Competition Comes Knocking

     Throughout both my years in grocery and electronics retail I’ve had to deal with new stores that vie for your customer base.  Some tend to have a bigger impact on the scene than others.  Some fizzle out quicker than others.  However, the same reaction to news of an upcoming competitor always takes place each time.  The complete and total meltdown.

     It’s not that bad, in reality, but the people running the store, the district, the company, tend to make you feel that way.  It can generally start with the company devising ways to find out what this newcomer is all about.  People get sent into their stores to do a little snooping around and see what’s working for them and what’s not.  This can sometimes lead to the, “Oh, shit, that’s what we should be doing!” response that most management people have.  This can be a disastrous scenario because in some cases, the established store that feels threatened by the newcomer will sometimes drastically change things about themselves to mimic the newcomer.  I can understand the instinct to do this but it’s a terrible idea, in my opinion.

     First of all, people are shopping at your store because you’re obviously doing something right.  In this economy, if you haven’t gone into bankruptcy or closed down completely, it’s a miracle and you should keep on keepin’ on.  If you are changing key things about yourself to steal someone else’s thunder, then you’re changing the reasons people come into your store.  If they wanted to shop at store X, then they’ll shop at store X instead of trying to get the exact experience at store Y.  Do you go into a Target and think, “Man, this is a pleasant place to shop but why isn’t it more like K-Mart?”  If you wanted to shop at K-Mart, shop at K-Mart.  There was a pretty well-known store that closed their doors a few years back and people at my company credited to the fact that they were playing catch-up to us.  They changed different aspects about themselves but just couldn’t get traction.  Now, I don’t know if they’d still be in business had they just amplified the things they do well instead of trying to be like us, but at least they could close down knowing they played the game on their terms.

     Now comes the part where the store you work at implements the changes.  Sadly, the things they’re trying to change are the things that nobody cares about.  They’ll worry about too much signage when they should really worry about adequate staffing.  They’ll see workers’ desks and just see clutter when they should focus on making sure the products on their shelves are in stock.  They’ll remove tile flooring and lay carpeting down to make things look more elegant when they should fix the leaking roof or the bathroom that constantly smells like crap.  Yet, they want to take the easy way out of improving their company.  As we all know, the cheap and easy way out is always the best option, right?

     Good luck trying to convince management in your store that they’re focused on the wrong things, too.  I totally understand that some changes are out of their hands.  They don’t control the amount of money they have to hire people for example.  Yet, people just seem content to not question anything and just continue to go along to get along.  It’s maddening.  So all you can do, as an employee, is stand by and watch as the gong show plays out all around you.

     For months in advance, the sentiment of management about the approaching doom that is a new business coming into town can be a bit disappointing, to say the least.  In private, the management, which should be rallying the morale of the workers, will look at you with wide-eyed horror as they say to you how worried they are about the new competitor.  It’s as if they think we’re all going to be out of jobs within six months.  To me, this worriment is just proof that they don’t have faith in their own company’s ability to compete and also their employees’ ability to compete.  Only those who worry about a competitor coming in are those who think that something is wrong with the way they’re doing things.  Why else be so nervous about 1 new store being added to the mix?  It’s not like ours is the only company in the city that sells the products that are on our shelves.  If you think this competitor is such a threat and you say things like, “I don’t know what we’re going to do…,” (which I’ve heard from management in the past) then why hire the people you’ve hired?  That’s what’s annoying to me about the messages being spread from management when new competitors arrive.  To the workers they project confidence in the staffing they have but in private a lot of them seem to have no faith in their people.

     Personally, I don’t worry at all whenever a new store opens in the area.  I have faith in my coworkers and the company I work for to know that we’ll be fine.  Our business might hurt but that’s the nature of things.  We’ve stolen customers away from multiple competitors for years and we’ll continue to do so, just like they’ll do with our customers.  It’s the nature of retail.  If you can’t handle the other kids on the block, you might as well pack up your shit and go home.  And that’s life, really – you can either hold firm and believe in yourself and know that you can handle challenge or you can just give up and never get anywhere in life.

     More soon from the frontlines...

Nostalgia Is A Bitch

     One thing that bums me out about working in retail is the number of people who quit, transfer, or get fired.  The last year or so, my store has gone through a number of changes in personnel and it still is odd to not see people there that I used to see all the time.  When you work in a job in the retail world you come to depend on friends to help cheer you up and help you make it through the day.  I don’t know where I’d be without those people who’ve become more than just coworkers.

