So once again, work is owning my life and abusing me in ways I didn't think possible. Not only did we lose Bob, our Kitchen/Bath/Appliance Expeditor and PC (which then split his 40 hour a week workload between Michelle and I), but this week, Michelle (Flooring and Hardware Expeditor and PC) announced that she would be leaving the company too.
I am now the only person left in my office to handle 120 hours of work in a 40 hour work week. Don't get me wrong, I have a supervisor. Do I think that he will help me? He might try, but I can almost guarantee that he won't be able to offer me the kind of help or support I need. I am stressed to the max already, and Michelle's last day isn't until next Friday.
Add to that the fact that my favourite manager ever, Cory, left the company this week and moved out of town. I have been in tears at some point every day this week. I have never worked in a place that under appreciates it's staff to the point that my company does, and I've never seen so many people come and go. And it's all based on the way we're treated. When you walk in those doors, you become a number. Customers yell at you, more work gets piled on you and you can't possibly keep up, which then causes more customers to yell at you because you're not moving as fast as they'd like.
And of course, I just got off the phone with my dad and he's so sweet and supportive and is trying to hard to make me feel better that it actually makes me feel worse because he's validating everything that I'm thinking. He made a comment about how I shouldn't let a place like this break me down and make me feel worthless...and I don't even know how he could pick up that that is exactly how I am feeling. I should be treated like GOLD right now, considering that there is absolutely no one in the store that knows my job or could cope with the workload that I have right now. Instead, I'm told that there can't be any "off-cycle raises", no changes to the schedule...really, that I'm supposed to give everything I have to this job to get nothing in return.
I have been applying to other positions but I just haven't gotten that call yet. I just don't know how much more I can take of this place before I lose it altogether. And of course, my dad once again says the magic words, "If you need to come home, you're always welcome here. You can take some time off, regroup and get yourself back on track. Don't make yourself sick."
I, of course, have an apartment lease that I'm signed on to. And I know I'm not a quitter, nor would I be happy at home for an extended period of time because all of my friends have also moved on from there.
I am trying to tell myself that I can get through this. I hope that I really can. Maybe it will get better. Or maybe some good will come out of this. At this point, all I can do is hope.
Legitimately though, I wish that "Undercover Boss" would do a special on our store. The CEOs and upper level management in our company would be in for a rude awakening if they saw exactly how they are running their company into the ground and how thin they were stretching everyone.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Ode to Retail Service Employees
Taking any position in a retail store is pretty well destined to be awful. Does it have to be, or should it be this way? I don't think so. After the day (or week, I suppose) we've just experienced, I've been prompted to write this, and I'm thinking of writing in to our local paper to try to give a voice to the retail workers in this city. I have never been treated so appalling, and I can see it is wearing on my friends and fellow coworkers too. So here are my thoughts. Of course if I send something in, it will be anonymous and better written too :)
The service industry is hard. Most people know this. At some point in their lives, most people will end up in a retail service position. So why then do people behave the way they do when faced with someone who works in customer service? Is it suddenly okay to yell, scream, call them names and berate them, use profanity towards them because you are the customer, and what you say is right?
You are NOT always right.
I work at a big box store. I have met wonderful people in my line of work. I have also had the misfortune of meeting the very worst people I can imagine. People who go out of their way to make your day awful, people who aren't satisfied until you are in tears. Don't get me wrong, you certainly need to have a backbone when you arein the front line of customer service. But I have seen some of the strongest people break because of customers who have no compassion or empathy whatsoever.
We are people too.
We have families. Lives outside of where we work. I sympathize if your life feels unfulfilled or you are lacking excitement, but please don't take it out on us. We are as underpaid and underappreciated and understaffed as you are. Most of us sincerely want to help you when you come in with a problem...until you tell us that we are stupid. Useless. That we should be fired. If the shoe was on the other foot, how would you feel?
Did I make everyone quit? Am I responsible for some of the best people and best employees I know being fired? I am front of the line, yes, but I don't control the schedules, the lack of staff, the lack of product in the store. I didn't damage your merchandise or sell you something that I knew to be defective.
I am not the root cause of everything bad within a business because I am the first face you see.
