To protect the innocent, all names have been omitted.
Talking about my career experience was inspired by the book
The Trouble with Wall Street, by Lewis Bracker.
Talking about my career experience was inspired by the book
The Trouble with Wall Street, by Lewis Bracker.
"NEVER SETTLE FOR A MISERABLE JOB, WHERE YOU WORK VERY HARD FOR LITTLE MONEY (OR ONLY THE PROMISE OF MONEY), CLINGING TO AN ILLUSION OF JOB SECURITY AND LOOKING FORWARD TO A 2-WEEK VACATION, EACH YEAR, AND MAYBE A SKIMPY PENSION AFTER 45 YEARS OF SERVICE OR SKIMPY 401K." - Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
If you read my Life Story blog entries, you know about the series of terrible jobs that I experienced. Each began as a beacon of hope, but each was a mirage. They were jobs that "chewed through" staff, purely as expendable items to make profit—not very different from the way immigrant Kitchen Staff and Lawn Service laborers are treated. Social scholars and satirists argue that many industries are structured like that. But compared to organizations that share their profits with those who make profits possible, the companies that I worked for were diabolical. Here's the story of the job that I just left. If a company can avoid these pitfalls, they'll have grateful and longstanding clientele/employees.
I was recruited to the company, and it seemed like a really good opportunity. At my current job, my boss was silently thwarting my advancement in our company, to keep me making money for him. When my next company approached me, it was finally my chance to work in New York City. It was also the only job offer that I had.
Fate timed that job offer with my chance to move from Flushing to Astoria, which is much cleaner/nicer. The subway ride from Astoria to NYC was one hour shorter than from Flushing to NYC. So, it made sense to make both Life Changes and "begin a new chapter". I had just begun dating Lewis, which was another reason to get closer to the city!
Despite the poor industry reputation of my new company, I was assured during three different (long and widely-spaced apart) interviews that the company was going to have a revival. I was being recruited to manage the Service Department at the company's brand-new boutique on Madison Avenue. (Coincidentally, it was several blocks south of where Lewis worked! I thought that was a good sign.) It was going to be trendy and modern: I saw the blueprints, and they walked me through the skeleton of the store—still under construction—during my second interview. They wanted me to manage 10 people—some were veterans in the company: 17 years, 19 years, 8 years, 11 years, 28 years. My department would have a Service Counter (with chairs for customers) housing "a sleek row of computer terminals" to register products that needed repair. We would have an espresso machine for customers. A custom-made, canvas mural was in the midst of being created, to hang behind our counter—akin to something MoMA has. We were going to be the first store in all of Manhattan equipped with a digital/cellphone-connected Queuing System.
My concerns about the poor reviews that I saw on Yelp or GlassDoor.com? My interviewer told me not to worry. The company had a new CEO, I'd work with a newly-appointed Store Director (10 years in the company), and the vibe of the store would be unique for its industry—to signal a new era! I researched the new CEO, and he seemed like a "fixer". I had hope.
I accepted the job with the Vice President of Stores, a veteran of 19 years. I liked him. He shook my hand, told me that he liked my gumption and that I had an encouraging spark. I was sent for a week of in-depth orientation at the company's new (4 years old) repair facility in Long Island City. The National Service Director (of 20 years) quickly took a liking to me, telling me that my attitude and aptitude would do well in the company.
During my training, I got my first mental warning when I began questioning details on the blueprints of the store… only to find out that nobody had a clear answer. I was assured that everything would be okay. (As if I never heard that before in my former jobs)! As the grand opening neared, I got acclimated with my staff. Over the years, the Service Department hadn't been taken care of. It was unorganized. Outdated computer keyboards were missing keys!
Of greater concern was that most members of my staff were pathetic. Not a trace of professionalism in 7 out of 10. One older woman continually misplaced things—including customer merchandise (sometimes in her purse!) and had absolutely NO ability to use computers! She didn't even know how to use email!!! She did everything on paper… and lost the papers. My Assistant Manager (who was 10 years older than me) was an idiot: scatterbrained, clumsy, emotionally hysterical, accusatory, and confrontational. The Technicians and senior Expeditor locked themselves away from the staff and dependably did their work in their own
rooms.
I couldn't imagine how the company had been previously complacent with such things. Suddenly, my new Store Director urged me to formally evaluate and remove members of my staff. Many didn't belong in "Customer Service" jobs. (They would probably do poorly at Burger King, too).
Petty fights, internal squabbles, poor language skills, cursing, bad attitudes, tardiness, lost merchandise, lost invoices, clumsiness in dropping customer's merchandise, hysteria, and foul mouths to customers. Why had the company allowed those people to continue to work there? Why had the company allowed the situation to degenerate so badly? Here's why: those people were "cheap workers". Many of my store's sales associates weren't much better—like Used Car Salesmen. Customers could sense it "a mile away".
That wasn't in my employment contract. Nobody mentioned it during my interviews. Next, my compensation was tied into how many accessories that my department sold. That was a challenge, because salesmen and the Store Director often gave away accessories for free, to help finalize their sales. It also became my job to reorder Accessory Replenishment and manage the monthly Inventory (something the store manager used to do). Three idle women in the store's office managed all of the store's payment transactions, but now the Service Department had to do its own.
I watched the Corporate Office continually re-word and change their Employee Handbook and Standard Operating Procedures—often changing back and forth between stances. In 3 years, the company went through 3 Human Resources Directors. None of them helped me execute my duties: removing staff, reprimanding staff, or hiring staff. Since most of my poorly-paid Service Representatives were racial minorities, HR excessively hesitated in authorizing discipline on them. They feared racial legalities. Only if repetitive customer complaint letters to the CEO were received, would they allow me to "write up" an employee. When we finally got to the fourth/last stage of Termination, it began another hassle to interview and hire replacements.
The foremost problem was that the company offered the lowest salaries to Service staff. If a Service Professional achieved 100% of their goal ALL YEAR (which was extremely challenging), they would make only $39,000. Imagine what they actually made. How did they expect to have top-rate competency without paying for it? In my 3 years toiling at that God-forsaken company, my entire team made their monthly goal only 5 times per year! We were the best-performing store in the district of 6 stores—including NYC's flagship! With such cheap compensation (and expensive medical insurance), it was nearly impossible to find qualified employees—especially considering how much work was involved, how much could go wrong to impede employees from achieving their goals, how many problems were structured "beyond our control", and how oppressive the corporate management was.
The best indicator that the company considered its employees as crap, was by looking at the Break Room that they designed. Remember, they built that store "from scratch" and had plenty of room to design a proper Lunch Room. Instead, they wasted space all around the store, and CREATED this space for 30 employees to have lunch amidst their lockers, coat rack, cleaning supplies, rolls of wrapping paper, and a counter that held a microwave, coffee machine, and a filtered water machine. The available counter-space to eat on was tiny, so we often held our food in our laps. There were no chairs, so we used two stools from the Sales Floor to share (you see two people sitting on one stool). The vacuums and garbage pail were in that room, too. That's "luxury" for 30 employees to have lunch!
The company stupidly put an expensive wall of video monitors behind a support pillar. The store's managerial office was enormous for its mere 4 occupants, but it could've been smaller to give more space to the Lunch Room. They put the thermostat for the entire store (cheaply using only one climate zone) on that support pillar… so it constantly felt the heat from the wall of video monitors AND the direct sunlight from the windows. Stupid. They also didn't install proper heat, so during our first winter, they had to add "heat blowers" above both entrances… which made unmuffled noise throughout the whole store (for 3 long winters). Is that luxurious?
After the grand opening, it was evident that the company used the cheapest materials and cheapest contractors available. All of the drawers in the display cases collapsed. All 75 of them! The folks at Corporate hadn't thought of the weight of the merchandise! How idiotic!