     When I first started this job, I doubted that I would ever know more than the names of coworkers within my own department.  It really wasn’t even until the first several months or so had passed on that I began to recognize people from the opposite end of the store and associate names with them.  I just kept my head down, learned what I needed, and viewed everyone’s relationships at the store as an outsider.  I don’t know exactly when I began to feel like one of the crowd but a store that seemed quite large when I began seemed to shrink.  I knew most of the employees and began to joke around with even the new hires.  I had become part of the “team”.

     Of course, throughout my time at this job, I’ve had plenty of people come and go, but lately the people who’ve left have been the ones that started at around the same time as myself.  I never thought that these people would move on before I did and seeing them leave for greener pastures has made me feel a bit left behind.  I always figured that I’d move on before others did; not that I thought I could find better faster than they could, but I just hoped it’d be me leaving them first so I could make a clean break with everyone at the same time.  I don’t know how much that made sense but I guess it’s like a relationship – I’d rather be the dumper than the dumpy (Dumpey? Dumpie? Oh, Microsoft Word, why do you let me down??).  Now, whenever I walk around the store, I can only picture and think about times I’ve shared with those no longer there.  While those memories always elicit a pleasant feeling, they also make me feel a bit sad.

     Switching gears here, let me focus on the workers who are there to replace those who left.  Whenever there’s a new hire, there’s the tiniest of pieces that I recognize in myself that just wants to say, “Damn, do I have to get to know them, too?  It’s so much work! Blah!”  I’ve come to the conclusion that thanks to the turnover rates in the retail world, I try not to form attachments to people who have been at my store for less than 4 months.  At that 4-month point, I’ll take the chance and bother to learn your name instead of calling you “boss” and start having more meaningful conversations.  I’m sorry but my heart just can’t take more pain!  You understand, of course.

     I think the toughest part of it all is the fact that I most likely won’t see much of them outside of work.  This will most likely be true despite how much I get along with those people who’ve moved on.  Sure, we’ll always have online social networking and the occasional get-together, but that’s not the same and everyone knows that the promise of “We’ll have to stay in touch” is generally a lie 90% of the time.  Not that that’s anyone’s fault, necessarily; it’s just a way of life in the fast-paced 21^st Century.  We’re too busy with the day-to-day events of our lives to try and set aside time for people.

     Perhaps that’s just a bullshit answer but I’m amazed how quickly a day goes by.  I guess I’m just getting old.  I can’t get as much done in a day as I once could and the first to get cut in my laziness are my friendships.  That makes me feel bad but I just want to set aside this entry to those of my coworkers, nay, friends who’ve left recently and say that I have appreciated the time we’ve had together.  Not that any of you will ever come across this entry, but you all meant a lot for my sanity!  I hope to stay in contact with you all for many years to come.  You’re banter, dancing, singing, and random acts of kindness prove that good things are in your future.  Karma will not forget every smile you bring to those you work with.

     Conversely, customers, karma will also not forget every pissy comment you say to employees making barely more than minimum wage.  Just a fair warning there for you.
     More soon from the frontlines...

‘Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle’ Has Become ‘Increase, Use, and Maybe Recycle’

     As a cog in the machine there are often things that are out of my control to change, and as a person who is acutely aware of the big global problem we have with deforestation, pollution, and global warming, it is frustrating to witness companies that are lax on their recycling guidelines.  That is, if they have any at all.  I don’t understand why it is so hard to have 2 different bins located throughout a store that is designated for recycling and one for garbage.  If my job is any indication of how numerous other businesses work, then there are thousands of trees killed each day for no good reason.

     There are plenty of times where I’ve had to print something and it either doesn’t come out right or it turns out I printed it out when I didn’t need to in the first place.  Each time that that’s happened, whenever I have to toss that paper out, I feel a slight pang in my heart.  I’m apart of the problem and that really annoys me and I’ll tell you why.  I strive to fix problems, not be apart of them.  There are times when I might not recycle when I have the ability to do so and for that I’m at fault.  But when there are times that I don’t have an option, like at work, I get frustrated that I have that choice taken away from me. 

     My company likes to pretend that it is a great partner in the fight against waste but if even 1 of their stores isn’t recycling their paper, that claim is a sham.  They have advertisements about recycling old batteries and the like but they could be doing so much more.  There’s not much hope, in my eyes, of the world really truly fighting for conservation and recycling when big businesses aren’t doing all they could be doing.  I’m not saying it’s feasible for every single business to have ten different garbage bins in every single building, office, or hallway they own and to guarantee every employee will deposit the right item in the right bin, but that’s not to say that that shouldn’t be a goal to strive for.

