Of course, like a sucker, I came back to work for RGIS, the very
next day. My first road store, a place called 'Tuesday Morning'. A
stupid name for a store, and confusing too for some people. "Wait,
am I doing 'Tuesday Morning' on Wednesday, or is that 'Wednesday
Morning' on Tuesday?"
What I remember about 'Tuesday Morning' (the store, not the day)
was that it was a real ratty-looking place. Dirty, dusty or damaged
items that other stores had rejected were snapped up by 'Tuesday
Morning' and sold at a discount. Anything and everything was sold
there. Thus you had cheap duvet covers next to Waterford crystal,
which would in turn be standing on a shelf next to a leering
papier-mache Santa Claus that was missing one hand.
This was my first inventory that Jeff (he of the girly
fingernails) ran. Jeff seemed nice, but very preoccupied. He kept up
a frenetic pace throughout that whole inventory, running here and
there, printing out all the areas that had already been counted and
constantly checking his laptop computer (called a portable) to make
sure all the areas in the store were accounted for. He never stopped
moving the entire time we were there. At times he would shoot across
the store so fast he was like a blur. He had tons of energy to
expend. Where did it all come from? I wondered.
AM Jeff was so busy he barely gave any time or thought to
explaining what needed to be counted and how. Of course, once again I
was the only newbie, so I just sort of fumbled my way through this
inventory as well. And like the 'Miller's Stockman' fiasco, all the
other veteran auditors were surly and uninterested in answering any
questions from me.
Jeff did manage to give me one bit of valuable, time-saving
advice. At one point I was counting a section filled with hundreds of
bath towels and washcloths, when Jeff came over and told me, "You
don't have to fold them back up, just throw 'em back in there (on the
shelves)." He said that the towels had already been all jumbled
up and it wasn't RGIS's job to clean and tidy the store, just to count
the stuff.
After all of the counting was finished, Jeff still had to wrap up
a few things with the store personnel before he could leave. Since he
had driven the company van and I had rode in with him, myself and a
few other auditors had to stay there until he was finished. A few
people had driven to the San Rafael store in their own cars, and I
enviously watched them drive off. We had been at the store since 8:00
am (having left Santa Rosa at 6:45 am), and six + hours on my feet
was a very tiring thing. Plus, we still had that long drive back to
the office on the perpetually traffic-clogged 101 freeway. It would
take us at least an hour or more to get back to Santa Rosa. I was
beat.
While Jeff was schmoozing with the store's manager, I waited
outside in the parking lot next to the RGIS van. I was afraid to
leave it and go sit down on a bench somewhere, as I thought it would
be really easy for everyone to forget I had even been there, and
drive off and leave me stranded in San Rafael.
So I was leaning against the van, getting dust all over my
burgundy polo, and watching a couple of the other auditors who had
remained behind. The three of them were having a very animated
conversation, with much laughing going on. There was a tall, skinny
guy with short spiky black hair and pale skin who seemed to be the
leader of the group. At least he was the one doing most of the
talking and gesturing. This was Ethan, a Team Leader and AM Jeff's
best friend at RGIS. With him was Ellen, a short girl with long brown
hair. She was for some strange reason wearing pink fuzzy bedroom
slippers. She wore these slippers to most of the inventories, even
though they weren't the regulation black shoes. I mean, they weren't
even shoes, for God's sake! But she was a veteran, and as we all know
the vets could get away with breaking any RGIS rule they felt like.
Also breaking another RGIS dress code rule was a tiny little guy with
them. His name was Zudu or Zulu or something weird like that. He wore
a blue plastic hoop earring in one ear, even though it was a no-no
for male auditors to wear earrings.
So the three of them were standing in the middle of a parking lot
aisle talking when a car came up behind them. It wanted to get past
their group, but they were right smack in the middle of the aisle
completely ignoring this car. So the car somehow managed to squeeze
carefully past them, and I guess when it did the driver must have
given them a look because Ethan exploded. "What? What the fuck
is your problem? You looking at me? C'mon, get the fuck outta your
car! C'mon, fucker, get out and I'll kick the shit outta ya!"
