost no fresh produce items to manually enter and weigh. The whole sale consisted of assorted chips, biscuits, soft drinks, lollies and chocolates. Everything part of the sixth food group, artery clogging. I thought, maybe they're having a party, what with all the soft drink and chips and snacks. But then I shut my mouth and didn't say anything, because this is what some people live off. Colourful packaged goods. All in plastic bags, thanks.
We're pretty self sufficient and grow many of our own vegetables organically, and sometimes bake our own bread. The most common things we buy are milk, Weet-Bix and Milo. And then we buy in bulk when it's on sale! So to see people spending hundreds of dollars on 'groceries' with one lone piece of broccoli was quite confronting. Especially when they, and their children, were already overweight and bordering on obesity. But we can't discriminate against our customers either, and refuse to help them. It'd kill me to sell people cigarettes, so I don't think I'd like to work at the service counter. I have a hard enough time selling overweight people more junk food. In plastic bags.
Friday, October 27, 2006
How original!
Having finished my work for the day at HO, I offered to do odd jobs for Grant. That day, it was going through applications for Area Manager positions, as The Company prepares for its rapid expansion and growth of clearance stores. Basically, I was just stapling together applicants' cover sheets and resumes. Mindless, but hey, I don't mind for $17 an hour. No problem.
What I did notice was that many of the resumes were VERY generic. I lost count of how many resumes were created using Microsoft Word templates. Not that it's a problem, as the content and the candidate's relevant experience would be what counts, but it can be difficult to remember one particularly outstanding candidate from another when their resume looked just the same as the other hundred in my pile. I'm a visual person- I will remember info for tests by where and how they are located on my page, there were a mere handful of resumes that stood out visually.
So my 2 cents to people applying for upper management (hey, we're talking AREA MANAGER here, salary $90K plus) positions, go all out with your resumes! Do them in colour with interesting lines and headers and all that. We're scrooges, but DO print in colour! Keep it professional, and for crying out loud, if you've got 7 pages of experience and details, put page numbers on each page. Standing out from the crowd is the first step to getting noticed.
What I did notice was that many of the resumes were VERY generic. I lost count of how many resumes were created using Microsoft Word templates. Not that it's a problem, as the content and the candidate's relevant experience would be what counts, but it can be difficult to remember one particularly outstanding candidate from another when their resume looked just the same as the other hundred in my pile. I'm a visual person- I will remember info for tests by where and how they are located on my page, there were a mere handful of resumes that stood out visually.
So my 2 cents to people applying for upper management (hey, we're talking AREA MANAGER here, salary $90K plus) positions, go all out with your resumes! Do them in colour with interesting lines and headers and all that. We're scrooges, but DO print in colour! Keep it professional, and for crying out loud, if you've got 7 pages of experience and details, put page numbers on each page. Standing out from the crowd is the first step to getting noticed.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Sink or Swim
I have to give feedback to Charlene on how Skye, one of the new staff are doing. Admittedly, I've only worked with her, what 3 times now, but she isn't the brightest of new staff. I don't think she's finished her training with Darren (reluctant, unqualified training manager, as there ARE no more managers) at Howlong. She seems completely baffled by how to do the simplest things, and seems easily confused. Not just that, she isn't the most eager learner. Jen detests her, and thinks she's just a big boobed bimbo. Apparently she dropped out of high school and also does nails and events promotions. But hey, that doesn't mean she's not extremely intelligent. She's just not as fast to catch on or as active as I'd like. But I have high expectations.
So I'll be at HO tomorrow, and will have to call Charlene to let her know how Skye's going. I'm a bit concerned about the weight and effect my feedback and comments and observations will have on whether or not she stays. But then again, as the new manager or acting manager at Sunshine (woo hoo for me) I'm not sure if I'd have the patience to train her... Ongoing training of the new managers that are already clued up are fine.
I've been a bit slack with the posts lately. Some family from overseas are over, so I didn't cover a shift at Innaloo today, and I'm still busy with assignments. I'll get back to posting regularly as soon as I finish all of them, and my last exam!
So I'll be at HO tomorrow, and will have to call Charlene to let her know how Skye's going. I'm a bit concerned about the weight and effect my feedback and comments and observations will have on whether or not she stays. But then again, as the new manager or acting manager at Sunshine (woo hoo for me) I'm not sure if I'd have the patience to train her... Ongoing training of the new managers that are already clued up are fine.
I've been a bit slack with the posts lately. Some family from overseas are over, so I didn't cover a shift at Innaloo today, and I'm still busy with assignments. I'll get back to posting regularly as soon as I finish all of them, and my last exam!
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Making the cut
There has been a huge influx of new staff, training and working full time and casual in our region. Sunshine, Innaloo, Howlong and Nevertire have all now got several new staff working in store in preparation for new clearance stores opening nearby in the next few weeks and months. This means that several of the regular staff have been moved around to other stores to accommodate for the training of the new staff. They have been less than appreciative, as many staff, like Jen and I prefer to work at Sunshine. I'm still there regularly now, but Jen's gone to Howlong.
There has been a huge increase in wage costings as The Company prepares to hire and train new staff to run and work in the new stores. It should be interesting to see, as the majority of staff in the new stores will be brand new staff and unfamiliar with The Company and its operations. I've met a few of the newbies, and some are really great, and I am beginning to be able tell whether or not they will make it. Andie had that skill honed to perfection. She could tell while training them and within the first few weeks whether or not they'd make the cut and last the distance. I wonder what she thought of me when I was new and training.
Caroline will be moving from Innaloo to work in one of the new clearance stores with a whole bunch of new staff. I am still at Sunshine for the time being, I hope I don't get moved over there to fill the gaps (they still don't have a manager). I offered to work full time at Sunshine over the holidays in place of a manager, and assist new staff in ongoing training and manager training as well, so hopefully Charlene will take me up on the offer. I've been helping out with a couple of new staff, ensuring they know how to carry out laybys, product returns, etc properly, but honestly, one of the girls in particular... driving me insane in the 5 hours I worked with her on Sunday. You'd think she hadn't been trained at all! She had to ask for help with the simplest things. Even Jen can tell that she won't make it...
There has been a huge increase in wage costings as The Company prepares to hire and train new staff to run and work in the new stores. It should be interesting to see, as the majority of staff in the new stores will be brand new staff and unfamiliar with The Company and its operations. I've met a few of the newbies, and some are really great, and I am beginning to be able tell whether or not they will make it. Andie had that skill honed to perfection. She could tell while training them and within the first few weeks whether or not they'd make the cut and last the distance. I wonder what she thought of me when I was new and training.
