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Christmas + Retail (Journal)
8 years ago
General
To all of those who thinks Christmas is the best time of the year, let me put you in perspective.
(Sketch version: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25744932/ )
Working retail at a department store is very hard on us during Christmas time, our sweat and blood is what makes every other human being happy during Christmas as they buy presents and decorations and have days off to spend with their friends and families.
I work at Hart, a retail store chain of over 90+ stores of which I can only offer the perspective of the hands down employee. From my experience, when new Hart stores have opened, we had to share our own equipment to the new locations. When I started working here, things were comfortable and I enjoyed working here even during Christmas time. We had 4 old cash registers, 2 emplacements where clients could scan their items to see what price they were, we had 2 sticker printing machines and plenty of hours to spare and employees working hand in hand in their different departments with a new young manager that wasn't afraid to help out and make things more efficient. I worked part time 4 years ago, around 30 hours a week.
Today, I work full time (40 hours), I am now a key holder which gets me 25 cent more than regular employees, it comes with the responsibility to open and close the store, extra paperwork, fetching change at the bank, reading and sending important emails through the office, being called to the cash registers to authorize merchandise returns to clients, clearing things up with said clients when they become difficult, or aggressive or confused. I essentially am being payed a laughable 1.50$ after tax a day to be in front of the line and be chewed up by clients...and you know what? Its purely voluntary, I can ask to return my keys to the store and return to regular salary and tasks, but I am too good of a worker to do so, and doing so would put a lot of pressure on my other key holder co-workers and so...I swallow and keep my head high.
Today we have only 2 old cash registers, 1 non functional wall scanner for clients, 1 sticker printer machine and our scanner guns are starting to die on us. We had requested a third cash register nearly 6 months ago and we never got it. Our boss left us to work at Walmart, and we got ourself a new older boss that just doesn't want to put the effort in, he makes bad judgment calls, stands around with his hands in his pockets, refuses to close a single day on the grounds that his wife will be angry if he doesn't get home in time for dinner. Christmas is not going to be easy on us as clients will become agitated, frustrated and might flat out leave the store without buying, maybe even stealing in worse cases. Just 4 days ago we called out to Hart`s headquarter, sending an email asking for supplies and we couldn't even do that as their inbox is full. What can you do when your store is just left to fend for itself?
Our boss doesn't even want to work the hardest days during the holidays, specifically because we will have too much to deal with at the cash registers which are obsolete in this day and age, nowadays, you put your card in, and the full receipt comes out in seconds because the card machine is connected to the cash register, but ours isn't, so it takes us 2 to 3 minutes to navigate menus and type in the information from the debit machine and staple the 2 receipts together.
What do I have to deal with in all this? I work the hardware which is 1/3 of the store, it has home decorations, storage, plastiware, glassware, coffee machines, kettles, toasters, microwaves, fondue sets, table cloths, utensils, dinnerware, pans, all the kitchen gadgets you could ever need, tin foil, glass containers, mixers, can openers, cleaning products, garbage cans, laundry baskets, yarn, knitting and sewing stuff, toys, food and beds for pets, school articles, puzzles, toys, and even wheeled storage cases for trips. Its always been a 3 man job and every year we would have 3 people working the hardware for Christmas, this year however I've been doing it all by myself and half the time, I get called at the cash register to authorize returns and help out fussy clients. There's just so much a single person can take before the breaking point, all these sketches I drew on scraps of paper have been my way to cope with this atrocious inhumaine working environment, your comments on these very sketches is what brings me light in the darkness as I try to keep my sanity here.
Some people do drugs, some people drink, or smoke to cope with their troubles, and even they don't have It as hard as me, but I am surviving this because of my friends and fans online, and I am starting to hand out resumes out to other businesses.
Thank you all so much for sticking around with me even after my long absence on FA.
(Sketch version: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25744932/ )
Working retail at a department store is very hard on us during Christmas time, our sweat and blood is what makes every other human being happy during Christmas as they buy presents and decorations and have days off to spend with their friends and families.
I work at Hart, a retail store chain of over 90+ stores of which I can only offer the perspective of the hands down employee. From my experience, when new Hart stores have opened, we had to share our own equipment to the new locations. When I started working here, things were comfortable and I enjoyed working here even during Christmas time. We had 4 old cash registers, 2 emplacements where clients could scan their items to see what price they were, we had 2 sticker printing machines and plenty of hours to spare and employees working hand in hand in their different departments with a new young manager that wasn't afraid to help out and make things more efficient. I worked part time 4 years ago, around 30 hours a week.
Today, I work full time (40 hours), I am now a key holder which gets me 25 cent more than regular employees, it comes with the responsibility to open and close the store, extra paperwork, fetching change at the bank, reading and sending important emails through the office, being called to the cash registers to authorize merchandise returns to clients, clearing things up with said clients when they become difficult, or aggressive or confused. I essentially am being payed a laughable 1.50$ after tax a day to be in front of the line and be chewed up by clients...and you know what? Its purely voluntary, I can ask to return my keys to the store and return to regular salary and tasks, but I am too good of a worker to do so, and doing so would put a lot of pressure on my other key holder co-workers and so...I swallow and keep my head high.
