There is no need to blame those who have stayed here for a long time. Some people are more ambitious by nature, some are not and stay in one place for a long time.
I wonder where the long timers went after they finally left BBBY? Are most of them back somewhere in retail or were they looking for opportunities in other industries?
To be honest, unless it is a part time gig (and I question even that!) most retail is a losers game. It was years ago when I was in record retailing as well. It's like a big ponzi scheme where you will most likely not reach the "top" of the food chain or even get near it. Everybody may have to "serve somebody" but in most retail you also grok that there is no point to advancing in many of these poorly managed stores.
I left retail all together. I work at County Park and I'm loving my life!
To answer your question, the one gent from Receiving became a personal trainer and is very happy to be out of BBBY's grasp. He loves his job. And he works for himself.
I have seen folks with relatively low ambitions last for 25 years in the same position at BBBY or something similar. But they did their work and did not expect others to cover for them. Lack of ambition does in no way equal tenured indolence. It's great to be "comfortable" in your job but when you get TOO comfortable and stop doing the job you need to recognize this. The 25 year guy did not hide from work.
Not every FT was by any means indolent or ignorant of the need for teamwork. . But let's be honest that some could be a detriment to the store at times. Like when you are swamped with 4 customers in drapery and your FT is rearranging rugs next door for the 10th time today and not answering a page. After the 3rd page, the ASM gets on and asks for his location. Hid in stockrooms as well. I am not making a blanket statement but think how much better it would be if the person was employed elsewhere. They eventually forced him to work cashier so they knew where he was!
And why did BBBY want a perfectly good Recieving Manager who was older and fit and ambitious? They did the old thing of offering a job they knew he would refuse. FEM. WTH? It was terrible personnel changes like this that were the beginning of the end for this place. But as usual BBBY wanted to make it seem like they were humane doing it. They were not. I'm sure he had a larger salary than the guy doing the quiet quitting but it screwed up the dynamics and chemistry of the store. Previously two lead FEMs were let go.
Put it this way....what does it tell you when the guy with ambition and respectability gets let go and the ine who would not do his job, is teflon and other hard workers are gone as well. What message does that tell the rest?
In our case there was no evidence of one of the long timers even attempting to do their job. No ambition is fine. Quiet quitting, as they now call it, doesn't set a good example when they let him get away with it. It was apparent he played them like a violin to avoid termination. It was outright shocking when they dumped 5 other FTs who did their jobs well in 2020 and kept the one with a thick file of writeups that even the ASMs did not want there . No ambition does not equal outright laziness. Our soft side spent most of our time doing work he was assigned. Any good reputation he had was in the past. You try working with this type of person and you will come out writing a screed the length of Dear Customers just to vent about him. It was very frustrating.