Kevin was one of the most disliked district managers Santa Rosa had seen in quite some time. On the surface he could appear to be friendly and upbeat but in fact this happy-go-lucky demeanor of his masked a great incompetence in his ability to run a RGIS district. Most if not all of the auditors, team leaders and other managers in District 414 had quickly grown weary of DM Kevin’s false bravado and phony cheerfulness. Nearly everyone had a negative attitude regarding Kevin ranging from mild dislike to outright hatred. Virtually no one save an unaware newbie felt Kevin capable of making intelligent decisions in how to handle a single inventory, much less an entire district.
This contempt that almost everyone in District 414 felt for DM Kevin was not unjustified. There was a long list of troubling incidents and decisions involving Kevin that had caused his district to turn against him. There were numerous raises promised to auditors but never given, mistakes made in scheduling auditors for inventories, mistakes made as to which Team Leader or Manager should be running which store, and mistakes made as to when these inventories should be held. All of this ineffectiveness of Kevin’s left everyone in the district in a constant state of frustration and anger.
Complaining about DM Kevin and his many faults and blunders did absolutely no good. Visits paid to our district by various Operations Managers fared no better. Dist. 414’s once prestigious reputation as an efficient, well run and go-to district continued to fade with each passing day.
Auditors and TL’s would talk amongst themselves about the situation, sharing their own personal DM Kevin horror stories and expressing frustration at how nothing ever seemed to change. Venting about one’s crappy RGIS DM could be somewhat therapeutic but the benefits of merely saying, “Kevin sucks!” and doing nothing about his sucking were short-lived and ultimately unsatisfying. Real, actual, physical action needed to be taken in order to bring about some relief from our troublesome situation, and TL Heather and I believed that we had the solution.
One late Friday night during a Waldenbooks inventory (endless ISBNs) in Santa Rosa Heather and I were as usual rehashing some complaints and grudges we had against DM Kevin. We had in previous inventories discussed various ways to exact revenge on Kevin; toilet-papering his house was by far the most popular idea. At Waldenbooks that night Heather reminded me once again of our nefarious desire to TP Kevin’s house. She said that since Kevin was away on vacation at the time and was due back the next night that tonight would be the perfect time to do the TPing. I agreed and the two of us quietly canvassed the group of auditors at Waldenbooks to see if anyone wanted to join in. Only Tina and TL Mondo (who was bungling, er, running the inventory) agreed to be our accomplices. Having Mondo participate in the TPing was crucial because he alone in the group that night knew where Kevin lived. Mondo also reassured us that nothing untoward would come of our misdeeds; that Kevin would in fact regard the whole thing as a great joke and even as something ultimately positive for the district as in, “Hey, my auditors came together, bonded and did something as a real team!” Myself, Heather and Tina were actually naive enough to believe this crap.
The Waldenbooks inventory finally ended around 1:00 am. Me, Heather, Tina and Mondo each got into our respective cars and drove to the local Food 4 Less supermarket (open 24 hours) where Tina and I each bought a huge 12 roll pack of toilet paper. I’ve often wondered since then what the sleepy clerk who rang up our purchases thought about four giggling adults in matching burgundy shirts buying 24 rolls of toilet paper at 1:30 in the morning but the guy never said a word.
The four of us had decided earlier that it would be a good idea if we didn’t all drive to Kevin’s but instead we would drive to a mini-mart near Kevin’s, park there and take Tina’s car to the house. This was done and we were on our way.
I was curious as to what sort of residence a RGIS district manager could afford to rent in Santa Rosa and upon our arrival at the place I was not surprised to see a real rathole of a house. Kevin’s tiny, one story beige-colored dump looked much like all the other small, shabby homes on his street. A postage stamp-sized yard filled with sparse amounts of crushed volcanic rock and skimpy dried-up bushes fronted the sad little house. Toilet paper would only improve its looks.
Tina parked right in front of Kevin’s house and the four of us climbed out quietly. We found the dark, unlit entryway to Kevin’s front door off to the right side of the house and decided to begin there. We ripped open the packages of toilet paper and got to work.
We covered anything and everything we could reach at Kevin’s place with toilet paper. Even things that we couldn’t reach like the roof and gutters we TP’d. Each of us would take hold of the loose end of a roll of toilet paper in one hand and use the other hand to toss the roll up and over the roof. The roll would come cascading down another side of the house leaving a trail of toilet paper behind it. This process was repeated over and over again; the air was fairly thick with flying rolls of toilet paper.
