Topic: The "complain about work" thread

[Jabroniville]

Did you actually get let go from K-Mart? You said before your manager said "today can be his last day" or something like that. Was that more of a suggestion or an order, I guess is what I'm asking .

[Tuxedo Mark]

I went to Kmart yesterday before seeing "The Hunger Games" (good movie, by the way; go to see it), and the cashier happened to mention that they can't sign up anyone for SYWR without an e-mail address now. I was like "Well, it's nice to know that things here haven't changed for the better since I left."

Seriously, if there were any doubts that the purpose of this program was to harvest e-mail addresses, they can now be laid to rest.

Nothing different about the mall  - as far as I can tell.

[Tuxedo Mark]

Did you actually get let go from K-Mart? You said before your manager said "today can be his last day" or something like that. Was that more of a suggestion or an order, I guess is what I'm asking .

Order.

So I guess you could argue I was let go from Kmart. However, it's more like the boss saying "You can't quit. I'm firing you."

Here are recent articles about Sears Holdings:

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/21/how_the_1_percent_live/slide_show/8/

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/03/20/the-most-confusing-turnaround-story-ive-ever-seen/?source=TheMotleyFool

http://seekingalpha.com/article/443111-applying-the-altman-z-score-to-sears?source=email_rt_article&ifp=0

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120316/BLOGS01/120319800/sears-ceo-dambrosios-2011-compensation-just-under-10-million

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1310067/000119312511047669/dex101.htm
(a letter from chairman Eddie Lampert personally offering the CEO job to the current CEO)

http://risnews.edgl.com/retail-news/Sears-Mulls-Sale-of-Lands--End,-Sears-Canada-Divisions79412?googleid=79412

http://money.ca.msn.com/investing/michael-brush/why-sears-is-on-its-last-legs?page=0

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120421/ISSUE01/304219970/sears-where-america-shopped#ixzz1srruyrfO

These last two came out on Monday, and the last one in particular reads like an obituary.

[Jabroniville]

Conan O'Brien mentioned a recent scandal at Sears where a guy was video-taping women in the change rooms. "He caught them in some really embarassing situations... WEARING SEARS CLOTHING!"

[Tuxedo Mark]

Yesterday, when I was at the mall, I noticed the hot dog stand was sealed off, because they're remodeling it.

Here's an article from May 12. Guess who's at #2:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/05/12/oops-5-ceos-that-should-have-already-been-fired-cisco-ge-walmart-sears-microsoft/3/

And here's a feel-good story from yesterday:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/kentucky-man-buys-kmart-inventory-gives-away-220043176.html;_ylt=AlY8QXQ7xLFpfOMqxVAl0yas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTVsdHJscjFyBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBGb3IgWW91IDUgU3RvcmllcwRwa2cDZDAwNTA5ZmYtOTdiNy0zZDA5LTkwMWQtYmU0YzE5NDQyZWMzBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNNZWRpYUJMaXN0TWl4ZWROZXdzRm9yWW91Q0FUZW1wBHZlcgMzZmE3MjRlMC1hMDcyLTExZTEtYWVmZS1jZmMwNmM4N2M4YzM-;_ylg=X3oDMTFlamZvM2ZlBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnM-;_ylv=3

Speaking of yesterday, the company posted its first-quarter 2012 results. I missed it, because I thought it would be next week.

Anyway, they're touting a net income of $189,000,000. Actually, they just call it an "income". However, this "included gains on the sale of assets of $233 million, after tax and noncontrolling interest, from the sale of certain U.S. and Canadian stores and leasehold interests.  These transactions generated approximately $440 million of cash proceeds". Also, all other figures/stats mention decreases and declines.

[Jabroniville]

How's the Wal-Mart thing going, Mark? Are you still building the new store?

[Tuxedo Mark]

How's the Wal-Mart thing going, Mark? Are you still building the new store?

No, it opened on April 11.

It's okay. Less stressful than Kmart, but some of the CSMs seem to have attitudes, like they're frustrated when you call for help, or they frown when you go over to the podium to check on your schedule, etc.

[Oldiesmann]

I saw the story about that businessman on the local news yesterday. Glad to see stories like that.

According to K-Mart's website, they still have 6 stores in this area, as well as 5 in the Dayton area. The ones in my area:
1 in Newport, KY (10 minutes south of where I work)
1 in Blue Ash (near my grandparents - not sure how much longer it'll last as Target opened a store in that area not long ago)
1 in Earlanger, KY (about 20 minutes south of downtown, I think)
1 in Beechmont/Anderson Township (eastern edge of the county)
1 in Harrison (30 minutes west of downtown on the Indiana border)
1 in Springboro (45 minutes north of downtown, near Dayton [because the county it's in is still part of the "greater Cincinnati" area, it's also considered part of this area even though it's closer to Dayton)

[Tuxedo Mark]

I was at the mall on Wednesday the 13th to see Snow White. While I didn't notice any differences in the actual mall, I did notice the hot dog stand in Kmart was indeed expanded to look a tiiiny bit more like a K Cafe (but not enclosed). It also "proudly" serves Seattle's Best Coffee. The thing is it wouldn't be open until the following day. Some suit was having a discussion over there with the hot dog staff.

Here's an article from the same day (there's speculation that Eddie's in the process of breaking up or liquidating the company):

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/sears_open_to_selling_assets_vI3mJZYoF1DJxuaJJkc3yK?

[Tuxedo Mark]

I've kept meaning to post this, so what better time than waiting for hamburgers to get nuked in the microwave?

