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Volmarias posted:The Amish have cellphones, because they "don't have moving parts" (sure thing buddy). Cellphones are tiny computers at this point, it's not much of a leap. That depends a lot on the individual community. I used to work with an Amish girl who would hide her cell phone at the store because it would have caused a shitstorm if she had been caught by her family with it. She also used to sneak into the back office and use the internet a lot.
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Jan 15, 2014 01:02
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I did it, guys. After three and a half years I'm out of retail. Gonna be working in a warehouse.
Dangerous Person fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Jan 16, 2014 |
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Jan 16, 2014 02:30
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Dangerous Person posted:I did it, guys. After three and a half years I'm out of retail. Gonna be working in a warehouse. So out of the frying pan and into the fire then huh?
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Jan 16, 2014 03:57
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I get good pay, weekends off, holidays, benefits, lots of good stuff. I actually got the retail job straight out of high school, so this is only my second job ever. If it really is supposed to be awful, oh well least I'll know not to do it again in the future. I'll see what it's like next week.
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Jan 16, 2014 05:05
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Dangerous Person posted:I get good pay, weekends off, holidays, benefits, lots of good stuff. I actually got the retail job straight out of high school, so this is only my second job ever. If it really is supposed to be awful, oh well least I'll know not to do it again in the future. I'll see what it's like next week. I hope it goes well for you, retail is poo poo.
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Jan 16, 2014 05:35
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Dangerous Person posted:I get good pay, weekends off, holidays, benefits, lots of good stuff. I actually got the retail job straight out of high school, so this is only my second job ever. If it really is supposed to be awful, oh well least I'll know not to do it again in the future. I'll see what it's like next week. I guess not all employers are as evil as Amazon then. Working in their warehouses is supposed to be hell on earth.
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Jan 16, 2014 05:47
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Baldbeard posted:Today I caught him smelling me. Ahhh! That is sexual harassment. It doesn't have to be all about him offering BJ's to fellow male coworkers/their boyfriends, etc. Anything that makes you feel uncomfortable in that sense is a good enough ground for him. But, seeing as this is "incident number X" filed, this goes beyond his threats of discrimination or his mental handicap(s). Entire companies get sued for things like this all the time.
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Jan 16, 2014 11:13
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trunkwontopen posted:That is sexual harassment. It doesn't have to be all about him offering BJ's to fellow male coworkers/their boyfriends, etc. Anything that makes you feel uncomfortable in that sense is a good enough ground for him. But, seeing as this is "incident number X" filed, this goes beyond his threats of discrimination or his mental handicap(s). Entire companies get sued for things like this all the time.
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Jan 16, 2014 18:23
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trunkwontopen posted:That is sexual harassment. It doesn't have to be all about him offering BJ's to fellow male coworkers/their boyfriends, etc. Anything that makes you feel uncomfortable in that sense is a good enough ground for him. But, seeing as this is "incident number X" filed, this goes beyond his threats of discrimination or his mental handicap(s). Entire companies get sued for things like this all the time. Yeah I know. The problem is its very hard to prove someone was trying to 'secretly sensually smell' you. HR just wants cold hard facts, and all I am going to be able to do is say that he, "Inhaled as I passed him". As soon as he gets teary-eyed and preemptively contacts HR because he's afraid of losing his job due to uncontrollable nasal congestion, it will blow over like it always does. He picks his targets wisely. If he ever made an outright inappropriate to me directly it would be game over. It's almost comical how much he gets away with. Gay + mental disability is like the perfect HR shield in "I will sue you over anything" California. Ultimately, I'm only concerned for my employees and customers. Hopefully one of them steps up the next time he does something stupid.
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Jan 16, 2014 19:30
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The Lord Bude posted:So out of the frying pan and into the fire then huh? Warehouses are pretty cool if you have a good crew. Guys being guys is never not fun.
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Jan 16, 2014 23:13
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Baldbeard posted:Yeah I know. The problem is its very hard to prove someone was trying to 'secretly sensually smell' you. HR just wants cold hard facts, and all I am going to be able to do is say that he, "Inhaled as I passed him". As soon as he gets teary-eyed and preemptively contacts HR because he's afraid of losing his job due to uncontrollable nasal congestion, it will blow over like it always does. He picks his targets wisely. If he ever made an outright inappropriate to me directly it would be game over. It's still a proven track record of creating a hostile workplace. Kinda like, you can say a person's name, and you can say a person's name in a way that can be taken as sexual harassment. What happened to our resident HR person? Maybe he/she can chime in.