Currently, my workplace is in a state of chaos. Some of the best employees have quit or been released from the company, and the rest of us who are there are left to suffer. We are forced to take on more work than can be handled properly by one single person, and we are expected to do it with a smile. Do it better and more efficiently than the person who was doing it before, as we add it to our own responsibilities. The impossible is being asked of us every day. I apologize if sometimes I'm not as perky as usual, not as quick to smile because I'm trying as hard as I can not to cry in front of the customers. The amount of stress placed on those of us who are considered "good" employees is tremendous. Please try to take into account that we are trying to juggle double, triple or sometimes quadruple the amount of work than we'd usually have because our company doesn't appreciate our efforts and thinks that we should be doing more.
We work for minimum wage, maybe slightly higher. Before you come in my workplace to yell at me, please think before you speak. As I've said, the nicer you are to me, the more I will want to do everything in my power to help you.
I should also mention that when I am not working, when I have my own shopping to do, I am constantly watching the behaviour of customers in other stores. If you decide to take out your frustrations on a cashier or another customer service personnel who isn't a manager, please know that I WILL step in and say something to you. I hope that it will embarrass you. I hope that it will make you stop and think about what you are doing. And most of all, I hope that it will help the employee to whom you are venting on, as we are kindred spirits, forced to go through this same song and dance every day.
Get off your high horse and remember that you are no better than us. Most of us are college or university educated people, who have fallen into this industry because jobs are scarce in our fields. We are people, just like you.
The service industry is hard. Most people know this. At some point in their lives, most people will end up in a retail service position. So why then do people behave the way they do when faced with someone who works in customer service? Is it suddenly okay to yell, scream, call them names and berate them, use profanity towards them because you are the customer, and what you say is right?
You are NOT always right.
I work at a big box store. I have met wonderful people in my line of work. I have also had the misfortune of meeting the very worst people I can imagine. People who go out of their way to make your day awful, people who aren't satisfied until you are in tears. Don't get me wrong, you certainly need to have a backbone when you arein the front line of customer service. But I have seen some of the strongest people break because of customers who have no compassion or empathy whatsoever.
We are people too.
We have families. Lives outside of where we work. I sympathize if your life feels unfulfilled or you are lacking excitement, but please don't take it out on us. We are as underpaid and underappreciated and understaffed as you are. Most of us sincerely want to help you when you come in with a problem...until you tell us that we are stupid. Useless. That we should be fired. If the shoe was on the other foot, how would you feel?
Did I make everyone quit? Am I responsible for some of the best people and best employees I know being fired? I am front of the line, yes, but I don't control the schedules, the lack of staff, the lack of product in the store. I didn't damage your merchandise or sell you something that I knew to be defective.
I am not the root cause of everything bad within a business because I am the first face you see.
Currently, my workplace is in a state of chaos. Some of the best employees have quit or been released from the company, and the rest of us who are there are left to suffer. We are forced to take on more work than can be handled properly by one single person, and we are expected to do it with a smile. Do it better and more efficiently than the person who was doing it before, as we add it to our own responsibilities. The impossible is being asked of us every day. I apologize if sometimes I'm not as perky as usual, not as quick to smile because I'm trying as hard as I can not to cry in front of the customers. The amount of stress placed on those of us who are considered "good" employees is tremendous. Please try to take into account that we are trying to juggle double, triple or sometimes quadruple the amount of work than we'd usually have because our company doesn't appreciate our efforts and thinks that we should be doing more.
We work for minimum wage, maybe slightly higher. Before you come in my workplace to yell at me, please think before you speak. As I've said, the nicer you are to me, the more I will want to do everything in my power to help you.
I should also mention that when I am not working, when I have my own shopping to do, I am constantly watching the behaviour of customers in other stores. If you decide to take out your frustrations on a cashier or another customer service personnel who isn't a manager, please know that I WILL step in and say something to you. I hope that it will embarrass you. I hope that it will make you stop and think about what you are doing. And most of all, I hope that it will help the employee to whom you are venting on, as we are kindred spirits, forced to go through this same song and dance every day.
Get off your high horse and remember that you are no better than us. Most of us are college or university educated people, who have fallen into this industry because jobs are scarce in our fields. We are people, just like you.
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