Ethan was leaping around as he screamed, flailing his long skinny
arms like an angry orangutan. The car calmly left the parking lot.
Ethan was still fuming and told Ellen and Zudu/Zulu, " I should
have kicked his fucking door in." The other two just grinned.
I was shocked. I had never before seen someone overreact to
something so benign as a look. I remember thinking, "Oh my God,
what have I gotten myself into? What am I doing here with these
psychotic weirdos? Wah! I wanna go home! But I'm stuck in a parking
lot in San Rafael with no way to get back to Santa Rosa until some
man with long fingernails is finished chatting up the manager of a
crappy discount junk store! Okay, I SWEAR this is my last day with
RGIS and this time I mean it!" Um, yeah right. Have I mentioned
I worked for RGIS for over 7 years? Boy, was I a glutton for
punishment.
Finally about 3 years later Jeff emerged from the store, and we
could leave. Ethan and Zudu/Zulu drove away in Ethan's car, and me
and Ellen joined Jeff in the company van. Ellen rode shotgun with
Jeff driving, and I sat behind them. The two of them carried on an
exclusive conversation the whole way back to the office, talking
about other auditors and various inventories that they had done. I
was NOT made to feel a part of this conversation.
Not that I was missing much. Ellen seemed chiefly interested in
bad-mouthing what seemed like every single person in the district,
especially a woman named Lilian. It was "Lilian said this to me,
what a bitch", and "Lilian told me and Trina not to talk so
loud in the store, who the fuck does she think she is", and so
on. Jeff would just nod and say things like, "Yes" and
"Hmm" and "I know". Stimulating conversation.
When we finally reached the office and parked I opened the sliding
panel door, ready to leap out and make a run for it. At that point
Jeff seemed to remember that I was even in the van and said, "Thanks
for your help", or words to that effect. Ellen chimed in, saying
"Oh yeah, thanks", very condescendingly, like she was a
manager or a Team Leader or something, graciously conveying her
gratitude to the lowly newbie. Give me a break. I beat it out of
there.
(Coming up: More RGIS horror stories. Actually, soap opera stories
might be a more appropriate term.)
17 comments:
Too funny. I still remember my first day as an auditor too. I was to meet this older man behind a McDonald's in my home town for my first assignment. They told me what time to be there. That was it. I showed up, found the person I was driving with easily enough. There were already 2 other people in the car, I was glad though, because I don't know how comfortable I would have been driving with a strange man. (I am a female).
Anyway, there were 4 of us altogether, they introduced themselves and that was the extent of the whole conversation they had with me. They did talk the whole way though but only amoungst themselves and only about RGIS. They talked about other auditors, managers and about RGIS. I had never experienced so much dishing in my whole life. The store we went to was about an hour away, by the time we arrived I wasn't sure I wanted the job after listening to my companions in the car.
We arrived at the store which was a Filene's Basement. I walked in and the older man that had driven helped me sign in and get set up with tags and a belt and machine. He then led me to a rounder of women's clothes where he stayed with me for about 15 minutes and showed me what I needed to key in. (I started with RGIS about 14 years ago, when 60% of inventories didn't use a scanner).
I was being soooooooooo careful to make sure I keyed in the right department and sku and price on every single tag. Anyway on the way up to the store one name that kept coming up in conversation was this man Jeff. They had made him sound like a monster. In fact I was thinking that I really didn't want to work when Jeff was running a store. Well sure enough here on my 1st inventory I am trying my best and all of a sudden this guy in a suit is standing next to me watching me count. I looked at him and he said "You are not making me any fu------ money counting like that!" And then before I could even respond he disappeard. I later found out that this was the infamous Jeff.
That night as I moved from area to area to count I gained confidence, except when I would see Jeff walk by, then I would shake in my shoes thinking he was going to come over and yell at me again.
I worked for RGIS for many years and everytime I would see new people I always made it a point to make them feel welcome and help them out. I didn't want anyone to have the same experience I did on first job.
Oh, and Jeff turned out to be the DM, who really was quite a character. His bark was much much louder than his bite. In fact if you spoke up to him, he usually ran away first.