Caroline will be moving from Innaloo to work in one of the new clearance stores with a whole bunch of new staff. I am still at Sunshine for the time being, I hope I don't get moved over there to fill the gaps (they still don't have a manager). I offered to work full time at Sunshine over the holidays in place of a manager, and assist new staff in ongoing training and manager training as well, so hopefully Charlene will take me up on the offer. I've been helping out with a couple of new staff, ensuring they know how to carry out laybys, product returns, etc properly, but honestly, one of the girls in particular... driving me insane in the 5 hours I worked with her on Sunday. You'd think she hadn't been trained at all! She had to ask for help with the simplest things. Even Jen can tell that she won't make it...
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I wanna be a Supermodel
Talk about getting paid to stand around looking pretty.
Outside our store at Sunshine are 3 newly opened clothing stores, making our corner of the shopping centre much busier and very 'fashion-oriented'. One of the large stores next door is a trendy teens/young women's store with affordably priced clothing and accessories.
As a new marketing/advertising scheme, they have staff (or models), standing outside in the entertainment area on a platform as 'human models'. They strike various poses in the store's new season outfits, and carry shopping bags with "get this look at Valley Girl". The circular platform they pose on is probably a metre in diameter, and 3 models (sometimes, guys, interestingly from a store called Valley GIRL) strike various poses for the majority of the day's trade. Of course, they alternate the models every now and then.
In all, an interesting concept, and it has certainly garnered a lot of attention for the store, though whether it has increased their sales is unknown. The first day they were there, many people would just stand and stare at them. I'd walked past them thinking they were just mannequins, and what a strange pose for a mannequin. And then I stopped and looked, and saw that they were people. Oh. Whatever, and walked on. I was taking out rubbish and had things to do. They weren't partitioned off yet, as they probably didn't envision any trouble.
On later days, they were roped off so spectators couldn't get too close, I think perhaps people were trying to talk to them... but terrible teenage girls being terrible teenage girls were apparently being nasty and even throwing food and things at them! I was appalled. What a completely disgusting, subhuman thing to do. Why would you go and torture someone like that? For kicks? Do they not recognise that these models are also people? That they are just doing their job, not hurting anyone or anything like that? It was beyond comprehension.
Well, more disturbingly, I saw one man crouched down, taking a photo of them with his digital camera. That stopped my train of thought. What the?! I slowed down and turns out he wasn't just taking a photo of the teenage models, but his daughter for some unfathomable reason thought it'd be cool to be a model too, and she'd hopped up onto the platform, posed, pre-pubescant hips jutted out, handbag in place with the trademark vacant look. Daddy's little girl. She couldn't have been more than 10, yet her outfit was a tween hip-and-trendy number, little camisole, lowrider bootcut jeans, bare midriff and a cute little handbag. I honestly wonder what could possibly be in these little girls' handbags. Probably their lipgloss or something.
Young girls, dolled up like Barbie for a day of shopping, dressing like wanna be promiscuous adults, posing on a platform for their picture to be taken... something about that just gave me the shivers. I suppose what can be observed of the people in shopping centres bespeaks the advancement of our civilisation. What a scary thought.
Outside our store at Sunshine are 3 newly opened clothing stores, making our corner of the shopping centre much busier and very 'fashion-oriented'. One of the large stores next door is a trendy teens/young women's store with affordably priced clothing and accessories.
As a new marketing/advertising scheme, they have staff (or models), standing outside in the entertainment area on a platform as 'human models'. They strike various poses in the store's new season outfits, and carry shopping bags with "get this look at Valley Girl". The circular platform they pose on is probably a metre in diameter, and 3 models (sometimes, guys, interestingly from a store called Valley GIRL) strike various poses for the majority of the day's trade. Of course, they alternate the models every now and then.
In all, an interesting concept, and it has certainly garnered a lot of attention for the store, though whether it has increased their sales is unknown. The first day they were there, many people would just stand and stare at them. I'd walked past them thinking they were just mannequins, and what a strange pose for a mannequin. And then I stopped and looked, and saw that they were people. Oh. Whatever, and walked on. I was taking out rubbish and had things to do. They weren't partitioned off yet, as they probably didn't envision any trouble.
On later days, they were roped off so spectators couldn't get too close, I think perhaps people were trying to talk to them... but terrible teenage girls being terrible teenage girls were apparently being nasty and even throwing food and things at them! I was appalled. What a completely disgusting, subhuman thing to do. Why would you go and torture someone like that? For kicks? Do they not recognise that these models are also people? That they are just doing their job, not hurting anyone or anything like that? It was beyond comprehension.
Well, more disturbingly, I saw one man crouched down, taking a photo of them with his digital camera. That stopped my train of thought. What the?! I slowed down and turns out he wasn't just taking a photo of the teenage models, but his daughter for some unfathomable reason thought it'd be cool to be a model too, and she'd hopped up onto the platform, posed, pre-pubescant hips jutted out, handbag in place with the trademark vacant look. Daddy's little girl. She couldn't have been more than 10, yet her outfit was a tween hip-and-trendy number, little camisole, lowrider bootcut jeans, bare midriff and a cute little handbag. I honestly wonder what could possibly be in these little girls' handbags. Probably their lipgloss or something.
Young girls, dolled up like Barbie for a day of shopping, dressing like wanna be promiscuous adults, posing on a platform for their picture to be taken... something about that just gave me the shivers. I suppose what can be observed of the people in shopping centres bespeaks the advancement of our civilisation. What a scary thought.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Success!
After some persistence, my wishes have been granted! I've noticed that we are now rostered on 15 minutes before open, and today, I was rostered and will be paid til 9:15PM! That's a full 15 minutes to cash up! It's about time too. I wonder if I'd be pushing it to be paid overtime rates for the 15minutes after 9PM. Either way, I'm satisfied. This is just one small step in improving our workplace conditions and hopefully, retaining staff. They haven't published or replied to my vociferous staff feedback email, but the proof is in the paycheck!
Things are still a bit of a mess at The Company, there's a wild mess to cover shifts and it's not uncommon for staff to have to work all day without a cover. One of the poor new girls, Karen, was forced to work all day 9-9 yesterday at Innaloo. She had to close twice for her lunch and dinner break. It's not exactly reassuring for a new staff member, especially as she also had to cash up by herself for the first time. It's frustrating to constantly work with new staff, where the person that picks up at whichever store you call is new and has no idea what's going on, when new staff keep ringing for checks and transfers of new catalogue stock... I don't mind helping people out, it's just frustrating that all the staff are new, and then end up quitting in a few weeks, or months anyway. And so the cycle continues.