Not only was it cathartic for us RGIS auditors to TP our DM’s house (take that you rat bastard Kevin!) but it was incredible fun too. The four of us were trying to be as quiet as possible while coating Kevin’s house in toilet paper but we found it difficult to stifle our laughter. I was afraid our constant giggling would awaken Kevin’s neighbors but my fears were groundless as no one turned on a single porch light or peeked out a window. In fact Mondo told us a few days later that he spoke with Kevin’s next door neighbor who told Mondo that “You guys were really good (at TPing), I never heard a thing.”
We spent nearly an hour festooning the front of the house and yard with toilet paper. I even wrapped the little dried-up shrubs with toilet paper. Then Heather made a great discovery: the gate to the backyard. The latch was on the inside of the tall gate but little Heather had somehow managed to leap up and unlatch it. We all scampered into the backyard and proceeded to trash it as well.
Not surprisingly the backyard was as dilapidated as the front. The grass/weeds were knee-high; a few skimpy rose bushes were planted along one side of the fence. So sad. Since we didn’t have too much toilet paper left we decided to forego TPing the back part of the house and instead concentrated on the yard itself. We laced and crisscrossed the tall grass with toilet paper, making a sort of gigantic checkerboard pattern on top of it. It was fantastic. I snapped several photos of our artistic achievements with my little camera. After all it was most important that our fabulous work be recorded for posterity.
While Tina decorated the rosebushes with more toilet paper I went up to the sliding glass door at the back part of the house and looked inside. Even by the faint light of the moon I could see that the kitchen was a mess, with papers strewn all over the table and countertops. What a slob Kevin was.
Finally we were down to our last few bits of toilet paper and the four of us stepped back for a moment to admire our handiwork. The backyard was a vision in toilet paper loveliness. Not even a Tonka toy dump truck, abandoned by Kevin’s ex-wife’s son, escaped our toilet paper wrath. Then Mondo added one final touch: he took the last few pieces of toilet paper and dipped them into the rainwater that had collected in the toy truck, wadded them up into soggy paper blobs and flung a bunch of them at the sliding glass door where they stuck like glue. We were done.
As we trooped out of the backyard, still giggling, Mondo pointed out Kevin’s garage window on our left. We looked inside and could see several empty 12 packs of Coors Light beer. Mondo told us that Kevin would regularly polish off a couple 12 packs of beer every weekend. I though to myself, “Hmm, I guess that explains a lot about why our district is the way that it is.”
We got into Tina’s car and drove away, pleased with our efforts and success at getting away with it all. Tina dropped us off at the mini mart and we all drove to our homes. It was quite late, around 2 or 3 in the morning but I wasn’t sleepy at all. I was jazzed and my adrenalin was pumping. Yes! We had finally achieved revenge against our lousy RGIS district manager. Score one for the lowly auditors! I finally reached my home and fell into bed.
When I woke up later that morning I realized that there was still one last thing I needed to do to complete The Great RGIS TP Caper. I got dressed and drove over to Kevin’s house. In the bright morning light Kevin’s neighborhood was even seedier-looking than it had appeared last night. I parked my car in front of Kevin’s house and took some really great photos of the place from various angles. All that toilet paper was even funnier in the daylight. I then drove over to Walmart and dropped off the film for developing.
I had a JC Penney’s inventory scheduled for later that day in Petaluma and on my way there I stopped off at Walmart to pick up the photos. They were beautiful, perfect and hilarious, especially the daylight shots of the TP’d house. It was a real toilet paper masterpiece.
At the Penney’s inventory I waited until our lunch break (a shocker I know, RGIS auditors getting a lunch break) before I went out to my car and grabbed the packet of photos. Most of the RGIS crew had gathered in the store employee’s lunch room and that’s where I went. I passed around the photos and everyone had a great laugh, snickering at the shots of Kevin’s house drenched in toilet paper. I was so proud.
A few hours later it was close to midnight and we were finishing up the inventory. I was busy scanning a rack of men’s jackets when I saw Tina hurrying over to me with a worried look on her face. She told me that Kevin had just come back home from his week-long vacation and was more than a little surprised at the sight of his house. In fact he was furious. Tina said, “Kevin just called Joe (area manager running the Penney’s inventory). He’s pissed!” She said that DM Kevin told AM Joe that he didn’t care exactly who had done it (funny that Kevin immediately knew it was his auditors that had TP’d his house and not some neighborhood kids) but that he wanted “this shit” cleaned up by the end of the day tomorrow or else.