Tuesday Morning, that store name sounds familiar...I lived in Oregon for 10 years before returning to the New York, I think there was some up there. But yeah, I know the type of store, its simular to what we have here in Albany called "Christmas Tree Shops", which is a clean store. The Dirtiest Store Award goes to the chain Family Dollar. The Majority of those stores are dirty, but differs on the store management.
Did AM Joe wear a tie? I remember when we had a store that was hetic like that, so the AM running the store, he would dash to and from the Portable and his tie in the process would go up in his face from the speed :P
Fumble throguh the inventory? You know, I think after like my 3rd inventory, I got the idea of what stereotypical inventory procedures should be, so I could figure it out from there pretty quick if I needed to.
Joe's advice is pretty reasonable. Though we are told up here that you should try to not make a mess when counting something, but if we need to, tell store personnal that you need to.
Though reading about you mentioning the conversations people were having, I think a lot of new people don't catch on that socializing is kind of important to the job. I've noticed that the ones who do figure out the socializing factor, they make it past 90 days here. Hell, its why everyone not just in my district but other districts knows OF me because I socialize :P
Oh and the Eric thing, again, he would slaughtered for that incident here in 354 :P
ROFL!! Another great story!
Ahhh... Tuesday Morning. I am grateful that I have only had to count the store once. It's appearence on the schedule caused the same confusion. "Tuesday Morning? I thought it was on Sunday!" The store was messy and dusty, piles of crap (but you can find some great stuff there!) To make matters worse, the address of the store could not be found on any map, so just about half the crew got lost on the way. The joys of cities growing faster than maps can be produced.
A guy did get left behind once, at a store 2 hours out of town. The first van had left already, but not everyone was aware of this fact. Everyone in the second van thought this guy could ride home in the first van. He was stranded so someone drove him halfway back to town where his roommate picked him up and drove him back to the office to get his car. I'm just glad it wasn't me!
Your district is so sad how no one made you feel welcome! And then there's psycho Eric. My district tends to me more on the friendly side... I think.
So one guy has his shoes electrical taped (did this guy always carry around electrical tape?) and then you have pink-fuzzy-slipper lady. Hmmm....
3:53 pm:
Lol! That sounds vaguely sinister. "Meet this older man behind a McDonald's for..." But I know what you mean. AM Joe did basically the same thing to me in my first month or so. He was so pressured to get people to the out-of-town store that he threw in anyone with everyone. I had to ride with a complete stranger, alone. Just the two of us. Talk about uncomfortable! I mean, he could have been some kind of weirdo. He turned out to be okay, but you never know. And the dishing! Boy, does that sound familiar. Everyone did that too in my dist., all the time. At least the vets did. If you were a newbie listening in, it could really scare you off from the job.
Boy, your DM Jeff sounds like a real jerk! My managers were sort of the opposite. They were nice and friendly to your face, but then would rip you a new one behind your back. They didn't have the guts to do so in front of you.
Agent Skelly:
Lol about the tie thing. Yes, AM Joe wore a tie, I believe it's required for all managers. Once I was riding in the back of the company van, on the way to a store in Lakeport. That's like 100 miles away (approx.) from our dist. office. You travel over this windy road nicknamed The Goat Trail through Cobb Mountain to get there. I was sitting in the back seat, and naturally I got carsick. I asked an auditor named Barbara to look for a plastic bag in the van. She said, "Here's one, but it has some of Joe's ties in it." It was 'his' van, and I guess he kept some spares in it, just in case. So I said, "Could you take the ties out?" She did, handed me the bag, and I promptly threw up in it. Ahhh.
You're absolutely right. Socializing is very important, especially with RGIS. I think my dist. could have kept a lot more auditors if they taught their veterans (and the managers too!) to be friendly to the newbies. We had a huge turnover rate in my dist.
2:53 am:
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying my all too true tales. It's been fun writing them out. I kept a little notebook during my years working for RGIS, and now it's finally coming in handy! It's been making me laugh too, because it wasn't ALL bad working for them. I had some good times with some of the people there. All of the in-jokes could really take the sting out of standing on your feet for hours and hours counting everything.