Today was one case in point. Apparently I was rostered to work 1-9 at Innaloo, so come 1:30, as I'm preparing to leave, Karen calls and asks where I am, as she has to leave at 2. Bummer. I was already meant to work 2-9 at Sunshine covering Marg, who'd quit the week before. And of course, there is no one else to work, especially given the late notice. We can't just close the store for the rest of the day. And there was no way Karen was going to work another 12 hour day and fat chance the girl at Sunshine would do the same ... oh, what to do. I called Charlene, and fortunately, she was able to get hold of one of the other girls to come in to Innaloo from 4-9. So that just left me working 2-4 at Innaloo, and then travel to Sunshine to finish the day from 4-9:15. What a day. And I'll be back all day tomorrow without a cover, and all day Sunday as well. Sigh, I'm too old for this... But hey, at least we get paid to cash up now! A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Things are still a bit of a mess at The Company, there's a wild mess to cover shifts and it's not uncommon for staff to have to work all day without a cover. One of the poor new girls, Karen, was forced to work all day 9-9 yesterday at Innaloo. She had to close twice for her lunch and dinner break. It's not exactly reassuring for a new staff member, especially as she also had to cash up by herself for the first time. It's frustrating to constantly work with new staff, where the person that picks up at whichever store you call is new and has no idea what's going on, when new staff keep ringing for checks and transfers of new catalogue stock... I don't mind helping people out, it's just frustrating that all the staff are new, and then end up quitting in a few weeks, or months anyway. And so the cycle continues.
Today was one case in point. Apparently I was rostered to work 1-9 at Innaloo, so come 1:30, as I'm preparing to leave, Karen calls and asks where I am, as she has to leave at 2. Bummer. I was already meant to work 2-9 at Sunshine covering Marg, who'd quit the week before. And of course, there is no one else to work, especially given the late notice. We can't just close the store for the rest of the day. And there was no way Karen was going to work another 12 hour day and fat chance the girl at Sunshine would do the same ... oh, what to do. I called Charlene, and fortunately, she was able to get hold of one of the other girls to come in to Innaloo from 4-9. So that just left me working 2-4 at Innaloo, and then travel to Sunshine to finish the day from 4-9:15. What a day. And I'll be back all day tomorrow without a cover, and all day Sunday as well. Sigh, I'm too old for this... But hey, at least we get paid to cash up now! A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Window Washers
How much do you pay a window washer? You know, the kids hanging out on the side of the road at major intersections with squeegees and soap water.
Do you pay more if your windscreen was particularly dirty and bird poo/insect splattered?
Do you pay less if it was unsolicited?
Is it appropriate to turn on your wipers as you see them approach?
I was unwillingly approached by one kid that was apparently so poor that he couldn't even afford a Tshirt, and I saw them hovering on the median strip as I approached the red light. I locked my doors, don't know why, and without even making eye contact or anything the guy just started scrubbing my windscreen! I was angrily muttering 'NOOO! Grrrr' but started to fumble for some change.
I felt bad for being so petty when he did a reasonable job and even scrubbed at some encrusted insect splatter. I'd run out of water in my wiper tank and I'm not exactly fastidious in the maintenance of my car. And after all, they're just trying to make some money by doing some honest, hard work as well, right? And I work and have money, and can appreciate other people's efforts. Just I pay taxes on my wages.
In any case, I gave him 50c and thanked him, and he thanked me too. He returned to the other side of the road. Mine was the only windscreen he cleaned at that red light. It got me thinking, about my own prejudices, passing judgement on people I don't even know, and how much money a window washer could make in an hour if each car paid 50c...
Do you pay more if your windscreen was particularly dirty and bird poo/insect splattered?
Do you pay less if it was unsolicited?
Is it appropriate to turn on your wipers as you see them approach?
I was unwillingly approached by one kid that was apparently so poor that he couldn't even afford a Tshirt, and I saw them hovering on the median strip as I approached the red light. I locked my doors, don't know why, and without even making eye contact or anything the guy just started scrubbing my windscreen! I was angrily muttering 'NOOO! Grrrr' but started to fumble for some change.
I felt bad for being so petty when he did a reasonable job and even scrubbed at some encrusted insect splatter. I'd run out of water in my wiper tank and I'm not exactly fastidious in the maintenance of my car. And after all, they're just trying to make some money by doing some honest, hard work as well, right? And I work and have money, and can appreciate other people's efforts. Just I pay taxes on my wages.
In any case, I gave him 50c and thanked him, and he thanked me too. He returned to the other side of the road. Mine was the only windscreen he cleaned at that red light. It got me thinking, about my own prejudices, passing judgement on people I don't even know, and how much money a window washer could make in an hour if each car paid 50c...
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Update
A quick rundown of the latest goings on and victims of the past week at The Company:
Charlene’s region consists of:
- Nevertire: Robyn, quit, finishes Wed
- Innaloo: Janet, quit, finishes Sat (or Wed, if she can’t cover her shifts)
- Sunshine: new manager Marg, lasted all of one week. Charlene trying to cover her shifts.
- Mooball: without a manager since early this year, though they have a new ‘full timer’, Becky
- Dunedoo, a clearance store, without a manager for some months since Naomi quit.
and
- Howlong: Darren, manager there for the past 1 1/2 years and has been with The Company for almost 2 years. Gypped out of his managers bonus for some 12 months, as he was not informed he was entitled to any sort of bonus at all, found out about it by accident.
With no administrator to do rosters and timesheets. Impressive, huh.
There is an “aggressive hiring campaign” taking place as The Company tries to recruit more staff for its “rapidly expanding” business (opening of clearance stores and closing of several retail stores) and rapidly quitting staff. But who will train them if everyone keeps quitting and there is no one that has been around long enough? In our region, there in Caroline who has been around for 7 years, me for over 2 and Darren and Ellen for almost 2 years. The rest have only been around for a matter of months or weeks. Only Caroline has been trained to train new staff, and she is reluctant to do so now that she is a casual and I suppose, doesn’t want the responsibility or stress.
Well, off to work for another all day catalogue weekend. Should be a busy one, the first weekend of the new catalogue. I hope it isn't because I'm covering for Marg all day without a cover (I'm assuming) or key to open. So I have to get in a bit earlier. Perhaps I shouldn't have stayed out so late last night. I'm knackered.
