Friday, January 05, 2007
open letter to my place of part time employment
To Whom It May Concern (Though I doubt it Concerns Anyone):
Seeing as how I am quickly approaching my 6 month anniversary of my employment with your company, I thought I would share with you my thoughts regarding my time there. I will express these thoughts in the form of bullet points because: a) this isn't exactly professional and b) i like bullet points.
- I must point out, as I'm sure has been done before, that the sales quota/commision-based system that you use is not a good one. I realize that you, as a corporation and therefore a faceless entity, do not care about the work environment you create for you employees as long as that environment results in a higher profit margin. Although at this point, I get the feeling that your profit margin isn't doing so great because you have had our managers encourage us to 'get brutal' on the sales floor. I do hope that you'll forgive my refusal to do so. The work environment is hostile enough without my contribution to it. Women are catty enough without their income being based on whether or not they or the the next associate get to ring up that pair of tights. i could go on about this, but i will refrain. I will only end by saying that when every employee of your store wishes they could quit because they hate to work there, you have a problem.
- Despite your constant drilling it into us, I refuse to believe that most of our customers want to be followed around the store. I am open-minded enough to believe that all customers do not shop like me (i.e. they want to be left alone because they truly are just browsing), but I cannot and will not believe that all of our customers come to our store seeking one certain item and want us to find said item for them as well as follow them around suggesting similar items. I have done extensive research. People don't appreciate feeling stalked. I, personally, do not appreciate stalking people which is what I feel like is somewhat necessary to reach my sales quota (for more of my thoughts on the sales quota, see bullet point 1 or call me when you have a half hour to burn).
- New employees are some of the most over-zealous, obnoxious people in our store. Your orientation has scared them to death and they feel that they must personally attack every customer that comes into their section. They are petrified of not meeting their sales quota even though they are not eligible for a paycut until their 6 month review (a fact you conveniently leave out of orientation) and their sales typically do not count for their first few weeks on the floor (another fact omitted during orientation).
- This newest batch of new employees have come with their own unique set of quirks. They are older than most of the girls associates and therefore feel that they have nothing to learn from us 'youngsters' even though we have been employed there much longer than they. When any advice is offered, they curtly inform us that they know exactly what they are doing (even though, in fact, they are doing it wrong). They are also of the opinion that their sales are more important than ours (keep in mind they won't be reviewed for 6 months - you see why this is important?) and so they refrain from helping us veterans do the menial tasks of preparing for inventory, doing markdowns, shutting down registers, etc. They will stand silently, like a statue, watching and waiting for a potential customer while the rest of us do as we've been told.
You might also want to inform these particular associates that they are not allowed to do the following (since they are currently of the opinion that these things are allowed):
* leave the store for half an hour while on the clock
* post their register and turn in their money before 'all clear' has been called
* perform the above action before the store is even closed
It is my sincere hope that you find the above information useful. And while I will not lie by saying that I have enjoyed my time spent in the employ of your company, I will say that working there has allowed me to meet some very nice people and I am eternally grateful to these people for making my time there more bearable.
Sincerely,
Ruth
P.S. The new cd of instrumental piano arrangements of elton john's music is a pleasant change from the constant sound of the beatles, abba, and no doubt.
Seeing as how I am quickly approaching my 6 month anniversary of my employment with your company, I thought I would share with you my thoughts regarding my time there. I will express these thoughts in the form of bullet points because: a) this isn't exactly professional and b) i like bullet points.
- I must point out, as I'm sure has been done before, that the sales quota/commision-based system that you use is not a good one. I realize that you, as a corporation and therefore a faceless entity, do not care about the work environment you create for you employees as long as that environment results in a higher profit margin. Although at this point, I get the feeling that your profit margin isn't doing so great because you have had our managers encourage us to 'get brutal' on the sales floor. I do hope that you'll forgive my refusal to do so. The work environment is hostile enough without my contribution to it. Women are catty enough without their income being based on whether or not they or the the next associate get to ring up that pair of tights. i could go on about this, but i will refrain. I will only end by saying that when every employee of your store wishes they could quit because they hate to work there, you have a problem.
- Despite your constant drilling it into us, I refuse to believe that most of our customers want to be followed around the store. I am open-minded enough to believe that all customers do not shop like me (i.e. they want to be left alone because they truly are just browsing), but I cannot and will not believe that all of our customers come to our store seeking one certain item and want us to find said item for them as well as follow them around suggesting similar items. I have done extensive research. People don't appreciate feeling stalked. I, personally, do not appreciate stalking people which is what I feel like is somewhat necessary to reach my sales quota (for more of my thoughts on the sales quota, see bullet point 1 or call me when you have a half hour to burn).
- New employees are some of the most over-zealous, obnoxious people in our store. Your orientation has scared them to death and they feel that they must personally attack every customer that comes into their section. They are petrified of not meeting their sales quota even though they are not eligible for a paycut until their 6 month review (a fact you conveniently leave out of orientation) and their sales typically do not count for their first few weeks on the floor (another fact omitted during orientation).
- This newest batch of new employees have come with their own unique set of quirks. They are older than most of the girls associates and therefore feel that they have nothing to learn from us 'youngsters' even though we have been employed there much longer than they. When any advice is offered, they curtly inform us that they know exactly what they are doing (even though, in fact, they are doing it wrong). They are also of the opinion that their sales are more important than ours (keep in mind they won't be reviewed for 6 months - you see why this is important?) and so they refrain from helping us veterans do the menial tasks of preparing for inventory, doing markdowns, shutting down registers, etc. They will stand silently, like a statue, watching and waiting for a potential customer while the rest of us do as we've been told.
You might also want to inform these particular associates that they are not allowed to do the following (since they are currently of the opinion that these things are allowed):
* leave the store for half an hour while on the clock
* post their register and turn in their money before 'all clear' has been called
* perform the above action before the store is even closed
It is my sincere hope that you find the above information useful. And while I will not lie by saying that I have enjoyed my time spent in the employ of your company, I will say that working there has allowed me to meet some very nice people and I am eternally grateful to these people for making my time there more bearable.
Sincerely,
Ruth
P.S. The new cd of instrumental piano arrangements of elton john's music is a pleasant change from the constant sound of the beatles, abba, and no doubt.
// posted by ruth @ 10:09 PM 
