Dumb Employees at work...

[RaiQuee]

So, I work at a small chain called Pet World. Recently (as i stated on fauna) I am having some family issues. In regards to that, It effected my job at the hwy 100 st job, so I got transfered to the 27th street job.

I pretty much instantly got manager of fish room. Which a -lot- of people were not happy with. Well there is this one employee there, we will call her suzie. She is DEFINATLY not a star employee. So I gotta rant here.

First, her uncle got shot. I felt terrible for her! We let her use the phone when she needed, and was very forgiving of the situation. She would use the phone multipule times in the day, and this lasted for a week. Then her mom has a heart attack and is in the Hospital. So shes late here, making phone calls there, blah blah blah. Okay, I'm sorry your mom's in the hospital, It'll slide. Sunday (yesterday) I worked a full day with her. She comes in and states "I don't feel like doing anything today" So i go, "alright, and why is that?" And turns out one of her friends got into a car accident and died.

Now, maybe she just has really bad luck, but it all seems rather fishy to me. I catch her multiple times, WHILE WE ARE OPEN, on her cell phone, talking to her boyfriend. She either has to ask my permission or another managers when using the fish phone, however I catch her picking it up, looking around to make sure no one is looking and calling people. So, besides when she is NOT trying to call people on the phone, she is doodling on MY worklist pad, her name and coloring it.

The problem I have here, is i'm too nice to people. I let things slide. Plus I am one of the few "managers" that cannot fire or hire anyone. So when i get upset and yell at them, it doesn't hold any water like other managers.

We got fish shipments on Fridays, and I am always a wreck on those days. Fish sitting in bags, people wanting help, trying to get stuff done. Both her and another girl were chatting, and not helping customers, nor the tasks I assigned them to do. I finally snapped and in front of customers and all I was like "You guys better turn around, help these customers and then finish your tasks. Your not done before 5, guess what? Your not going home, until It's finished!"

Whats a person to do? Oh i forgot to mention, Managers don't give a rats ass

 

[nora]

ok so what's the point of having a "manager" title if you dont have the ability to repremand employees when they slack and what not..

hmm you know.. it sounds like to me that even thou you can't fire em, you can just send them home early... let them lose hours and get smaller paychecks.. because who likes to have small paychecks...on top of that i would actually find out if what she says is true.. if her uncle really got shot, her mom having a heart attack and her friend dying in a car crash... for all of that to happen in so little time seems really shady...

If all of those things really happened then i dont see why she couldnt just take time off from work instead of reporting to work everyday.. sheesh if she's been there long enough FMLA will cover her butt...

i'd say she suffers from idiocracy syndrome.

 

[The NY Gecko]

Pet World eh? This is gunna sound absolutely NUTS, but I know the owner. Theres 2 in new york, her names Regina and she operates the entire business with her husband, I forget his anem. Now I know for a fact she just isnt manager. She owns it. And when you put "fish room" with "pet world" its gotta be the same place. i know how hectic and backed up it can get, theres usually only what? 3 people working the fish room? and for you to doing it all is downright insanity. Weekends and fridays are the absolute worse, i know that too because thats when i go in there and fill my massive orders of feeders and reptile food. id talk to the store manager, tell her whats up. its not like shes a needed employee, you guys can probably fire her and have a new worker within the week.



EDIT: 2 in new york was wrong, i meant 2 in just the rochester area.

 

[nora]

you sure about that tom? there's a pet world down here near where i live and the owner's name isnt regina.. and there are a few pet worlds in jacksonville that are owned by a completely different person...

 

[wilomn]

We have some out here on the west coast too. I somehow doubt it is the same owner but if tom is sure, it must be so, must it not?

 

[nora]

i dont know Wes.. it could very well be. I will openly admit that I have been proven wrong before...

 

[M_surinamensis]

Wait... are you guys trying to imply that it's possible for a really generic name like "Pet World" might be a registered business in multiple states even though they're completely unaffiliated with one another?!

Well, at least I can trust the national corporations like... "(Insert Town Name) House of Pizza"

 

[wilomn]

Wait... are you guys trying to imply that it's possible for a really generic name like "Pet World" might be a registered business in multiple states even though they're completely unaffiliated with one another?!

