A week after I had filled out my RGIS application, I attended my
first training session at the same office. The training session was
run by Dean, a genial, slight man in his sixties. Dean was bland and
a rather harmless sort, or so I thought until a few years later when
RGIS would end up firing him after they learned that he had lied on
his application about having a criminal record. It turns out that he
was a registered sex offender, but that's a tale for another day.
There were about 10 of us sitting around a conference table. First
we watched a couple of videos explaining the inventory business and
how it works. These videos of course extolled the virtues of working
for the wonderful company that was RGIS. They made it sound as though
we were about to embark on some fantastic adventure, instead of
ending up in some dingy drugstore counting bottles of aspirin and
boxes of condoms.
Everything else about the videos was so dull that the rest of the
contents completely excapes my memory, except that when they were
over the office secretary, Betty, said from her front desk, "Those
new videos were much better than the old ones, right Dean?"
The other people at the training session were unremarkable, and
half of them didn't even show up at the second training session a few
days later (And those that did return for session #2 I never saw at a
single inventory. Apparently I was the only one stupid enough to
stick around).
During the second session we were given black webbed belts to
wear. These belts had two hooks that the audit machines
(micro-computers that we would use to count and total merchandise)
would be hooked up to. Later that year I would see and request one of
the leather belts that some of the veteran auditors had. These belts
were much nicer-looking than the cheap nylon webbed ones. When I got
my leather belt, I asked one old man auditor, Jeb (who had been with
the company forever but could never progress any further than team
leader due to the fact that he was as dumb as a rock), why weren't
the leather belts the norm, instead of the nylon ones. Jeb said that
they used to be, but the company had hired so many fat people (like
Moby, another team leader who weighed around 400+ pounds and smelled
like a clogged toilet) that they had to switch to the more adjustable
nylon belt. We were also given burgundy polyester polos with RGIS
stitched in gray on the short sleeves. Dean explained that we always
wore these shirts during an inventory, along with black trousers and
solid black shoes. No jeans allowed. He said that we also weren't
allowed to wear anything over our RGIS polos, nor could we wear
anything but all-black shoes. Of course, this was another 'rule' that
virtually everyone ignored, as lots of people wore jackets or sweat
shirts over their polos and one girl, Ellen, would wear her fuzzy
bedroom slippers to inventories.
Dean explained that the belts and shirts were ours to keep (yay).
Then at each inventory we would receive one audit machine and one
laser gun (if we weren't doing a financial inventory, which doesn't
use laser guns). At the end of each inventory, we would return the
machine and laser gun to the team leader or manager or whoever was
running the inventory.
The audit machine looked like an oversized calculator. It had a
numeric keypad in the center, surrounded by other function keys and a
small LCD display screen at the top. The thing took 8 AA batteries to
run and weighed about 8 pounds, so that it felt like you had a big
tumor hanging off your right hip. They were pretty sturdy little
computers, as I would find out in the years to come. I witnessed
these audit machines get dropped on cement floors, thrown against
walls and banged on a Kmart shopping cart. The latter act was done by
a team leader named Ethan, when he couldn't get his audit machine to
transmit to the Ray 2000 (another audit machine that we would
periodically transmit our machine's info to). He tried several times
to transmit (99S to 99R) without success, and then in complete
frustration he slammed his machine onto a metal shopping cart. He
claimed that this was what you had to do when your audit machine
froze up. I guess he was right, because after that his machine
transmitted the data perfectly.
The laser guns (looking like overgrown water pistols) plugged into
the audit machines, and we would be using it to scan bar codes on the
store merchandise. Dean showed us how everything hooked up, machine
to belt, laser to machine, etc. Since I'm left-handed, I started to
fix my belt so that the audit machine would hang down at my left
side, and I held the laser gun in my right hand. Dean saw me doing
this and immediately told me I was doing it wrong. He said the
machine should always hang down my right side, and I should hold the
laser gun in my left hand. "But I'm left-handed, I need to key
with my left hand," I told him. "Well, my son is
left-handed, and he keys with his right hand. WE ALL DO," Dean
said pointedly, and I got the message and switched the machine to my
right side. Dean was satisfied.
