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so I work at a shoe store and I haven't been getting any shifts lately. like I haven't worked for the last three weeks. I've called a few times to ask about it and every time, the manager on duty tells me that it's just really slow and everyone's getting their shifts cut. Today, I decided to go into the store today and talk to the scheduling manager personally. she told me that apparently, the consensus between all the managers was that I'd been "underperforming" and that I was "lost" whenever I was on the job. I have issues with this for a few reasons.
First of all, I do everything in the job description without even needing to be asked, and when I'm asked to do something out of the ordinary, I do it. also, none of my managers have ever told me that I was supposedly underperforming, and when I talked to the scheduling manager today, she couldn't give me any specifics on what I could do better. It's like... I've only been reprimanded on the job once, and that was honestly the result of one of my managers being indecisive (I was organizing shoes and she told me to go slowly to make sure I didn't miss anything, and after I'd been at it for about two hours, she told me I wasn't going fast enough. it's like, make up your damn mind!) Other than that one single situation, I've never had any issues with any of my managers, and up until this point, I thought I was doing average at worst... the whole situation just bothers me. Like, the way they handled it... instead of just being upfront with me and telling me the truth, they handled it in about the most passive-aggressive way possible by not scheduling me and not telling me what was really going on. It bothers the fuck out of me that out of four managers, all of whom I thought I was on good terms with, not a single one of them did the right thing by being honest with me. I'm actually thinking of just quitting my job because I feel so singled out. they all went behind my back and none of them even attempted to fix the situation in the correct way. I'm going to have a really hard time working for people I don't like and don't respect.
tl;dr bad managers because they didn't actually tell me what I was doing wrong and they handled this situation in about the most ass-backwards way possible
 
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United States24501 Posts
Haha I've had some similar frustrations lately. I wish I had some wonderful advice for you, but your options are kinda limited when you work in a shoe store. I guess the most important thing to keep in mind is... as you go through life, you should try to make decisions so that you can always keep your head held high.
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They are grown adults who manage a shoestore for a living and have no prospects in life, who gives a flying fuck what they think of you. Quit and get a job where you are appreciated.
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United States24501 Posts
On December 14 2011 11:48 gosuMalicE wrote:
Quit and get a job where you are appreciated.
I would do this in the opposite order personally XD
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On December 14 2011 11:49 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On December 14 2011 11:48 gosuMalicE wrote:
Quit and get a job where you are appreciated. I would do this in the opposite order personally XD
yeah, I'm going to start looking for other work soon. hopefully I can find something quickly because I don't really understand what I'm supposed to do differently at my current job.
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Not trying to be mean, but stories like this always make me sigh. I've had many friends and co-workers tell stories like this before. "I'm doing good!" "The management team sucks. I know more about the business than they do!"
One thing they all share in common...they're lazy, complain about everything and actually suck at their job. Do good employees ever get hours cut to 0 or reprimanded? No...why? Because they do their job.
I can't automatically assume you're the same but saying you were reprimanded once for doing work slow for 2 hours seems really foolish. I'm assuming you're making minimum wage so multiply that by 2...would a company really go all the way to piss off an employee after losing 2 hours of minimum wage cash? I highly doubt any company is that anal with their money and stupid enough to confront an employee.
My 2 cents, tell your managers you want to improve and how you should approach that. If they give you another chance, even if its 5 hours a week, work your ass off and be that good employee.
...and for the record, it's easy to not give an employee any hours than it is to fire them.
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Well, don't lie to yourself... if you were a good worker there they would have no reason to ditch you except a personal reason.
Maybe it is personal, maybe not, only you could know. Also it doesn't matter what's in the job description, if the other people who are working there are doing it better, they're gonna get more shifts, simple as that.
The "passive-aggressive" way they went about things is basically just conflict-avoidance. It is a bit of a dick move but it's most likely just them taking the easy way out.
edit: aaaaaand RedMorning said everything I did while I was typing.
