SNE Employee: What It Is Really Like.

I work in Auto and we are grossly understaffed. I am the Assistant Manager and the Manager is on vacation so I am the MOD. We don't have another CSA so the last three days I have been opening and closing. I have to be at the store at 7:30 AM be there until 6:30 P.M.. In the last four days I have worked 43 hours and I have 10 more hours tomorrow. On Wednesday I have my one master tech and yesterday I had my Express tech(with two months of experience). My master tech can run front of store if need be but my express tech can't. They are both mechanics you see and not front of house.

I make sure they get their lunches because I control the schedule to a degree save for the online reservations. I have call to call and and piss off customers who think they can order a brake job anytime they want. You can't schedule auto service online. It just doesn't work. It also does not help that whoever hold the key to full line has not shown up two days in a row now while I have customers waiting in the parking lot with me. I have no explanation. I am not a keyholder. We have three different managers in the last three months. I don't what to say other than it is cold out here and we are sorry that you showed up on time and so did we but we can't get into the store.

Anyhow, when do I get me lunch on my eleven hour shift? How does that work? It doesn't work. We have been hiring since they hired the s---er that is me. I am working way too cheap. The killer is that I am salaried non-exempt so I only get $5 an hour for any overtime I work. That means that tomorrow I will work all day for $55 and not get a lunch. How is that fair? I have 51 hours in and I will get paid base and half-rate on only 48 hours. That is not even legal.

No one gets more pissed off about things that go wrong then car customers unless it is the appliance dept. I know they have some bad days as well. That still is not auto in the northern climates where salt is used on the roads. The cars are rusted so badly and that means that it will take longer and it will cost more to fix the car.

Here's a kicker for you. A mature woman whom I realize does not have a glamorous job and works at Wal-mart and has a limited budget brought her car in for service and was patient about it. She has another old beater so she was able to get to and from Wal-mart while we fixed her car but then she couldn't drive both home and asked if someone could drive her car home for her. I told that I would after work as long as I got a ride back. It was only twenty minutes one way. I did it for her. I didn't get paid for that but it made me feel good. Forget the "Wow", that is just me being me.

You have to believe in the golden rule but we have lost this way as a nation. Of course I am being screwed by Sears and my lack ambition manager but that doesn't mean that I can't help someone who needs just the simplest of helping hands. I made the company look good and made all of you look good by doing that and I know many of you do the same types of things everyday.

You folks do things that you don't get credit for. This is not my first managerial position. Far from it, and I have always taken care of my employees. I firmly that you must lead by example.

I have unique opportunity to really put things to the test for all of us. I am a SYW Silver Member and most of that money has went into three vehicles that I own. One of which which was a complete brake job on my truck. I bought all the best parts and never hurried anyone. I have no need to hurry anyone. About a week after the installation my rear brakes started squealing again. I talked to my master tech and he said that maybe the rear calipers need to be replaced. Then why didn't we do that? That was two months go. He said we will look at it. OK. He's a good mechanic but something got lost in translation. I have kept asking when we can we can look at it. I even went online and did a brake eval appointment which my manager deleted. I asked why. He told me that he didn't delete it. I was only documenting my request. Funny that I have a confirmation email that is time/date stamped.

So here is what I am going to do. I am not showing up for work on time tomorrow but rather taking my truck to Midas for a brake eval. I am not going to say anything about about Sears. I will just ask what it is going to take to fix the problem. Once I have that quote in my hand, I am going to demand an explanation and I might even just have them do the work.

How embarrassing is that potentially going to be to my manager and my tech? If they don't care then I don't care. What is true is that someone doesn't care. I doubt it is my tech. I am not short of cash. I wanted my vehicles fixed and wanted to be there to learn about all kinds of vehicles. I have a sales background in mechanical things and Bachelor's Degree in Science. I only took the job because my wife thinks she can make something of her job and the kids are in school.

Tomorrow, I am going to go to bat for SHLD employees in a way that might not be accessible to some of you. I want answers and I will get them. And here is the best part, I would love it if they fired me but that won't happen. It is more likely that I will sue them for breach of contract and start an internal claim. I'm not there to get ripped off for what I paid for and neither is any other "member".

So we are going to have some fun with these jerks. And yes, I am a ZeroHedge.com member. I will advise.

Comment! It's anonymous!

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Some weird sh-- went down over the whole thing but now it is all complete. Here is what I have learned. NEVER take your vehicle to Midas. I had heard bad things about Midas and now I know that they are true. They must in worse shape than Sears.