In the old store, the three repair technicians sat at workbenches in their own room and had their noisy machinery in yet another room. Both Expediters had their own room. Expediters electronically transferred repairs between our store and the LIC Repair Center or outside vendors. They also handled the packaging/mail, and invoice-gathering (which I approved and submitted to Accounts Payable), and answered the telephones. They had a full-size camera cabinet on their desk to take pictures of customers' merchandise during drop-off.
In the new store, they uncaringly crammed all of that equipment, two workbenches, two Expediter desks, the cabinets for supplies, the cabinets for repairs, a small sink, and a loud polishing machine with ventilation hood in ONE ROOM (a third of the size of the office). Six people had to share that room! Without accommodation for the third technician, they made him work at another NYC store and come to my store when one of my other technicians had a day off. Considering that he was very talented, I missed having him for 4 or 5 days of the week! That affected how much work was done at my location (and the speed of it), even though the goals/quotas increased!
My Assistant Manager and I didn't have a desk. We had to use hastily-issued iPads and stand wherever we could. The noise from the technicians' machines and the noise from their workbenches radiated over the Expediters who had to answer the phones. The technicians had to try to concentrate despite the phones ringing, people chattering, being literally side-by-side, and people trying to pass behind them (while trying to repair expensive items).
The cabinets (for customer items) were under the counters, so everyone had to bend down to look inside and pull out the correct repair. Where did they put the safety locks on those cabinet doors? Not at the top where they'd be easy to reach, but at the floor-level! Those cabinets were directly behind the rolling chairs of the Expeditors, so they were constantly get bumped by Customer Service Representatives who tried to scoot into the room, squat down, open the cabinets, go through numeric order, and retrieve the repairs. In fact, I had to consider the physical size and age dexterity of job candidates because they needed to be able to squeeze into positions in that room.
It was equally bad at the Service Desk. The Corporate imbeciles squeezed four Service Professionals side-by-side behind a counter that was only 8 feet long! The stools for the customers were too high for the counter, so customers banged their knees and couldn't sit under the counter. (I remember hearing the CEO tell some VP—who was more interested in her manicures and Burberry handbags—to have those stools changed for lower ones. He walked away, she rolled her eyes… and the stools are still there). Unlike other Customer Service Desks (or your local Post Office), they didn't give counter space for the four Service Professionals. The top of the counter had three glass panels, underneath which sat computer screens. So you couldn't put anything on top of the counter, if you wanted to see the screen! Where was the fourth computer? Well, it was supposed to be a standing monitor for handicapped customers, but they never installed it. So, the fourth Service Professional had to use old-fashioned hand-written paper tickets… unless my Assistant or I gave up one of our iPads. No, they never bothered giving us another iPad. So that fourth person worked at a disadvantage of how fast they could compete and take in repairs (the manual tickets still had to be entered into the system, later). Nor could that person help clients who wanted to look up something in the electronic system. That impeded our ability to deal with customers who waited in line. A fourth computer never arrived. Impatient customers got angry that we had an employee who couldn't help all kinds of needs.
The counter was idiotically created with nowhere to put things like staplers, telephones, or receipt printers. The counter's keyboard drawers weren't the correct size for the keyboards! So, keyboards and mice occupied what little space existed on the shelf just beneath the counter. Everyone had to keep their phones, staplers, pens, business cards, and repair pouches at floor-level. So, you'd see Representatives duck under the counter (even though they were elbow-to-elbow) to squat down and get your receipt or answer the phones! They still do.
The Cash Register drawer, its receipt printer, and the ticket printer were all crammed under the fourth station (that never got its computer). Thus, that employee had nowhere to keep their things. To make it worse, the counter was up against a wall, so there was only one way in or out. Representatives had to clumsily navigate behind each other to fetch papers from the printers or repairs from the Service Room. The space between the counter and the back wall was only 3 feet deep! Employees often tripped over each other's feet and the small garbage pail that we were required to keep there. It cast doubt in customers' eyes. Additionally, the drawers that held Accessories were inside the rear wall, so employees bumped into one another when opening/closing the drawers to look for Accessories for customers. If the drawers were open, folks couldn't pass each other.
You're probably not surprised that the espresso machine was never installed. The electronic Queuing system broke on a weekly basis—for 3 years. I had to submit an e-ticket to our IT Help Desk 3 times a week, for 3 years… and they never fixed the problems; they merely restarted the system.
Our fax machine (for invoices and correspondence) lost connectivity, and it took Corporate three months to simply have a Verizon technician fiddle with a wire to restore it! The glare from the overhead spotlights reflecting on the Service Counter's glass panels bothered the Representatives daily. Five formal requests to Corporate to have anti-glare film put on the glass panels went unanswered. Instead, the IT department merely put some cushions under the computer monitors to angle them upward better. Whenever the girls from our Office used the Service counter computers, they complained, "Ouch, I don't know how you guys put up with that glare!"
Like many American companies, ours used an antiquated software program to ring up sales (the equivalent to Atari video games of the 1970s). The system crashed weekly, sometimes twice a day… for 3 years! It slowed down at midday—sometimes the busiest time—because "the West Coast stores were logging on". We often waited 10 minutes to finalized a payment. We received Service Surveys with low scores, citing, "Everything was great except that the system crashed while I was waiting to pay for my repair". That cost ME, not THE COMPANY, which was unfair. The old computer system didn't communicate with the software that we used when registering repairs or placing Special Orders. At a company-paid Managers Meeting (only for store managers) in Palm Beach, FL, they merely discussed the outdated system. The company said that it was "in the preliminary stages of discussing the possibility of upgrading the system." That essentially meant that they hadn't even thought about it. Preliminary of a possibility? It didn't affect them, so it wouldn't get done.
You can imagine how challenging it was to recruit new hires. Oddly, the resumes for my online job postings were forwarded by HR to my Store Director only. Despite my perpetual asking, they never sent them to me. Whenever my aloof Store Director felt like forwarding me the resumes (maybe once a week, despite my asking), I finally had a chance to sift through the 50-75 that I'd gotten per week. After my interview with them, I usually had to ask them to come back to the store to meet my Store Director (because he was "too busy" or was "uninterested" to meet them at that time. I'm NOT making that up). After his brief "interview", the candidates had to pass a background check. Then, they waited weeks for HR to finally have the time to interview them. (No, HR did not screen them before me, as HR Departments do in other companies). Mine was the only store of 30 that needed HR approval to hire a Service Rep! If the candidate passed muster, they waited another week or two until the District Manager found the time to interview them (for only several minutes). ONLY THEN, could they be hired and sent for a short 3-day training at LIC. I lost innumerable candidates due to that long convoluted process. All along, I worked furiously to fill in for the missing people—only to be perpetually short-handed and to be assured of not making my department's monthly goal. I was also assured of dealing with grumpy complaints from the other overtaxed Reps on my team.
In one instance, a young man walked in the door, responding to my ad. He recently finished his duty as a pilot for the military. During his previous shopping experience at our boutique, our VP of Stores overheard his knowledge about the products and told him that he'd be great as an employee. Unfortunately, my gay Store Director liked the physical attractive appearance of another candidate, so against my wishes, he didn't hire the pilot. The NYC flagship store got him. The pilot told me how he hated the environment at that "cutthroat" flagship and eventually quit. Meanwhile, the attractive man hired for me was incompetent, never made his individual goals, argued with coworkers, and quit a year later (only after the Store Director promoted him to a salesman, which he failed at, too).
(Our Store Director was insouciant to our problems. I found out that it was his first time managing a retail store!!! Previously, his job at our company had been floating around the country to train salesmen to sell the Product Insurance Coverage. In that role, it never affected him if his pupils made their goal. He carried that ineptitude into our store).
In another frustration, I was thwarted from hiring a perfectly-suited man. Why? My District Manager insisted that I hire a 22-year-old curvaceous girl, who worked previously at Bally Fitness… despite her poor English and incompetence. After she was quickly gone, I asked my Store Director about suggesting my previous job candidates. But, with a raised eyebrow, he replied, "Oh, those people were before that girl, so just consider them gone. I'm not going to ask the District Manager to look at them again. Case closed." Essentially, good job applicants were turned away for no good reason.