After we were all hooked up and connected to Dean's approval, he
showed us how to turn the machines on. Dean explained that when we
flipped the 'on' switch, a buzzing noise would occur but that we were
never to hit the 'clear' button. This would stop the buzzing but
would also erase the program information in the machine as well. No
matter how many times this was drilled into our heads, at every
inventory at least 2 or 3 people would immediately hit the 'clear'
button when they turned on their machines and that dreadful buzzing
sounded. You couldn't blame the idiots too much, as the noise was
eardrum-piercing, and upon hearing it your first reaction was to just
make the damn thing stop. RGIS auditors would quickly grow to hate
that sound so much that when someone would accidentally bump their
machine's keypad against something in a store, the machine would
start buzzing and half a dozen people would scream "Clear! Hit
the damn 'clear' button!" (It was okay to use the 'clear' button
once you had started entering data into the machine.) Sometimes when
Kenny, our District Manager, would give the crew our pre-inventory
speech in the back room of a store, stink-bomb Moby would secretly
press a bunch of buttons on his machine so that it would start
buzzing loudly, interrupting the DM's speech. Kenny would look around
angrily at the group and say, "Damn it! I told you guys NOT to
turn on your machines until I'm finished talking!" Moby would
quietly hit his 'clear' button and look innocently at Kenny, with a
"Who me?" expression on his mottled face.
Once our machines were on we practiced scanning bar codes on
sheets of paper. Then: excitement! We scanned wall posters that had
photos of cans of soup, boxes of cereals, etc. We would scan the
product's bar codes, count the number of items, and enter the
quantity in our machines. When we finished counting all of the items
in the poster, Dean showed us how to take a reading of the totals in
our machines. We then wrote the totals (# of items and dollar amount)
on an RGIS area tag, along with our last name and our worksheet
number. Dean explained that at every inventory we would be given a
worksheet on which we were to record every area (shelves and sections
in the store were numbered) that we had counted in that particular
store. No one ever did this, except for the newbies. Most of us just
put a big 'X' on the worksheet and turned it in (when we bothered to
turn them in). Once beached-whale Moby wrote in big letters across
his worksheet, "REDRUM". When Team Leader Marcia showed it
to Kenny the DM, he said only, "Well, some people have issues
with me."
After we had practiced scanning a couple of the posters, Dean
explained that next we would be given a schedule of upcoming
inventory jobs. He also said that there would be no work until after
New Year's Day (this was in December). When the five of us looked
surprised, Dean said, "Oh, didn't you know that there are no
inventories going on in December? No stores want to have an inventory
going on during the holidays. But you'll be busy enough after January
1, and don't forget, you ARE getting paid for these training
sessions." Yeah, at $1.00 less than the starting wage ($7.50 at
the time). This amounted to a whopping $39.00. Wow. Merry Christmas
to me.
(Coming soon: I meet Kenny the DM, he of the Play-Doh pink skin
and Coors-Light-beer-can-decorated-office.)
44 comments:
I'm an auditor in Albany, NY (D354). Been here for one year as of May 1, 2006. I personally like the job actually.
We have a good District Manager who's been around for almost 30 years as I recall. Area Managers are good people, Team Leaders are all good people as well.
I remember the training video, My DM who trained me on the first day made the joke "We haven't figured out if these guys are actors or actual employees".
We had 6 people stay for both training sessions I was in, which I did see for many inventories to come. Most of them only needed a short term job, so I am the only one left from my training group :P
They actually started enforcing the black pants rule eariler this year, but actually we can wear jeans at certain inventories, I think Home Depot we can as I recall.
Eric must be a moron because its 99-CTRL-R on the RAY and 99-CTRL-S on the auditor's machine :P
But yeah, they are pretty indestructible, THOUGH some of them can't handle very low temperatures and lock up. Of Course, you wouldn't know that being in California :P
They made a big deal with the audit machine on your left? We have like 10 auditors who are left handed and key on the left without a problem. I remember even during training my DM said "Put the machine on what ever side that you write with"
The "Clear" thing isn't 100% right. If you hit clear after you turn the machine on instead of CTRL-R at the sound of the buzzer, you should get a prompt if you really WANT to delete the data.
Up here, usually we don't mind the buzzer sound unless we hear it going for longer than like 5 or 6 seconds then we know something isn't right.
You couldn't TURN on your machine before the supervisor gave the store speech? We have to have everything ready to go before he or she talks so we can get started right away.
The Posters, well I clearly remember flooring it through though those and well my DM was happy to see that I kept a good pace for even the posters. I have engraved in my head from him "You will probably never encouter an inventory where you scan the barcode, enter the price, and quanity like on the posters". I was at such one and later told him about it and he laughed.
Sometimes the worksheets are useful, sometime they are not, all I have to say on that.