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Jan 16, 2014 23:37
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Report it and move on. Press the issue if you want, but chances are they already know this guy is a problem and are just building up the evidence they need to shitcan him.
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Jan 16, 2014 23:41
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Baldbeard posted:Yeah I know. The problem is its very hard to prove someone was trying to 'secretly sensually smell' you. HR just wants cold hard facts, and all I am going to be able to do is say that he, "Inhaled as I passed him". As soon as he gets teary-eyed and preemptively contacts HR because he's afraid of losing his job due to uncontrollable nasal congestion, it will blow over like it always does. He picks his targets wisely. If he ever made an outright inappropriate to me directly it would be game over. But, he didn't actually inhaled through his nostrils heavily because of congestion, etc. If he did that, you wouldn't be telling us about it. He initiated actions that designate a potential uncontrollable sexual urge that not only made you feel uncomfortable, possibly setting the stage up for future actions that can be categorized in the same manner, and is evenly relishing in the fact that when/if HR approaches him because of these allegations, he can easily throw down the homosexual/mental disability card and that magically dismisses his actions. Mental disability or not, there are rules and regulations. I'm with ya though, convincing HR of this is going to be difficult, but given his current track record (or high score), it shouldn't be impossible. I have a friend that works with mentally disabled, occupationally defiant, and specially abled workers. Even though they are watched like a hawk, and there is some leeway there, she has had to do firings for lesser offenses. This is in MI, and I can't imagine the laws being much more different in CA. However, there are additional options. Here's what you do; you can tell your manager to grow a backbone, and let him know that California is an "at will" state. I'm sure there are others in your immediate area that would be glad to have his job.
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Jan 17, 2014 10:21
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trunkwontopen posted:Here's what you do; you can tell your manager to grow a backbone, and let him know that California is an "at will" state. I'm sure there are others in your immediate area that would be glad to have his job. This is stupid, destructive and all around terrible advice. Nothing's getting done because you're not communicating with the people you should be communicating with. If your coworker's sniffing bothers you, the first step is to talk to a manager and/or HR about it (as opposed to, say, idiots on the internet). Give the system a chance before you blow poo poo out of proportion. Edit: just a reminder, your goal is to get the behavior to stop, not to put a man on the street. Don't lose sight of that. Irish Joe fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Jan 17, 2014 |
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Jan 17, 2014 17:28
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The best part about dealing with a horrible customer for an hour is that every customer after is a cakewalk in comparison.
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Jan 17, 2014 22:05
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Some months ago someone posted up a good resume format to use, the goon worked in HR, I think? Anyone remember who that was or where I can find a copy? There's so many goddamn templates that are probably marked "throw this poo poo right out" in HR speak.
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Jan 17, 2014 23:22
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Jan 18, 2014 00:20
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Irish Joe posted:This is stupid, destructive and all around terrible advice. I don't think it is. It's personally not advice that I would take as a first step, but, what is the alternative? Let this person keep behaving in the manner that they are? I know that the end does not justify the means, but this creepily-bad employee is a walking liability. All it takes is the right employee to be in that situation and then all of a sudden, the company, as a whole is facing a lawsuit. There really should be no company's HR in existence that is afraid to talk to an employee about repeated offences reported by fellow employees because they might throw out the "but I'm gay and/or mentally handicapped and you are infringing on my rights." It just seems to me that this manner of thinking and 'problem solving' is not getting anything done, let alone providing a safe and sexual-harassment-free for their eomployees. At one of my old jobs, a woman walked into the breakroom area, as other employees were telling a joke that was off-color. She overheard, went to HR about it, and filed a complaint. A month later, basically the same thing happened. She got a lawyer, sued the company, and won. She walked away with a check for 7 figures. As the company could not keep up, lots of people lost their job, others had to re-interview for their job, as well as go through sexual harassment in the workplace training. Even though I was not involved, I lost my job as well. In this, the HR department was to blame, as they did not curb this type of behavior, simply because they did not want to stir the bee's nest.
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Jan 18, 2014 01:32
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trunkwontopen posted:At one of my old jobs, a woman walked into the breakroom area, as other employees were telling a joke that was off-color. She overheard, went to HR about it, and filed a complaint. A month later, basically the same thing happened. She got a lawyer, sued the company, and won. She walked away with a check for 7 figures. As the company could not keep up, lots of people lost their job, others had to re-interview for their job, as well as go through sexual harassment in the workplace training. Even though I was not involved, I lost my job as well. In this, the HR department was to blame, as they did not curb this type of behavior, simply because they did not want to stir the bee's nest.