Like I said, I dropped my truck off there for a brake eval and was told it was going to be $29.99. Well, it ended up being $55. On the initial inspection, they said that they couldn't find anything wrong and that needed to drive it more. Drive it they did and they drove it right out of gas and put on put 200 miles on my truck. WTF? I have not addressed that yet because I didn't know until I picked up the truck. I had a full tank when I dropped it off. The low fuel light was on when I picked it up.

You don't do that sh--. Whatever, that is going to be a personal one and revenge is a dish best served cold. I will not mention anything further. I NEVER forget people who do sh-- like that.

Anyways, I had my brakes warrantied by Sears and fixed today so it all worked out and now I have a story about my competition. The manager knew that I was PO'd. I never had to get mad at him. My actions and money spoke for what I was trying to say. A lot of people are not used to that approach. I cornered him and hard and sure it cost me some money but I got that money back on warranty service. And the warranty was on AutoZone for the cracked brake pad so it didn't cost Sears anything. Why couldn't we have done that in the first place? I paid for the new calipers and we should be good.

My brakes are fixed now, finally.... I hope. I notice that our master tech does not have any work to do until noon tomorrow so I made an appointment for the brakes on my van. Why not? There is nothing glamorous about the world of auto.

There will be no update on what happens to that Midas location. It sure did seem like there were a lot of environmental violations going on there. It would not be good for them if OSHA showed up out of the blue.

"How rude."

You are obviously corporate and you know I hit where it hurts. Considering that I am sent emails every day expressing how great SHLD is I think I do have the right to express myself on a non Sears website.

That is fine. You can believe what you want. Sears is dead meat. And you are out of a job.

What did I just read? My head hurts

"What are failing to understand is that I am not approaching this from an associate angle, I am approaching it from a member angle. Are you capable of understanding the difference? They are not the same thing."

How rude. Perhaps if you didn't ramble so much and got to the point there would not be any failure of understanding which of the many points listed you were the most ticked off about. You spent the first 3 paragraphs writing about how understaffed and overworked you are. The 5th and 6th para was writing about your good deed of the day and how you go the extra mile. It wasn't until the 7th paragraph that we finally get to what the main point of your post was about....Your problem AS THE MEMBER and not the associate and getting a proper warranty for service paid for yada yada yada. Perhaps next time you can start with the main idea and get to the point.

Your leadership brought the collapse of the Auto Centers with their "SMart Plan"! Kaner, Richards, and Cardinale in the west collapsed the centers by cutting techs hours (now no one is left to do the work).

Since the implementation of The Smart plan, Profitability has collapsed, as predicted by a former DM, who found significant flaws in the plan the minute it was announced. Instead of looking into the issues, Sears took the liberty to steal from this associate, and violated numerous labor laws, including worker's compensation violations.

@1tzt/OP:

I hope if SHC goes down the toilet you will benefit from all of the closed auto centers. Business will be booming if you decide to open your own shop.

You never told us this, I am wondering is the auto center in your store in the black/making money. The main store is loosing money/bleeding red ink.

Is that right for the store you manage? Or are both Auto/Main Store in the red?

PS: I just woke up. It is 9:00am EST and I have not had my "Mountain Dew" yet this morning.

Sorry for my grammer mistakes.

I'm am the OP for this thread. I don't care too much about the job per se. I took the job for an interim job because my wife was saying what great things were coming for her. Well, you know that goes. I can't sit around and like flipping cars and like keeping my cars up. If there is anything I am po'd about it is about he fact that I paid for the service and am getting nothing warranty wise for the $2700 I spent. What are failing to understand is that I am not approaching this from an associate angle, I am approaching it from a member angle. Are you capable of understanding the difference? They are not the same thing.

I fired that shot this morning and took my truck to Midas and I threatened that I may give my two week notice. You say that I don't matter. I matter big time because there are not many people who can do what do or would do what I do. Your failure is that you don't see what I am doing. How much debt do you have? How much savings do you have? A lot and none?

I have some good people and when I announced what I had done regarding my truck brakes very clearly. The Master Tech was like, "Really, you did that?". Yes I did. I also announced that I am likely to give my two weeks notice and walked away. I also said that our manager is lazy because he is.

Do you what happened, everyone stopped in there tracks and started talking about what it might mean if I left. That was my goal mister oh so smart. They talked about it all day. I didn't say a word and I just did my job that I was not getting paid for. Do you know what else I was doing? I was measuring the competition because I did not wear my Sears sh-- when I dropped my truck off. I am a "mystery shopper" and I was not impressed.

The guys determined that I do leave that the shop will fail. Do you know what that is called? That is being a leader and not a boss. They realized that I am the conduit of sales that gives them work to do. If I fail, then they fail. Get it? Got it? Good?