Actually, I've had inventories in December, a few stores, mostly stores that wern't affected by the holidays.
I started off at 9.00 an hour actually :P
You should work for Washington Inventory Service not RGIS. RGIS does BLOW!
Thanks for the info, Agent Skelly. It's always interesting to hear about other RGIS auditor's experiences, especially when from another part of the country.
You sound like you're working for a really good district. My district (D414) really blows. At least it did. I don't work for them anymore. I was there for about 7 years, and I can't say that I hated ALL of it. I did have some good laughs with some of the auditors, and the flexible schedule was nice.
Wow, a DM who's been around for 30 years? Our DMs usually lasted for about 1 year average before they quit or got fired. Usually the latter. Same with the AMs and AAMs. My district was so hard up for Team Leaders that they would promote ANYBODY, even people who had only been on the job for less than a week. Of course, they all failed miserably.
I can't believe they let you guys wear jeans! Boy, things have really changed. We could never wear jeans, even in a Home Depot. One auditor wore jeans to another hardware store and was sent home to change.
Oops! My bad about the transmitting thing. I forgot about the CTRL part of 99-CTRL-S, 99-CTRL-R. So don't blame poor Eric. Even though sometimes he could be a moron. More on that in future tales.
Your DM sounds pretty cool. I wish stupid Dave the AAM who trained us had been more relaxed about the "no lefties" rule.
Oh, yeah, I remember about the 'clear' thing. I think managers just told that about erasing info to scare newbies into not doing anything wrong.
Yeah, Kevin the Rat Bastard DM wouldn't let us turn on our machines until he finished his big talk. I guess it irritated him to hear the buzzing. He thought he was so important that some buzzing would take away from the awesomeness of his oratory skills.
Yes, I know about December inventories. But see, they would tell the newbies that there weren't any in Dec.; they saved those few stores for the veteran auditors, to keep them happy (and with the company). Oh, and nice starting wage! I did get 5 raises in my first year, so that helped.
Does RGIS still do the "Top Gun" contest? I won one year, a trip to Hawaii.
Please keep reading my blog, I hope you enjoy it! I'll enjoy your comments too, thanks.
What, work for WIS? Hah! There isn't a WIS in Santa Rosa anymore. RGIS (sucky as they are) ran them out of town. They took almost all of WIS' business, locally.
We used to joke about starting 'rumble' with WIS, or maybe sneaking over in the middle of the night and tagging their office, when they were still around.
I used to work for RGIS a few years ago and there were 3 or 4 people that I definitely could not tell what gender they were. Oh well, WIS is fine while still going to college since they are flexible and all.
I worked for Rgis for 11 years. I was a stay at home mom. The best thing about the job was the hours were so flexible.
Anyway, I was a Team Leader for most of those years, finally left about 3 years ago.
There were some really good things about RGIS and there were some really bad things as well.
The flexible hours were the best, for me, anyway. The pay wasn't that bad, when I left I was making 14.50 an hour. You could get away with quite alot if you were considered valuable. In order to be consideed valuable you either had to be very productive, be able to run an inventory and make alot of money for the company while doing it, be flexible and available whenever demand was there and being a pretty female did not hurt either.
So, what benefits did you get from possessing these "qualities". Well, for one you could cherry pick your own areas to count, you could take cigarette or snack breaks whenever you felt the need without managers saying anything to you. You received good raises and management would treat you with kit gloves.
I personally was treated well, but I also witnessed great mistreatment of other employees. These weren't slackers but hard working people who although maybe weren't able to count as fast as the top 20%, were still hard working, productive and did their very best. I seen auditors get cheated out of their travel pay, work 8 -10 hours without a break and get yelled at only to be humilated not only in front of their own peers but many times in front of store personel as well. Some of these people were promised big raises right around the corner, but the turn never came. These weren't stupid people that couldn't get another job, these were souls that for the most part had full time positions with other companies but needed a part time position to help make ends meet. Some of these people were college kids or people in between full time jobs. The more they needed the job the more they were taken advantage of.
You are correct when you say that they will sometimes promote anyone to be a Team Leader. The Team Leader position sucks. You have to schedule your people on your time, prepare to run inventories on your own time and usually drive around people to inventories in your own vehicles. Oh, sure they pay you mileage. Not the first 20 though. And when I left I was getting paid a whopping 17 cents a mile.
But as they cheated me and others I learned to cheat them as well, I would put down extra time on my time sheet to make up for the mileage and the time I spent at home getting the equipment and paperwork ready.