Upon hearing this I was a little angry myself. Mondo had told us the night before that Kevin wouldn’t mind his house getting TP’d and would see the humor in it all. Aaarrggh! That’s what we got for trusting Mondo. I headed over to where Mondo was scanning some t-shirts and accosted him. “You said that Kevin wouldn’t get mad!” I fumed. “Tina just told me that he called Joe and he’s pissed off!” Mondo was nonplussed and he struggled for a reply. Finally he came up with this: “Well, if you get fired we’ll all get fired too.” Oh gee, thanks you jerk.
I flat out refused to return to the scene of the crime to clean up all that toilet paper. I feared that if I went to his house Kevin would be lying in wait and immediately upon sight of any or all of us we would be fired on the spot. I can laugh about it now, being so worried about getting fired from one of the worst jobs ever (also, since when did RGIS ever fire anyone?) but at the time I needed that shitty job and the little money it brought to me so I wasn’t taking any chances.
Heather pretty much felt the same way as I and refused to go back to Kevin’s too. In the end it was Tina and Mondo that went back to do some toilet paper picking up, and for some bizarre reason Mondo’s obnoxious brother Luis tagged along. Suck up. I heard later that when the three of them arrived at Kevin’s house and began cleaning up the mess Kevin suddenly popped out of his house with an “Aha!” and snapped a photo of them. Apparently time had healed his toilet paper wounds and as it turned out he did indeed see the humor in it all. What an asshole.
128 comments:
haha great story!
How can you miss this in your blog until now?
Wow, I saw an ad for RGIS on Craigslist for SoCal today and being desperate for money, I was going to apply for it. I decided to google it first. I have just spent the last 3 hours, laughing my ass off to the point of tears. I will NEVER work for this company, I would rather spin signs in 120 degree heat. Thanks Misfit!
Sir Batchalot: Thanks! Yes, I should have published this one a lot earlier but I've been so busy lately, and it took me awhile to get it all down on paper. But it was worth the wait, yes? ;-)
Bjosh01: Hey, consider yourself fortunate; glad I and everyone who commented here could help! :-)
I did the something very similar many years back,when I worked for RGIS in Denver. We were traveling with the Wal-mart team and were in Sterling CO. Our hotel was about a mile from the Wal-mart crew and the other Denver office. We went to the other motel and TP'd the area manager from the other district Van. The TP froze over night so that when he went to get in his van the paper did not come off very well. I worked for RGIS for 16 years and as a manager for 10. I worked in many districts and probably know the "Kevin" I also know when you have a bad DM your life becomes hell. I have been there.
I thought what they were paying in NH was ridiculous but seeing that in Cali they are paying the same, damn, atleast my DM didnt care when I went in Blazed, or still half drunk, and pretty much everyday we'd smoke a blunt on the way and at lunch, yes in NH we usually got our breaks the legal way
Anon: Frozen toilet paper, I love it!
I applied for this place a few days back, and now they are calling me. What do I do!?
Anonymous at 6:44: You applied and they are calling you? My advice: RUN FOR THE HILLS AND NEVER LOOK BACK!!!!!
These people and this company get worst every day. The newest issue are ring lasers. They don't have enough for every RM. So, from what I am seeing in my own District and reading elsewhere, the very fair AM's are handing them out to favorites. And, because other people know this, they take them out of stores. Uh? steal them. They know the people who have them and do nothing about it. So, I guess stealing is now an OK policy. Or at least it is in my District. Wouldn't our accounts love to hear about that?
Our people our sooooo honest that they steal from us and our management looks the other way.
What a stupid ass company this has turned into.
Classic. Last year, someone in my district go the idea to go up and down the halls of the hotel where we were staying and put blue stickies (what we now use in walmarts instead of tags) and stick them over the spy holes on every door in the building.
It might not seem like much, but then the AM had to go up and down the halls and take them all down while the hotel manager walked beside, giving him no shortage of hell over the whole ordeal.
We've got one week of walmart left to go, and everyone's anticipating the last day, when we will inevitably break out into complete sticky rampage. There are photos from last year, probably made it onto facebook by now, it was chaos.