Here's a excerpt of what the company posted online to lure job candidates:
"We are looking for individuals who have a proven track record of success in luxury sales and are team oriented. The ideal candidate is enthusiastic and energetic. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills are essential. The Service Professional is responsible for providing an outstanding client experience and meeting or exceeding sales objectives, provide an outstanding client experience and work to create a positive, inviting and fun environment for the discerning client. Demonstrate outstanding product knowledge to educate the client and address their needs. Ultimately gain the client’s trust. Handle client issues with outstanding diplomatic skill, creating a positive experience for the client."
Compare that to the reality. Notice the double use of "outstanding client experience" in the same sentence. Some underpaid intern probably didn't edit it before posting it. THAT should be a warning to candidates of the "I don't care" attitude of the company.
Most of my employees could not sustain themselves working for our company, so they left. The only ones who stayed didn't rely on their jobs for money, and making bonus money was not important.
A Brazilian fellow lived with his parents on Staten Island without paying rent, and his parents paid for his car. An Asian fellow lived rent-free with his parents in a 3-story building that they rented in Brooklyn. He drove a new Infinity sedan, and after not making his goals for 5 consecutive months, showed me pictures of $2,400 rims on his car. One day, he came to work but forgot his necktie. So, he bought a $250 tie from Louis Vuitton. A young gay fellow lived rent-free with his grandmother on the Upper West Side (and spent days off at this family's mansion in Scarsdale). Whenever life got too stressful for him (relationships, job, sexual flings), he retreated home (by calling out Sick) and got nurtured by his parents. A young woman began working in earnest… until her boyfriend got a promotion at the Long Island Power Authority, and he moved them to Kew Gardens. Then, she told me that she was merely waiting to get fired by our cheap company. A Latin fellow had rich parents who let him occupy a 3-bedroom, fully-paid-for apartment on the Upper Upper West Side (which he could sublet rooms for extra income). A young Caucasian man came from rich parents, and he cared less for his job because he was more interested in getting girls' phone numbers and reconciling with his rich father so that he could return to living at home. Another talented girl was hired, found our company repulsive, quit, and moved back to Virginia. One of the expeditors had another job as a DJ, and he applied more of his time coordinating that job.
A hardworking Filipino woman was the only one to consistently achieve her goals.
Nonetheless, with some untiring work (certainly from me), my department earned the highest profits in the company (higher than the Service Department in Las Vegas, and higher than the NYC flagship's). By my second year, we maintained a steady increase in pre-approved repairs, payment collection, and "add-ons" of getting optional items approved.
The company then implemented a directive that withheld commission pay for achieving goals! So, if you achieved your goal, you didn't get paid your bonus with your paycheck. You had to wait for two more pay cycles! For the month of July, the bonuses were withheld until September!!! It reminded me of my previous company (read my 2012 blog entries). How could a company punish you for lateness, but pay you late?
My Assistant Manager was merely working there for the medical benefits to share with her unwell husband (who retired from Goldman Sachs). Her rich Turkish parents gave her properties in NYC that she rented for extra income. Every year, she vacationed for an extra month (not paid by our company, but she didn't care) in Turkey, using the family yacht. Her parents gave her a house in the Hamptons that she used during most weekends and rented it out for weddings and summer vacationers. Her brother was a Superintendent (overseeing crews of 20+ Latin workmen) for several Upper East Side buildings. He made his crews maintain and improve her properties. Ergo, she was able to charge her tenants for "Property Manager" fees. Thus, my Assistant Manager went shopping along Fifth Ave almost daily during her lunch-breaks. I suspected that whenever she got into trouble at work, she lent her Hamptons house or paid money to hush up the incident. Certainly, our Store Director was happy for such bribes.
Two-thirds of my team had larger incomes than me (considering their outside incomes and rent-free statuses). Out of the 19 employees that worked with me in my 3 years, only 5 were hard-working professionals. One quit, one got fired, one was reallocated from my store (against his will), and one got a transfer to a Sales job in Florida.
As for the 3 Technicians and 2 Expeditors, they didn't get any extra compensation, whether the department made its goals or not. Thus, they were not entirely motivated. I wondered why they continued to work for our company? All of them were immigrants to America from less-wealthy nations. Each had a story of how Life had offered them something better, but they made a mistake (or ignored it) and were now suffering at our company. It made our company really feel like Purgatory.
The company was secretly content that I made enough money to cover their costs but not enough to make them pay out bonuses (and my department was the best in the district!) I coordinated with the LIC Operations Manager to rush repairs that were destined for my store, so we could get them picked up/paid for and make our month's goal. His reply, "We can't rush everything. Just take it easy over there. Nobody's dying, you know."
Our company was owned by a Parent Corporation that only cared about profit. It installed one of its executives as our Chief Financial Officer. He seemed young for the task. Worse than the wannabe-WASPs whom I dealt with in previous jobs, the CFO had a habit of entering stores and merely looking over the tops of everyone's heads… as if they weren't there. He didn't greet us or make eye contact. He scanned the environment and simply looked past the employees. During my second year, he began to squabble with the CEO. Soon, the CEO resigned (he couldn't turn around such a cheap company without spending money) and moved to London for another company. All of his dreams and initiatives were abandoned. The company began to dive down to its previous levels of slovenliness.
The CFO took control and ousted the CEO's team with the highest paychecks. In NYC, our District Manager (the one who wanted the 22-year-old) had the demeanor of a mafioso in a pinstripe suit. He and the CFO terminated a strong-voiced VP of Service, who often tried to help me (he got a new job in Kazakhstan).
The CFO had his own priorities, which weren't for the stores or the brands that we sold (just like in the book The Trouble with Wall Street). He moved the corporate offices from a midtown cross-street to a corner property on Fifth Avenue! The rent per square foot at that location on Fifth Avenue is exceeded only on Park Avenue! Clearly, he was able to lavish money on himself, but not the overworked employees or their systems. His memo stated that "a Fifth Avenue address was of paramount importance". It happened while vendors told me that we had lost our "credit" with them—for not paying—and that our outsourced repairs now needed prepayment (which Accounting was slow to issue). Employees hadn't gotten pay raises in several years, and those promises of "new beginnings" were gone.
Like the pigs in the book Animal Farm, the CFO took care of the folks who surrounded him at the new offices. Corporate staff got to leave at 1pm during the summer months, while paid for a full day (the same for the LIC staff). Their new offices had a modern full-size cafeteria/kitchen with full-sized stainless steel fridge, dishwasher, and espresso machine. Did I mention that our store's staff of 30 people shared a college-sized refrigerator? (seen below)!!!
...but to no avail.
Our Store Director blatantly treated his time in our store as a "passing through" "stepping stone". [After 2 years with us, he got promoted to manage the nation's flagship store in NYC—his second store managing experience in his lifetime!]. During his first year with us, he stupidly assured everyone that they got Easter off as a paid holiday. But in the end of that bi-weekly pay cycle, the Accounting Department told us that he had been wrong, and everyone had a Vacation Day deducted. He merely said, "I made a mistake. Sorry."
He loved being in corporate videos and TV News episodes about our new boutique, but otherwise he hid in his office—never attending to customers issues—only sending his Assistant Managers... or saying that he was unavailable. When irate customers demanded to speak with "the Store Manager", he stayed hidden.
