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Don't bother reading unless you've got nothing better to do. I'm very wordy when I write so who knows how long this will end up being. This is basically just me venting about work today, nothing too special.
Here's some background so it will make more sense. I work in a fine clothing shop as a salesman in a store which has been open since 1862. I've only been there for a month, but it's been great so far, and it pays good. The staff who work there don't make any commission and it's not a high pressure sales environment, but the management still pays attention to who sells how much, which is what sparked the event which garnished this turd of a day.
It started out this morning. I ate my breakfast, surfed TL, drank half a litre of coffee, and proceeded to get dressed in my three piece suit (a three piece has a coat, trousers, and a vest). About 5 minutes before I am to head out, I shit a brick and realize that the bus schedule changes on saturdays. Normally it isn't an issue since I head out early to grab a bagel and coffee downtown, but today I felt like sleeping in and catching the later bus. I flew over to my computer and checked the schedule and sure enough there was a bus coming soon which will get me to work on time. All is good, eh?
80% of the way to my bus stop I realize that I left my bus pass at home and I don't have any bus fare on me. So I have 5 minutes to book it back to my house and grab my bus pass, then book it back to my stop, otherwise I'll be late for work. I do just that and make it back to my stop three minutes later, sweating like hell because it's 20C (about 70F I think) outside and I'm sprinting around in a three piece. Two minutes pass buy and I'm sitting there going all rain man because the bus isn't showing up. Another minute passes by, no bus. Two minutes, no bus, three minutes no bus, four minutes BUS! Not a problem, I'll still make it to work with five minutes to spare.
Things are starting to look up again until this fucking five foot tall (I'm serious he was practically a midget) white dude struts on to the bus decked out like 50cent, or I suppose 5cent is more appropriate . He walked by me and I laughed my ass off on the inside, but few seconds later the horror unleashes itself. This guy smelled like a nasty fucking half dead old dog that hadn't had a wash for the latter half of it's life, and the smell filled up the entire bus.
By the time I get off the bus I want to go take a shower in varnish to make sure the stench doesn't follow me to work, but thankfully it didn't and I get to work on time. Work itself was ok for the first half, albeit very slow. It was the last day of the week and I couldn't wait for it to be over. After lunch I had a shitty time as every customer who came in the store either took one look at the prices on the sale rack then turned around and walked the hell out, or treated me like a fucking car salesman when I ask them if they'd like any help.
Here's where things get better and much worse at the same time. I'm folding sweaters when a couple comes in and asks me if I could help them find a blue blazer for them. I take them over to the coat rack, and then I remembered that my supervisor said to me basically "I don't want to take your confidence away, but if someone comes in asking for a suit or blazer then please direct them to me if I'm not busy." I know that it wasn't anything personal, she just wanted to sell as many suits as possible. So I look over see that she's not busy so I trade them off and go back to folding sweaters. Some time later, a couple comes in which could easily be summed up as a salesman's dream. They were polite, nice, and genuinely cared about my advice from the start. After dealing with assholes for three hours straight it was a welcome change, and I was going to make damn sure these folks got exactly what they wanted. Now they were dressed about how most tourists dress so I was pretty amazed when they asked me to find a good fit in the $995 dollar pure cashmere overcoats. I grabbed the guy a 42 and it fit like a glove; no collar roll, the sleeves were proper length, and he filled out the shoulders sublimely. They ask me to set it aside for them so they can keep shopping. Next he asks me to find a good fit in the Tommy Bahama jeans we carry. The waist and seat fitted good, but the legs were far too long since he wasn't a very tall fellow. They decided to take them anyway.
