Thread regarding Sears layoffs

I was in shocked we are actually getting a xmas dinner I honestly didn't expect it. Today in the morning manager comes all proud saying we are going to have an xmas dinner and that it was going to be a lot of money coming from a chain restaurant.

"In our Sears store our Store Manager is kicking in extra money out of his own pocket for the Christmas dinner because he felt the budgeted amount was not enough."

Every manager should do this. Every boss should do this. Anyone who has underlings working for them should do this. If you have people you manage or work personally for you it is the right thing to do. Give them a generous holiday bonus/gift/party or even both or all 3.

Take care of your people. The folks who make you look good or give you a better bonus.

And store managers......... when you leave....... NEVER allow your minimum wage workers to kick in for a gift for you. You make 10x the amount that they do, no gift is warranted. A card, a party paid for by Sears in the break room, a cake should suffice.

"Our SM was yucking it up with everyone." I suspect that those "California brownies" were strictly a gag spoofing the recent legalization in that state. If you actually analyzed those brownies you would probably find only store bought brownie mix! Still, it is wonderful to see that there are some SMs out there that can be good natured and lighthearted. The SMs at our store have mostly been a parade of sourpusses and fuddy-duddies.

It's also highly unlikely their DM would fire any of them given the current situation. Especially if they're high performing.

Not saying everyone should go out breaking rules but since the act was good natured I don't think it would be something anyone would be terminated for. The DMs and higher ups in that areas are all probably lighting up considering how stressful their situation must me..

@1fxw- even though it's legal in CA, I'm almost certain it against Sears policy, so your store manager and any associates who ate those brownies would be fired.

m-r-j-a-a legalization just means you won't go to jail or be cited for being in possession, it doesn't mean that an employer cannot discipline/terminate you for using it.

California store here. Ours was outstanding! Beef, ham and turkey! A little salmon but they said to leave that for the vegans cuz it was expensive. Mashed and scalloped potatoes and a salad.

Our SM was yucking it up with everyone, then he brought out a tray of “California” brownies if you guys know what I mean! Thankfully he warned everyone but for those who partake well, it’s the good life in California!

I’ve been with company 15 years too and this is the first year no Christmas dinner

Says a lot about the store manager and how little they think about the staff!!

But I’m suppose to be excited to come in at 6am in Christmas Eve!!

Do they really think customers will be beating down the doors at opening st 8am. Geeze

The company was very very generous this year I was shocked! We are having a hot catered meal with 3 meats and all the sides and desert bar this weekend. Been with the company 15 years never had that budget before. Possible it's the last supper?

1boy- same thing happened at our store for thanksgiving, NO Second helpings!! Funny thing is that at the end of the day all the managers took the leftovers home-- food, plates, cups, drinks. One manager even said they were having relatives over the next day and needed the food.

No wonder the company doesn't give enough money every year with managers like this

When is Christmas dinner anyway? Saturday or Sunday?

I remember one year when there was an appliance contest for a store cookout with the prize being hamburgers from Omaha Steaks. The SGM eventually took the whole package home . Nice. Another year he said he was going to delay the Christmas Dinner because of too many call outs store wide. Never got that dinner also. 20 years in appliances and glad I retired in 2015. Best of luck to all those remain.

Tacky is the right word for overbuying on food and setting serving limits.....It is like someone hosting a dinner party at their home....but the host then hovers over the guests telling them that they can only have one serving of food....just as tacky as if the host gave out presents to the guests and then gave the guests rules and limitations of how their gifts should be used because the host spent good money on those gifts.

@jum You my friend have a true manager. Someone that makes good money and is willing to put out of their own pocket really has a kind heart.

My SM is an egotistic, cheap, narcissist a--hole. He makes good money and it be nice if someone like him would put some $$$ out of his pocket to have a better overall meal. Hell even an ASM has been bringing us donuts makes less yet brings us associates something. It is still unknown if we are getting something I doubt we will get anything this year as an xmas dinner.

Nice to see Eddie probably enjoys eating his high end expensive food not caring for the little people.

Eddie so generous. It must have hurt his budget. He really cares about us. He will probably eat a 5 course dinner in his mansion. Cut cut cut. Oh who cares. While we associates eat a dried up dinner for him.

@1boy - Years ago when the evening shift showed up for their Christmas dinner our SM greeted us at the meeting room door with the apology, "Sorry, we ran out of food." Talk about tacky, our situation left a lot of associates with literally with no taste in their mouth! Thankfully, that only happened one time.

We had ours yesterday and it figuratively left a bad taste in alot of mouths....

It was catered in as always with trays of hot food but the SGM hovered over the tables waving her finger saying "No second helpings!".....How tacky.....They ordered way too much food to put a one serving limit on it and the result at the end of the night was 60-70% of the food was untouched.....wasted....because the store manager was afraid of running out of food too soon.

The turnout was much less than in previous years....In prior years, associates would come in on their day off specifically for the luncheon....Retirees were invited and would come in as well....The breakroom would be full of current and retired associates.

Now it has come down to a SGM guarding the food and limiting servings......The end result: Alot of food left over and associates insulted......just like customers abandoning Sears and leaving Sears with a bunch of unsold apparel to mark out and ship back.

Our dinner was super tasty. All Italian and we didn’t have to bring anything but our appetite. The managers truly picked a good place to get food finally!!! I hope next year it’s the same. Potluck this coming Saturday so we are a really lucky store.

I hope this is a thing still waiting to happen at mine and on a day that I'm there. We had a pot luck this past Sunday with employees bringing things in. I hope that wasn't intended to be it... >.>

@ieky that’s pretty generous !

It's averages out to around $10 per head. The average store probably has around 50-60 associates so $500-$600.

Every store has a holiday budget. Our store only got a couple of hundred last year for Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years but this year we tripled the holiday budget.

Your SM is giving you the shaft. Maybe he/she is using the money on themselves. the company has been generous this year so I must give them credit

We had our dinner back in November on a Sunday because some managers wanted to eat after hours without being bothered by customers. Here is the kicker no one wanted to stay after so if was during regular business hours!!! However they did only have food only for that one night (usually it’s a two day event)so if you were unable to attend you got zip zilch zippo the next day. Ebenzer Scrooge in full effect. 😔

@kgn is each store budgeted equally? What is the average amount each store gets?

I remember a few years ago under a different store manager he bought with his own money everyone in store a 10 lb turkey! That was a first ever and never to be repeated again he was a great store manager!

@jum you’re lucky your store manager wants to give you a better dinner than what the budgeted amount wd provide. That’s what a good manager should do as a way to thank the employees

Merry Christmas 🎄🎄

@QPhKfmU-jum You (and your coworkers) should all thank him so much for providing a dinner for what could easily be the last Christmas for Sears Holdings as a going concern

In our Sears store our Store Manager is kicking in extra money out of his own pocket for the Christmas dinner because he felt the budgeted amount was not enough. Good guy. We're one of the lucky ones.

Like the other person said. Every store was budgeted for this.

Every single store was budgeted for holiday entertainment/food. What's your store number? I'll check what your budget is and whether or not it has been used yet.

@hls why shouldn’t we want a Christmas dinner?

Over 400 stores closed this year alone and more than a thousand folks laid off and you want a "Merry Christmas" dinner? Give me a fricking break.