Meanwhile, he overworked an unfortunate older Asian man who was our "cleaning steward". From Monday-Friday, that older man scrubbed the whole store, cleaned the public (and only) bathroom, vacuumed, dusted, mopped the marble floors, and took the trash around the corner to the building's depository. In all kinds of weather, our Director sent him as an errand boy to buy him lunch. Often, he was used as a messenger between stores, vendors, and customers (all over the city). For insurance purposes, the store was supposed to hire a courier, but they didn't want to spend the money. Instead of paying a professional window-washer, our Store Director had him clean all the 20-foot-high windows, each week. Despite that, if our Store Director noticed a scuff on the wall, or if he spotted dust, he summoned the older man by snapping his fingers and calling him "Hey, Nee-How, come here." (Ni Hao is Chinese for Hello). The way he talked to that poor man went something like this, "I asked you to vacuum the floor, right? You remember me asking you? Yes or no? And you did it... but you missed a spot over here. So, I just want to understand... why you didn't do what I asked you to do? You obviously didn't vacuum the entire floor. Why would you do that? Do you feel that you did a good job? Have you missed other spots, too? Does this always happen? I want you to create an Action Plan for how you're going to keep this store looking tidy, listing your activities for each day of the week. Then, I'll review it with you and make any corrections. And I'd like it by the end of tomorrow, please. Thank you so much."
One of our Store Director's pep talks went like this, "I'm here to make money. I don't know about any of you guys. But if you don't sell stuff, or if you don't sell enough merchandise-insurance plans, then we don't make our quota. So, I'm going to be on your asses to make sure that you sell enough, so that I get paid". His pep talk took 2 minutes, and then he returned to his office.
His two Assistant Managers had to set up/shut down the store, deliver daily bank deposits, do payroll, manage inventory, and handle customers. The Store Director notoriously left work early (carrying his gym bag), and took 2-hour lunches with friends from the Corporate Office. He randomly left the store to get haircuts, suit fittings (at Michael Andrews Bespoke), or "meet with vendors" (probably Grindr hookups). Whether my department made its goal or not was of no consequence or effect on him, so he helped us as little as possible.
The cheap bastard never gave his employees an end-of-year Holiday Party. To reward my own team, I suggested that we go out together, and everyone agreed to pay their own way. (Throughout the year, I occasionally brought in bagels, baked goods, or fruit salad to cheer folks up and reward their efforts). During my second holiday season, I addressed our management team and suggested that we—since we were managers—each contribute some money and buy food for the stores' employees. In retaliation, the Store Director announced that since I had an interest in planning a party I could plan the entire festivity: a pot-luck meal in the store. Everyone could have the food that they brought themselves! I was responsible for the set-up and clean-up. How nice. Nothing came from the "luxury" company that we worked for. For the people who lift crates of merchandise, deal with customers, work the weekends and national holidays, exert themselves during the extended Holiday-season hours, come to work when its snowing (yet Corporate is closed), and endure extra-long Inventory Days… a holiday party is a thank-you from the company—which made its profits on the backs of those employees. As a cost of doing business, it's not much: employees will tend to work through the year for a nice holiday party. To skimp on that is utterly cheap and crude.
Customers could tell what a cheap company it was by looking at the meager holiday decorations that the store begrudgingly bought. Stores along Madison & Fifth Avenues are famous for their decorations. Our store? Plastic "peel and stick" snowflakes on the windows, and one giant (ugly) mistletoe ball hung above the selling floor. One of our brand vendors insisted on supplying their own festive decorations above their own display. I used my own money to buy ornaments, garland, and strands of lights to hang in our cramped Service Room. I attached a strand of white lights beneath the Service Counter, which delighted the downtrodden Service Professionals.
When wintertime arrived and the heat didn't work in (my Technicians complained about their cold hands), the Store Director wouldn't permit a mere $40 expenditure for a small heater for them. I got one from the National Service Director at LIC. When it came time for the Store Director to buy "refreshments" for a hastily-created VIP Shopping Night (to boost end-of-the-month sales), he bought the foods seen in the picture below. Products in our store cost $40,000, but look at what he begrudgingly bought for the customers. And that's how he displayed it, for the shoppers on Madison Avenue seeking "a luxury experience". It's what I might expect from a cheap hairdresser's shop. Yet, he was the boss.
The gruff salesmen employed at my boutique had the manners and language of Brooklyn truck drivers. When an Arab prince arrived with 2 cars, a security force, and an earpiece-wearing Assistant, he spent $120,000 in cash…. and his salesman didn't even offer him a beverage. The salesman sloppily handed him his shopping bag (poorly filled with one limp piece of tissue paper) and merely passed him his receipt. For comparison, when I buy mere chocolates at Royce or Neuhaus, they politely hand me a receipt in a handsome envelope. That salesman (a top producing one in his department) handed the shopping bags to the prince like it was his dry cleaning. Then, he turned to "jump onto" the next customer (figuring that the Prince would never return—so why bother being nice to him). The prince never came back, and the loss of potential revenue/networking was huge.
Maybe that salesman shouldn't work in luxury retail? Yet, that kind of treatment to customers occurred EVERY DAY, "under the nose" of our non-caring Store Director. A Mandarin-speaking (otherwise she wouldn't have the job) saleswoman got impatient with her customer and said, "Are you gonna buy or not?" (regarding a $20,000 item). Another salesman was overheard saying, "Um, I'm not really sure what that does, but nobody uses those features anyway." Another saleswoman was so dizzy-headed at finally making a big sale that she gave away the product without ever collecting payment! She was fired.
Most Sales Associates—who were supposed to be standing up (like my team)—unprofessionally sat down all day on the showroom's stools and watched videos on their company-issued iPads. It made my team angrily envious, especially since the Store Director condoned it but wouldn't let Service members lean against the counter. Since the salesmen directly helped the Store Director make his bonus, he let them break many rules.
Another example of his pathetic leadership was when—desperate to make his goal—the Store Director made a classic faux pas. A man entered the store with an $11,000 item, bought there the day before. Overnight, the customer damaged it, but he came into the store saying that it had been sold to him that way. He was "outraged at the store's lack of professionalism" (similar to the man who puts salt in his wine at a restaurant claiming that the sommelier did a bad job and wants a free meal). My technicians attested that it was self-imposed damage. However, our Store Director gave the man new identical merchandise! Later, a woman tried to return a $6,000 item that she admitted to damaging. When the Assistant Manager denied the request, and the vendor who made the item defended their product (only offering to repair it for her at a cost), she complained on our company's Facebook page. The Store Director exchanged it for a new one. She sent a letter of praise about the Store Director to Corporate Headquarters. How is that fair to the other paying customers (who witnessed each event while standing nearby)?
There were times when saleswomen had shouting matches between each other—on the sales floor in front of clients! I got involved in breaking two of them apart. One time, the very first customer of the day came in to pick up his repair and remarked about waiting outside for the doors to open and watching two employees argue inside the store, with the AM ineffectively trying to separate them. He put "bad professionalism" in his Service Survey, which affected my overall score. I had to explain that, because—unlike the shenanigans occurring on the sales floor—bad Service Surveys were sent to the VP of Stores, the Executive VP of the Company, the National Service Director, our District Manager, and my Store Director. Was that fair? Was it fun to work in Service? (While salesmen broke every rule, treated customers rudely, and gave away illicit discounts)?
Incidentally, the Client Surveys that pulled down my average—and prevented me from making another portion of my bonus—were based on inane and vague questions. The 5 questions in the survey IN NO WAY represented anything that my department had any control over:
1.) Rate your satisfaction with the ease of using the online system. {that has nothing to do with my department.}
2.) Rate your satisfaction with the repair time. {it depended entirely on how well/fast LIC did the repair, whether it passed LIC's Quality Control but failed our store-level Quality Control, or if the outsourced repair entities got paid on time or did the work correctly. If something was Put On Hold at LIC (awaiting a backordered part), that also affected "Repair Time"—hoping that the correct part was ordered, in the first place. None of that was under my team's control.}
3.) Rate your satisfaction with how well the repair was done. {depended on the accuracy of the technicians at LIC or at the outsourced vendor.}
4.) Rate your satisfaction with getting online updates. {aside from my team making phone calls and sending personalized emails, the electronic updates came from the idiots at LIC.}
5.) Would you rate the Repair Service to others? {We did our best to deal with customers' frustrations, since the problems caused by LIC only made the customers get angry at us}.
