- Feb 22, 2005
- 7,280
- 0
- 0
Basically I'm out of work, hopefully just for a few days til I get something new. I work(ed) for a large retail organization, one that starts with an R and ends with a K, and has a lot of letters in the middle that you can replace with swear words to more appropriately describe the company. I've been there over 3 years, I've worked my ass off the whole time, not taking vacations, working my schedule around theirs, doing unpaid overtime (not on the clock) to get things done so when I was on the clock I'd make more money. I basically made piss-poor wage anyways, since they paid percentage commish.
Either way, a big thing there has always been about customers, making sure they're happy, all that jazz. I've never had a customer complaint against me, never insulted or blown up at one, I've always been polite and professional and I'm probably the most knowledgable guy in our area when it comes to our products. When I had good customers come in (people who spend $10K+ a year) with dinky little things like car chargers or batteries that aren't working to their satisfaction, I had no problem giving them a new set, even if sometimes it technically wasn't allowed. My manager trained me with the mindset that sacrificing little things (low wholesale) to keep our best customers happy wasn't an issue.
Apparantly the company felt differently, because lost preventions sat me down today and dredged up every ticket over 3 years I've done that they felt was suspicious. They basically told me that I was stealing from the company when I gave merchandise away, even to customers who basically spent enough to buy tens of thousands of those units if they felt like it. They said that they talked to my manager, and he told them that he trained me to follow company procedures at all times, and if I did anything like this it was without his permission (yay me). I fully admit that some of the time I went ahead without his knowledge, since he wasn't there all of the time, and I was basically the assistant manager anyways. But at the same time he did tell me to take care of customers, within reason, and I felt that was exactly what I was doing.
The amount of cash value they dredged up was very tiny compared to what I sell in a month for them, much less the three years I've been there. But at the same time I understand that I technically violated certain (minor) company policies, and during the current reorg they're going through they want to stem some of that behavior to get everybody in line with the new policies/procedures.
He gave me two options:
1) Go through a full audit of all my activities for 3 years, spend the next month evaluating my performance, calling customers to ask if they returned things or not, and basically to have me defend myself against my higher-ups
or
2) Simply admit that in a few cases I violated company policy, and allow my DSM to decide if I was to be let go or not.
I went with option 2, since I really don't like the job, but was going to stick it out for another year before moving out west. I didn't make tons of money there, and realistically that was going downhill fast with all of the changes. I talked with the LP guy a bit, worked out something and told him I'd get ahold of him later, and left. I could care less at this point about what goes on there, or the fact that they now have to cover my 45+ hours a week, and I've got a lead on something else that pays much better with a lot less stress.
Cliffs:
1) Took care of customers
2) Did some minor things company didn't like
3) Got called on it
4) Took my licks and left for greener pastures
5) .....
6) Profit...somehow.
Either way, a big thing there has always been about customers, making sure they're happy, all that jazz. I've never had a customer complaint against me, never insulted or blown up at one, I've always been polite and professional and I'm probably the most knowledgable guy in our area when it comes to our products. When I had good customers come in (people who spend $10K+ a year) with dinky little things like car chargers or batteries that aren't working to their satisfaction, I had no problem giving them a new set, even if sometimes it technically wasn't allowed. My manager trained me with the mindset that sacrificing little things (low wholesale) to keep our best customers happy wasn't an issue.
Apparantly the company felt differently, because lost preventions sat me down today and dredged up every ticket over 3 years I've done that they felt was suspicious. They basically told me that I was stealing from the company when I gave merchandise away, even to customers who basically spent enough to buy tens of thousands of those units if they felt like it. They said that they talked to my manager, and he told them that he trained me to follow company procedures at all times, and if I did anything like this it was without his permission (yay me). I fully admit that some of the time I went ahead without his knowledge, since he wasn't there all of the time, and I was basically the assistant manager anyways. But at the same time he did tell me to take care of customers, within reason, and I felt that was exactly what I was doing.
The amount of cash value they dredged up was very tiny compared to what I sell in a month for them, much less the three years I've been there. But at the same time I understand that I technically violated certain (minor) company policies, and during the current reorg they're going through they want to stem some of that behavior to get everybody in line with the new policies/procedures.
He gave me two options:
1) Go through a full audit of all my activities for 3 years, spend the next month evaluating my performance, calling customers to ask if they returned things or not, and basically to have me defend myself against my higher-ups
or
2) Simply admit that in a few cases I violated company policy, and allow my DSM to decide if I was to be let go or not.
I went with option 2, since I really don't like the job, but was going to stick it out for another year before moving out west. I didn't make tons of money there, and realistically that was going downhill fast with all of the changes. I talked with the LP guy a bit, worked out something and told him I'd get ahold of him later, and left. I could care less at this point about what goes on there, or the fact that they now have to cover my 45+ hours a week, and I've got a lead on something else that pays much better with a lot less stress.
Cliffs:
1) Took care of customers
2) Did some minor things company didn't like
3) Got called on it
4) Took my licks and left for greener pastures
5) .....
6) Profit...somehow.
(i'm a CPA now)
Facebook
Twitter