Oh, did I mention that they cheated some of their clients as well. Not all. Most of the corporate clients were charged fair rates and given accurate inventories. It was again, the poor little guy that suffered.
What my office (Boston South D356) would do is sell the inventory service to a local customer and then charge them manhours to do the inventory. Any company out there thinking of having RGIS do their inventory is making a good choice, but please don't let them charge you by the manhour. What my office use to do was send in 15 supervisors (just to watch the auditors count), 40 auditors and give out lavish breaks to all the employees just so that it would more manhours to get the job completed. It was a big joke amoung the mangaers and most of us hated it and felt guilty knowing these clients were overpaying for the inventories.
In ending, I would like to say that RGIS isn't the worst company to work for and a great experience for anyone interesed in the retail environment. Hopefully the new owners will put more value in the workers and make sure that they get better treatment then they have had in the past.
Ah the grocery store posters. Lots of fun. And then we get newbies in stores who show up and get completly confused about the fact that we key pretty much nothing. I'm on the "night team" so we don't have to key much. We go to scanning stores most of the time. We get alot of "what about price?" Of course, there are the few who don't get it and continue to ask this question at every subsequent store for awhile. They ought to have a separate training class for those who will only work at night. Maybe they'd be less confused. Teach them how to scan tags and "verify" before moving on to the next area.
Our DMs don't stick around long either. About a year or two, tops. I've seen 3 since I first started RGIS, and they were both fired. Seems third time's a charm. This one seems like he's going to be around awhile and knows what he's doing.
My district also seems to want to have lefties key with their right hands too.
Your Kevin was very brave. I have found that if anyone is allowed to turn on their own down-loaded audit machines by themselves, re-downloading is the end result. Somehow they go after ctl-1 and erase the data even when they are told "press control R".
My favorites are the ones who grab the RAY and then can't figure out why their machine won't work. LOL!
I have determined that I can only be one of the semi-retarted you speak of. Not only do i really like the job, but I seem to not be able to go anywhere these days without getting myself lost. And I keep showing up to stores even after others decide to just not bother, so me and the other semi-retarded are counting a whole lot longer than we have to be.
Waiting for more Tales. I hope the rest are more positive as the job doesn't really suck that bad. Does it?
To Anonymous who posted at 8:10 am:
OMG, your experiences sound exactly like mine! Did you work in Dist. 414, or are a lot of RGIS' districts like this? I mean, EVERYTHING you described happened to me, or just in the dist. in general. The veterans getting handled with kid gloves, getting to take smoke breaks whenever they felt like it, cherrypicking, etc. All of it went on, all of the time. And the poor treatment of the newbies and goobers did, too.
I too felt bad about some of the customer mistreatment that I witnessed, but I was never bold enough to do something about it. In addition to the "man-hours" abuse that you witnessed (my AM Joe would tell me to slow down my counting, so it would take longer to do the inventory, and thus RGIS would make more money. Oh great. They would keep telling us to "Go faster, count faster!", and then turn around and say, "Slow down, slow down." Not so easy!), I personally witnessed "plugging in" of inventories. That is, the store's inventory really wouldn't get counted; the person running the inventory would just take the numbers from the last inventory, change 'em around a little, plug those into the portable, print it out, and voila! Instant inventory! Of course, a few auditors would actually have to count, to make it look authentic. I heard that the San Jose Dist. actually sent people to count in an Albertson's Supermarket with their machines turned off, so it would look like they were counting.
Anonymous comment at 1:47 pm:
Lol! You couldn't tell what gender they were!
Anonymous at 8:16 am:
Oh, I just said that about being semi-retarded, because any mention of RGIS usually gets me in a foul mood. And hey, if anyone is semi-retarded, then I have to be included in that group, because I stayed with the job for 7 years! I liked the actual physical aspect of counting. For some reason it appealed to me. I just didn't like all of the backstabbing that went on. And I did have some fun. Those of us that had been around for awhile had lots of in jokes, and we did have some laughs, so it wasn't all bad. Plus, I got the benefit of all this experience to write about!
P.S. Your idea about separate training sessions for "night counters" is a good idea. I ended up as a mostly morning counter, so I did lots of non-scan inventories. Those were my faves. I loved how you could really get going in a non-scan, and if you were in a groove you could fairly fly down a supermarket aisle.
To all commentators:
Thank you so much for posting your comments! I really appreciate it! Please keep reading my blog, I plan to do about 2 entries a week. Thanks again!!!