How could we impact those survey questions? Yet, survey scores affected Service employees' annual reviews, and if my department scored beneath of 3.8 of 5, I was deprived of my monthly bonus. Also consider how infrequently satisfied customers fill out surveys? It's usually the unhappy ones. Even after we campaigned to encourage our satisfied customers to do their surveys, few did. It was apathy.
You can imagine how frustrated my team was by getting punished because of negative Survey Scores that were not their fault and which they could not impact. The company never revised their usage of those scores to grade employees for pay-raises.
When customers vented frustration at the company, they sometimes did it in their Service Surveys, which lowered my department's average. If they experienced poor service at the flagship's Service Center and then came to us, they'd give poor scores on our survey (intended to indicate their initial encounter). If they were unhappy with their salesman, or the company's website, or the hours of the store... they gave an overall poor Survey Score. It was my responsiblity to get them each of them to email their explanations, so that I could prove that their score wasn't a reflection of my department. Despite my efforts, it was often a "no-win" situation. (Isn't that a "fun" activity to look forward to doing, each week? As if the usual face-to-face complaining Service customers weren't fun enough). That didn't stop my Store Director from questioning our scores, then listening to my detailed explanations for each—with my paper documentation—but responding, "Why are you giving me so many excuses?"
Our idiotic Store Director's behind-the-scenes "peon politics" cost the store two people with great potential. Both young men were hired as my Service Representatives. Let's call them F and J. After six months, both wanted to apply for an opening as a Sales Associate in our boutique. Our Store Director told them that they'd get a chance to apply, but prematurely decided that F would get the job (based on his handsomeness—not his product knowledge, which J had). F had his interviews with HR and with the District Manager. J didn't. When J kept asking our Store Director, he stalled him, saying that the paperwork hadn't come back from HR yet. So, J finally called HR, who denied knowing anything about his job application. J confronted our Store Director, who told him that he really hadn't given the application in to HR because he didn't want J to get "laughed at" as not being qualified for the job. (Who talks like that to an employee?) J was furious and insulted. He had consistently done a better job than F—who rarely made his goals. Human Resources refused to get involved. J quit the company—not even intending to give me two weeks notice. When F moved to Sales, I performed without TWO people! F quickly realized that he couldn't do his new job; he wasn't used to a "shark tank" selling environment. Like a toy that wasn't working properly, he soon fell out of favor with our Store Director. F quit after 4 months (he couldn't return to Service because I had filled the positions by then). Our Store Director had no remorse in his actions.
Outsourced facilities held our repairs until they finally got payment from our company, or refused to begin work until they got pre-payment. The repairs sent to LIC failed to come back on time, and it took longer and longer. That's probably because the cheap company wasn't paying enough to its LIC technicians, who were quitting. The Chief Technician began a "youth program" with local Tech Schools, in a cheap effort to get young (inexperienced) cheap help to do simple tasks at the LIC facility. As I expected, they did low-quality work, which our high-paying clients got enraged about. Yet, I was powerless to stop it. Repairs were resubmitted two-and-three times, without solving the problems. I was increasingly forced to "give away" free repairs, as compensation to the customers. That eroded my ability to achieve my monetary goals.
I wondered why repairs were being returned from LIC if they weren't properly fixed? The imbeciles in the LIC Quality Control department were caught falling asleep at their desks many times! None of them were fired. Irate customers (Yelp is full of them) screamed at me, threw things across the counter, cursed at us over the phone, and wrote complaint letters... after asking for my name. I commenced a Quality Control at my store, which burdened my technicians but allowed us to catch mistakes from LIC before the customer saw them. My tactic couldn't stop the extra time that the resubmitted repairs took to fix, and impatient customers wanted discounts as compensation.
I confirmed that LIC technicians were encouraged to sloppily rush through repairs, in order to get paid per diem at the end of the week. That was never stopped. Delays were also caused by uncaringly slow folks at Accounting who hadn't paid invoices to vendors. In some cases, I double-checked with them and made three re-submittals. If the customer was feisty enough to escalate their complaint to Corporate, they undoubtedly got a refund. When you're talking about $1,000 repairs, none of that ought to happen.
For supposedly getting hired at a luxury environment, my team and I got yelled/screamed at on a weekly basis. In early situations, unprofessional Representatives shouted back at the customers! While I was on my lunch break, I got summoned back to the department to deal with it.
Despite ALL OF THAT, I earned the highest survey scores in my district—and in my store's 10-year history! But I didn't get paid for that.
She cost him less than the previous Office Manager, and she was quite cozy with him. That girl hired her friend to work with her... another dizzy-brained curvaceous girl. Our District Manager approved.
The girl's career experience was being a bakery hostess… (not even a restaurant hostess) (She never even had to take reservations!!) Both girls spent their time painting toenails, braiding hair, playing music on their cellphones, and Skyping with friends. While doing that, they answered the store's telephones and spoke with customers... with hip-hop music in the background and their friends chattering (from being on speakerphone on their own cellphones). Customers complained on Yelp and in Service Surveys about the unprofessional people answering the phones. "I didn't feel like I was calling a luxury boutique: it sounded like a sorority house."
While everyone had to wear a suited dress code, those girls were allowed to wear audacious outfits—including midriffs—while assisting salesmen/customers. Those girls made big blunders of criss-crossing packages and sending the wrong items to the wrong clients (both out-of-state)! They did that three times, yet received no punishment. It drove my team crazy. They accidentally threw away a customer's merchandise in the trash. That incident was caught by a surveillance camera. Yet, there was never discipline for them. No correctives. Only giggles. Meanwhile, when that happened to one of my people, they were fired.
Having to sell "Accessories" was a point of contention in my department. We were given crappy merchandise that we couldn't sell. Our midtown clientele wanted certain items with a certain look. Whenever we got those kinds of accessories, we sold all of them. The problem was that the Corporate Management felt that the Company had spent enough on Accessories and wouldn't spend any more until all the other crappy stuff was sold. How does that make sense?
On my own, I discovered that the "buy model" for our store was inaccurate. After several unanswered emails to the Merchandise Director, I got permission from the National Service Director to spend a workday at LIC to review the "buy model" alongside the Merchandise Director and adjust it. We removed all the crap that we rarely sold (and didn't need automatic replenishment on) and adjusted it to allow for more of the specifics that we DID sell. I didn't get any compensation for that… for doing their jobs. Nor did anyone apologize for having impeded my department from making its goals for such a long time.
Our company was too cheap to hire Security personnel. Not even a college kid wearing a suit. Nothing. Consequently, our boutique suffered 8 robberies and "grab-and-runs", and an overnight burglary in 2 years! That's extremely high for that industry. Thieves grabbed expensive merchandise and ran away. Twice, they entered the store and took hammers to smash showcases, in front of other customers. One night, a burglar smashed the front windows (the company was too cheap to use security glass) and smashed the showcases—stealing everything in them! (Everything could not fit in in the old vaults, so lesser-expensive items were left in the showcases). On the morning of that burglary, our Store Director—afraid of missing even one hour of sales—made the older Asian man and four college kids (from the flagship) install planks of wood over the broken windows. He didn't hire a cleaning service. He told them to use the store's brooms and vacuums to suck up the shattered glass, which broke the vacuums. Nobody cared about leftover shards of glass, as he opened the store for customers with children.
He did the same maneuver after Hurricane Sandy, using a skeletal crew, while 90% of NYC's stores remained closed and kept their employees safely at home. I also remained at home and urged my team to stay home and tend to any damage on their homes.
One winter, a newly-hired loyal salesman trudged from New Jersey through 3 subways/buses to arrive at the store on a snowy day, only to find that the store had remained closed. Our Store Director forgot to call him, to tell him to stay home. No apology of any kind.