Today we have only 2 old cash registers, 1 non functional wall scanner for clients, 1 sticker printer machine and our scanner guns are starting to die on us. We had requested a third cash register nearly 6 months ago and we never got it. Our boss left us to work at Walmart, and we got ourself a new older boss that just doesn't want to put the effort in, he makes bad judgment calls, stands around with his hands in his pockets, refuses to close a single day on the grounds that his wife will be angry if he doesn't get home in time for dinner. Christmas is not going to be easy on us as clients will become agitated, frustrated and might flat out leave the store without buying, maybe even stealing in worse cases. Just 4 days ago we called out to Hart`s headquarter, sending an email asking for supplies and we couldn't even do that as their inbox is full. What can you do when your store is just left to fend for itself?
Our boss doesn't even want to work the hardest days during the holidays, specifically because we will have too much to deal with at the cash registers which are obsolete in this day and age, nowadays, you put your card in, and the full receipt comes out in seconds because the card machine is connected to the cash register, but ours isn't, so it takes us 2 to 3 minutes to navigate menus and type in the information from the debit machine and staple the 2 receipts together.
What do I have to deal with in all this? I work the hardware which is 1/3 of the store, it has home decorations, storage, plastiware, glassware, coffee machines, kettles, toasters, microwaves, fondue sets, table cloths, utensils, dinnerware, pans, all the kitchen gadgets you could ever need, tin foil, glass containers, mixers, can openers, cleaning products, garbage cans, laundry baskets, yarn, knitting and sewing stuff, toys, food and beds for pets, school articles, puzzles, toys, and even wheeled storage cases for trips. Its always been a 3 man job and every year we would have 3 people working the hardware for Christmas, this year however I've been doing it all by myself and half the time, I get called at the cash register to authorize returns and help out fussy clients. There's just so much a single person can take before the breaking point, all these sketches I drew on scraps of paper have been my way to cope with this atrocious inhumaine working environment, your comments on these very sketches is what brings me light in the darkness as I try to keep my sanity here.
Some people do drugs, some people drink, or smoke to cope with their troubles, and even they don't have It as hard as me, but I am surviving this because of my friends and fans online, and I am starting to hand out resumes out to other businesses.
Thank you all so much for sticking around with me even after my long absence on FA.
Will be keeping you in my thoughts hon.
It took me a long time, but I realized that was a waste of time. It's important to remember that you do not owe your company anything. You, and your employees, are not bound to your employer. You are free to leave at absolutely any time you choose, and so are your coworkers.
With that said, I am going to make a general statement and say that I find a lot of people that I grew up with and have met become complacent doing kobs they don't like, for too little money. If you're willing to work, and it seems like you are, there are always openings in companies that do phone sales, and auto dealerships often have openings, even on the service side, as well.
Now, sales is definitely not the answer for everyone, and I totally understand and respect that, but I will say that phone sales, in my experience, is hardly 'sales.' you're mostly just doing paperwork for someone to buy something they want, with and handful of customer service. I went from making $8.50 to $10/he + Commission (usually about $15-16/he average) when I switched to phone sales from retail. And I'm not saying that to brag, I'm saying it to put in perspective that jobs that pay decent ly are out there if you stay hungry and continue to look. You can escape retail!
And I am thankful that you, and other retail workers work your asses off to make Christmas a happier time for others.
Happy Holidays, even if they will be stressful for you. May the new year bring you better opportunities.
With that kinda down to try and keep me alive, I proceeded to reach out to everyone I knew even in passing as a friend, eventually poking out tendrils towards 'any chance that your place is hiring?' to try and find things. Got into a random phone-IT place from a semi-business friendship with someone who now, has long been fired by the place, and moved to Europe.
If it's anything, since I have a bit of time and a bit of experience poking around with resumes and job-hunting, I'd be happy to lend what a hand I can with making sure your stuff is optimized for any given job, and reaching out to whatever local resources you have. I'd offer to assist in the friending, but I can't be so aggressive as to assume we would have common interests outside of passing and cutes.
You've never seemed like anything other than a great person, so I'd be happy to help out in whatever way I can Hok.
I am leaving my job in January, regardless of what happens, if I don't find a new job by then, then I guess I will be jobless, or atleast just doing 10~12 hours per week at the bowling and have a lot of free time on my hands. Comissions might be a possibility if things go down that road.
I don't want to keep my hopes up, but I applied for a job at a bank to serve people at the counter and make use of my clientele service skills. I would have half the hours I currently do at my retail job but get payed 5$ more an hour which is more than I could hope for. But again....I don't want to be too hopefull, despair feeds on hope and all that.