The year before that it was highlighter tag, with the verifiers providing the ammo.
RGIBS: A blue sticky frenzy, I love it! That's great, it sounds like it was a really fun way to liven up a Walmart run. By the way, did any of the auditors catch hell for the spyhole/sticky thing?
Epic story misfit! Its as if you knew of the other "kevins"that would follow in the other districts and did it for those who would suffer ultimately too.
I don't plan to be working for RGIS much longer and I have concocted a grand scheme as a going away present. we once had to take a company car to a job and inside were packet of area tickets. I quickly snatched them away and they sit in my bottom drawer as I type this. I originally was going to , in the middle of the inventory, switch the area tickets with my blank ones, but I don't want to make my brethren suffer. So I think i may just find my DMs home and stick tickets all over the place with YOU SUCK written over and over again and write down something like quantity:1 douchebag value:$0.00 somethng like that.
And of course I'd have confirm my work and leave tags around the place =]
Mik3: Thanks! And by the way, I absolutely LOVE your devilish "going away" present. You get extra points for creativity! Too bad though that you're too nice of a person to carry out your first idea, the one where you switch the area tags around in an actual inventory. I only wish that I had thought of that one myself!
Misfit - he spieled us on it, and everyone pretty much knew who did it, but he didn't have any proof.
Mik3 - I might just try that myself, or something similar.
I count pharmacy (slowly giving away my identity, one piece at a time), so every morning, I find myself with a pad of tickets ranging from 6001 to 6100, and a typical wallmart rx in our region needs about 30-40. No other department can use them, so they end up in the trash after each store.
For a while, I thought of how many trees died for these things, but attempts to find other uses have come up fruitless.
We worked a store on April 1st, and I seriously considered a little tag switching prank of my own, but like you said, it would be the auditors and not the managers who would suffer the most grief for it.
Another fun thing to try, if you ever see a box of gray shirts sitting astray in the van, pass them around, and have everybody wear one on their way through the door.
Oh, and the other day, there was a Zellers (do you have those in the US?) that had all these little labels posted all over the place saying "Smile, you're on video surveillance." I pocketed one of the labels and was thinking of fun places to put it. Right now I'm leaning towards the inside of one of the bathroom stalls.
rgibs, we have a use for leftover area tickets, though it probably wouldn't help you. We take them to Dollar Tree and the people pre-counting dump bins jot down the quantities on them.
Speaking of Dollar Tree, we were so tempted to play a prank on them during Walmart Support Hell Week (recorded in the previous topic comments). The third Walmart we did was across the street from a Dollar Tree that was going to be counted the next week. We got to town way early, and noted that at the Dollar Tree the lights were on and there were people inside. As it was just shy of 6am, the usual Dollar Tree start time, we considered parking the van in front of the store and knocking on the door.
Considering the consternation we've caused accidently by stopping off at a store (in uniform) to do some shopping after work, doing it deliberately would have been hilarious.
Great story... do you still have the photos?
Exbatcher: Oh yes, I still have the photos. Who knows, maybe one day I'll do a pic-only post here and publish them, along with a few other RGIS-related ones. ;-)
rgibs, why would you throw those 6000 tickets away?
Just start the next store with whatever number you left off with the previous day. It doesn't HAVE to start with 6000, just as long as they fit within the range.
When I was a RGIS auditor, our DM was also named Kevin. But this is on the east coast. I recall him as being a mean bastard. The only times I ever saw him was a handful of times on a few job sites. But I dont recall him being friendly and upbeat, much less pretending to. Could this be the same "Kevin"?
Hi
I'm sure the guy from 771 will soon start complaining after his skin changes colour or he has a skin complaint - he forced me out, and now it's about time he paid for his actions!
By the way if this is the person I'm thinking of, he's been with RGIS for less than a year, and I recognize his writing style(common grammatical errors, spelling mistakes)
Misfit. Congrats on a very funny blog. Has RGIS given you any grief for setting it up? Many (most) auditors now are being slammed by high gas prices. Of course, RGIS does not help with any aditional gas money. Many auditors now are so cash starved that they run out of money for food, rent etc. Of course, with the economy being so pitiful, they get a constant stream of newbies willing to try out the job. Of course, the newbies end up making tons of errors on the job which we all spend endless hours correcting. Unfortunately for the newbies, we all are under constant pressure to improve our APH so we no longer have much time to help out the poor goobers. Also, did it ever occur to any DM to bring a box of donuts to the inventory?--it would sure improve moral and feed a lot of poor auditors! Our money goes into the gas tank now--gas is over $4.50 here. Our wages are unchanged. Anonymous.