Well, at least I can trust the national corporations like... "(Insert Town Name) House of Pizza"

No no no Seamus, I can only speak for myself but I think Nora is with me on this one. tommy has stated that he KNOWS the owners and one of them is a woman named regina. He says he doesn't lie so it must be so, must it not? regina MUST own all the Pet Worlds, coast to coast and border to border. It MUST be so, tommy says it is.

National Chain, phft.

 

[PaulSage]

There's only four stores in the "Pet World Warehouse Outlet" that Desire' works at -- Madison, West Allis, Waukesha & Greenfield (all in WI). Used to be owned by a guy named Ed, and is now (from my understanding) co-owned by four people.

Sorry to hear about the chaos, Des. Welcome to the reason why I quit there.

 

[Jeanne]

Desire'

I recently had a VERY similar problem. I had a girl working with me that screwed off all the time, and I am not a supervisor/manager/or anything, but it is a small office so I along with everyone else here know what happens with everyone.

Well, when she first started her about 1 1/2 years ago, she was great, a little strange, but a good worker. Then, after she started feeling comfortable, she started to slack off, coming in late almost everyday, on her cell phone, etc. By 1 year of working here, she was HORRIBLE! Late every day, then would leave after being here for 15 minutes to go to Dunkin Donuts, then come back and take her 10 minute break. She would be on her cell phone and work phone on personal phone calls at least 5 times a day, with 20 minute or longer phone calls. And, she sat in a cubicle right in front of me, so I could here her talking; it wasn't stuff appropriate for an office. And all this time she was "Temp to Permanent".

My manager was aware of all this and said he believed it was because she was only temp and would be better if we hired her. And, that's what the moron did; he hired her, against what EVERYBODY else in the office thought. But he is the manager, he MUST know everything.

Well, she was made permanent, and within 2 months, she was still late everyday, more personal phone calls, and called in 17 days due to being sick/mother was in hospital/father was in hospital/friend was in a car accident. I actually called the hospital once and asked for her Mothers room # so I could visit, she wasn't there. Finally after being here for 1 1/2 years she got fired.

My advice to you is, make sure your manager knows everything that happens, and if he/she doesn't do anything about it after a while, go over their head.

Maybe I should have started my own thread :main_huh:

 

[nora]

so are you saying paul there's a difference between "Pet World" and "Pet World Warehouse Outlet" ?

my poor head is starting to cave in from the confusion...

 

[PaulSage]

so are you saying paul there's a difference between "Pet World" and "Pet World Warehouse Outlet" ?

my poor head is starting to cave in from the confusion...

The place where Desire' works (where I did work-different location though) is called Pet World Warehouse Outlet, but goes by Pet World for short. I know there's at least two other "Pet Worlds" chains/stores in the country though. There's even one that advertises on KS.

 

[nora]

well where ever desire' works.. the management system is messed up..

 

[RaiQuee]

Yes, I work at Pet World Warehouse Outlet. This particular chain is ONLY in Wisconsin, with ONLY 4 locations. Would be nice if we got to dip in the money bucket of other stores tho!

Well I talked to my store manager, who thinks i'm amazing (they drastically needed help) and told her who I think will make it, and who I think won't. Realistically, they have me. Then their is another girl who works full time but is leaving in about a month or two to go back to school. Then there is a full time guy, the full time slacker and a part time worker. I told the store manager that I didn't think that the full time slacker girl was going to make it. She said that she agreed, but right now we have no one to fill her place, so she will have to suffice. They were looking through apps yesterday for fish people.

The problem is, these people got trained by LAZY people. If they give them to me, when their still considered fresh meat, I could definatly whip a good employee out of that.

I'm not there to make friends, but i'm generally a nice person. It kinda gets to me, cause i forgot in retail you gotta be a bitch to get anything across Ugh...

I got enough on my plate as is, and I have to look at it as "Well, are you going to help me here, or am I going to have to pick up your slack?" If the person can hold their own, do what I tell them and are a decent employee, They will stay. If not, I will make their life hell for them until they quit or get fired. I really don't have the time or patience anymore, to listen to her yap to her boyfriend.

Ed drove down from Michigan (a 6-7 hour drive) on Sunday and I was worried sick that he made it home okay! Did I call him? Nope, I'm at work.

Just, GRR.