- New spring/summer catalogue came out Thursday, thank goodness for no cheap freebie offers. Not all items are reduced, and some items are featured at full price. Others are a new, lower price. This means less freebie-grubbing bargain shoppers. Though we have 2 whole ranges of cheap women’s tees, all to be placed strategically in the front of the store. We ignore customers in that section.
- Robyn, started in May this year, new manager at Nevertire has quit and finishes next Wednesday. She’d had enough, when given a particularly rude and abrasive store report and confrontation with Angela, having not received proper Store Manager training.
- Janet, manager of Innaloo shortly after starting at The Company around April-May of this year, has also quit, her last day being next Wednesday. She has moved house and found employment closer to home. Not in retail.
- Marg, new manager at Sunshine, worked her first shift there last Thursday, and has quit already. I met and worked with her briefly that day, having not worked there myself for some time, but she seemed like a nice enough, competent person. Well, that leaves the rest of her shifts for this week to fill, which I have ever so kindly offered to help out with.
- James, one of the casuals at Poowong, trained with Stephanie at Nevertire just before last Christmas, has quit and also finishes next week. Poowong is also currently without a manager (that I know of, as Lia recently quit after more than a year of The Company)
Charlene’s region consists of:
- Nevertire: Robyn, quit, finishes Wed
- Innaloo: Janet, quit, finishes Sat (or Wed, if she can’t cover her shifts)
- Sunshine: new manager Marg, lasted all of one week. Charlene trying to cover her shifts.
- Mooball: without a manager since early this year, though they have a new ‘full timer’, Becky
- Dunedoo, a clearance store, without a manager for some months since Naomi quit.
and
- Howlong: Darren, manager there for the past 1 1/2 years and has been with The Company for almost 2 years. Gypped out of his managers bonus for some 12 months, as he was not informed he was entitled to any sort of bonus at all, found out about it by accident.
With no administrator to do rosters and timesheets. Impressive, huh.
There is an “aggressive hiring campaign” taking place as The Company tries to recruit more staff for its “rapidly expanding” business (opening of clearance stores and closing of several retail stores) and rapidly quitting staff. But who will train them if everyone keeps quitting and there is no one that has been around long enough? In our region, there in Caroline who has been around for 7 years, me for over 2 and Darren and Ellen for almost 2 years. The rest have only been around for a matter of months or weeks. Only Caroline has been trained to train new staff, and she is reluctant to do so now that she is a casual and I suppose, doesn’t want the responsibility or stress.
- Still no sign of a reply to my feedback about not being paid to cash up, which I sent mid September, and, not receiving a reply, resubmitted some 13 days later. Reasonable amount of time to wait, I thought. Saw Grant in HO again and he let me know that he appreciated concise, succinct feedback, of which mine was not, in his opinion. I am still awaiting a response, and national publication.
- I received a Managers’ Bonus, split equally with Gina and Jen, for holding down the fort at Sunshine while there has been no manager. There is a new bonus and commission system in place, mostly favouring managers, and since there seems to be a serious shortage of those, Charlene (I presume) has decided to award the bonuses to the responsible casual staff filling in the shifts there. The amount of bonus paid out is determined by the store’s performance in presentation, budget, administration, price errors, etc. Sunshine did pretty badly, but I hadn’t been working there much at all so take no responsibility for it. But I’ll gladly take some of the bonus! This is a first for The Company, acknowledging and rewarding staff for their efforts. Hey, it’d sure make me work harder. I think I may request full time, maybe even manager status when I am on holidays from Nov-Mar.
Well, off to work for another all day catalogue weekend. Should be a busy one, the first weekend of the new catalogue. I hope it isn't because I'm covering for Marg all day without a cover (I'm assuming) or key to open. So I have to get in a bit earlier. Perhaps I shouldn't have stayed out so late last night. I'm knackered.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Two weeks notice
One of the busiest periods in retail is Christmas, and so The Company, in trying to keep things under control, has a strict policy of no leave for store staff in December: for casuals or managers. Thus, anyone who plans on going on holidays must either take their time off earlier or later, and make sure they have their leave approved well in advance. Others just quit. With such a hardline policy against allowing leave over the holiday period, most staff will choose their holiday over working long, late hours and serving stressed, cranky customers.
The Company policy doesn’t allow staff to come back once you quit over the holidays - if they did, it’d just be like approving leave for the holidays. I think it’s more out of spite than anything else. Though I think they might reconsider if the staff member had been ‘valuable’ and highly skilled and long-serving and they were desperately short-staffed. However, if you quit at any other time of the year for whatever reason, you may be welcome back. There are now several staff who have quit, gained other employment in retail, only to have come crawling back.
I was considering going on a brief 5 week holiday from the end of November til early January, and was faced with the dilemma (ooo, tough one!) of the (im)possibility of being granted leave, or whether I’d have a job when I came back. Quitting for me was not an issue, as I’m sure I’d be able to find similar/better employment somewhere else relatively quickly, but I felt bad that I’d just started training at HO with the intention of covering for Helena when she went on holidays over January.
I felt obligated to Gemma, who had shown faith in me for suggesting me for the position, and also to Helena and other HO staff, for putting in the effort to train me. I know it’s not easy training new staff, and there is considerable inconvenience to many staff not directly involved in my training. Sharing an office with Grant, National Sales Manager or something like that, I was privy to a few phone conversations which I probably should’ve tried harder to ignore. He was going off to Gemma about one of her staff that wanted leave over Christmas- basically, to quit and come back, as she had been working in the warehouse for several years before now working in stores. The gist of it was, there was no chance in hell that she was going to be approved leave. Which left me more than a little apprehensive. I wanted to be sure I gave the appropriate length of notice so that they could possibly allow me to go on holidays and return to my position in stores and in HO over January. If not, I would also want to give them a reasonable amount of notice to find someone else to train in HO and I could finish my shifts with 2 weeks notice. I am loyal, to some extent, to The Company, but I also understand that this is the fickle world of retail, and that we are all basically expendable. Having worked there for so long and being given such responsibility, I am also (I like to think) highly employable.
Well, after all that, the holiday plans fell through, and I won’t be going away probably until I graduate... So I’ll be able to put in the hard yards over Christmas and really suck up to and impress The Company. I really was looking forward to another Christmas and post-Christmas sales period at The Company. Can’t wait. I was looking forward to seeing how far I could push my luck and whether or not I would be granted leave!