     But instead of finding ways to reduce the use of paper, my work seems intent on finding more ways to burn through paper.  They’ll find ways to make us fill out more paperwork daily on the customers we’ve helped, even if it’s info we fill out on other paperwork for them already.  They’ll have us tag products with signs that display the same info that other tags on the same product already displays.  I’m sorry, but if a customer is too blind and stupid to read a sign that shows a sale price on it, they shouldn’t be accommodated with a larger sign on the same product.  They’ll print off e-mails to give to someone else when they could just forward it to that person.

     It’s such a wasteful environment.

     I have coworkers that print out copies upon copies of the same sheet when they could just scribble the info they need on a scratch piece of paper.  Whenever I see pages being printed out at my work, I picture a tree that’s stood for hundreds of years falling in some distant rain forest.  I don’t know how people will be able to look future generations in the eye and try to explain how we had the opportunities to reduce the use of paper that came from trees that were vital in the ecosystem of our planet.  To those future generations I say this:  I’m sorry for being apart of the problem, in whatever capacity that is.

     That’s enough of that rant for now.

     More soon from the frontlines...

Shut Up And Get Your Work Done Faster!

     Okay, fellow employees, you’ve gotten off the hook up until this point but now it’s time for you to take your medicine.  Don’t get me wrong, we’re all in this fight together, but there are some things that bug me to death with you all.  What follows is one of the top things on that list.

     To begin, at many of my previous jobs I’ve been able to leave at the end of my shifts whenever I felt like it.  There was no checking out with anyone to make sure I did all of the work in my department.  If the store closed at a specific time, I didn’t have to wait around for a walkthrough by my manager.  It was great!

     At my current job (and others that my friends and family have told me about), I have to wait to get the okay from my manager to leave.  This generally doesn’t impact me because I’ve built up enough goodwill with those in charge that I could, basically, just say to them that I’m leaving and walk out without getting a walkthrough.  They know that I’ve been there long enough to know what’s expected of me and to make sure everything’s done before I leave.  I know how to stock things, I know to clean up the trash around the department, and I know how to make signs for things that are without them.  It’s not rocket science.  I plan my day well enough where I can get most of these things done before the doors even close.

     Others don’t always utilize their time as well.  Whenever I leave before everyone else has to, I typically get several sarcastic comments from my coworkers who have to wait behind.

     “Must be real hard leaving first.”

     “Wow, what did you do that makes you able to leave early?”

     It’s called working when others would just stand around and talk or go for smoke breaks.  Everyone always complains about how long it takes them to close their departments down but they never think about that when they’re standing around and doing nothing.  Even when I’m busy, if I walk past a display that needs organizing, it doesn’t take that much time and effort to push a box so it’s aligned with the rest of the products.  If you do that one by one, you’ll get a lot accomplished without even really trying.

     Sure, I goof off and relax but I also know that I don’t want to be there longer than I have to be at the end of the day.  There are also nights when I’m asked to assist other departments who need help closing down for the day and they are often the same departments with those employees that stand around during the day.  I don’t think it’s right that I’m asked to not only do all of my work but also the work of others who suffer from a lack of proficiency at their jobs.  I earned the right to leave early and, as much as I love all of my coworkers, if they need assistance then they should call their friends they stood around with earlier in the day.

     I have more pressing things to do in my life that I’d rather be doing than staying late at work to do things I could’ve done throughout my shift.  You know, important things like sitting here and writing this blog instead of going out in the beautiful sunshine.  Wait, when I put it that way…

     More soon from the frontlines...

“I’ve Been On Hold So Long That I’ve Forgotten What I Wanted.”

     I would’ve updated this blog sooner but I was on hold with an electronics store for the last six days.  Wow, it really does take a long time to get through to someone, doesn’t it?

     Okay, maybe not that long, but there are times when I probably could’ve constructed Noah’s Ark in the time that it takes me to get through to someone on the phone.  To paraphrase - you can judge the health of a nation by the time it takes someone to receive an answer from a retail store on the phone.  I guess you can’t really put that on a bumper sticker, but I’m sure it’ll catch on.  It’s an issue you hear about nearly every single store, HR helpline, or manufacturer’s customer hotline.  And everyone’s own personal delay is a catastrophe, I’m well aware, but what do you really expect?