 

[nora]

I'm not there to make friends, but i'm generally a nice person. It kinda gets to me, cause i forgot in retail you gotta be a bitch to get anything across Ugh...

not really true... dont hafta be a bitch to get anything across.. i worked for GAP for 2 years, and no one had to be a bitch to another person to get things done or whatnot. of course we had our "wanna-be im better than you so you better do as i told" employee who had NO authority or position to be barking orders at other employees.. but she got shut down fast because we didnt tolerate that kind of stuff in our store.. instead if another employee was slacking we always took them aside and said look, you gotta pick up the slack/pace because if you dont it's gonna be all of our butts.. not just yours.
and most of the time those employees got the clue. of course there are times where i had to send a couple employees home or write them up because they wouldnt do their work, or just goofed off when none of the regular managers were around. (i was an on-call manager with managerial authority)

As long as an employee knows who has the authority, then they generally wont screw around and slack off.. i would seriously have a good talk with the store manager about giving you more adminisrative powers rather than be a "senior" employee (cuz technically that's what you are)

 

[Grinning Geckos]

I'm in the same boat....I do the work with none of the power. As far as most people are concerned, listening is an option, and it's freakin annoying. Just do your work, and I won't be a pain in the rear...how hard is that? One guy gets it, but the newest employees stop listening the second they learn I'm just the person that has been there a VERY long time (and I AM in charge...when things go wrong, I'm the first person the boss talks to). Thank God there are only 4 employees...I'd be going NUTS with that sorta additude from more people.

 

[The NY Gecko]

I always firmly believe that after the first warning, if someone was being lazy, give em the boot, there are probably hundreds of people that could fill in the blank spot, especially in cities. People NEED jobs.

 

[Milwaukee Reptiles]

I didn't know you got moved to the 27th st store... I would looked for you when I was there last weekend picking up a few crickets for the non-converted gargoyles. I haven't been out to the Hwy 100 store for a while at it's a little bit farther from Oak Creek. I've never liked most of the younger employees at the 27th st store, it seemed like they were always too busy talking to get me anything, I always had to search for people. Their reptiles never seemed to be in too good of shape before either, that why I'd usually take a ride out to the Hwy 100 store instead.

Anyway, you don't have to be a bitch to get employees to work, but from what I've seen the high school girls that were working there seemed like they don't need the cash and have important social lives to think about, so it might just be best to let them go. Of course, you can always assign them the crap jobs

 

[RaiQuee]

Shanti i'm the same, however I have title of the fish room (titles seem to play a big part in pet world) but it doesn't hold a lot of water because I can't fire anyone, write anyone up, send anyone home.

The store manager said that at the next store meeting, she is going to tell people I'm manager of the fish room, and I do have authority. However I don't know how far that will go with people that simply, DO NOT CARE.

Nora) I understand your points, and they are valid. But these people are just buying time to see how long they can get paid to do jack shit, and still be hired. What sickens me, if they last LONG enough doing nothing, they get fired they can get unemployeement! I mean, they really and truley do NOT care. They laugh at the managers faces when they get yelled at.

I was very "Hey, i'd like to start doing this now..." Or " Could you do me a huge favor, and do..."

Now, it's going to be like this "We are going to start doing this..." and "You need to get this done tonight, here is a list, cross off what you get done and hand it into a manger at night. Your not allowed to leave unless this list is handed in and accepted by a manger.."

If i could fire people, I'd save that one girl that is going back to school in fall, and the part timer and give the other two full timers the boot. But I don't -have- that power. I wouldn't think twice. First time I caught her on her cell, if I could it would be, "You want to talk to your boyfriend, then you can find another job where they don't care if you do. Your not doing it here" and boot!

 

[RaiQuee]

I didn't know you got moved to the 27th st store... I would looked for you when I was there last weekend picking up a few crickets for the non-converted gargoyles. I haven't been out to the Hwy 100 store for a while at it's a little bit farther from Oak Creek. I've never liked most of the younger employees at the 27th st store, it seemed like they were always too busy talking to get me anything, I always had to search for people. Their reptiles never seemed to be in too good of shape before either, that why I'd usually take a ride out to the Hwy 100 store instead.

Anyway, you don't have to be a bitch to get employees to work, but from what I've seen the high school girls that were working there seemed like they don't need the cash and have important social lives to think about, so it might just be best to let them go. Of course, you can always assign them the crap jobs

Last weekend, which day did you go? Saturday or Sunday? I work Sundays, and I walk around with the dirty look on my face all the time rofl