The Company policy doesn’t allow staff to come back once you quit over the holidays - if they did, it’d just be like approving leave for the holidays. I think it’s more out of spite than anything else. Though I think they might reconsider if the staff member had been ‘valuable’ and highly skilled and long-serving and they were desperately short-staffed. However, if you quit at any other time of the year for whatever reason, you may be welcome back. There are now several staff who have quit, gained other employment in retail, only to have come crawling back.
I was considering going on a brief 5 week holiday from the end of November til early January, and was faced with the dilemma (ooo, tough one!) of the (im)possibility of being granted leave, or whether I’d have a job when I came back. Quitting for me was not an issue, as I’m sure I’d be able to find similar/better employment somewhere else relatively quickly, but I felt bad that I’d just started training at HO with the intention of covering for Helena when she went on holidays over January.
I felt obligated to Gemma, who had shown faith in me for suggesting me for the position, and also to Helena and other HO staff, for putting in the effort to train me. I know it’s not easy training new staff, and there is considerable inconvenience to many staff not directly involved in my training. Sharing an office with Grant, National Sales Manager or something like that, I was privy to a few phone conversations which I probably should’ve tried harder to ignore. He was going off to Gemma about one of her staff that wanted leave over Christmas- basically, to quit and come back, as she had been working in the warehouse for several years before now working in stores. The gist of it was, there was no chance in hell that she was going to be approved leave. Which left me more than a little apprehensive. I wanted to be sure I gave the appropriate length of notice so that they could possibly allow me to go on holidays and return to my position in stores and in HO over January. If not, I would also want to give them a reasonable amount of notice to find someone else to train in HO and I could finish my shifts with 2 weeks notice. I am loyal, to some extent, to The Company, but I also understand that this is the fickle world of retail, and that we are all basically expendable. Having worked there for so long and being given such responsibility, I am also (I like to think) highly employable.
Well, after all that, the holiday plans fell through, and I won’t be going away probably until I graduate... So I’ll be able to put in the hard yards over Christmas and really suck up to and impress The Company. I really was looking forward to another Christmas and post-Christmas sales period at The Company. Can’t wait. I was looking forward to seeing how far I could push my luck and whether or not I would be granted leave!
M.I.A.
I've been having internet connectivity problems, namely I've inadvertently changed my wireless settings and can't get them back, and haven't been able to get on the net or post. I think it's ok for now, so I haven't disappeared and retail hasn't killed me yet. More posts soon.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Nine to Fivers
Working in Head Office full time is demanding but I'm not yet sure if it's rewarding. I'm hired as a casual and paid on an hourly basis, but the HO staff are full timers or part timers, probably on contracts. They have set work to do, and obviously would have to finish that before they can clock off and head off for the day. Helena and Jasmine, who helped me out when Helena wasn't in, made it clear that they all work hard (probably just as hard as us in stores) and are expected to put in long days, and often work 45+ hour weeks. I was surprised, but then realised, that's reality in office jobs. And The Company has been demanding enough of us in stores, so there's no reason they'd go easy on their HO operations staff.
Well, sure, I care, and will try to get things done and do things properly, but I can say that when I am training in HO, though I have to get the weekly reports, budgets, summaries and store outcomes, etc done, come 5:30 last Friday, even though the spreadsheets didn't balance, I was out the door! I didn't feel that I'd received sufficient training to be entrusted to carry out all those tasks alone, and it was overwhelming, so I tried my best and did what I could, but I also had Andie's party to go to later that evening. So I wasn't going to stick around for free. There were still several HO staff still working when I left that Friday. I think they were going out for drinks later on anyway. Whenever they managed to pry themselves from their work, I suppose.
This Friday, Helena was in for a full day (she only works part time, as she's got kids) and went over some more training with me and we were able to discuss some of the problems I'd had the week before. I felt it was a good day, and I learnt a bit more and actually understood what I was doing and supposed to be doing, rather than just copying and following. I was given the task of going through the time sheets, calculating budgeted sales and store hours and also go through and record the AMs' day sheets. The last part was the most fun (and also the easiest!), and come 5:30, I still hadn't finished all the AMs. But being the good worker that I am, I offered to stay back and finish it off so that Helena could finish her productivity reports to send to all the AMs and The Owner and other assorted Important People.
The Day Sheets are daily emails all the AMs must complete, outlining what they've done during the day: store visits, discussing issues with staff, travelling between stores and being sick, if it comes to it! It's basically so HO or The Owner, or whoever knows what they've been up to all day and haven't been slacking off and neglecting their stores. Each AM has a set number of store visits that they are required to complete each week, and each store must be visited so many times per month or something like that. It was quite interesting to read what each AM got up to. I usually just look for whether or not they visited a store, and record that, I don't need their Day Sheets for much else. If they have a reason for not being able to complete their required store visits- for example, if they have been tied up in HO conducting interviews, or busy opening up a new store, etc, I record that down as well and adjust their required store visits accordingly. This week, my previous AM, Gemma, who got me the position in HO, has been in one of the new clearance stores daily, busy setting things up and hasn't been able to visit her other stores. So I've noted the long hours she's worked and what she's been doing, and rather than having a required 15-odd store visits for the week, I've adjusted her target visits to 0. She actually managed to visit 4 stores, so she's actually done very well for the week! 400%. Woo hoo! I've got your back Gemma!
I managed to get out at 6 that day, and still got paid for it, which was good. I expect that once I know what I'm doing, I'll be able to work more independently and efficiently. And get out on time! As I'm sure they're not too keen to be paying me long hours for doing relatively 'simple' work that should've been completed by 5:30.
Back in stores again, I've felt rather sad and somewhat frustrated. I can't stand dealing with the customers anymore, and maybe it's because they only buy or enquire about the cheap stuff, but even when they need help with shoes, I just can't bring myself to be bothered anymore. There's still a lot of new stock (we have a new catalogue out next week, can't wait) and I just want to be left alone and unpack and merchandise my stock. Perhaps I should work in the clearance stores - self serve! I've stopped caring about so much already, it surprises me when all the new staff make comments about things they're unhappy with at The Company. I've just blocked it all out for so long.
This week has not been a good one for retail- compiling the budgets in HO, our retail sales were extremely low, and we made probably 60-70% of the target budget for the week. And staff wages in retail were a great percentage of the costings as well, due to all the stock issues we've been having. This has probably made some of the Important People from Upstairs unhappy, and they've probably been putting pressure on their underlings to perform better too. So store visits by Charlene and one of her superiors, the National Training Manager, Angela, have not been pleasant. They made new manager Robyn at Nevertire cry with their scathing report and criticism of her store, and she put in her resignation shortly after. They also went to Innaloo and Howlong (I was at Sunshine that day) and it didn't go well for the managers and staff there either.