Yes, Kevin the DM had just about everything in 'his' van. Electrical tape, boxes of area tags, broken lasers. Once I climbed into his van and found a completely disassembled PC sitting on the front seat. Parts everywhere. I don't know what the hell he was doing with it.
It's true that some people can't talk and count accuratly at the same time. I can keep it accurate, but I don't move as fast when I'm talking. That just means for myself, I can't have long and in depth converastions. Just a little here and there. I know others who go much, much faster if they have someone to talk to, and they are more accurate too.
Obviously if it gets too loud or too fun, we need to quiet down, but besides that, socializing is an important part of any job. I think even most managers understand and don't worry too much about talking as long as it's not out of control. They get nervous when it gets to be too much or too loud. They don't understand that most of the time, we aren't actually counting anything.
To go to work each day and be silent would be a miserable job. At least for me. If everyone is happy, they count faster, they care about accuracy and they care about their jobs, whether that be silently or with conversation. If they go to work and miss out on the social aspect, they're not going to stick around long and if they stick around, they're not going to do the best job they can.
The social aspect of work IS very important as AgentSkelly said... you can earn a reputation and people know who you are by socializing. Otherwise, they might not notice you at all. Anyone who cares to do well with RGIS and work more hours needs to be known, and no matter where you go in life, any company, a person who sticks to themselves and works hard isn't going to be recognized as fast as the person who spends some time socializing.
At times we used to be told by our DM to quit talking in the form of a newsletter along with our pay stubs. In a store, however, he was the one doing the most talking! :)
One of our TLs got in to a car with this guy who was new, and he asked her along the ride if she had drugs, told her about his recent incarceration etc. This was about a year ago. After that, we decided that it woudl be a good idea to always have more than 2 people in a van for travel stores unless we got to know the people first. Scarry! At least this gal, she could hold her own if she had to.
As for the dishing and the road trips, I rather enjoy that! :) It's a chance to get caught up on all the gossip! LOL! It's not the only topic of conversation, though. Road trips are a great way to get to know people on a more personal level. I have yet to join in an overnight travel store. I hear those can be fun. I have only gone 2 to 4 hours away.
After my experience as a newbie at RGIS, the feeling of being lost and not knowing if I was doing a good job or not, I have made it a point to be friendly to new people and if I run a store, tell them how they did. No news is good news, but when you're new, feedback is nice.
Why work at a place that you don't like?
Why not use the time you spend venting to go to school or look for a better job?
For annonymous who posted last: No matter where you go in life, where you work, where you go to school, and even if you love your job, there is always going to be some aspect that you don't like. There is always going to be something to talk about, complain about, vent about, or someone... While some people decide that "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" most people, most normal people IMO, will participate in some "venting" now and then. While it's not always a good thing, there will always be gossip and internal politics.
I have worked for RGIS for nearly 5 years. I have loved my job for a very long time. I'm not impressed with what's happening to our district right now, and the changes that are taking place thanks to whoever bought the company, and probably a large part is due to our DM alone who took over a year or so ago. I'm not impressed with some of our management who are real "break scrooges". But the work, flexibility, pay and people are what keeps me going to work day after day. Lately, I have thouht about finding other work. But when I think of what my alternative will be, I don't. For now, this is the job that fits my needs. And what I'm being paid now, it would be stupid to leave. Things will get better eventually, once things calm down.
I have been working for RGIS for over 10 years. I also remember my days as a newbie and getting into cars and no one speaking to you. I liked the work but hated going at first because of that. Most veterans really made you feel unwelcomed. They would not help you and would not talk to you. Once I was around for a while and became a TL, I promised myself that I would never make any newbie feel the way my old TL made me feel when I started.
A lot of things are going on right now in all the Districts with this new ownership. I don't think they are done making changes. My AM is very honest and keeps us informed about some of the changes they are hearing about.