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Jan 18, 2014 01:47
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Irish Joe posted:This is stupid, destructive and all around terrible advice. I really just came in here with a great example of "Reasons I No Longer Desire to Work in Retail", I wasn't exactly seeking advice. This has dragged on for a bit here, so I'll try to wrap it up. Not only have I let my direct (store)manager know, but I have filed reports with HR personally as I'm a supervisor. Myself and several other members of management have also directly confronted Mr. Filth about his behavior. Because of how strong the grocery/food handlers union is in California, even non-union corporations usually have extreme employee protections in place. The store manager has to push HR very hard to terminate an employee because all terminations are done through that department. Since my store manager is lazy and doesn't really care, it creates this never-ending situation. I literally had a co-worker who was a member of a gang threaten to kill another co-worker at work, and also make similar death-threats via text message. After compiling the whole report, which had 3 witness reports and copies of the text messages, and sending it in to HR, I got a response a few days later saying "Employee was coached on appropriate work-behavior and given a (lowest level written-warning)". If no face as punched, breast was grabbed, or theft taken place, my HR department tries to settle everything by talking to both parties and getting them to hug it out. Verbal altercations or non-physical gestures just mean jack poo poo in the day to day. x1000 if the victim is a man.
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Jan 18, 2014 01:55
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trunkwontopen posted:It just seems to me that this manner of thinking and 'problem solving' is not getting anything done, let alone providing a safe and sexual-harassment-free for their eomployees. As a low-level employee, its not his call whether to discipline or fire a coworker. He doesn't know what's going on behind the scenes and he doesn't know what actions have been taken against the offender because he doesn't have the right to know. Its unfortunate what happened to you at a previous employer, but making ultimatums, even for the "greater good," is not the right way to handle things. The first step is always to report things and, if you're not satisfied with the results, to escalate as needed. If the manager he talked about is the final decision maker (that is to say, if there are no regional/department managers to appeal to) and he doesn't want to help, then perhaps the solution is to find another job at a better employer.
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Jan 18, 2014 01:59
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Anyone else work in a retail store that has a strict "no fraternization" policy? As in if its suspected thay I hangout with a fellow associate(NOT MANAGEMENT) suddendly and magicly we will never work together. Like goto the bar, go hiking etc etc. My other job encourges us too make a bond outside work. Weeirrd. Edit: as in there wouldn't be any baby making invloved. I am the only male, gay. Working with 20 females. *takes a chomp* fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Jan 18, 2014 |
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Jan 18, 2014 03:27
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I actually work with my current girlfriend, we got to know each other after I started working there and have been going out for a few months now. We're both department supervisors, which meant we had to report our relationship, but there's been no problems (other than the circumstances of trying to find free time for each other inamongst two full-time retail schedules). Basically my company's policy boils down to this: Non-supervisory/management employees can do whatever they want dating-wise. A supervisor and a non-supervisor can only date if it's reported to HR and it's not a direct report relationship (ie: I can't date someone in my own department). Two supervisors, no problem, as long as it's on file with HR. Above that, management's options are very limited, because when you're an assistant store manager, everyone is a direct report. So if myself or my girlfriend were in line for a promotion, one of us would have to switch stores. Same thing for key-carrying department supervisors, since they're acting as ASMs sometimes. Asset Protection people can't date or even hang out socially with anyone from the store. Has to do with compromising their impartiality when it comes to potential internal theft issues, I guess. So that's it in a nutshell.
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Jan 18, 2014 04:47
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*takes a chomp* posted:Anyone else work in a retail store that has a strict "no fraternization" policy? As in if its suspected thay I hangout with a fellow associate(NOT MANAGEMENT) suddendly and magicly we will never work together. Like goto the bar, go hiking etc etc. My other job encourges us too make a bond outside work. Weeirrd. Mine is basically you can do everything with anyone, but if you get married then one of you gets the boot. Granted, there are two girls at work who are basically permanently barred from working in the same department together because, although they are friends, got into a big row a while back to the point it was affecting them at work.
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Jan 18, 2014 04:49
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You know you've worked way too many poo poo retail and customer service jobs when you think $11/hr at your new job is a lot.
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Jan 18, 2014 06:45
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Coconut Indian posted:You know you've worked way too many poo poo retail and customer service jobs when you think $11/hr at your new job is a lot. I was loving amazed when I moved to Chicago and got an office job for $13 an hour. I could actually BUY THINGS!