In the months before I resigned, vendors started removing their products. Top-tier vendors departed first. Those brands opened their own boutiques in the area and sold their products themselves. Why? The company that I worked for proclaimed and promised to never sell vendors' merchandise at discounts, but it sold all the merchandise at discounts. The company hired cheap, talentless salesmen who could not sell without offering discounts. Those truths appeared from customers on shopping blogs and Yelp. In addition to discounts, the Store Director promised free repairs for anything that buyers had! So, those customers went home, rummaged through their belongings, and brought us things for Free Service/Repair. Were they grateful for the free repairs? Rarely. If the free repair was delayed or done poorly by LIC, they complained to their salesmen. But, those salesmen never wanted to get involved with their own customers again, so they merely forwarded the complaints to me, saying "Its a Service issue now." The Store Director told me, "We sell merchandise, and its your job to handle the problems."
During the boutique's first year, it performed so badly with sales of merchandise that on the last day of the calendar, the Store Director kept the store open for extra hours, while forcing salesmen to call everyone they knew to buy products (at discounted prices). Thankfully, a Service customer paid for his $2,000 repair in cash, and that money helped the store make its goal! Did the highly-paid Store Director thank my Service team for ensuring that he got his huge bonus? No. Not even a bagel breakfast or a round of drinks. Nor did he care that more brands confiscated their products, or that there were few "reappearing customers", or that the staff became increasingly unhappy. Why didn't he care? In my opinion, he knew that he would be moving upward. He did. He left our problematic store for his successor.
He became the Store Director of the flagship store. The previous Store Director was curtly dismissed, at the end of the year. He definitely had more experience and knowledge than my Store Director, but my Store Director got promoted to that job. He was the biggest corporate ass-kisser, so we all knew that he would get it. Remember, my store just barely made its goals, thanks to him... but he was rewarded nonetheless. Making things worse, our store had an alarmingly high turnover of employees... but Corporate didn't care about that. My Store Director was a "brown-nosing", incompetent, exploitive manager. He lured new employees with empty promises, squeezed as much from them as possible—with least expense, and then rid the company of anyone who complained or didn't grovel.
Despite all my good work for him—making him look good and keeping him from getting his hands dirty—he didn't reward me or help me.
Our District Manager didn't replace him at our boutique, until FOUR months later. Instead, the company saved all that salary and didn't have to pay a "Store Director bonus", at the end of the year. They commanded the poor Assistant Manager to run our store during the busy holiday season... while only getting paid his meager salary. Not wanting to play the District Manager's political games, he quietly orchestrated his transfer to LIC. He got the job at LIC that I applied for... because the National Service Director preferred to keep me "at store level" to solve problems. Such a reward for my hard work!
When our new Store Director was installed, that AM was on his way to the "safety" of LIC. On his last day, he apologized to me, saying, "I knew that you were struggling, and I could've and probably should've helped you more. For that, I'm sorry." Gee, thanks.
Simultaneously, the Assistant Service Manager at the flagship (with 6 years experience) complained to the National Service Director that he couldn't tolerate working at that store anymore. He threatened to quit unless they found a job for him at LIC. Another person running to LIC! The National Service Director CREATED a job for him: part of a new 4-person team who called customers and try to get them to reconsider repair estimates that they had rejected or hadn't approved yet.
Months before both of those men went to LIC, I spoke entreatingly many times to the National Service Director, telling him that I was greatly unhappy and thinking of leaving. Repeatedly, I asked if he could find me a job at LIC. He told me that I was "young and could handle it". He wrote that I was the BEST Service Manager he'd seen in 20 years—across the country—and I did an unparalleled job improving the Service Department from where it used to be, creating tremendous results. Yet, it didn't warrant a transfer to LIC. My senior technician—who knew that Assistant Service Manager—said that I did a more effective, polished, efficient, inspiring job than that guy... or any previous Service Manager at that location. Maybe everyone at LIC just wanted to keep me as a "plug in the leak".
It was as if the ship was sinking, but nobody cared. Eventually, customers found other stores to shop at, and the boutique's sales dropped. If a shortsighted company can't increase sales, it reduces costs. They fired salesmen.
Executives suddenly realized that "certain people" had been breaking rules for "a long time", or they hadn't achieved a variety of goals/quotas. In essence, they kept records on everybody, to use against them when it met their purposes. After a few firings, HR told our District Manager that if they fire people, they have to pay Unemployment. But if they dismiss employees for Disciplinary Actions, then the company can object to paying Unemployment (and the former employee would have to go to court to get the money). If they could disgust an employee to make them quit on their own, that saved the company the most money.
Realizing that New York City is oversaturated with cheap replacements (like harvest workers or the immigrants of the Industrial Revolution), the new Store Director began disciplining employees... coincidentally those with the highest hourly pay-rates and commission structures. She "wrote them up" for being late to arrive at work by 2 or 3 minutes! Later, she realized from a sleepy HR that she was supposed to allow for 5 minutes leeway. But she and her new Assistant Manager (previously a poor-performing sales associate for only 3 years at a tiny store) continued to discipline latenesses—regardless of documented commuter delays (like when a subway gets stuck or delayed, which happens almost daily).
A complaint from my staff: they were "written up" for being late by 2 minutes, but sometimes they were also told by store management to come in late on certain days (to save payroll)! How did that make sense?
It wasn't great for me either on the days when the new Store Director suddenly selected 2 Service people to go home a few hours early (to save payroll). My staff complained because they had been hired to "work 40 hours per week". In fact, I had turned away qualified candidates who couldn't give me 40 hours per week (which the company demanded). Now, the company was cutting their hours! It didn't make sense.
The Store Director "wrote up" employees for punching in too early from lunch (thus accusing them of accruing unauthorized overtime: 10 minutes in one case, and 0.08 in another!) She insisted that I begin terminating members of my team for any infraction: poor surveys, a lack of pre-approved repairs, leaning on the counter, wearing colorful socks, not closing the Service Room door completely, taking too many bathroom breaks (which she documented from camera surveillance).
She got impatient with me, when I was hesitant to sign my name on any Corrective that hadn't been fully documented. For example, she gave me a handwritten list (not via email) of the names of people who should get in trouble for lateness. I looked at the first name on the list and pointed out that that employee hadn't been at work during the indicated day. Instead of thanking me for saving her from embarrassment, the Store Director tore up her Corrective, blamed me for not researching the information carefully (that she had given me), and mentioned me in an email to the District Manager and newest HR Director as having "falsified company documents". I was horrified.
I researched her on LinkedIn. Her resume showed that she moved from company to company, every two years, all over NY and NJ, and she had never worked in a luxury environment. I knew people that previously worked with her, and I contacted them. One, who was her former District Manager, told me how incompetent she is and what a bad rapport she had with her former employees. Another, who was a Store Manager, told me that his company intended to fire her, but she fled first, and he fixed the problems that she created. It seemed that my District Manager scrounged the "bottom of the barrel" to find that woman… probably because she was desperate and would do anything that he told her.
When I spoke to my District Manager, regarding the new emphasis on Discipline, he told me that he didn't care. He reminded me that New York State permitted "at will" employment, so companies could discharge employees for no reason. (That's what all of those high NY taxes go for). He told me that the company held the right to reduce any full-time employee from 40 hours per week (which is what they were hired for) to 35 or 30 hours per week. I asked how a company could penalize employees for arriving 5 minutes late, when the company intended to send them home 1 or 2 hours early? He refused to answer. I asked our overpaid Human Resources Director, and she refused to answer. Instead, they targeted me as a troublemaker.
A "new company policy" arrived: if someone received a disciplinary corrective, then all privileges, promotions, raises, and transfers were denied. Once you were "written up", you couldn't transfer to another location for half a year, and it "started a clock" of Discipline against you. In essence, once you were "written up", you couldn't escape that location. If you were written up 4 times in 12 months, you were terminated. So, if you were late to work 4 times in a year, you could be fired—even after 25 years of good employment.