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On December 14 2011 11:59 RedMorning wrote:
Not trying to be mean, but stories like this always make me sigh. I've had many friends and co-workers tell stories like this before. "I'm doing good!" "The management team sucks. I know more about the business than they do!"
One thing they all share in common...they're lazy, complain about everything and actually suck at their job. Do good employees ever get hours cut to 0 or reprimanded? No...why? Because they do their job.
I can't automatically assume you're the same but saying you were reprimanded once for doing work slow for 2 hours seems really foolish. I'm assuming you're making minimum wage so multiply that by 2...would a company really go all the way to piss off an employee after losing 2 hours of minimum wage cash? I highly doubt any company is that anal with their money and stupid enough to confront an employee.
My 2 cents, tell your managers you want to improve and how you should approach that. If they give you another chance, even if its 5 hours a week, work your ass off and be that good employee.
...and for the record, it's easy to not give an employee any hours than it is to fire them.
If they never tell me what I'm apparently doing wrong, how can they expect me to improve? That's bad management any way you look at it. IF I've been doing badly at my job (and that's a big IF seeing as how I do everything and more that's expected of me, and my manager couldn't even give me specifics on how I was supposedly doing badly), the proper managerial response is to call me, or tell me to come in so we can have a conversation.
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also it's true that of the four managers, there's one who always seems to give me a much harder time than the others, so maybe it is personal.
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United States24501 Posts
On December 14 2011 12:00 Turbovolver wrote:
Well, don't lie to yourself... if you were a good worker there they would have no reason to ditch you except a personal reason.
Or one of many other reasons, mostly revolving around incompetence (on the part of the managers) or unseen forces. It isn't automatically your fault when something like this happens.
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On December 14 2011 12:09 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On December 14 2011 12:00 Turbovolver wrote:
Well, don't lie to yourself... if you were a good worker there they would have no reason to ditch you except a personal reason.
Or one of many other reasons, mostly revolving around incompetence (on the part of the managers) or unseen forces. It isn't automatically your fault when something like this happens.
This is how I feel. I'm never going to claim that I was the perfect worker and that I did everything right, but it's insulting to me that they think I'm underperforming, because I know that's not true. If anything, I'd guess they want me to quit because they waaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy overhired. There's like 30 people employed at the store (seems like a whole hell of a lot for a shoe store), and after working there for a few months, I'm prepared to say that they could cut at least 5 people and not have any issues with staffing.
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Although I do agree with you that they should have had some sort of communication with you regarding your performance, the situation clearly points to that you are not wanted there. You need to reflect on your performance and see how you can improve for your next job. Also, in a job like yours, it really isn't necessary to be told that you are under-performing. I think it is safe to say that you are well aware of their expectations and what your job description is. If you are honest with yourself you can easily figure out if you are doing your job well.
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On December 14 2011 12:16 drgoats wrote:
Although I do agree with you that they should have had some sort of communication with you regarding your performance, the situation clearly points to that you are not wanted there. You need to reflect on your performance and see how you can improve for your next job. Also, in a job like yours, it really isn't necessary to be told that you are under-performing. I think it is safe to say that you are well aware of their expectations and what your job description is. If you are honest with yourself you can easily figure out if you are doing your job well.
I'm honest with myself and I do my job well. That's why this is so surprising.
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Welcome to being an adult. It won't be the last time and if this really bothers you, you're in for a rude awakening.
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On December 14 2011 12:09 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On December 14 2011 12:00 Turbovolver wrote:
Well, don't lie to yourself... if you were a good worker there they would have no reason to ditch you except a personal reason.
Or one of many other reasons, mostly revolving around incompetence (on the part of the managers) or unseen forces. It isn't automatically your fault when something like this happens.
True. But he did say himself that he is average at worst. If you are calling yourself average, you are usually worse than that.
I'm gonna side with the managers on this one without really knowing the situation because it is more unlikely that 4 managers are incompetent than they see eye-to-eye on his performance.