Anon: Thanks, and I'm glad you're enjoying this blog. There was some initial fuss but since I've instituted the "comment moderation" feature that's all been taken care of. And your donut idea: very nice indeed but could you see any RGIS manager bringing donuts or anything nice to their auditors? Hah! Once chain of stores that we inventoried, Long's Drugs, would provide us with free donuts and coffee for our one break (nice), and some of the Long's would also provide extras like bagels, cream cheese and fresh fruit (very nice). But RGIS themselves? Nada.
I`ve been out on at least several thousand jobs for RGIS, and I`ve yet to receive my first donut from a RGIS manager!It`s extremely rare for the rank and file to get anything gratis from that bunch.Although there was one time working in a snowstorm that an AM bought us our beverages at break time. He was happy that some of us made it to work that day, and showed his appreciation.
Almost all of the time when we get food and drink, it is from the customer. And it`s out of generousity (or sometimes maybe a guilt complex if the store is crappy and hard to count),not because of a contractual obligation, like the way Target stores were years ago.It seems that the most generous/nicest places are the small "mom and pop" type stores.After being fed,we would always feel guilty if we missed counting the smallest item; everyone did their best.This was in contrast to some of the bigger stores where we didn`t get anything but hostility and indifference, and, as a result a lot of auditors didn`t care all that much about how good a job they were doing.
One little food-related story:
I once did a one person mini-mart inventory in which the clerk was really nice and always offered me something to eat.One time she cooked up a couple of burritos for me and kept asking for me to stop counting and eat them. I kept refusing because I had just started and it was too early for break.Finally, about an hour later, I gave in to all the pleading and took my break early and went outside the store to eat them.Well when I got finished with the store and returned to our office, I propmtly got my ass chewed by our DM for goofing off and not counting. It turned out that the DM lived in the neighborhood and saw me outside eating as he drove in to the office! Just my luck to take the early break just as the DM passed by!I don`t think he ever believed my story, but it was true.
Anon: Your comment about the "mom and pop" type of businesses being the most generous with extras like food and drink is so true. I've found that to be the case as well in my district. Long's Drugs isn't a mom-and-pop place but they are a smaller chain than the biggies and they have always been extremely generous with free donuts, coffee, etc. Target used to be but then they decided it cost too much. I think Sear's may still be but it's been a while for me there. Kmart is the only other big store that I can think of that would give us food at breaks and lunch. Breaks would be donuts, coffee, juice, cookies, fruit and lunch would be pizza and sodas. Nice, huh?
Lol at the burrito story. Wow, that lady that made you the burritos, what a nice person. :-)
Some Family Dollar DMs will bring a couple dozen donuts. And some Super Kmart's (regular Kmart with full line of groceries) have provided pizza, fried chicken, or deli sandwiches.
And some warehouses will order food for us, in addition to their employees.
But not a thing from RGIS corporate.
Around here, the store that's been most likely to feed us is Walmart, usually the stores in the border towns. Sometimes donuts in the morning, sometimes lunch. Every once in a while we'll have a JC Penney or a truck stop that will provide drinks, but that's about it.
Well, I guess we're all not surprised that while some stores will (generously) provide us with free donuts, coffee, pizza etc. RGIS themselves will cough up nothing edible. Except at maybe company picnics? Have any of you had the pleasure (snicker) of attending a RGIS picnic? Does your district have them; have they ever had them for their auditors?
Come to think of it, D192 would sometimes provide bottled water when we were doing a warehouse in the summer. Alas, 192 is no more.
Haven't ever heard about a RGIS company picnic. We did have a company Christmas party last year at Applebees. We were allowed to order off of the sandwich menu and graze an assortment of appetizers that were set out.
Texas Auditor: Wow, your Christmas party sounds a million times better than the ones in my dist. We would just have some cookies and maybe something to drink, and it was held in the office. On the flyer about the Christmas party would also be a statement letting us know that January schedules would be available for pickup at the party, and they urged all auditors to "bring their calendars with them" to the party so that we could "confirm as many dates as possible".