So at this point about to have an orgasm because I'm about to make an $1100 sale for the second time in a row this week. I punch in the items, run their card, and send those folks on their merry way with a Canadian made cashmere overcoat and a pair of some very high caliber jeans. That's when the day got shitty again. My supervisor was still helping her customers but she came over to me and said,"We have to talk." She said it like she was pissed off, but I had no idea why that would be the case since I just made a monster sale. After her customers leave, she pulls me aside to have a chat. Instead of giving you the whole speech I'll just some it up. Basically it was this 15 minute long "You don't have to apologize, and I'm not mad but screw you," speech. Apparently the couple she had helped for about a half hour decided not to get anything and left. I don't know exactly what occurred just before this but according to her the couple who ended up buying the cashmere coat should've have been her sale. The problem is, the people who ended up buying the coat from me approached me, and as far as I knew my supervisor hadn't even talked to them at that point. I know for a fact that whatever she had supposedly helped them with didn't amount to anything, as she was well and busy dressing the mannequin while these people were in the store, not helping them with sizing and fitting like I had done.
So by the end of this speech I'm some strange combination of depressed and confused since throughout the speech she had to repeatedly say "and you don't have to apologize," or "it's not really your fault," simply because she knew that I hadn't done anything wrong. The only reason she even brought it up was because my sale worked out and hers hadn't, and we both knew it. The reality is the only way it could've worked out in her favour was if I randomly decided to run the sale through as my her sale after helping the couple out for 15 minutes with no reason to believe she had even said hello to them, or when the couple walked up to me and asked me for help I just told them to wait 15 minutes until my supervisor was finished with another sale while I continued to fold sweaters. The rest of the day was pretty shitty as well. She was flaming butt hurt for an hour after it happened, and I wasn't really sure if I should greet customers or not since they could be people she walked by on the street last week and thus should be her sales.
I'm quite sure that it will all blow over soon since according to the other coworkers she has a habit of doing this kind of thing then joking and apologizing the next day about it. She's going on holidays for two weeks now so hopefully by the time she gets back she will either let me try doing a few suit and sport coat sales or at least forget that it happened. Either way I don't really care.
So that's pretty much it. Thanks for letting me vent TL ^^.
 
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. I feel your pain. People are assholes to salespeople all the time and especially high end/ sometimes snobbish people.
And bad luck just sucks.
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That's totally shitty bro, managers can be awful sometimes.
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This is why I'm glad I'm in school don't have to deal with this. Tutor at school for pocket change, temp work at hospital. Tough luck my friend I feel yeah did customer service for 6 yrs in some shit holes.
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Hm.. I thought this would be a lot worse.
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You should submit this skit to Pornstars punishment
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welcome to "working with women"
please dont enjoy your stay
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On September 18 2011 12:00 FFGenerations wrote:
welcome to "working with women"
please dont enjoy your stay
I don't normally subscribe to stereo types, but I think you are onto something ^^
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So you guys don't get paid on commission so why is she butt hurt???
She's a supervisor as well, it really shouldn't be her responsibility to chase sales instead it's her job to help and guide the salespeople to chase sales...
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only way to avoid this is to have a higher social status in the eyes of your woman coworker (self confidence/social confidence will do this, so either figure that out and become awesome or find another job coz you're gonna suffer)
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Great read, what a nooby woman
Thanks for sharing, gives us all a taste of different occupations
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On September 18 2011 12:09 haduken wrote:
So you guys don't get paid on commission so why is she butt hurt???
She's a supervisor as well, it really shouldn't be her responsibility to chase sales instead it's her job to help and guide the salespeople to chase sales...
It's been hard for me to wrap my head around as well. Yesterday she was giving me high fives for making a $900 dollar sale, and today she pulls this shit. From what I gathered from the talk we had, she was under the impression that I deliberately pawned off the couple who came in to look at a navy blazer so that I could go and make the sale with the cashmere coat couple.
By that logic I would've had to know that the blazer couple wasn't going to buy anything, which I didn't, and that the tourist couple dressed in cheap clothing was actually going to buy the cashmere coat, which surprise surprise I didn't.
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Some people are simply irrational. Nice job making it to work and dealing with all the nonsense.
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Thanks for all the nice comments 
You guys have made me feel a lot better.
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WIMINZ!
Yeah that sounds about right. What's more baffling is that you don't get any commission... Jesus.
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What a crazy cunt. She seriously has mental issues.
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Don't sweat it bro.
