Thread regarding Belk layoffs

Mic drop... and standing ovation.

@Anony mouse

@Tired..

I know the pain of day-to-day plus with a skeleton crew all too well. Add to that, having to clean the 'loo every hour or so b/c someone off the street came in with a scorching case of flying mud from over-indulging on Chic-Fil-A, Brewsters Frozen Yogurt and mall brand Cherry-Ade!

This may read like Eric Idle's "Travel Agent" speech from Monty Python's Flying Circus, but, it'll probably sound familiar...

Sale sets are the worst, especially in large areas like our Men's and Home departments. You can never get it right because one week we're using percent off strips on the front and back of signs (for which each fixture has it's very own sign!), one week it's one side only, then you never know if coupons are excluded on items or not because the CAL is printed on 800 pages in tiny print with 300 lines of text stretched into 18 columns of useless info!

And don't dare use a LARGE sign on a fixture unless it is in the aisle and a DOOR-BUSTER that week, except when there is an extra 15 or 20 percent off, in which case you may need a small sign with a little triangle called a "snipe" (I called 'em "Wesley", get it?!) or otherwise required on special fixtures within the department.. and if they will fit without falling over. And don't use the thumb screw version, use the magnet but not the magnet with the felt back, and if you can get the large C clamp with the thumb screw that's okay as long as the sign doesn't droop to one side and it is at least one row back. But if it has to be on the front row, you HAVE to have a magnet and if a large sign is required you have to have a large sign on the right and a small one on the left–no wait, they changed it to all large signs in some stores and all small in some. Check your Cram-A-Gram!

And then there's the menu signs for Home which change every time the wind changes, the percentages are not right halfway down the sign, and you can't print one because either the CAL has the wrong sign ID, or the system is down, or in our case only one person was allowed to access the sign printing system in the first place– and they never wanted to do anything but run out and smoke and go buy designer coffee!

And then you have two carts full of Home signs that are 4 years old and try to find something that matches, at least, the generic percentage of the hourly door-buster, only to find that there's no stock on the floor for that particular MSH comforter set which is upstairs (where there's doubly no a/c which = hotter than the lowest steps of Hell), for which you have to get permission from 3 different people to go get, and they still ask you why you haven't finished setting the sale 10 minutes later because, and I quote, "This is an easy sale. It shouldn't take long at all."

And, inevitably, in the middle of the worst door-buster/friends-and-family/weekly-daily-deal/special-pull-8-styles-of-dress-and-jeans-sale for which you have to go get tables, tablecloths, sign holders and newly-printed signs (which Old Smokey does not want to print for you) and then re-arrange a department to fit that in and fill the space you made pulling those items.. the store manager insists you stop and go arrange, size and colorize Clarence (aka "Clearance" to some! LOL) in the Children's Department because that area manager is still on comp time and there's "going to be a visit" in two days (usually a lie to get store leads to panic) and everything HAS TO BE JUST SO.

deep breath

Me, I, myself also had to serve as a visual person for "heavy things" because certain people wouldn't touch a fixture if it "looked heavy", and I had to be maintenance because other associates didn't climb ladders, push heavy flat carts, reach too high or too low, and be janitor since the rest didn't stoop or handle trash or empty boxes but could, somehow without fail, manage to bung up the trash compactor to the point that I or some other merchandiser would have to spend half and hour getting it clear.

All this, and while bustling back and forth 150 yards from one side of the store to the other to run to the copier, to the sign room, to another department for a fixture, to still another to lift a heavy box for somebody, you find managers (ones that aren't out smoking or on breakfast/coffee runs) tucked in little offices and training rooms, texting, slurping coffee, raiding personal refrigerators and burning popcorn in their Walmart-sized microwaves, listening to bump-bump music on their own radios, whispering to each other when they see you interrupt their gossiping, giving you the Evil Spock-Eye with a raised eyebrow and raised voice asking why you aren't where you're supposed to be!

But, then, with only an hour and a half of your shift to go, there's still the entire Shoe Department that needs a sale set, straightening, Clarence pulled and a shoe audit. "Shouldn't take long," they say. Just don't leave until you're done.

But don't go over hours. We don't do overtime.

All this and the added bonus of no vacation, 401k, no hours for people who are capable of doing great work and need and want the work, no respect, no air conditioning, no lunch or restroom breaks and, in our case, not even any security lights outside at 5am or after 9pm? You think people jus' gon' love that?!

Don't bother to reply. I don't want to hear petty excuses. I know, a poor excuse is better than no excuse, right?