     Think about the amount of people living in your town.  If more than 5 people are calling up with a question or issue, chances are you won’t be getting through any time soon.  Magnify that if you’re calling a Sony, or Nintendo, or Whirlpool hotline for a question.  That company has only so many call centers set-up to deal with issues and I’m sure no amount of jobs they could fill would come close to handling the amount of calls they must receive.  A company only has a finite amount of resources available to them and incoming calls will always be shortchanged in that equation.  So suck it up and wait.  If you can make it through in under 10 minutes, just be happy to finally get your question answered.

     Customers come into my department and tell me how they couldn’t get through on the phones so they were forced to come into the store.  They always have the same idea, too:

     “[Blank Store] needs to hire more people to answer the phones.”

     Thanks, now all we need to do is install more phone lines for those new hires to work! Brilliant!  If every person in the store was devoted to just answering the phones then people coming into the stores would have no one around to assist them.  A store can only do so much for the number of incoming calls they receive each day.  If you really want to have faster service on the phone, spread the word to every person you know who meanders on in a phone conversation.

     You know the type – the person who gives you way too much information than what’s needed to tell a story, or the person who isn’t prepared for the conversation so they stumble on their words or repeat themselves a million times.  If they’re that slow talking with someone they know, imagine how they are when they’re talking to us.  To find you the cable for your computer or the filter for your vacuum, we don’t need to know that you received that vacuum from your grandma ten years ago because you moved into a new apartment and had a pet dog named Spot who, god bless him, would shed like crazy.  WOW, really?  Like Dave Chappelle would say, “Wrap it up!"

     If you want help finding something, just tell me the company who made it, the model number, and how old the product is.  Cut and dry, people.  The quicker you are with us, the quicker we are with you, and can proceed onto the next phone call.  If you don’t like waiting in a long phone queue, imagine how the people behind you feel once you get through.  If we need more information, we’ll probably ask for it.

     That’s not to say that some customers are justified in their complaints.  Just the other night I was caught trying to call up another store to see if they carried something in-store.  I was on hold for over an hour trying to get through.  After 10-15 minutes of holding, I would hang-up and try another extension but I got the same response.  I then tried other stores to see if I would have better luck and, eventually, I did.  That luck only occurred after calling 2 other stores and waiting about 5-10 minutes on hold for each store.  That is no way to run a business.  I can understand if someone has to wait 5 minutes or so but over an hour of trying to get through?

     Don’t think that employees don’t understand your frustration.  We get it more than anyone out there.  I have to call other stores, warehouses, etc., for customers who are too lazy or too stubborn to call them up themselves and I am the one left on hold.  Just remember to be calm like the Buddha.  Have patience and eventually your call will be answered.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to pick up this damn phone that’s been ringing for the past hour.

     More soon from the frontlines...

"I Will Tear Your Head Off The Next Time You Do That! Oh, And Thanks For Coming In Early To Work!"

     One of the biggest apprehensions I have before going into work each day is, “What kind of moods are the managers in today?”  Now, my first big apprehension is, “Am I going to have to deal with customer issues today?” but manager moods run a close second.  Do you ever work at a place where it seems like the managers are suffering from multiple personalities or some severe emotional imbalance?  How fun is that?

     It’s not like there are several insane managers running around my store, there isn’t.  It just feels that way because of the amount of time spent around them.  The crazy people tend to stand out from the calm, fun managers that are at my store.  They can go from pleasant to axe-wielding maniac on the same shift.  The phrase "walking on eggshells" was probably invented because some crazy grocery store manager went berserk one day and threw eggs all over their store.

     One moment the manager will act like he or she is your best friend and the next moment they’ll tear you a new asshole for coming to them with a question.  What’s really frustrating about these managers is when they seem normal for a good month or two, making you think you can get along with them, and then they return to their bitchy attitude.  For the longest time I couldn’t stand one of our head managers when (s)he first began because every interaction was a combative situation.  Everyone (and I do mean everyone) despised having to work with her/him.  (S)he’s been there now for over a year and it is just now that I’m starting to not feel as apprehensive about working around that person.  Yet, I know that given the right circumstances that could change in an instant.  Not that I feel like we’re buds or anything – I still walk in with the same level of unease as I did before – but I don’t dread every interaction.

     When I worked in the grocery retail world, I remember most of the managers being in better moods than the managers at electronic stores.  That kind of strikes me as unusual since, per day, grocery stores tend to see more customers than electronic stores, and there are more employees at grocery stores than electronic stores.  How come management at grocery stores can keep more of a level head than management at electronic stores?  Is there some sort of training they’re going to that we can export to the electronics world?  If so, let’s get on this!  Or is it because customer issues in the electronics world tend to feel like larger headaches than at grocery stores?  I’m probably leaning toward that being the case than anything else.