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On December 14 2011 12:16 iamahydralisk wrote:Show nested quote +On December 14 2011 12:16 drgoats wrote:
Although I do agree with you that they should have had some sort of communication with you regarding your performance, the situation clearly points to that you are not wanted there. You need to reflect on your performance and see how you can improve for your next job. Also, in a job like yours, it really isn't necessary to be told that you are under-performing. I think it is safe to say that you are well aware of their expectations and what your job description is. If you are honest with yourself you can easily figure out if you are doing your job well. I'm honest with myself and I do my job well. That's why this is so surprising.
If that is really the case, and you want this job then unfortunately you will have to initiate the conversation with the management. Sometimes that is necessary.
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On December 14 2011 12:19 drgoats wrote:Show nested quote +On December 14 2011 12:09 micronesia wrote:On December 14 2011 12:00 Turbovolver wrote:
Well, don't lie to yourself... if you were a good worker there they would have no reason to ditch you except a personal reason.
Or one of many other reasons, mostly revolving around incompetence (on the part of the managers) or unseen forces. It isn't automatically your fault when something like this happens. True. But he did say himself that he is average at worst. If you are calling yourself average, you are usually worse than that. I'm gonna side with the managers on this one without really knowing the situation because it is more unlikely that 4 managers are incompetent than they see eye-to-eye on his performance.
Key words in that situation are average AT WORST. I go above and beyond, for the most part. I just didn't want to come across as conceited by saying that I do my job well.
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That's their way of firing you pretty much. If you've been working there long enough it's easier for them to have you quit than trying to find good reasons to get rid of you.
On December 14 2011 12:09 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On December 14 2011 12:00 Turbovolver wrote:
Well, don't lie to yourself... if you were a good worker there they would have no reason to ditch you except a personal reason.
Or one of many other reasons, mostly revolving around incompetence (on the part of the managers) or unseen forces. It isn't automatically your fault when something like this happens.
Yeah, I had a job that I wasn't particularly liked at but I worked there for over a year and did my job well (even got a letter of recommendation). Still, I got a couple of complaints from other workers at one point (told by the manager) and not a single one of them ever tried to talk to me (apparently a few people felt I didn't respect them enough? Despite me trying my hardest never to say anything about how lazy they were except when people weren't working and there were clients so I told a few people to do their jobs --- bad idea when you're the newest worker it seems).
I even got calls from other pharmacies around to go do replacement work there and I kept getting some until I moved to another province. I was partially fired, in that when I told him I quit pharmacy school the boss let me keep my job as a technician for a few months until it was summer and they were cutting hours in july (since all the student part-timers want more hours) and it made sense for him to give hours to people that weren't moving in 3 weeks.
Overall, once people start to hate you there's not much you can do. As others have said, some people with no prospects in life aren't people whose' opinions you should take to heart. Almost every single day, gossip was made about one person or the other and pretty much everyone there hated each other. When you're not there, it's you. When you're there, it's person X or Y or Z, etc. Of course, everyone is polite to your face. A bunch of old bitter fucks hating on you isn't going to change much in your life.
All in all, the working world is worse than highschool unless you work in a place with educated people (IE a research center or something --- and it's not perfect there either, trust me, but it's the one place I worked where at no point did I feel people were gossiping about one another... except for that one dude with a PhD that had to ask Bachelor students for help with instructions on basic techniques, which was just sad). People are bitter that their life is boring and that the work they do is pretty meaningless.
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Having had a few jobs myself, I can understand where you are coming from. I have seen this happen to people many times. I think the best idea for you is to get another job as soon as you can. Your current management just sounds like they don't know what the fuck they're doing, and it doesn't look like it's going to change. After this there is no way that you can respect your management, and it looks like the feeling is somewhat mutual. Just find another job, you'll enjoy it more and it will allow you to start with a fresh slate.
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after work: go home, sit on the couch, watch stupid shows and stick your hand in your pants
trust me, it works
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EPT
