So, I have a question for any store management people reading this stuff. Exactly how well are you handling everything? Are you scared about your own position (esp. if you are one of two ASMs at a store)? Are you concerned about how this will affect your store's performance? Do you feel slightly overwhelmed at how much more you have to be doing? Have you said anything to anybody higher up? I ask these questions because at least at my store, thus far, the store management seems to be in a state of shock and slightly overwhelmed with trying to keep receiving, projects and general customer service all going, even if they have some pretty solid PT staff to rely upon, and very wary to talk much about anything (well to be fair, the SM has talked to me about some of this stuff). I'm just wondering how widespread these feelings are.
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11-7:30 now? Holy Sh...t. could never get half of it done before. The back rooms must be full since they have been sending so much crap we didn't need .
I doubt there was an RM among us who didn't work through many a 'break'. I even went so far as to remind my DM & the HR dept that it was NOT illegal for me to not take a lunch. It should be embarrasing that an RM knew state & fed labor laws better than either of the two people above him. But goes to show there's plenty more wrong here than just greedy upper management. I fail to see how any industry that tries and introduce 100 new items a week (40 new rel boxes at about 12 new title each) can hope to make the customer aware of enough of it, for one.
But, hey, after 25 years + 7 in the Bookstop era, it's not my worry, now.
I am an SM. The first two days I hauled boxes. And wanted to just be alone and busy. Every time I sat with each of my staff to tell them what happened, I let them cry, curse, do whatever they needed to do. And then their response to me was “what can I do for you?” My staff is amazing and is sad but is doing what we need to do to keep helping each other.
I don’t know what the future brings—- no one does. But I will continue to be a leader and do my job. No matter what it requires. Instead of being overwhelmed with all the things that have been tossed on my plate, I had to take a step back and look at one thing at a time. Prioritize. Not worry about inane stuff which is what I was starting to do. We finished delivery everyday this week and trained one person on how to do it. We started interviewing. We reworked the schedule. And we continue to get ready for inventory.
This is the time that will either make or break your managers. This was tough. Laying off someone really messes with your head. In a sense, i didn’t have time to grieve because i immediately stepped into comforting mode because that is who I am. I ugly cried alone in my office numerous times. But, with the support of the staff and their overwhelming desire to make sure the managers are ok, it’s gotten better. If you don’t have a manager like this, I am sorry. But know that we are overwhelmed and are trying to figure things out to make it easier for you. It will get easier, but everyone needs to work together. Don’t resent or blame your manager— we had no control over what happened or how it happened.
Glad to know I wasn’t the only RM working off the clock and skipping breaks to keep things running smoothly! I’ve already known 3 other RM who did the same thing. Harsh reality is that they we were never given enough people or hours to keep up with the workload. Of course, If you didn’t finish Friday afternoon, and left boxes, it was always our fault for not receiving fast enough...and you didn’t want to leave boxes, cuz then they would just be waiting for you on Monday.
we all pretty much saw this coming for a long time. just get life going again. its not worth the worry for what we were paid
Everything you said. Morale is low. We can barely put on a face for the staff. Receiving is already going to hell
I am not management, but I am now the only receiver so I communicate with them a lot. They (SM, both ASMs) have told me that soon the job postings will go up for part timers to replace the hours lost from the four leads and RM lost on Monday. The RM and one lead had worked at the company for a combined total of almost fifty years and had been at our location since the first time Justin Timberlake performed at the Superbowl, longer than any of our managers. Morale is very low among absolutely everyone.
I am our one and only 'part time' receiver, but I'm now 40 hours per week until we hire more part-timers. We are almost an 8 million dollar store and we need more people back there really bad. I am now in charge of receiving and am the only person besides the SM who knows how to do everything as far as receiving goes.
Our SM is a beast and I've seen him break 75 boxes of ETG an hour, but he has a ton of work to do and can't help me all that much. We had inventory literally the day before our RM was let go, so now we're getting a lot of backlist boxes with the resync. It's starting to get crowded. The last few days either the shipment has come late or I've had unexpected issues come up, like a huge pallet of bathroom supplies be delivered unexpectedly so I haven't even been able to touch more than a few boxes of backlist before I have to clock out.
I am training shelvers and booksellers to do returns, put books on H Carts, receive newsstand and help take in the shipment in an organized fashion. One ASM and both Merch Managers are worried about their jobs. I have asked multiple managers if the store had a chance of closing, but our lease is good for another five years and none of them seemed to think it was a risk. I'm not so sure the company will last that long.
They are looking at me to fill the duties of the RM, who used to be an SM and had been our RM for 15 years. I have only been at the store six months and am not up to the task. Our RM would often clock out and keep working an extra half hour to an hour a day and never took his fifteens so that we could stay on top of our workload. I always thought that was ridiculous, but now that I am doing this completely alone, I know why he did that. What's the problem with taking out the trash off the clock if it means I have five more minutes to put a backlist box or two on the table? Why not take a five minute pee break or water break instead of a full fifteen, when I can get another five or six ETG boxes done in those extra ten minutes?
Management has been extremely concerned with how I'm doing because they are good people who generally do care about the staff and also because they know they're screwed if I decide to leave. When I call them to let them know I'm going on break they always seem relieved that it's all I'm calling for.
I am not sure how it's going on the floor or at cash but I know that the new 11-7:30 no projects thing doesn't really happen at our store unless we're busy. 12-4 was bad enough, and now we have less people to do them. Unless the DM comes for a visit I don't see us following that protocol.