PENCILS: WORKIN' HARD FOR THE MONEY

In the two years I've worked for Pencils we have had more new managers than new associates. It seems as if they are always changing but the only thing that doesn’t seem to ever change is my pay. The only reason why I have stayed for so long is because I have been on the, “I promise we will pay you train” ever since I accepted my prestigious title. In my department we have three real techs, the rest of the guys are just there to spew information that they "Googled" and use it to sell protection plans. I have a shitty job and when I do the math it actually almost cost me money just to drive to work and see these idiots in action. I also get to constantly hear about my market basket and how I don’t sell computers. I can sell, I just chose not to. I really don’t see the point in lying to people just to be able to brag about my basket. I tell everyone I know to never buy a computer from Pencils, and if they do, just order it online. I know I’m on my last legs because I have started getting write ups for stupid stuff like not taking out the trash. My store is the biggest rip-off store in the district and if you have had the opportunity of visiting it, all I can say is, "I’m sorry". I apply for jobs daily. I’m hoping to get them before they get me. Fuck this place! I just want to leave, but for now that is just a dream because tomorrow morning I know I will just get up and do my 45 minute drive to the place I hate to be at.

(Office) MAXED OUT

In the spirit of former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith’s op-ed in the New York Times, I too decided to write about the many reasons why I chose to quit my job at OfficeMax.

 

The biggest reason was the customers. Now, not all customers are bad or give you a hard time but, the area I worked in, we had an entire tribe of rude and downright nasty customers. Some of the things I failed to understand are as follows:

 

1.) What store in America does NOT have a return policy? I know what are competitors policies are so don’t give me the bullshit that “Well, Office Depot let’s me return this all the time even when it’s past the date?”

 

“Oh, really?” “Well, let me give the nearest store a call and see what they have to say!” I actually did this once and proved the lady wrong to the point that she threw her stuff down and ran out the door.

 

Also, I’m tired of the bullshit I get from customers about return policies on receipts. Customers like to ask, “You seriously expect us to flip our receipt to the back and read the return policy?” My response has always been, “Well, yeah…there is a reason why we give you the damn thing in the first place!”

 

No wonder people had homes foreclosed on in the economic meltdown in 2008. You failed to read the fine print and other information and made assumptions. Well, guess who got screwed in the end? YOU DID!

 

2.) When you buy something for say $12.00 and use a coupon for $5 and then you return the item to us, you only get back $7. Your coupon does not get refunded to you and nobody that I know of (not even Walmart) refunds your coupon.

 

3.) Don’t bitch at us because we don’t have things in stock. I’m just a damn store associate/cashier; you have a problem call corporate. And no, we don’t have it in the fucking back!

 

I could keep going, but I’ll stop here.

 

As for management and corporate, I have so much I could write it would take a lifetime to write it down. Here are the basics:

 

1.) You pay us crappy wages; give bonuses to management for OUR sales, and then insult us by giving us crappy “commissions” (e.g. $129.99 for a full in-store diagnostic and repair = $12 commission which, after taxes, isn’t much at all)

 

And you wonder why we come to work and give less of a fuck about our jobs? Guess that Harvard MBA failed to teach you that when you have disgruntled employees, production declines.

 

2.) To management: If you’re a new Store Manager and have never worked at an office supply, stop trying to dictate like you know everything. YOU DON’T! We’ve been working here longer than you have so why not ask us what needs to be done?

 

I guess you don’t care, which is why, I don’t give a damn either. Have fun trying to convince others to take this job and have fun training them (if they’re stupid enough to take it).

 

I'M NOT STUPID!!!

I've been working at Pencils for five years and I'm really feeling unappreciated for the work I've done. I've been in the CPC for the whole time and about a year ago our expert quit. I knew that I could do the position so I applied for it. I was overlooked and they hired some guy who only worked there for two weeks. I only worked with the guy for 5 minutes maybe. After he left I pretty much (still) ran the department and had a great co-worker who left late last summer. He was the only other person who I could trust that when I wasn't there, he could do things properly. I enjoyed working with him. We got a different GM last fall and the one we have now is pretty arrogant, lazy, and comes off as a know-it-all. A real smart aleck. Things were okay until a week before Thanksgiving he was being real sarcastic and I told him "I'm not stupid!" real loud and had a lot of stress/anxiety as a result for more than a month. I finally told him I don't want the expert position and then they went and hired someone who doesn't even have a copy/print background and doesn't even like working there. She wasn't trained properly and as a result I'm still being asked question on how things work. So that's kinda being overlooked twice. My GM and DM's reason for not supporting me in purusing the position: I'm "not ready yet". BS. If I didn't know I could do it I never would've applied for it. Not even so much of a "thank you for your contribution" or anything like that. So now I'm really feeling unappreciated (on various levels) and I want to write a letter to a few people up the chain and let off some steam. I would tell them exacly how I felt, but then again, I still need to keep my job...