Breaks... it doesn't matter who you are, or how valuable you are, breaks are not given or taken freely at my districts. At the grocery stores, morning stores, it may be a different matter entirely. They are their own entity. At the stores I go to, clothing stores, department stores, book stores... breaks are a whole other story. We're lucky to get a break after 5 hours. It depends on who's running it. Some see the value in giving us 10 minutes after 4 hours. Some expect us to keep going. At least they are following the lead set by California, and they are making sure we get 30 minutes after working 7 hours to get food or rest.
I can handle no break. It's OK. But there are times when we are all just wiped, and that 10 minutes can really make a difference.
Oh, and to the TL "annonymous" who was a SAHM. Now TLs get paid for time scheduling, PIVs, and setting up for stores. It's called a 908, and they log the hours they work oustide of inventories. This started about 2 years ago.
I'm a TL and I actually like the job. It is all the dirty politics they play that I hate. When Cali. filed the class action suit, we were told that the company was now enforcing lunch breaks. But, they found a way around that also.
they make you sign out a half hour later than your actual sign out time, then plug in a "lunch break" on the timesheet to make it look like you were given the break. they are breaking every known labor law in our state. The veterans get to pick what they count. They usually take all the easy, high dollar areas. And now the raises are going to be based on those totals. They will be based on your 'profitability to the company". And of course, the veterans...and not all veterans...but the chosen few will get the raises because of what they are being given to count. Sounds like the whole company operates the same way from reading these posts. I thought it was just my District.
We do get paid for anything we do at home now though through the 908 timesheets.
agentskelly, I'm in the same division as you. I'm in the Northeast Division. You haven't been around long enough to be jaded yet. Wait....it won't take long for you to see them with different eyes. CVS used to require the very best when they were all financial. Since they have gone to scanning, they put new people in there after a month or two. 9.00 an hour is the starting wage in the northeast. How many raises have you gotten since you started??
northeast where in the north east do u work i work in north east also(d364)with the new dress code and a new opps manager.... we get our scheldues breaks and very rarely do we do the half of hour thing anymore. signing out a half of hour later.. i been with this shitty company for close to 10 yrs and i say all the time im gonan quit but never do. it is alot better than WIS. how could a manager not let u put ur machine on ur left side if u are a lefty and not let u get all set up by turning on machines before directions which we dont get half the time cause we know what we are doing...
To anoynmous who posted at 3:49pm, which district is D364? What's the location?
d364 is milford ct.
what district is the one ur from.
and for everyone else i was just on rgis.com and rgisinv.com and they both say specialists....
Welcome Blake! I'm glad you're enjoying reading this blog. Please continue to leave your comments about working for RGIS. Hopefully your district won't be as bad as mine was!
How long does training usually take?
Anon. at 6:46 pm: When I was with RGIS there were two training sessions, each about an hour or two long. They were held in the district office.
I thought this was really cool some one else feels the same as i did about that shitty as job! I worked for the Queens area office (New York). Didn't stay there long but was promoted to team leader after a short time. It really sucked!
I was an auditor and TL for many years. I probably could have become a manager if I really wanted to, but the stress involved with the job did not seem worth it. Now RGIS has created a position that is dedicated to hiring and training new auditors. I applied and received the position several months ago. It has been as much of a learning experience for me as for the new hires. During the interview process, those who pass the aptitude test are given the opportunity to try out the audits. They are given sheets with multiplication equations in which they key the left side of each and press Func. 5(price) then key the right side and press Func. 6(quantity). When the applicants have entered all the equations, they take totals to determine if they match. Some do get the right total, but many do not. If they don't, they are then shown how to search and make corrections. Most of the time they can comprehend the process within a few minutes, but some don't. One applicant did not get the right total for the page he was keying, and after helping him search, I found that I could not follow the pattern(I tell the applicants that in order to find an error they need to compare what is displayed in the search with what is on the page they keyed it from by following the same pattern). Since I had already had this applicant delete an area and redo it before this happened, I came to the conclusion that this person was not suited to this job and told him so. I felt it was the right decision because it would save him a lot of misery in trying to understand how to use the audit. Those who show potential are offered employment if everything else in their applications is OK. They come for the training sessions, practicing using the audit in varying inventory scenarios, like auto-scan, scan and count, and port-fin. I explain the instructions for each exercise then have the new hires do them. Also, I tell them to wear the audit on their dominant side and to hold the laser in the opposite hand. This is where patience can be tested. Some cannot remember any of the instructions given to them less than 2 minutes prior to starting. I even write the instructions on a dry erase board for everyone to refer to and tell them to write these on the back of their worksheets. After reviewing it, some will breeze through it, while others have that deer-in-the-headlights look. Or they don't absorb the information and have to ask the same thing repeatedly. It's all about repetition and familiarity. There is a big learning curve which I have come to realize. During one session, a female new hire could not get accurate totals for shelf counts and while searching her audit, I found that she had not followed the procedure as I instructed and I asked what she did not understand. I explained that by not doing so, it was more difficult for me to find the errors. Then she took off her audit and started crying because she felt that I was impatient. I told her that I would review it again if she would stay, which she did.