     Do I expect every manager to be my best friend? No.  I do, however, expect them to not treat me like their five-year-old child and fly off the handle whenever they don’t like something I’ve done or didn’t do.  If every training video or coaching seminar I’ve ever went to for this job expects me to act like everything is all sunshine and rainbows in the world, the same should be expected of our managers.  We’re supposed to give every customer the royal treatment but apparently there is no training video telling managers to give their employees the royal treatment.

     If the frustrations of being a manager are too much for someone, then they shouldn’t be a manager.  If having to deal with customers bitching at you, corporate eyeballing you, and employees coming to you with every little issue is too much for you – then you shouldn’t be a manager.  That’s why I’ve never tried to move up in the retail world.  I know that I’d be like the bitchy managers I’m describing here.  I also don’t expect managers to shoot rainbows out of their eyes and toss candy to all the employees as they walk by, but you can be upset without being insane.  That’s something a few of my managers haven’t learned just yet.

     For all of the nice managers out there, you’ll get your own post, don’t worry.  I think I speak for all retail workers everywhere when we say that you’re presence at our stores make a world of difference.  Never let anyone take whatever place you draw your levelheaded and fun attitudes from away from you.  As hourly employees, we need you there all the more because even though your numbers might be larger than the psycho managers, their presence makes it feel like there are more of them than there are of you.

     More soon from the frontlines...

In-Store Music

     There are a few music artists I believe owe everything to their music being played at retail stores or grocery stores on endless loop.  Rod Stewart and Neil Diamond, I’m looking at you!  “Cracklin’ Rose” needs to be banned from ever being played, sorry.

     An in-store radio, if you’re lucky, has more than 10 songs played on a constant loop.  The grocery store I worked at had a decent selection of music that they played.  I could almost go an entire day without hearing the same song played twice.  I’ve also been quite amazed with the good music I’ve heard being played at a grocery store.  From David Bowie and The Beatles to The Killers and Jimmy Eat World – some grocery stores really try to make the sounds around you pleasant enough.

     The same can’t be said for electronic stores I’ve worked at, which is kind of surprising.  At one store, the music would repeat after the sixth or seventh song.  You’d think a place that sells CDs would be able to play more to show the diverse tastes they offer customers.  What fills me with dread about hearing those same handful of songs being played on repeat is the fact that some of the songs I know to be bad tend to grow on me.

     Hey, that song by the Jonas Brothers isn’t half-bad. I wonder if the CD is out yet, I’d think to myself before realizing, Wait, what? No!  You’re not a 12-year-old girl!

     But, by that point, the damage is already done and my taste in music is ruined.  Oh, who am I kidding?  My taste in music was never that good.  I digress!

     The music only gets worse by the holidays.  That music selection dwindles even at the grocery stores.  Just because you play “Jingle Bells” five different ways does not mean your selection is any better, either.  That minor irritation is probably why employees feel like tearing into customers during the holiday seasons.  It’s like when a parent has a headache and they want to yell at their child for doing nothing out of the ordinary – the headache just makes everything seem more annoying than usual.  Same concept.

     The holiday music drives me nuts because my job feeds a local radio station into their system each year to get people in the holiday mood.  Sadly, with the ever-expanding Christmas season, the holiday music begins November first.  One can’t even come out of their candy overdose from Halloween before being bombarded with Burl Ives or Bing Crosby.  No offense, if there are still days where the weather can reach fifty degrees, that is not Christmas music weather, and stores should zip it with the tunes.  This encroachment by Christmas needs to stop and holiday music on in-store radios is the first line of defense.

     Please, stores, if there’s one thing you could do to improve your workers’ experience while on the job, it’s the music.  We spend 4-10 hours there a day and if the music selection repeats after an hour, well, you can do the math.  That’s a whole lot of repeated songs in a month, let alone a year.  Or just increase our pay, you know, which ever.  Is that a no on the pay?  Okay, I had to try.

     I know it’s a matter of copyrighted materials and being allowed to air them at the store level but please, if I have to hear “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis one more time, I’m going to check into Heartbreak Hotel.  Yeah, that joke’s bad but maybe if my jobs played more than the same 10 songs, I could think of some other song to end that joke on.  Now, to go download that new Jonas Brothers song…

     More soon from the frontlines...