So tonight our store hit a new level of greed. Now everyone knows that we close at 7pm during this crazy thing we're battling but tonight our DM Steve had us stay open until 9. The 9o'clock close does not take affect until May 4th but we decided to take advantage of the hysteria and capitalize on it. We were already over $220k which blows away our comp numbers. Now i am all for being profitable but this just rubbed me in a bad way. It would be a shame if by chance someone who may be unwillingly carrying the virus infect another.
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The store looks so rough. There is not enough people scheduled to handle the sales in store , the internet fulfilment sales, department coverage (with the number of employees that took the 4 week vacation, I mean 4 week paid covid leave.)
Every employee running ragged. On top of that, customers that are rude , demanding, impatient and don't wear mask even when its a state mandate. It's a wonder we can even show the next day to work, especially after a weekend like the one we just did. We did over 100% comp each day!
maybe what got to me was the constant strain of being an essential one who gets exposed daily for the benefit of a company that would cut any of us loose as soon as we no longer fit the mold. This company has been making money hand over fist over these past few weeks and that in and of itself is perfectly fine. I love seeing commerce at work even in this crazy age. But after employees being stressed to the max in the name of the almighty dollar you really need to stay open after hours to milk that extra mostly non-essential buck?? By the way this is the same company that a few months ago told many of us that they need to break their word and cut our pay substantially because the share holders feel we are not profitable enough. Of course that explains exactly why we stay open two hours after closing
So today we extended our hours to 9pm. Only one who knew was the closing ASM, no one else was told. so 7pm came and we started to close the store. Front door was locked and we started cleaning and sanitizing. About 7:10 closing ASM comes out of his hidey-hole like a bear awakened from hibernation to discover the front door locked. He flips out and unlocks it and announces that the store will be open until nine and we will be staying to at least 10.
Our schedules weren't changed so some associates got to leave at 9pm while the rest had to stay and clean the entire store. We were finally allowed to leave at 10:30. I anticipate that there will be even more schedule changes without being told. That's okay as there is always a line to get in to see our SSA to make things right because our ASM's consider it below them to let us know our schedules have changed.
I hope this causes me to get over time, maybe then they will learn.
What I find most annoying about extending our store hours is that we are still being overwhelmed by a surge in internet orders plus the additional hours of cleaning required to disinfect our stores. Management doesn't want us to have any overtime yet we have all this additional work that has to be done because of this pandemic. It's not rocket science but SOMETHING has to give! Either your going to end up with piss poor zone recovery or substandard cleaning. You in corporate need to decide as the camel's back is already breaking and your trying to add yet another cast iron tub on top of it. I would like to see some of the corporate decision makers doing our job for a month as perhaps afterward they might develop just a little empathy for what they are putting us through. Is it really any wonder that turnover is high and moral is so low.
So the public announcement was to go back to 9 pm, but behind the scenes the Regional was pressuring the stores to start it this weekend? Hmm. Why do we even staff the doors with”counters” if nobody gives a damn anymore?
We’re running out of merchandise!!!
Unless supplies catch up look for hours cut & layoffs in June.
A later closing time would have resulted in 3 hours of overtime for me. What they’ve been doing at my store is openers 6 to 3 and closers noon to nine with 830 being the latest we’ve ever stayed. As a result freight isn’t being put out because it’s impossible to put away freight when the customers are non stop. So tonight, based on a directive from our DM, all freight on the floor was taken to the back.
With the 9 pm closing they pushed back the 12 to 9 closers to 2 to 11. Still max of two associates per department being over run by customers. Management still hiding out in offices, cashiers running all over the place trying to fill orders, store manager waiting in his office to be told what to do - he has no motivation to address the chronic code 3’s, code 50’s, or requests to bring in the carts from the lot.
Our store did the same thing today. However it was the direction given to us by the RVP. So don't blame your DM. He was probably told to do so.