Thread regarding Barnes & Noble Inc. layoffs

Good read

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.

Originally posted by @RMSUvdU-hnb.

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| 1771 views | | 4 replies (last February 24, 2018) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+RPV3c1R

4 replies (most recent on top)

I'm always torn between "it's just a job, don't go the extra mile" as it's sound advice for the individual, but crappy advice for the team. I can hardly imagine coaching a winning sports team by telling players to just ignore opportunities to do that little bit extra when it's needed, even if it's not "their" job. I imagine some of our corporate failures come from a surplus of people who are of that mindset. I certainly saw plenty of them come & go in my 25 years at BN

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Post ID: @4qab+RPV3c1R

I don't care if you feel like you can't get it done without clocking out first - never work off the clock. As a former human resources manager, you are not doing yourself or the company any favors. If you were to get hurt while you're off the clock, workman's comp doesn't cover you. Also, you should only work if you are getting paid, it's just that simple. If you don't feel like you can get it all done, you need to communicate this to your store manager.

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Post ID: @2xhq+RPV3c1R

DO NOT WORK OFF THE CLOCK!!! It seems you truly care about the store as do your coworkers and mgrs, but in light of what just happened, the company obviously DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU! Do not let them guilt you into working for free because of their poor decisions. The ship is going down and they’re trying to take us with it. Don’t let them, it’s just a job and their own fault for mismanaging, not your responsibility. All you can do is what you can. Again, DO NOT WORK OFF THE CLOCK!!!

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Post ID: @2qcg+RPV3c1R

Great post - and thank you

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Post ID: @jpz+RPV3c1R

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