The Howlong staff, especially the manager, Darren, have had major issues with their lack of consideration or common courtesy, and the draconian policies of The Company. It was thought that Darren would quit straight away as well (2 weeks notice), he was so angry, he was forced to work 12 hours straight with no covers for lunch or dinner, but he discussed his issues with Charlene and I think Darren has calmed down now. He'll stick it out for a while and see how things go for now. Angela was nothing short of a bitch in her responses to Darren and Linda, who was told off for not wearing "top to toe" The Company gear. Linda has size 11 feet and there is nothing in The Company range to fit her. So I can understand her need to wear conservative, comfortable sneakers with no obvious brandings. Angela wouldn't accept that, surprise surprise. I hope Linda doesn't get a reduction (fine) for that 'breach of policy'. What a load of crap.
So many staff have been quitting this week alone, and I know many others are actively looking for other employment. I'm covering at Innaloo this week as one of the girls has an interview at Country Road. Given the daily stresses and pressures, although we are paid by the hour, overtime and penalty rates where applicable, I don't know how much longer I will last in retail. It's fine as a casual, but I'm not sure if I can handle it day in day out as a manager, '9-5er'. It's a lot of stress. If you care. My new supermarket position, with minimal responsibility, is starting to look more and more enticing.
Well, sure, I care, and will try to get things done and do things properly, but I can say that when I am training in HO, though I have to get the weekly reports, budgets, summaries and store outcomes, etc done, come 5:30 last Friday, even though the spreadsheets didn't balance, I was out the door! I didn't feel that I'd received sufficient training to be entrusted to carry out all those tasks alone, and it was overwhelming, so I tried my best and did what I could, but I also had Andie's party to go to later that evening. So I wasn't going to stick around for free. There were still several HO staff still working when I left that Friday. I think they were going out for drinks later on anyway. Whenever they managed to pry themselves from their work, I suppose.
This Friday, Helena was in for a full day (she only works part time, as she's got kids) and went over some more training with me and we were able to discuss some of the problems I'd had the week before. I felt it was a good day, and I learnt a bit more and actually understood what I was doing and supposed to be doing, rather than just copying and following. I was given the task of going through the time sheets, calculating budgeted sales and store hours and also go through and record the AMs' day sheets. The last part was the most fun (and also the easiest!), and come 5:30, I still hadn't finished all the AMs. But being the good worker that I am, I offered to stay back and finish it off so that Helena could finish her productivity reports to send to all the AMs and The Owner and other assorted Important People.
The Day Sheets are daily emails all the AMs must complete, outlining what they've done during the day: store visits, discussing issues with staff, travelling between stores and being sick, if it comes to it! It's basically so HO or The Owner, or whoever knows what they've been up to all day and haven't been slacking off and neglecting their stores. Each AM has a set number of store visits that they are required to complete each week, and each store must be visited so many times per month or something like that. It was quite interesting to read what each AM got up to. I usually just look for whether or not they visited a store, and record that, I don't need their Day Sheets for much else. If they have a reason for not being able to complete their required store visits- for example, if they have been tied up in HO conducting interviews, or busy opening up a new store, etc, I record that down as well and adjust their required store visits accordingly. This week, my previous AM, Gemma, who got me the position in HO, has been in one of the new clearance stores daily, busy setting things up and hasn't been able to visit her other stores. So I've noted the long hours she's worked and what she's been doing, and rather than having a required 15-odd store visits for the week, I've adjusted her target visits to 0. She actually managed to visit 4 stores, so she's actually done very well for the week! 400%. Woo hoo! I've got your back Gemma!
I managed to get out at 6 that day, and still got paid for it, which was good. I expect that once I know what I'm doing, I'll be able to work more independently and efficiently. And get out on time! As I'm sure they're not too keen to be paying me long hours for doing relatively 'simple' work that should've been completed by 5:30.
Back in stores again, I've felt rather sad and somewhat frustrated. I can't stand dealing with the customers anymore, and maybe it's because they only buy or enquire about the cheap stuff, but even when they need help with shoes, I just can't bring myself to be bothered anymore. There's still a lot of new stock (we have a new catalogue out next week, can't wait) and I just want to be left alone and unpack and merchandise my stock. Perhaps I should work in the clearance stores - self serve! I've stopped caring about so much already, it surprises me when all the new staff make comments about things they're unhappy with at The Company. I've just blocked it all out for so long.
This week has not been a good one for retail- compiling the budgets in HO, our retail sales were extremely low, and we made probably 60-70% of the target budget for the week. And staff wages in retail were a great percentage of the costings as well, due to all the stock issues we've been having. This has probably made some of the Important People from Upstairs unhappy, and they've probably been putting pressure on their underlings to perform better too. So store visits by Charlene and one of her superiors, the National Training Manager, Angela, have not been pleasant. They made new manager Robyn at Nevertire cry with their scathing report and criticism of her store, and she put in her resignation shortly after. They also went to Innaloo and Howlong (I was at Sunshine that day) and it didn't go well for the managers and staff there either.
The Howlong staff, especially the manager, Darren, have had major issues with their lack of consideration or common courtesy, and the draconian policies of The Company. It was thought that Darren would quit straight away as well (2 weeks notice), he was so angry, he was forced to work 12 hours straight with no covers for lunch or dinner, but he discussed his issues with Charlene and I think Darren has calmed down now. He'll stick it out for a while and see how things go for now. Angela was nothing short of a bitch in her responses to Darren and Linda, who was told off for not wearing "top to toe" The Company gear. Linda has size 11 feet and there is nothing in The Company range to fit her. So I can understand her need to wear conservative, comfortable sneakers with no obvious brandings. Angela wouldn't accept that, surprise surprise. I hope Linda doesn't get a reduction (fine) for that 'breach of policy'. What a load of crap.
So many staff have been quitting this week alone, and I know many others are actively looking for other employment. I'm covering at Innaloo this week as one of the girls has an interview at Country Road. Given the daily stresses and pressures, although we are paid by the hour, overtime and penalty rates where applicable, I don't know how much longer I will last in retail. It's fine as a casual, but I'm not sure if I can handle it day in day out as a manager, '9-5er'. It's a lot of stress. If you care. My new supermarket position, with minimal responsibility, is starting to look more and more enticing.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Feeling sick?