When training people to do this, you can't be too gentle because they will not learn. Praise, support, and encourage, but expect progress. They should be able, after a few tries to see the flow of the audit operation. Another thing that new hires will do is hold up the audit when doing the port-fin posters. This needs to be discouraged as if it is done in the field, they will never achieve the desired productivity. Observing the new hires in training gives an indication as to which will become successful auditors and which will not. Like with anything, those who do well are those who are truly interested in the work, not just in need of a job.
What I find shocking is the way some new hires are dressed when they come to interviews or training. They are trying to get a job and they show up like they are going to the beach or in anything that gives the impression that they are not serious about wanting a job. When those who are hired come to training, it's the same thing. Men wearing shorts and T-shirts. Women wearing sandals and cleavage-enhancing blouses. It's as if they have no business sense. Before they come to training, we tell them to come in compliance with the dress code. Specific information is provided in a handout enclosed with the application, but nobody bothers to read it. I'm not trying to sound like a prude, but this just isn't right. Most of these people wouldn't be hired anywhere else if they came in dressed like this. Because RGIS is in constant need of new people, we have to overlook this in order to hire people. I'd love to be able to just say to someone that we are not going to hire him/her because of how they dressed for the interview. I don't expect men to come in suit and tie or women in so-called careerwear, but something that shows a little dignity would be nice.
anon. at 11:36 p.m.: In my district the newbies were the only ones who dressed following the RGIS dress code rules. The rest of us "vets" broke all sorts of dress code rules and most of us got away with it. A couple of exceptions: one guy showed up in madras shorts to a Beverly's inventory in July (he was sent home), and one woman wore jeans to a Friedman Bros. hardware store inventory. She was sent home as well. Both had been working for RGIS for over a year (the woman for several years) and knew very well what the rules were but both seemed shocked that they were sent home to change their clothing. BTW, the guy never came back to the inventory after he was sent home, but do you think anything happened to him? Of course not!
BTW, your point about RGIS needing people so much that they hire some "untouchables" is so true. I saw this happen time and time again in my district, so it doesn't surprise me that this is probably a company-wide problem.
Misfit, one woman was at 2nd training today, and I saw a tramp stamp as well as the crack of her ass. If I address this, the person feels violated. She should think about how I feel because that is just nasty. I was taught that it's best to make a positive impression when you're new on the job, but times have changed. I'm not that old but I would have allow my ass crack to be visible on the job.
anon. at 12:57 am: You're absolutely right, seeing someone's ass crack at work IS gross. If it continues, do you think it would do any good if you spoke with a TL or manager, and have them speak to this auditor? Wait, you did mention that this happened at a training session. Maybe you'll be lucky like me, and not see most of the people who are at the training session in any inventories. I never saw a single person that I trained with in any store.
Misfit, this woman whose ass crack was visible did show up at the Sears inventory I went to in order to assist new hires a couple of days later. I did mention it to her in private as well as the tramp stamp-she did not know this term for a tattoo on a woman's lower back. The most common thing is women wearing sandals or cleavage-sporting tops. Some of them are overweight and have no business dressing this way. Maybe someone should tell them to their faces how ridiculous they look.
anon. at 10:43 pm: OMG, did you actually use the term "tramp stamp" with that auditor? That's so funny! That's fantastic. I love that term; it's so apt.
I know what you mean about some people dressing inappropriately. That' why I love that feature in Glamour magazine called "Dos and Don'ts". They take candid shots of people on the streets, and comment on how they're dressed. When they feature something like jeans, they'll always show a couple of big women wearing these absolutely skin-tight, low-rise jeans that are way way too small for their bodies. The magazine will do a pic that shows them from the rear, and the sight of those enormous flaps of fat hanging off of each hip is truly frightening. You have to wonder if these women look into a mirror before they leave their homes.