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Jan 18, 2014 07:39
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11$ an hour is a lot to me...  I guess that means 6 years in retail is too long
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Jan 18, 2014 10:17
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Drakkel posted:I was loving amazed when I moved to Chicago and got an office job for $13 an hour. I could actually BUY THINGS! When I went from retail to working in a call centre it was a revelation to me that instead of having a 25% discount on video games, I could instead have 25% more money that I could spend on anything including video games.
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Jan 18, 2014 10:37
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Got an email from the highest paying semi-entry level local IT company today. They want to schedule me for a technical pre-screen for a Windows tech support position (not call center poo poo, professional level support) for one of their products. It's a big deal - this is a pretty big multinational company, and this position starts at $45k; I'm making less than $20k now. I know I can do the job since I know plenty of other people who work there and they tell me exactly what it's like. In fact, I taught a friend of mine who works there how to diagnose and troubleshoot computers, and I know much more than he does about this sort of thing in particular. Wish me luck, guys. I have a chance to get out of this hole.
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Jan 18, 2014 13:56
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I get $13/hr as a part time butcher right now. It'd be great if the cost of living wasn't so drat high
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Jan 18, 2014 14:08
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Me:Thank you for calling RETAILSTORE How may I help you! Lady: hi, where are you located? Me: we are nextdoor to cvs, in and out, and costco! Lady: WELL! I was just there and you are not there! WHERE are you? I can't find this place. Are you sure you know where you are? Me: .... We are nextdoor to cvs, in and out and costco... Please don't yell at me lady how we are not here we have been here for 25 years.
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Jan 18, 2014 18:19
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I swear, some levels of stupidity are flat-out incomprehensible to me. I think that one just broke my brain a bit.
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Jan 18, 2014 18:55
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Got this little gem last night. Man and woman looking at grout, the lady is asking him questions and he's being a dick and not giving her proper answers. I walk in about this point: Woman: does the bag say how much it can cover? Man: No! It all depends on the size of your tile and the gaps. You'll have to ask [guy doing the installation]. So, I grab a bag of grout, flip in over and show them the chart on the bag that actually shows approximate coverage. I basically ignore the guy and ask the lady, how big is the tile? How big are the gaps? He snaps at me: WE DON'T KNOW! The tile hasn't been laid yet! Before I say anything, the lady cuts in, the installer bought white spacers. Man: Spacers come in all sorts of sizes, we don't know how big they are! Me (to woman): Did he buy them from us? Woman: Yes. He does all his shopping here. So, I show her to the next aisle over, and guess what Mr. Grumpypants, our tile spacers are color coded! White is a 1/8" gap! He looked at me like I was some kind of smug rear end (maybe I was), but it made me feel nice to both help a customer and get some snide jerk to shut up. Doubly so when he snapped at me with that idiotic remark about not knowing the tile gaps until the tile is laid. Oh, so I suppose you don't know your tire size until you put the wheels on the car. Or what color your walls are until you paint them. Or that you have to pass the bill... okay, I'll stop.
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Jan 18, 2014 19:52
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Sounds like me when I get people that don't understand that window and door parts aren't all magically universal. Where I work now, we carry, off the top of my head: - 10 varieties of sliding screen door rollers - 3 different screen door closure kits - 12 different sliding glass door handles - Dozens of sizes and styles of window balances - 9 varieties of awning window operators in left- and right-handed versions - 8 different mobile home window operators - Dozens of patio door rollers - 5 varieties of screen frame - et cetera I remain calm, but sometimes I want to hit these people with a 2x4 when I can't get it into their brain that there's a difference between an Alcan window balance and a Florida Extruders window balance, even when I grab one of each and show them the difference. "Well, can't I just grind down this end here?" "Yes, but you also have the fact that the balance you're replacing has little wings on the sides and the one you want to grind down DOESN'T, so it wouldn't really work." Or the ones that understand the different balance ends, but don't understand that an Alcan 2920 (29-inch balance for a 20-pound sash with Alcan ends) will not hold up a window that takes an Alcan 2940 balance. Especially when they just want to replace one balance. You'll never get that fucker straight again. I love being at a place where A) I learn the aluminum business by doing and touching and B) I can flat-out refuse to sell people something if I know it's not going to work for their situation. I'm proud of myself for being able to look at half of an Alcan top sash guide and then going into the retail room, pulling out the right top sash guide, and seeing the look on peoples' faces when I got it right.  EDIT: Wow, that turned into a bunch of industry-specific gobbledygook. Let me add another pissing-me-off point. Our lone POS uses QuickBooks as POS software. And we're switching to Microsoft NAV at the beginning of the month. And we have yet to have any sort of training on it whatsoever. And corporate is pushing us to use CWS for our windows and doors rather than PGT windows and doors that we've been selling for over a decade. Although they seem to be backing off to pushing us to use a mix of PGT and CWS. Why do they want us to use CWS? Because PGT's payment terms with our parent company are net 30 and CWS gives them net 45 or net 60, I can't remember. Pay up at the end of the month, you fuckers.  EDIT 2: I also just found out our parent company gave away an iPad Mini in a Facebook promotion last week and they're saddling each branch with a portion of the cost 
D34THROW fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Jan 19, 2014 |
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Jan 18, 2014 21:01
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Does anyone know someone who works at really high end retail? Does the pay scale up, or do you work of commission or what?