The company announced its 2Q 2012 reseults on August 16: a net loss of $132,000,000. This almost wipes out the first-quarter net income of $189,000,000. Way to go, Sears/Kmart.

Apparently, Eddie Lampert is relocating his company's (ESL Investments) corporate headquarters from Connecticut to Florida (where he recently bought a mansion for $40,000,000, making headlines). He controls Sears Holdings through ESL by it owning a majority stake in SHC or something.

Oh, the company announced 8 more store closings on June 26: all Kmarts, 2 of which are in Florida.

[Metricq]

I have been at my job a year and a half and recently got promoted to assistant supervisor. This woman has been there longer than me, (5 yrs) yet never got promoted, she is also older, and just doesn't seem to respect me (probably because I'm young.) I tell her what to do, and she says I don't want to. She mouths off, she ignores me. She even lies to my face. I even got into an argument with her (that made me cry) I just had another incedent again with her today. Since I can't do anything about it, I have to wait until tomorrow when my supervisor comes in. She dis-respected another co-worker today and it was terrible. She makes fun of people behind their backs. Yet she hasn't been fired. I have no idea why. She has caused at least 3 people to quit. I know this because they said the reason they were quitting was because they couldn't get along with her. If something does not change soon, I may be looking for a new job.  I've been putting up with it for a long time, but I am getting fed up. The higher up supervisors have talked to her to "change her attitude", but that's it.

[Oldiesmann]

Have you explained to them what's going on - especially with people quitting because of her?

I can understand that maybe she's mad/jealous because a younger person who hasn't been there as long got promoted before she did, but that's still no reason to behave like that (and, perhaps, her behavior/immaturity is exactly why she hasn't been promoted).

If all else fails, are there any supervisors above your immediate supervisors that you can talk to?

[Makoto]

I keep attempting to bag the grocery orders right: "Peaches never on bottom or the sides"...because customers notice and tell me to get it right.  Luckily, the peaches didn't get smashed or dented, and the customer stated "go back to job training".  Shouldn't be so hard to pack correctly, but I know I was caught and awaits the management to have a word with me, or what they can do to my job.

[Jabroniville]

Metricq, it can often be quite difficult to fire an entrenched employee- they often have to be formally written up a handful of times to actually fire them, and if that isn't done, companies can be stuck with them. It's particularly tough when the store is Unionized (there's a dark side to Unions like that). HOWEVER, it can/should be done when the bosses do their jobs, but a lot of people don't like to go through the effort to write up employees, fire them (which can cause lawsuits or cost tons of severance money), or they're just afraid of conflict and want the problem to go away on it's own.

If it becomes an issue, keep a log of evidence for their behavior, and show it to a higher-up. At my store, we had some LUDICROUSLY terrible employees stick around long past when they should have been there, because in one case, a crazy woman was never formally punished for randomly swearing at co-workers; and in a few others, the wimpy Grocery manager would get flustered and refuse to write-up his worst employees because they would throw fits (as the Union rep, I almost wanted to jump in and write up the staffers myself- unfortunately that's not allowed ) and he'd inevitably back down and be stuck with these slow, terrible, whiny workers.

So yeah, it can suck. I don't know if quitting is a good idea, though- if you're an Ass.Man (hee hee I love saying that) you're probably making a bit more than a starter wage, and it can be tough to find a new job in some places. And you'll find problems like that in ANY job. Annoying people come with any job that involves people.

NineZero09- Customers can be unbelievably rude. It's why high-level businessmen always tell others to do the "Restaurant Test"- always take potential co-workers or business partners to dinner, and if they treat the staff poorly, then it proves they're not a good person and not worth doing business. Because you're "beneath" them and thus not allowed to react, you can be put through some incredibly rude stuff. I usually just bag peaches by themselves or with the lightest thing possible as a result, and always bag meat separately (one cow once shot in with "Don't put that there! How long have you worked here!?"- I shot her a REALLY dirty look).

[Metricq]

Metricq, it can often be quite difficult to fire an entrenched employee- they often have to be formally written up a handful of times to actually fire them, and if that isn't done, companies can be stuck with them. It's particularly tough when the store is Unionized (there's a dark side to Unions like that). HOWEVER, it can/should be done when the bosses do their jobs, but a lot of people don't like to go through the effort to write up employees, fire them (which can cause lawsuits or cost tons of severance money), or they're just afraid of conflict and want the problem to go away on it's own.

If it becomes an issue, keep a log of evidence for their behavior, and show it to a higher-up. At my store, we had some LUDICROUSLY terrible employees stick around long past when they should have been there, because in one case, a crazy woman was never formally punished for randomly swearing at co-workers; and in a few others, the wimpy Grocery manager would get flustered and refuse to write-up his worst employees because they would throw fits (as the Union rep, I almost wanted to jump in and write up the staffers myself- unfortunately that's not allowed ) and he'd inevitably back down and be stuck with these slow, terrible, whiny workers.

So yeah, it can suck. I don't know if quitting is a good idea, though- if you're an Ass.Man (hee hee I love saying that) you're probably making a bit more than a starter wage, and it can be tough to find a new job in some places. And you'll find problems like that in ANY job. Annoying people come with any job that involves people.

--Thanks for the advice. I am not going to quit, unless some awesome job comes along that I really want. They talked to her again on Monday, my supervisor and the head manager. She was much better today. They told me today that if she messes up one more time, she will be fired. So she was acting super perfect and nice today. Let's hope that continues to be the case. --