I try to be a good person and treat people as I would like to be treated, but when you get busted lying about being sick on a shift and inconveniencing someone else to come in and cover for you, that's just not nice.
A while ago, Jen, a new girl, told me how she'd covered for Gina in the middle of a sunny Sunday afternoon. Apparently Gina was sick during her shift and was 'chucking up in the back room' and all that. You know the drill- I feel really sick and have been vomiting in the store, and there is no one to cover me, and you're my last hope. Well, see, the thing is, Sunshine doesn't have much of a back room. We don't have a sink in there, let alone a toilet, so I don't know how or where she could've been vomiting out the back. Unless she did it in a garbage back when she managed to pull herself away from the customers, she must've been 'mistaken'. When Jen came in, on her day off, after having driven over an hour from the country because she felt sorry for Gina (hey, she contacted me too, but I was sick of covering and it was my only day off too) she noticed that Gina didn't look sick at all, and just thanked her for coming in and then waltzed right out. Hmmm...it was a nice day out that day, perhaps she was going to the beach (one of the other girls got busted calling in sick, and then turning up when there was no one else to cover her shift. She was wearing bathers underneath her skirt and top). Jen noticed that there were no bags of chuck out the back, and if Gina did indeed throw up out the back, she would've had to close the store to get rid of the evidence before Jen turned up. And then Jen worked with Robyn (new store manager at Nevertire), Gina's best friend, and she mentioned that Gina had been sick on Sunday and she had covered for her, but Gina knew nothing of it. Sounds fishy...
I've chucked up at work before (at Sunshine and Mooball), and it's not pretty. Both stores don't have a sink, so I had to be discreet and hurl in a garbage bag. Both times, I was serving customers, and both times, they didn't even notice, I think. During Christmas of 2004, I was working so much I was probably making myself sick from stress and tiredness, and it was quite busy, there were 3 of us on, and I was serving customers at the counter, Marnie was serving on the floor, and Miranda was around the back of the store unpacking stock. I suddenly felt very sick and could feel it rising and managed to get Marnie to come to the counter to take over for me (there was a line of customers) before I managed to rush down the back of the store with my cheeks puffed full of spew and my hands over my mouth. Miranda was out the back with garbage bags for the packaging, and I managed to get most of it into there, while she looked on in horror and disgust. Don't get to see that every day! She sent me home sick and managed to get one of the staff from another region to come in.
The other time, I was at Sunshine by myself and it was probably nearing the end of a Sunday, and I had been feeling really thirsty that day. I just couldn't drink enough water and my mouth felt really dry. I'd never felt like that before. No matter how much I drank, my mouth still felt dry. I can't remember if I was feeling nauseous, but usually when I feel nauseous, it's like I'm going to get the runs. It's only rarely that I've 'dry-hurled'. Well, I was feeling pretty bad and it was almost time to go home, so I stuck it out. There weren't many customers, but there was one who came in, and he was one that required a lot of service. He enquired about the shirt fittings and styles, and I was showing him around the back of the store where the shirts were but could really feel it coming, so said I'd go check for him, rushed back to the counter (in the middle of the store) and chucked up quietly in the garbage bag. Hmmm... it was all that water I drank! And a few chunks. Interesting. But I felt much better after that and returned to continue to serve him and he asked if I'd checked on the shirts. I was thinking: 'no, sorry, I was just puking my guts out, I must've forgotten. How silly of me'. The rest of the day continued without incident.
Well, Gina messaged me this morning, at 9:26AM, so half an hour after she got in, saying that she was not feeling well and wanted me to work the rest of her shift. I am on to do a lunch cover from 12-3 and she is on all day to do 9-6. She was apologetic: "sorry to be a pain" and "no pressure". Well, it's a fine, sunny day out today and I am more than a little suspicious and fed up. No one could help me cover my shift yesterday, and I know it's part of the job, but I couldn't help but feel a little let down. It's "a busy time for me" too. I can understand that people are busy with uni and assignements and are sick of being called in to cover shifts and feeling resenful when they say yes and bad when they say no, but if you owe me a favour cos I've covered your shift, I think the right thing to do would be to cover mine when I desperately need a cover and know you're available.
I worked all day Saturday without a cover or key and had to pick one up from a colleague's house nearby when Gina called in saying that her grandmother was sick and had been taken to hospital and her condition was serious. That was the Friday before last. I felt bad for her, but couldn't help thinking 'she better not be lying'. I know that's terrible, as I had a sick family member last year and had to take off without much notice- the ticket was booked and I was off to Sydney. Well, so I felt bad about contacting Gina and asking her if she could cover my stocktake shift last night. I made sure to ask her last, as I wasn't sure if her grandmother was still sick or if she was back at work or not. I was floored by her response: so sorry, she acknowledged that I helped her out on Saturday, but it's her dad's birthday. So sorry. So was I. At first, I couldn't believe she was celebrating her father's birthday when her grandma was so sick in hospital. But then I thought, maybe it's her maternal grandmother... but still, her mother wouldn't be up for celebrating, and if he was any type of good son, he'd feel the same. Or so I like to think... but I'll take her word for it.
So I can't understand why Gina messaged me at 9:26, saying she felt sick but would stay til 3, if I could work on til 6. I messaged her back an hour later, as I wanted to formulate the right response first. If I was feeling sick at work, I'd want someone to come in right away so I could go home. She knows I am available all day, yet wanted to work on til 3. It just doesn't make sense to me. I can't really be bothered working til 6 and have other things to do as well, so I compromised and offered to do 1-6 without a break and said she could go home when I get in if she wants. I'd like to talk to her and see what's going on. I was thinking she feels sick because she probably had too much to eat and drink last night at her dad's birthday... but I know that's mean, because I often feel sick because of a condition that I have, but have managed to avoid certain foods and control it. She just happens to feel sick the day after her dad's birthday bash, just as I happened to feel sick working on New Year's Day. And I don't even drink. I closed early that day and went home.
10:47 - she messaged back. Doesn't sound sick. Or maybe just trying to be considerate and hold it down as there is a lot of work to do in store and doesn't want me to hate her. Great. And apparently there is a store meeting as well. Well, that's news to me. ...oh yeah, it's for potential new staff I think. Like an introduction to The Company at our store, Sunshine, the "model store", where it's always perfect cos we are! Well, that was my slogan when Andie and I still worked there and it was indeed perfect. Now apparently there are more consolidations and heaps of stock on the floor. Welcome to The Company indeed. Newbies, you can count on me to provide a realistic view of the way The Company is run and what the staff experience is really like.