If it was "her sale" from earlier in the week, they would have asked for her specifically.
She's just an angry bunny cunny, and you, sir, are a cho-gosu salesman.
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On September 18 2011 12:30 rad301 wrote:Show nested quote +On September 18 2011 12:09 haduken wrote:
So you guys don't get paid on commission so why is she butt hurt???
She's a supervisor as well, it really shouldn't be her responsibility to chase sales instead it's her job to help and guide the salespeople to chase sales... It's been hard for me to wrap my head around as well. Yesterday she was giving me high fives for making a $900 dollar sale, and today she pulls this shit. From what I gathered from the talk we had, she was under the impression that I deliberately pawned off the couple who came in to look at a navy blazer so that I could go and make the sale with the cashmere coat couple. By that logic I would've had to know that the blazer couple wasn't going to buy anything, which I didn't, and that the tourist couple dressed in cheap clothing was actually going to buy the cashmere coat, which surprise surprise I didn't.
It's okay. Just put this down as another random female thing and move on. I get that too at work. Got my manager (female) having a talk with me due to me not respecting her and I'm like wtf are you talking about and it all turns out that I didn't respond to her emails quick enough what the fuck?
Women in position of power are not used to it that's my theory lol, don't want to get all sexist and shit but they some how always feel the need to insert their authority into your conscious randomly at times.
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Okay, don't wanna be sexist, in fact, quite the opposite. It may have been "that time of the month", which we, men, don't have to deal with. It can make a woman touchy and easily offended.
I'd let it go if you have a reason to think it was just an isolated incident. But if it wasn't the first time, I would talk to her in private. Quickly, respectfully and without allowing her to divert the conversation with any emotional diatribe or dodging. Just tell her that you respect her as a salesman and a boss but her (recent) behaviour is not allowing you to perform your job well, which is what you do and what you are paid for doing. Therefore you respectfully ask her to control the emotional outbursts. Which you understand, because you have horrible days sometimes too, but she needs to control them.
If she goes aggressive or tries to take revenge on you, just go to the higher up manager. Formal complaint if needed. Let's hope she was simply having a bad time and is not one of the people who need to meet strong opposition before they are ready to stop their antics.
And sympathies, lots of. I used to work for a company where they would first tell you off but when you proved you had done no wrong and you had no influence basically on the events, they wouldn't take the rant back and restore you to favour but just make up an excuse to keep it standing. I figured out it was their way of dealing with things. Somebody simply had to take the figurative beating to make things right after a random screw up. I wasn't liked there because I would openly challenge that. Lost that work in the end. I can definitely relate to how you feel, which sucks. Hope you get a better day tomorrow.
Can you grab some music you like or treat yourself to a movie or a beer in a nice pub or whatever makes you feel better? I do just that sometimes and it helps.
Congrats on the sales. That's a real, substantive thing and it is what counts, as opposed to some antics on the part of a disheartened boss.
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Nice detailed story, well it honestly could have gone a lot worse (miss the bus / spill the coffee / hobo stench brushed on your nice suit for longer time / didn't make that massive $1100 sale). I agree with the people saying that just put it off aside as a one-a-month thing - and you could probably add on some more personal issues she might have had that day - and move on with work as usual.
One thing I heard on the radio this morning though is that what makes a great boss is how he/she makes you feel even on your bad day. I briefly remember that worker satisfaction/health depends on how he/she feels valued at work, and a great boss will remind you and make you feel liked a valuable part of a team even on your bad days. In this context, I suppose you're not so lucky. D=
Oh and I just got a simple request email forwarded around 5 managers in 3 different offices before the final one decided to just advise me to "call the hotel management company." You know, I could have done that myself if the first manager didn't tell me to contact the second who told me to contact the third... ok so anyways, I called the hotel management and got my question answered in a 2-minute phone call. I sure feel liked a valued employee, 5 managers forwarding my request around...
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I hate having to email people as usually it goes around and around because no body is willing to take responsibility, you end up just having to reword your original email just so they can do things that if they have done wouldn't have caused the screw up.
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EPT