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Jan 19, 2014 04:06
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baquerd posted:Does anyone know someone who works at really high end retail? Does the pay scale up, or do you work of commission or what? The few I know make some commission or get payouts at certain sales milestones which get reset monthly/quarterly/whatever. I used to know someone who made fairly normal retail wages (for this area, so like $12/hr) but got really great discounts in-store for a brand name clothes. I don't really feel any of that pays off. If I worked in something like a wedding boutique I would have to spend 3x the time and 10x the money on my appearance/clothes alone, nevermind the additional stress from sales being so critical.
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Jan 19, 2014 05:07
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Curiosity posted:The few I know make some commission or get payouts at certain sales milestones which get reset monthly/quarterly/whatever. I used to know someone who made fairly normal retail wages (for this area, so like $12/hr) but got really great discounts in-store for a brand name clothes. That's interesting to me, because retail at its base is all about sales dollars and managing customers. What is so fundamentally different between people selling high end consumer products to people making hundreds of thousands of dollars selling big products to big business? Does it all come down to connections? Is there some other element, such as ruthlessness or confidence, that separates a retail salesperson from a high value product salesperson? How much of the salesperson "hierarchy" comes down to luck and circumstance, and how much can be controlled by a person with the appropriate sales-intelligence and motivation?
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Jan 19, 2014 06:06
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baquerd posted:That's interesting to me, because retail at its base is all about sales dollars and managing customers. What is so fundamentally different between people selling high end consumer products to people making hundreds of thousands of dollars selling big products to big business? Does it all come down to connections? Is there some other element, such as ruthlessness or confidence, that separates a retail salesperson from a high value product salesperson? How much of the salesperson "hierarchy" comes down to luck and circumstance, and how much can be controlled by a person with the appropriate sales-intelligence and motivation? Knowledge of the product, credentials in the field, and experience in the specific market are what make the difference. A certified radiology technition with a decade of experience is going to be a better salesperson for a new line of cardiogram machines designed for hospitals. At a higher level, products are generally demo'd for potential biyers. And a successful sales contract can come with a lot of additional services. It really depends on the field. Baldbeard fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Jan 19, 2014 |
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Jan 19, 2014 06:31
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baquerd posted:Is there some other element, such as ruthlessness or confidence, that separates a retail salesperson from a high value product salesperson? Yes. A mop. But seriously retail workers are not sales people. I spend big portions of my day cleaning, exchanging money with customers, balancing tills/the safe, moving product around and managing staff. This doesn't make me a janitor, accountant, marketing professional or COO. The biggest difference is the customer. Someone who wants to spend 500k needs to spend a lot of time having their questions answered. The customer needs to feel as though the person answering the questions is a credible source (this can mean a corresponding education for the product sold), and has a good business sense. People often consider a big sale to be "doing business". They will not use that phrase for buying a new suit. Of course some fantastic salespeople have no relevant education. It has to do with charisma and yeah, luck and connections, but they really need to stand out a lot more than the best sales associate at some popular electronics store. They have those connections because of their networking capabilities, and the good luck is often just a good reputation. My brother-in-law is a great sales guy with an unrelated education who can talk people into hiring him, and that's why he deserves the jobs he gets. I don't think retail experience is a great stepping stone to sales jobs. If you're interested in something like that, play up your customer service skills and look for a call center job. If you get really lucky you can get a cold-calling job for a sales division of a company and turn some cold calls into sales.
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Jan 19, 2014 06:51
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Weekend tally: Friday - customer assaulted on street, comes back with concussion and a broken nose. Sent to hospital in ambulance. Saturday - "Excuse me, are you a prostitute or are you just dressed like one?" Thought we'd have another casualty on our hands, but no. Later kicked a different customer out for abusing us. Sunday - find needle on floor of shop. Ah, New Zealand. Where even full moon weekends are tame by comparison.
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Jan 19, 2014 16:26
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