However, those threats only happened if management "observed" your issues. It was at their discretion... and bribery/favors were welcomed. If you did favors for the Store Director or District Manager, you were given leniency. It was almost like blackmail.
Who did those people think they were? Apparently, the mere title of "Director" or "District Manager" or "Vice President" made them feel almighty. (Like the weak human "behind the curtain", pretending to wield power… if you fear him).
I found it impossible to maintain a decent team, yet the pressure was on me to do so. The District Manager ridiculed me in writing for giving Annual Assessment scores that were "too high" for my overworked technicians! He feared that the technicians would want raises.
I felt like Mayor La Guardia opposing the corrupt Tammany Hall of NYC in the 1930s. The National Service Director was ineffective at defending my actions. One technician quit. He was the only one who could operate the special machinery in our Service Room. So, we lost the ability to do certain in-house repairs—which cost us income. My veteran technician got transferred to another store. He was replaced with a 22-year old apprentice from LIC. To help, LIC occasionally send a 19-year-old Latin kid… who couldn't do much and took a long time not doing it).
My only remaining technician told me that—while she loved me as the best boss in a decade (and she hopes God blesses me)—she was looking to find a job elsewhere. At the same time, the gay fellow intended to move back home. The rich Asian announced his plan to "take another break from jobs" and live at home and work on finishing his GED.
When I got my first written corrective (the new Store Director skipped any Warning Conversation that the employee handbook requires), it blocked my chances of any transfer. Administrators at LIC called me, sorry to hear about my write-up. They couldn't believe it! They told me that they'd find something at LIC for me to do--to get me out of that failing store. Thanks, I told them, but that time had passed. I was stuck. The National Service Director came to apologize, saying that things hadn't worked out as he planned. (Well, that's what you get when you only plan from an "Ivory Tower"). His next idea was to call HR and tell them to speak with me because people in my department were unhappy. That's vague. HR didn't call me. Instead, HR bounced that information back to my DM: the person responsible for the problems. He came into my store, pulled me into the office and berated me for communicating with HR. Imagine a DM upset that you actually used the HR Dept. But I hadn't spoken with HR. He was then upset and accusatory that I might've discussed the store's issues with the National Service Director who had talked to HR. I denied that. He told me that I didn't work for that man, and that I worked for the store management... and him. I was warned not to "break the chain of command" again.
That same day, my Store Director summoned me and wrote me up with a Final Notice (she unfairly skipped the second corrective). What was her cause? Not about doing my job poorly. Not about customer complaints. Not about employee complaints. I was written up for not "executing my duties to the best of my abilities" (not firing my own staff quickly enough)... and because I supposedly failed to supply documents to her for over a month? Her new Assistant Manager agreed. What documents?! They gave me a list of things—some I certainly submitted… which I proved. I cited (with paper documentation) that I had no correspondence from them asking for anything else on that list. I refused to sign the corrective. They said that it didn't matter. I questioned my DM directly why there was undue haste in seemingly punishing me? He replied, "Considering what a deplorable job you're doing, I don't see how I can't write up a Service Manager like you". I cited my documents showing how I was leading the best-performing Service Department in his 6-store district. He lacked a reply. I earned the best survey score average, highest number of pre-approved repairs, highest annually increased volume, fastest turnaround times, and best-performing department in terms of getting Optional Repair Items approved. He refused to answer me.
I asked if other Service Managers were being disciplined similarly? No answer. I asked if we should discuss it with HR. No answer, except that if my Store Director found one more fault with me, I would be terminated.
I got written up before my own incompetent Assistant Manager, whom I had 13 full pages of misdemeanors on, whom I had formally requested to be disciplined over and over again! Even the Corporate Attorney (a customer wanted to sue the company because of my AM), the Director of Customer Service, and the National Service Director had formally requested her to be disciplined! Yet, she never was. VIP clients wrote complaints to the Headquarters, but it didn't affect my uncaring AM. That woman was caught lying about prices, giving false prices, damaging customer's merchandise via carelessness, forgetting to submit VIP repairs (after an entire month), neglecting to contact customers (but promising that she did), avoiding her duties by hiding (during my days off), making false promises to clients, crisscrossing correspondence, giving things away for free, giving unqualified discounts, being rude to clients, harassing our staff, constantly being on her cellphone with her family, and forgetting to order things for customers. She had a year-long habit of making last-minute schedule changes or calling out Sick to give herself 3-day weekends! (Her neighbor, a Turkish doctor, gave her formal notes saying that she needed most weekends off to treat her ill husband, and our Store Director allowed that)! Through whatever favors she did for them, they never touched her. Despite my evidence, which I formally submitted to the Store Director and Human Resources, she got away with everything! The unfair twist of Fate was that the write-ups happened to me because I wasn't being "crooked".
When I regained my composure, I called my National Service Director and frustratedly asked what I could do? (After all, he had 20 years within the industry). He replied that he hand't thought that his intention would backfire at me. He hadn't expected the DM to act so swiftly/vindictively against me. Thanks.
Human Resources didn't care that I was never given an initial Verbal Warning or a second written corrective. They didn't care that the correctives happened so quickly together. Shouldn't more time pass between correctives to allow me to express improvement?
*Like many American companies, they made people in their After Sales Service teams feel like an ASS (that's a sarcastic acronym)!
Why would I want to fight for that job? (and all its stress, argumentative unreasonable customers, irresponsible repair facilities/outsourced entities, high turnover of staff, my problem-causing Assistant Manager, and my unsupportive Store Director)? Even if I made a strong argument to HR and was allowed to stay, the DM would simply make my life miserable and find another reason to fire me. (Customer Service Departments ALWAYS have customer complaints, and some customers are never satisfied).
The Director of the Customer Service Call Center told me that he used to have my job and hated it; it's a thankless job. My store's Certified Pre-owned Manager and the ex-Assistant Manager had both initially worked in Service and always expressed relief to be out of it. "The customer is always right" but you can't please all of the people all of the time.
The job wasn't paying enough anyway, and nobody should remain in such a toxic environment. Some old-timers were content working under worsening conditions. They were fearful of "starting again" somewhere new.
I used up my remaining Sick days (I hadn't used any), while I hunted jobs, took interviews, and circulated my resume. My circle of friends (6-degrees of separation) inquired about job openings for me.
The day of my resignation, people could see that I wasn't dressed for work. (I wore summer white chinos and madras shirt). Employees had to show up fully dressed for work (regardless of weather) and couldn't keep clothes at the store to change into. During 3 summers of commuting, I wore suits in overheated subway stations and on "baking-hot" streets.
Members of my team got teary-eyed at the sight of me not "in uniform". I approached each of them with a hug and gave individual words of thanks and advice. I told some of them to consider me a good reference, if ever needed. The Certified Pre-Owned manager (the only one on duty) had moist eyes, as he witnessed me cleaning out my "shoebox-sized" locker. He told me that I was making a good move and that he'd seen the company do that to many people during his career. The Filipino Service Representative sobbed and hugged me tight, screeching loudly, "Don't go Ken! Don't go. Don't leave us! Don't let them do this to you!" As I walked to the front door, the salesman all came up to hug me Goodbye. The newer ones told me how comfortable I made them feel, when they each began their jobs. Everyone said how much I had helped the store's reputation. A few older guys offered to remain in touch. I graciously thanked them. Then, I left.
Due to city-wide subway delays, I encountered two employees as they ran to work. In both cases, they were shocked by my exit, but said, "When things fall to shit in the Service Department, the company will realize how much you were holding it together."
Here are the texts that I received:
"I am so happy for you!!! Get out of this hellhole!"
"So sorry to see you go, Boss. Thank you for your deeds. You always know how to say the right thing. Thank you for helping me write all those letters for my son's schooling and doctors. I wish you the best."