BTW, what did that auditor say when you mentioned her unsightly ass crack?
She said that she didn't realize it was showing. When a person wears improper fitting pants and their shirt not tucked in, there's a good chance that crack is going to show. Not just for plumbers anymore. Also, some girls with these tramp stamps act offended by the meaning of it, or they had no idea what it symbolizes. That's bullshit! If they didn't want to give that impression, millions of girls wouldn't be getting them. It's not the tattoo itself, but where it is inked that makes it a tramp stamp. Also, there is an AM in a nearby district who has one. I saw it once in an inventory, as well as hearing about it from a TL who transfered to my district from that one. Tramp stamp has actually become a code word when refering to this AM. Did you have any code words for managers in your former district or ones in nearby districts that you didn't like?
anon. at 12:03 pm: Yes, having a tattoo in that area has become so cliche. So many people have them that it's not shocking anymore, like the tattooed person might hope it would be.
As far as nicknames for managers, our district did manage to come up with a few. I remember one old bat DM in San Francisco we used to call "Frosty", because she was such an ice-cold bitch. And we called our DM "Rat Bastard" because one auditor found a bottled drink called "Rat Bastard" and took it into the DM's office and gave it to him saying, "Here, this is for you!" He thought she was joking and laughed about it, but everyone thought it an appropriate nickname for him, since in reality he was a rat and a bastard. We also called this same DM "Furby": (F)uck Yo(u) (R)at (b)astard.
One of our AMs was this old bald skinny guy we called Beaky Buzzard, so named for the slow, dopey buzzard in the Bugs Bunny cartoons. Every other manager was so boring that we couldn't come up with any nicknames for them.
When I started, we only had one training session and we did not even bother with the videos. Our management staff viewed them as pointless. When I came in for the application, I actually took the aptitude test before I even filled out the application and was technically hired before I even turned it in. Of the 20 people at the aptitude test, only three of us were at the training one of which being my best friend's girlfriend who I was riding with that day. All three of us made it past training and all worked together at a few inventories. My friend's girlfriend quit after only a few months due to not getting enough hours (we were hired late September 2004), my best friend quit after March 2005 because he found a better job (though they kept scheduling him for a few weeks after), and the other guy that I trained with was fired after getting into a scuffle with the DM and while he was an awesome auditor, he was marked unhirable after he was fired so he couldn't reapply.
Dress code is lax to a degree here in D163 (Tulsa Oklahoma). We have to wear slacks though they do not have to be black and we all wear black shoes though they are not always dress shoes. I personally wear Crocs and have been implied to be in trouble once at a JC Penny's inventory because I wore white socks and you could see them thorugh the pre-fabbed holes in the shoes but the next day of the inventory I wore black socks and all was well.
About scanning and keying, they allow lefty's to key with their dominant hand and scan with the other here. I scan with both though depending on my relation to the merchandise. If it is on my left then i will scan with my right hand and key with my right hand as well. My left hand handles the merchandise. When it is on the right I scan with my left and key with my right and my right hand handles the merchandise.
On worksheets, only newbies write their areas down on their worksheets. I personally fill mine out at the beginning of the inventory then use it as scrap paper if I need it while working. We also very rarely write worksheet numbers down on our area tickets.
On the audits, yeah they are oversized calculators and there is a way to make it solely a calculator before you put in your control program. We are supposed to be getting new audits in soon which are rumored to be able to transmit wirelessly to the portable. We also have personal equipment in our district though it is usually reserved to veterans, top guns, and TLs. You can have your own personal laser and machine if you desire as long as you check it in when we do equipment inventory at the beginning of each month to see if lost any equipment through theft by employee or by another district (we steal other districts machines and ladders on occasion though the machines are usually taken by mistake).
When it from to the Pre-Inventory meeting, we usually have everyone turned on and ready to go beforehand so we can get to work as soon as its over.
In regards for nicknames for our AMs, we only have a nickname for one and that is "Cooler" because he is the only AM that doesn't get stressed out and can keep everyone else cool and calm.
And when it comes to the tenure of DMs, we are now on the third one since I have been employed. The first one transferred back to Texas and the second one resigned.
PseudoShadow: White socks through perforations in black shoes? Are you kidding me? Your dist. sounds very strict.
We haven't been all that strict with the dress code. We will, at times, let ear rings, nose rings, and leaving your shirt untucked. Our new DM though, during our TL and ATL meeting on Friday, he informed us we are going to be more accountable and more professional in our work so we are probably going to become more strict with our dress code policy.