When I first started at RGIS four years ago, the team leaders treated me like garbage my first inventory(and every inventory after that). One of the team leaders refused to even talk to me, she just kept telling an old auditor to tell me what to do. I was so to shocked to be pissed off. The only reason I didn't quit the first day was because I knew a couple of people, and they helped me out. But let me tell you I couldn't stand those team leaders, and I (along with the rest of the auditors)held a grudge for years. I think that was one of the reasons the district had such a high turner over rate, and always did so poorly. Had they had more sense, the would have figured out that more people would have stayed if they had been nicer to them. I can remember an AM asking 15 people in a row if they would go an help out at an inventory that had already been going for 10 hours. Not one person said yes. The inventory ended up lasting 16 hours.
anon. at 4:46 pm: I know just what you mean. None of the team leaders were friendly, or any of the others for that matter. Only if you'd been there for a couple of months would they finally deign to speak to you. I think my district could have held on to a lot more people if they had just shown even the tiniest bit of friendliness to their new employees.
And I too can remember several times during one inventory, being asked to head over to another one after the first was over. If someone I liked was running it I would say sure. But the problem was that most of the TL's and managers were real bastards and you really didn't give a rat's ass if they were frying in a store or not. Screw 'em.
casador: Welcome to my blog! I hope you'll continue to read, and to leave your comments.
So you're a former 414'er too, eh? My sympathies. :(
Socializing is a huge part of the job and I hate it when managers tell me to be quiet and work. I am already working and if I am really talking up a storm then it is because I am in an already slow area and even if I wasn't talking I could not go faster. Several times though on the road trips people in the front forgot I was even in the van because I am so quiet most the time and when I speak they are surprised. I have gotten better at my social skills though and I talk with my coworkers in the van now. The best conversation we've had, imo, was when we were coming home fro a Stage in an outlying town. One of our AMs was in the van along with our DM. Our DM was trying to get one of our auditors to consider becoming a TL again (she was demoted by a former AM that didn't like her and that AM was subsequently fired because of it). She wouldnt have any of it and she would cite so many cases and incidents involving current TLs that would cherry pick and frequently screwed up areas that I would have to fix and she included me in the conversation by asking me the TL's names since she only really remembers faces. Even through all that our DM kept persisting in trying to get her to become an TL again until our AM told him to shut up because he wouldn't win against her in this conversation.
I also remember Tuesday Mornings. My God how I hate that store. I was called in to go to one one day and I have not been back to one since. When I arrived at the store, over half of the crew had already been there for six hours. We did not leave for another nine hours and that sealed it in my mind never to go back to that store again unless I absolutely had to.
PseudoShadow: What sort of a store is Stage? I've never heard of it.
Stage is a kind of department store. It kind of reminds me of being a Penny's only smaller. It mainly operates in small to mid-sized towns and cities in the Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions.
I know of a girl with a pierced nose and an AM who DYED HER HAIR GREEN. Ugly butch lesbian looking woman, too. Yuck.
Was Eric still working for RGIS after Joe was fired? Was he still a psycho or did he mellow out? I think that he'd be lost without his support system Joe there to have his back. It must have been a rude awakening for him because he didn't have the freedom to break the rules anytime he wanted.
Also, I agree with you Tuesday Morning sucks. This is an example of a place where I'd never go as a customer. What other stores did you hate doing inventory in?
raiderhater: You are correct. Eric didn't last much longer at RGIS with his buddy and protector Joe fired. He stayed on for a while longer, but he began to flake out even more regarding his attendance and eventually just stopped showing up for work. I agree with you, it probably was a rude awakening for him and a few others when Joe was fired. No longer would he be able to break all the attendance rules and just coast on his reputation as a super counter and runner of inventories. Oh, and get this. Would you believe he was so egotistical that he referred to himself as "E-God"?
Besides TM, I think I hated to inventory Best Buy because the store would assign a BB employee to every RGIS auditor, and that BB employee would keep an eagle eye on us, making sure we scanned every single CD in the rack. They didn't trust us to do it unsupervised. Those BB guys would get so close behind me I swear I could feel their breath on the back of my neck! We would always complain to our AM or DM. The AM or DM would then go to a Best Buy manager, asking them to back off of us some. So then the BB guy might back off an inch. Gee, thanks!
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