To add another layer, it was brought up about our master tech thinking my idea of starting a shop was a good idea. I already have an investor but I didn't tell him that. It turn that more than one investor and there is a shop available. Easier said than done but it would not be the first business I have helped create. You need to have the right people in the right place at the right time just to even consider it. They want me to manage it.

Pie in the sky perhaps and business plans are really complicated and take a lot of work but I make things happen when the timing is right and I proved my points. Everyone with a pulse knows SHLD is dead. The debt load is not continue on. No one is buying Craftsman now. Craftsman tools are junk now and have been for some time now. There is no rescue and there will be no turnaround. Forget your pensions.

I know it is not nice to say some of the things I say or do some of the things I do. The sooner that you all realize that pretty much anything you deal with on any given is either fraud, theft or negligence. There is there no one coming to save you. Now you an "election". Do you people really think I was never involved in politics? I actually met Ron Paul in 2008. I have read some Mises and Rothbard.

One of my favorites is Albert J Nock's Isaiah's Job. I would implore all you to read that short essay. I also enjoy reading "I, Pencil" by Leonard E. Read.

Do you understand now?

@ngy Your synopsis of working for Sears is excruciatingly accurate!

SHC continues to hire people while cutting hours for long term employees because in some cases they get tax credits or other incentives to have a certain amount of people employeed. They can also say they employ "X" amount of people to the government or to creditors to get a break on fees, taxes, etc. It also keeps them from paying health care, and certain types of insurance when you have people working under a certain amount of hours

There is no doubt that Sears takes advantage of their employees. Work harder, work faster, with less resources and less pay etc., etc., etc.

From my experience this is the normal cycle. You begin your employment, happy to be there, happy to have a job and wanting to prove yourself as a worthy employee. You do extra little things for your customers and co-workers. After awhile it takes its toll. There are no rewards, no raises, management doesn't seem to care, you will work holidays and when they see you can handle your job in 8 hours they will push you do do the same amount of work in 6. If you are lucky enough to be acknowledged it will be shortly forgotten. When you finally do leave.... like the lady who posted last week....there will be no cake, no card, no party, no goodbye, no gift, maybe not even an announcement after 20 years of service.

Sears will use their employees and when they are no longer needed hours will be cut or they will be laid off. It just business, right?

You can challenge the upper echelon, it will get you nowhere. If it makes you feel good and you want to do it for your own sake and don't care about your job, then have at it. But do not expect your co-workers to back you. They will be afraid for their own jobs and when you turn around to look for your support there will be no one standing behind you.

Why do you think Sears hires every holiday season? People in my store have had their hours decimated, and yet they are hiring another 20 people to start this week instead of raising hours for their current employees. I believe it is by design. Sears cuts back hours to get people to quit. Every 2-3 years they would like to see a store turnover because they know that new hires go that extra mile to help customers and to put up with the crap that Sears throws at their employees.

You have been with Sears since June??? You are like most of all the other employees who started out caring and going the extra mile. You are starting to get it. You are starting to get angry. Your choice will be to accept this is how it is and come to the boards or have a beer with your co-workers after work and vent.... or you can leave. Sears will not shed a tear if you leave nor will management remember any of the nice things you've done. You will be replaced and quickly forgotten. You can tell off management, make them look like a fool, but it will cost you your job or you can become like the rest of us..... Do a fair days work for a fair days pay, stop caring so much, do what you can and the hell with the rest. That is why Sears would prefer to have employees move on after a couple of years. It doesn't take long for your attitude to sour when working for a company that doesn't value its employees.

It is from my heart. Do the right thing. If I am in this position then what must it be like for the rest of you? That is not OK with me. I am the guy that bought my dept/llc pizza. I knew to some degree what I was getting into but I had to do it just to see.

I am not surprised at most of it to be honest. I have never worked for a more worthless manager in my life. I can only imagine what you folks have had to deal with. I would have never believed it to be true had I accidentally stumbled upon this thread. No...I BELIEVE YOU ALL.

None of you run away. I have seen dozens of employees come and go and I started on June 6 of this year. The fact that you folks never give up inspires me even when you know it is going down. That means something and it says something to the whole world that you don't quit even when you know the sh-- storm is coming. That trait will be attractive to other employers.

Me? Well, I have another point to prove and it will be proven because it already has been. But, I am going to make sure it hurts and insults management just as hard as they have hurt all of you just to prove a point. The funny thing is that I am "management" but I don't rate.

This will be good. I have never sent a management e-mail yet. I don't exist on the upper management level yet but they do have to deal with me if I request it. I'll keep my powder dry for now. We shall see how this goes. I really do want to see what they dow with the SYW Silver status. There is more.:-)

ThankYou looking forward to your reply. This will get interesting.

Thread regarding Sears layoffs

SNE Employee: What It Is Really Like.

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