Wrong! Just don't bother. Look at your own situation, your salary, your house, your SUV, your debt, the store's debt, the list of creditors and vendors that have not been paid.. and look at JC Penney and ask yourself:
Shouldn't we at least try to fix these bizarre issues? If not..
How much longer can Belk limp along and provide you with the lifestyle for which you are accustomed?
Is buying the floundering corpse of a outdated brand going to fix anything?
Which one of you might be in the soup line this time next year?

You execs reading this mishegoss think people are making it up? Think they're just wack jobs? This is what YOU created. YOU executives and YOU Sycamore folks should be turned loose in a store to run it exclusively for one week by the standards YOU dictate. YOU, friends, and I use the term loosely so don't panic thinking I want to be your executive friend (hint: I don't.) YOU would not be able to keep up, either.

To:Annoy Mouse-
I work in a store with 3 employee’s on the floor trying to get sale sets done,daily deals done every day, fulfillment,markdown, re doing the floor to make it look full, taking care of customers, returns , credit and email. We are tired and need more hours. I am good at my job I like my job what I don’t like as not being treated fair and being told that I should be happy I have a job. I would like everyone working from home to work in a store for a week and see what is like. Closing with 3 people in a store is dangerous especially now since everyone is wearing mask and feel they can speak to you how ever they feel. We wan something to change let’s not forget no raises, cuts to 401, flex spending. So when we call remote monitoring and report something they can’t watch now or they don’t answer.

"Most, not all, but most here appear to be unhappy, unsatisfied, unmotivated, and several simple malcontents.
3 of the 4 situations can be addressed and probably alleviated by management with associate engagement and partnership. The last group...well we know that there will always be those who can never be satisfied, certainly not made happy and absolutely not inspired, lead or coached to be motivated."

You start out compartmentalizing associates into, basically, 2 categories:
1-unhappy, unsatisfied, unmotivated
2-simple malcontents.

The first, you say, can be handled with associate engagement and partnership with management. On the surface that sounds like "get on board or get out", since you have stated that management (you or otherwise) will not budge one inch in your stance:
"Sycamore/Belk/management stinks. That's not changing. Hard cold fact."

So, if management is the core of the problem, as in the case of my store where there is favoritism, racism, lack of engagement on the part of management (i.e., sitting in an office as much as possible) , targeting individuals, bullying, public berating, temper tantrums and such.. then how would you convince an associate who has been the victim of that corrupt system to partner with toxic management and follow an example that "stinks" and is "not changing"?

That sounds like compounding the problem to me. And it contradicts your theory that category 1 can be dealt with in any positive, forward-thinking manner, if that is, indeed, what you had in mind since you never put forth a real strategy.

One statement puzzles me, as it has no context that I can see, here. It is a non-sequitur, and sounds like you're talking to your own thoughts, to which we are not privy:

"As bunker boy just said, 'it is what it is'."
What does this mean, and how does it apply to 1 and 2?

You then reiterate the "get with it or get out" sentiment, and close with this whopper:

"Nothing else is gonna change. Period."

If that is true, then how, as you say, can you purport to deal with the category 1 of associates, let alone the category 2 malcontents that you have already profiled as hopeless? The contradiction just destroys any credibility you might have, even as an ex-"manager" as you say, quotation marks and all.

Ask yourself: What am I trying to accomplish by sharing these confused, fatalistic tactics?

Well said Belkiebear!!

Then as a former "manager", unsure of what the title specifies, then you well know nothing much will change.

Most, not all, but most here appear to be unhappy, unsatisfied, unmotivated, and several simple malcontents.
3 of the 4 situations can be addressed and probably alleviated by management with associate engagement and partnership. The last group...well we know that there will always be those who can never be satisfied, certainly not made happy and absolutely not inspired, lead or coached to be motivated. As bunker boy just said, "it is what it is".
But back to the singular lament throughtout this site, that Sycamore/Belk/management stinks.
That's not changing. Hard cold fact.

Thus you either move on and out...or as I suggested a few posts back...find that which does make you happy, satisfied and gives reward...personal or financial...at work..and do your best and leave each day knowing you did. No need to sell your soul to the devil. Just do the best that you can given circumstances and take your pleasure in that.

Nothing else is gonna change. Period.
If you are truly unhappy, get out! It's crazy to stay someplace that makes you upset, discontent, sad or such, whether work, marriage or any other situation that can be changed by your own action.

Then again annonymous manager, we know that there are those who do thrive on negativity. Misery loving misery.