I was at a large department store inventory last week in which at least two other districts were assisting. Our DM who ran the inventory noticed that one of the auditors from another district did not have his shirt tucked in and she asked him to tuck it in. He claimed that the shirt was too tight to tuck and had a ghetto attitude backtalking to the DM until he was kicked out.
This is not the first time that an auditor has gone ghetto on a manager knowing that he/she was in the wrong. What I mean by the term ghetto is creating a scene by arguing in front of a crowd, which is always a necessity. Not only is this stupid, but embarrassing for the entire inventory crew as well as store personnel to witness. My guess as to why this auditor did not have the shirt tucked in is that it is not enforced in his district, therefore he assumes it is OK to disregard elsewhere.
My advice to auditors: if you're asked to correct a dress code infraction, just do it. I hope that my DM informed the office where the ghetto auditor worked and that he was fired immediately because he was a total asshole.
i remember my day of training, i showed up wearing khakias and a polo and i felt outof place. we were waiting on a girl who i guess made it a point that she wanted the job, but after 5 min the DM started the session without and said at the time "shes fired" 20 min. later she arrives and told the DM that court case took longer than expected i asked her what her court case was later and she told me right in front of the DM that she picked up to accounts of theft from stealing from jc penneys when she worked there. at that time i felt like telling her to go home because she's just wasting her time. low and behold she was at an inventory a week later! i was in disbelief. the next one she no showed but she was still working after that only for like 2 weeks. i still cant believe this, when i tell my friends this story they dont believe me but now i'll show them this blog!
so thanks misfit! i cant wait to read on
o and im in D82 and you get sent home if your not wearing khakas and lefties have to key right handed! breaks are also hard to come by and are punched in for you weather you get one or not and we are forced to sign this stupid waver saying that we didnt want a lunch, i asked for a lunch ounce and i was told if i wanted a luch i should of brought a sandwich with me
RGIS is the only employer where I have witnessed an asscrack. But it was a store employee, not RGIS.
I almost bought Crocs, but, because I am new I am being anal (no pun intended) about adhering to dress code and it says no open back shoes.
I saw an ass crack just last week and it was a rgis person. Doesn't surprise me though.
I forgot to mention that the rgis person whose crack I saw... she wears a gray shirt.
Ass cracks are the norm at my district. I don't show mine, but I see them from auditors counting on the floor all the time. It's an awkward moment, so I never say anything if someone shows theirs. January is coming! With the troubled economy, I hope it's harder for those crazy people to get hired here!
training? when i started a few weeks ago, we simply took the test to see if we could count cans and boxes and then we were hired. no training.
we do have to wear the black pants and shoes and our shirts MUST be tucked in. we aren't allowed to keep anything but our shirt.
There is no training for new hires now since it was too ineffective. They are getting trained on their 1st shift.
Talking about ppl who apply... DM told me there were quite a few who finished training, took the shirt and never showed up for work. Then a few weeks later they sent complaints about not receiving pay check for that training. gg
haha I wonder who this was... I've worked for D354 now for 2 years. Everything's different now, new management, new owners, new equipment, new pay policy. Counting slow is a bad thing as far as your pay is concerned, more so if you're a fast counter since you get paid based on your counting rate averaged over the quarter. I've heard Stories about WIS from people that have worked there and come to us, some worked for both at once, and store managers have complimented us on being much faster than WIS
Note: Someone on 04/27/14 at 4:25 PM left a lengthy comment here (as Anonymous)regarding pay raises, manager's bonuses and forming a union, among other things. Unfortunately the comment got deleted before I could publish it here. However, every comment left here also gets sent to the blog's email address so fortunately I was able to copy/paste it and I published it at this blog's most recent post titled "Schedules, We Have Your Schedules". Sorry for the accidental deletion.
FEELS LIKE EIGHT POUNDS IS RIGHT! I am a healthy, fit, 34-year-old woman who started working for RGIS four and a half months ago. In the past couple of weeks I have noticed a stabbing pain in the my lower back, and today at the inventory, the pain was almost unbearable. I have gently asked other coworkers if they suffer the same issues, and the answer is a unanimous yes!!! How can this company continue to ask its employees to abuse their bodies?? It is an outrage; I am hoping that my recent promotion will take care of the need to carry that thing on my hip as well as absorb the mind-numbing antics of my "coworkers". It is absolutely unbearable.
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