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We're short-handed at the store. Have been for a very long time. Last year during the holiday rush we had 6 - 7 people working 2nd shift and it still wasn't enough. This year, there are two of us to cover 7 depts. TWO!!! There are no plans to hire seasonal help and begining this past Sunday, corporate, in their infinite wisdom, has cut our hours.
Unbelievable!
Our ads run from 12:01AM Sunday to 11:59PM the following Saturday. Before the new sale starts there are supposed to be people going through the entire store checking to see if what we have listed in the next week's ad is on the floor and available for SCs to purchase. But we're so short-handed that this isn't getting done.
This past Saturday we had a huge, one-day shoe sale but we weren't making very many sales because the shoes that were in the ad weren't on the floor. Where were the shoes you ask? Why, they were in the back room stacked on two skids. Why were they in the back room you ask? Because they came on Friday's truck and we don't have enough people working to get the stock out on the floor.
Flash-forward to Sunday.
In fashions, Sunday is a very busy stock day and it's worked out early in the morning. Because hours have been cut, this past Sunday there were only two people working to put out the stock for our 7 depts. These people also have to monitor the fitting rooms, put away returns, answer the phones, help SCs and cover jewelry. (They are also called upon to run a checklane on occasion.) By the time those two had reached the end of their shifts our back room was still packed full of un-worked stock.
Our new ad started Sunday but of course much of what was in the ad was still packed in boxes in the back room. Here's where the nice pissed off customer comes into play.
It was about 8:00PM when a woman approached my co-worker to ask where a particular item could be located. She had seen it in the ad and had come to the store specifically for this item. My co-worker couldn't find it so she asked me if I knew where it was.
I had never seen this item before and told the customer this but I said we would continue to look because sometimes new items are placed in different areas in the store. (Dumb. Really, really dumb. Because we are never made aware of this.)
So we looked, and looked and looked some more. There were none to be found.
The woman was pretty angry because she said this happens all the time. (She's right!) She asked if she could talk to my manager and I told her my manager wasn't in, that she had gone home sick.
The woman then said: "From the looks of this place, most everyone has gone home sick."
Me: "We're VERY short-handed. I'd go home sick too if I could." (I was sick BTW)
She then asked me to contact the other two stores in town to see if they had the item. I did...and they didn't.
Woman: "I don't like to complain because I know it's not your fault but this really does happen all the time. Isn't there another manager I can talk to?"
Me: "I can contact the closing manager for you but she wouldn't know anything about this dept. And the truth is, it's not her fault either."
Woman: "Well, who's fault is it? I'll complain to them."
Me: "Corporate. In an effort to keep labor costs as low as possible they refuse to hire more help and then turn around and cut the hours of the few of us still working. They expect us to be in three places at one time and we can't get anything done."
Woman: "That's ridiculous. How do they expect to run a store like this?"
Me:
We talked for quite a while. I don't know if she will complain to corporate or not. But she really was very understanding and nice about the whole thing. The funny thing was, she had been at the jewelry counter earlier where I helped her there and when my co-worker first called me over to help her look for the item in question, the woman said, "My gosh, you just helped me at jewelry. Do you work over here, too?"
So she now knows a little bit about what we go through.
.
Unbelievable!
Our ads run from 12:01AM Sunday to 11:59PM the following Saturday. Before the new sale starts there are supposed to be people going through the entire store checking to see if what we have listed in the next week's ad is on the floor and available for SCs to purchase. But we're so short-handed that this isn't getting done.
This past Saturday we had a huge, one-day shoe sale but we weren't making very many sales because the shoes that were in the ad weren't on the floor. Where were the shoes you ask? Why, they were in the back room stacked on two skids. Why were they in the back room you ask? Because they came on Friday's truck and we don't have enough people working to get the stock out on the floor.
Flash-forward to Sunday.
In fashions, Sunday is a very busy stock day and it's worked out early in the morning. Because hours have been cut, this past Sunday there were only two people working to put out the stock for our 7 depts. These people also have to monitor the fitting rooms, put away returns, answer the phones, help SCs and cover jewelry. (They are also called upon to run a checklane on occasion.) By the time those two had reached the end of their shifts our back room was still packed full of un-worked stock.
Our new ad started Sunday but of course much of what was in the ad was still packed in boxes in the back room. Here's where the nice pissed off customer comes into play.
It was about 8:00PM when a woman approached my co-worker to ask where a particular item could be located. She had seen it in the ad and had come to the store specifically for this item. My co-worker couldn't find it so she asked me if I knew where it was.
I had never seen this item before and told the customer this but I said we would continue to look because sometimes new items are placed in different areas in the store. (Dumb. Really, really dumb. Because we are never made aware of this.)
So we looked, and looked and looked some more. There were none to be found.
The woman was pretty angry because she said this happens all the time. (She's right!) She asked if she could talk to my manager and I told her my manager wasn't in, that she had gone home sick.
The woman then said: "From the looks of this place, most everyone has gone home sick."
Me: "We're VERY short-handed. I'd go home sick too if I could." (I was sick BTW)
She then asked me to contact the other two stores in town to see if they had the item. I did...and they didn't.
Woman: "I don't like to complain because I know it's not your fault but this really does happen all the time. Isn't there another manager I can talk to?"
Me: "I can contact the closing manager for you but she wouldn't know anything about this dept. And the truth is, it's not her fault either."
Woman: "Well, who's fault is it? I'll complain to them."
Me: "Corporate. In an effort to keep labor costs as low as possible they refuse to hire more help and then turn around and cut the hours of the few of us still working. They expect us to be in three places at one time and we can't get anything done."
Woman: "That's ridiculous. How do they expect to run a store like this?"
Me:
We talked for quite a while. I don't know if she will complain to corporate or not. But she really was very understanding and nice about the whole thing. The funny thing was, she had been at the jewelry counter earlier where I helped her there and when my co-worker first called me over to help her look for the item in question, the woman said, "My gosh, you just helped me at jewelry. Do you work over here, too?"
So she now knows a little bit about what we go through.
.
Yeeeeesh, where do you work? I thought we had it bad sometimes. At least she was nice to you, and that she understood once you explained. Don't see too many of them around. I feel for you.
A few years ago I worked in Pet & Garden and we also covered the Floral dept. One Easter Sunday two of my co-workers and I were inhaling the helium from all the Easter balloons we had to destroy at the end of the night.
I shop there once a week or so and I've never noticed a problem with them being very shorthanded (then again I'm a very self-sufficient shopper so I don't need much assistance other than checking out).
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