A while ago, Jen, a new girl, told me how she'd covered for Gina in the middle of a sunny Sunday afternoon. Apparently Gina was sick during her shift and was 'chucking up in the back room' and all that. You know the drill- I feel really sick and have been vomiting in the store, and there is no one to cover me, and you're my last hope. Well, see, the thing is, Sunshine doesn't have much of a back room. We don't have a sink in there, let alone a toilet, so I don't know how or where she could've been vomiting out the back. Unless she did it in a garbage back when she managed to pull herself away from the customers, she must've been 'mistaken'. When Jen came in, on her day off, after having driven over an hour from the country because she felt sorry for Gina (hey, she contacted me too, but I was sick of covering and it was my only day off too) she noticed that Gina didn't look sick at all, and just thanked her for coming in and then waltzed right out. Hmmm...it was a nice day out that day, perhaps she was going to the beach (one of the other girls got busted calling in sick, and then turning up when there was no one else to cover her shift. She was wearing bathers underneath her skirt and top). Jen noticed that there were no bags of chuck out the back, and if Gina did indeed throw up out the back, she would've had to close the store to get rid of the evidence before Jen turned up. And then Jen worked with Robyn (new store manager at Nevertire), Gina's best friend, and she mentioned that Gina had been sick on Sunday and she had covered for her, but Gina knew nothing of it. Sounds fishy...
WARNING: if you are easily put off by descriptions of vomit, stop reading now.
I've chucked up at work before (at Sunshine and Mooball), and it's not pretty. Both stores don't have a sink, so I had to be discreet and hurl in a garbage bag. Both times, I was serving customers, and both times, they didn't even notice, I think. During Christmas of 2004, I was working so much I was probably making myself sick from stress and tiredness, and it was quite busy, there were 3 of us on, and I was serving customers at the counter, Marnie was serving on the floor, and Miranda was around the back of the store unpacking stock. I suddenly felt very sick and could feel it rising and managed to get Marnie to come to the counter to take over for me (there was a line of customers) before I managed to rush down the back of the store with my cheeks puffed full of spew and my hands over my mouth. Miranda was out the back with garbage bags for the packaging, and I managed to get most of it into there, while she looked on in horror and disgust. Don't get to see that every day! She sent me home sick and managed to get one of the staff from another region to come in.
The other time, I was at Sunshine by myself and it was probably nearing the end of a Sunday, and I had been feeling really thirsty that day. I just couldn't drink enough water and my mouth felt really dry. I'd never felt like that before. No matter how much I drank, my mouth still felt dry. I can't remember if I was feeling nauseous, but usually when I feel nauseous, it's like I'm going to get the runs. It's only rarely that I've 'dry-hurled'. Well, I was feeling pretty bad and it was almost time to go home, so I stuck it out. There weren't many customers, but there was one who came in, and he was one that required a lot of service. He enquired about the shirt fittings and styles, and I was showing him around the back of the store where the shirts were but could really feel it coming, so said I'd go check for him, rushed back to the counter (in the middle of the store) and chucked up quietly in the garbage bag. Hmmm... it was all that water I drank! And a few chunks. Interesting. But I felt much better after that and returned to continue to serve him and he asked if I'd checked on the shirts. I was thinking: 'no, sorry, I was just puking my guts out, I must've forgotten. How silly of me'. The rest of the day continued without incident.
Welcome back
Well, Gina messaged me this morning, at 9:26AM, so half an hour after she got in, saying that she was not feeling well and wanted me to work the rest of her shift. I am on to do a lunch cover from 12-3 and she is on all day to do 9-6. She was apologetic: "sorry to be a pain" and "no pressure". Well, it's a fine, sunny day out today and I am more than a little suspicious and fed up. No one could help me cover my shift yesterday, and I know it's part of the job, but I couldn't help but feel a little let down. It's "a busy time for me" too. I can understand that people are busy with uni and assignements and are sick of being called in to cover shifts and feeling resenful when they say yes and bad when they say no, but if you owe me a favour cos I've covered your shift, I think the right thing to do would be to cover mine when I desperately need a cover and know you're available.
I worked all day Saturday without a cover or key and had to pick one up from a colleague's house nearby when Gina called in saying that her grandmother was sick and had been taken to hospital and her condition was serious. That was the Friday before last. I felt bad for her, but couldn't help thinking 'she better not be lying'. I know that's terrible, as I had a sick family member last year and had to take off without much notice- the ticket was booked and I was off to Sydney. Well, so I felt bad about contacting Gina and asking her if she could cover my stocktake shift last night. I made sure to ask her last, as I wasn't sure if her grandmother was still sick or if she was back at work or not. I was floored by her response: so sorry, she acknowledged that I helped her out on Saturday, but it's her dad's birthday. So sorry. So was I. At first, I couldn't believe she was celebrating her father's birthday when her grandma was so sick in hospital. But then I thought, maybe it's her maternal grandmother... but still, her mother wouldn't be up for celebrating, and if he was any type of good son, he'd feel the same. Or so I like to think... but I'll take her word for it.
So I can't understand why Gina messaged me at 9:26, saying she felt sick but would stay til 3, if I could work on til 6. I messaged her back an hour later, as I wanted to formulate the right response first. If I was feeling sick at work, I'd want someone to come in right away so I could go home. She knows I am available all day, yet wanted to work on til 3. It just doesn't make sense to me. I can't really be bothered working til 6 and have other things to do as well, so I compromised and offered to do 1-6 without a break and said she could go home when I get in if she wants. I'd like to talk to her and see what's going on. I was thinking she feels sick because she probably had too much to eat and drink last night at her dad's birthday... but I know that's mean, because I often feel sick because of a condition that I have, but have managed to avoid certain foods and control it. She just happens to feel sick the day after her dad's birthday bash, just as I happened to feel sick working on New Year's Day. And I don't even drink. I closed early that day and went home.
10:47 - she messaged back. Doesn't sound sick. Or maybe just trying to be considerate and hold it down as there is a lot of work to do in store and doesn't want me to hate her. Great. And apparently there is a store meeting as well. Well, that's news to me. ...oh yeah, it's for potential new staff I think. Like an introduction to The Company at our store, Sunshine, the "model store", where it's always perfect cos we are! Well, that was my slogan when Andie and I still worked there and it was indeed perfect. Now apparently there are more consolidations and heaps of stock on the floor. Welcome to The Company indeed. Newbies, you can count on me to provide a realistic view of the way The Company is run and what the staff experience is really like.
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