"It was great working with you. I believe your decision was made for the best. We will definitely keep in touch, and whatever position you find will make you happy. Happiness is the key to success."
"My dear Boss, it is the biggest loss! You are an incredible person, very understanding and helpful. I learned so much because of you. It was a great pleasure working with you. When one door closes, another will open! People who will work with you will be very lucky to have you!"
"Ken, I will miss you very much! You were the best manager I ever had--in all my jobs. Thank you for the talks and laughs! You definitely helped me think about things and make better decisions. You helped me fight anxiety and were a positive force. But this is not Goodbye; it's See You Later. Great outfit, by the way. You resembled Eric Northman in summer clothes!"
"I learned a lot with you, Boss. Thank you for your support and our talks. The best thing to happen was to meet you and work with you. Thank you for being such a decent person!!"
"Hey Ken, I just wanted to let you know you're a kick-ass manager! I had a killer week, largely in part due to all the phone calls you made! You're the best manager I've ever had. Your teamwork was always greatly appreciated."
"OMG, I'll miss you! If you haven't finished those books I lent you then please keep them!!!! I will see you again! Congratulations!! Good luck on whatever the new opportunities are. My time here is limited, too!"
The Vietnamese technician thanked me profusely for all the help/education/encouragement I had given him regarding eating healthier and reducing his caffeine intake to feel better, be more effective and enjoy life. A Russian technician told me that I brightened up his otherwise morose weekends and holiday hours with my creative spirit, sense of pulling together as a team, Christmas decorations, and the uplifting advise I gave. The Jamaican expeditor thanked me for the inadvertent college tutoring I gave, and for the times that I read aloud from whatever adventure novel or inspirational book I was reading (to raise spirits during lunch breaks in the tiny Break Room). An Ecuadorian woman gave heartfelt thanks for all my advice about her family matters, stress management, giving her child "wings" to be self-reliant, and learning that sometimes it's okay to say "No" to others' requests or guilt-inducing claims. An ex-Service Professional reached out to tell me that I had been strong support as he made college choices and family decisions, while he struggled with establishing his own identity.
My Assistant Manager called to say that despite any "slight differences we had", she enjoyed working alongside me and that I was truly a gentleman. She admitted that she intended to quit in two weeks, but I beat her to it!
Everyone said that if I needed any references or just someone to talk to, they'd be happy to chat or meet with me. A coworker (18 years with the company) took me to lunch. He admitted that he would really miss me... not just working alongside me but our interaction. He saw many managers pass through the company, but I was unique because someone of my age had so much depth, personality, honesty, energy, a desire to help the team, encouragement, sense of what's right, ethics, and humor. He will miss our chats about jazz, world developments, and books/films. He respected how I tried to help others and didn't simply sit behind a desk with my feet up on it. He cherished how I respectfully defended our department from "clueless dizzy-headed Vice Presidents". He admired how I cleverly dealt with my selfish/incompetent Assistant Manager whom I couldn't get rid of. Most of all, he respected how I hadn't let the corrupt company force me to "lose my way". It made me cry.
One old-timer at the company told me that "adversity keeps him going". Really? I don't advise that to anyone. People get through everyday challenges. They apply their sharpened talents and creativity to projects and aspirations. But nobody wants to fight like Hercules to get every single objective done. That's only what "burned out" nowhere-to-go people tell themselves, so they can ignore their ulcers. If everything is a tremendous battle, then you're not following the "signs": good energy is trying to push you elsewhere, and you're fighting the bad energy to stay where you are. Phooey!
A month later, a coworker called me. He told me that the Assistant Manager was fed up working there. The situation had deteriorated to the point where she had anxiety attacks about going to work, sometimes started crying, and once got to work but couldn't bring himself to enter the store, so he called out Sick. Meanwhile, the guy telling me that story was very happy with his new job. They treated him well, compensated him for his efforts, and they welcomed his input.
People describe The Adventures of Baron Munchausen as a social satire. The city officials scare their citizens into compliance by describing how scary things are outside the city... how dangerous the unknown is and why they must stay in their squalor. The baron demands that the gates be opened. There is no enemy at the gates! The city officials fabricated the threat to maintain control and obedience from their people.
Don't be fooled. Don't be afraid of moving beyond your comfort zone. Don't be a tiger in an open cage, who could escape but is afraid of the world beyond its cage. Also, don't "sell your soul to the devil" to keep a miserable job. Never do that.
What a mirage that company was. In my life, that was the second one in a row; both treated their front-line employees contemptuously. Both companies sabotaged success via poor organization, bad immature decisions, favoritism, superiority complexes, and cheapness/greed. Teddy Roosevelt once said, "If the cards don't come to a man, or if they do come and he hasn't the power to play them, that is his own affair. But there shall be no crookedness in the dealing."
Salesmen and Customer Service Representatives aren't like laborers in a factory or plantation workers during harvest-time. They are a company's "brand ambassadors". They're the ones who get customers to buy and come back again. They handle questions, complaints, alterations, credit card applications, back-ordering, special requests, returns/exchanges, and tiresome hours. They work harder than online/telephone customer service agents. So, why do companies pay them so little? Why are they treated as a commodity to keep "cheap"?
I discussed this with dozens of people in varied levels of retail across America. They're often treated like disposable workers with low wages, unattainable goals for bonuses, low profit sharing, poor product selection/size-runs, cheaply-made goods, back-and-forth corporate decisions, inferior internal structure, ineffective corporate support, and micromanaged KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Turnover for such jobs is often one year. Management might endure for three years. It's amazing that when companies want to cut costs, they "punish" their salesforce… their front line. That's how you lose battles.
A friend observed, "I'm glad you accomplished your dream of finally getting a job in NYC, and it was closer to Lewis' job, too. It was a big deal for you to move your career into the city from Long Island...
...You helped many people and probably made their time at that company more special. Now, you have larger dreams to move to!" It was a stepping stone, and I'm going to step beyond it. I also pray that my next experience is more-rewarding... brining me all the success, prosperity, and boons that my efforts at both previous jobs denied me. The pendulum has to swing again.
*UPDATE: Three months after writing this, the company fired the National Service Director. After his 20 years of stressful contribution (helping them out of innumerable fiascoes), the snooty CFO summoned him and announced that they were terminating his position, and that they couldn't find any other job for him at the company. He was escorted from his LIC office before noon of that Friday. No farewell party, company-wide announcement, or decent dinner. He called me. Once again, a man twice my age complimented my skills of observation and prophesy.
A week later, several NYC and Long Island newspapers announced that the company's Chief of Security & Loss Prevention had been arrested for being a thief! As a retired NYPD cop, he had collected Disability money from the city for 22 years, claiming that an accident prevented him from "working at another job". But for the last 10 years, he worked at that company, earning a 6-figure salary! (Such corruption in NYC's Police is not uncommon). Reporters indicated that there would be more fallout because the Corporate Headquarters knew about it and knew that he wasn't getting paid directly. The Chief of Security avoided declaring his new income to the city government by creating a "company" (his wife as president) to collect his salary and compensation. What kind of company knowingly pays a top-level position like that? The man fraudulently collected over $600,000 in Disability payments (from taxpayer money). No more pinkie rings, new suits, cruises, or monthly trips to Puerto Rico for him! That man who intimidated employees, spied on them via surveillance cameras, fired employees, and allowed so many robberies... was caught as a criminal. It "spoke volumes" about that company.
One month later, my "replacement" quit. Unable to handle the pressure and internal problems, he walked off the job. Six months later, I was told that the next replacement quit, too.
Hmm, how many other organizations does that statement apply to? Certainly most of the jobs I've experienced. It sounds like most of NYC retail. If its your job, then I suggest you leave and unearth greener pastures.
People suppose that the company will plummet. Alas, the American retail industry is one where mediocrity and incompetence get a long sunset.
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