The company picnics were usually held in the middle of summer, in some local park. The dist. would provide basics like hamburgers, hot dogs, soda, etc., and auditors were encouraged to bring side dishes and desserts. I skipped the picnics.
going back to D771 - the phrase 'getting blood out of a stone' applies here as the fat DM never pays for anything, and drinks champagne or champagne cocktails!
I think it would be easier to get the blood from a stone!
oh, by the way, fat DM of 771, with my new job in working really close to your district office.....dont be surprised to see your car covered in both shelf and ordinary area tickets one day after you leave it at the office
Hah the TP idea is brilliant!
Things in the states sound a bit grim compared to rgis in the UK. We do get our share of bastards but in general my experiences with rgis have been rather positive.
Ive been working for them for 2 years now..wow and for the most part of it it's been fun.
We've had a bbq in the office at 5am while being absolutely wasted. The dm was nice enough to let us sleep in the office since about half of our team was from a town about 30 miles away.
Fairly regular after work drinks with our tl's.
hm where is D771 anyway just wondering because my old district D781 was in the UK.
Brooks Brothers in Grove City PA always has an amazing spread out for us. Other stores, almost never. One place opened their pop machines. Another let us eat their leftover pizza when they were done with it.
Anyone know what the going average rate is in a NYC district? I started in Ohio at $8 and I'm up to $8.69 after a year.
Apparently there's a new directive from HQ that they want all Top Guns counting in stores, instead of running stores.
Again, it looks like a poor thought out decision (yea I know big surprise with RGIS, isn't it?)
What are stores going to think when they see lower people running their inventory?
And what are the Top Guns going to think having to take orders from someone who can't count as fast as they do?
Frankly, as a top-gun, or at least as close to one as our district gets, I'd prefer to see people who can't count for sh-t have some other responsibility and leave the decent, reasonably accurate counters to just do our thing.
Besides, they can't possibly be any worse at it than the idiots running stores now.
It was a little off-putting at first when slower counters than myself were wearing grey shirts, but frankly, if they're dumb enough to take on the extra responsibility for very little wage increase, then fine. Let them fill their boots. I'd rather just count and mind my own business, no more of this soap opera bullsh-t.
As for what the stores think, I really don't care. Repeat clients should know the score by now, and the new ones aren't going to know the difference anyway.
Having mediocre counters running stores is nothing new around here.We have had, at times, at least several Area Managers who had marginal keying by touch/6K skills running stores!
The real key to a successful and profitable store inventory is the proper deployment of ALL the auditors,not just the top guns.Too bad HDQ doesn`t send a directive on that.My AM`s are new to our district, and obviously unseasoned as compared to us old grizzled grayshirts.They do not know the capabilities/limitations of most of the auditors, and have made little effort to learn.Consequently, the flow patterns are often a mess--no thought of who to put in each area.Auditor placement is often totally random. Newhires are put into high dollar/high quantity (and high probability of a store audit!) areas,while the good vets often get auto quantity areas and crap like dump bins, boxes, etc!Then the DM wonders why there were so many mistakes and recounts, or why the inventory went so long.The only good thing resulting from all this inefficiency, at least in the opinion of a lot of us non-management folk,is that we end up with more hours worked.This helps offset the occasional overstaffed 2 to 3 hour inventory.
Word is that the new pay bands are about to go into effect at the end of August. For many Top Gun's or long serving auditors that could mean a pay cut. In Texas we are looking at the Top Gun rating not being able to earn more than $14.00 When asked about how management would deal with auditors that are having to take a pay cut the answer was "they just have to deal with it!" This is just more brilliant thinking on the part of RGIS. I guess at that new rate they will only be paying to get me using my opposite hand. When my DM asks why I'm slower I can tell him he onlys pays for my other hand, deal with it.
OTL: When you mentioned "proper deployment" of auditors in certain stores, God did that ring a bell. I can remember countless inventories that were screwed up because the person running the inventory didn't know the correct way of placing auditors. I could understand this if that person were brand new to the district and didn't know the people very well but how do you explain a TL or manager who's been around for awhile, knows everyone and knows their counting capabilities placing a super fast, super accurate auditor to do one-on-one counting of furniture in a Pier 1 Imports store? Duh, idiot! You place that guy in the multiple quantities areas. I would see things like this happen all the time in my district. Managers and TL's who should have known better misplacing auditors and thus causing the inventories to drag on forever. In a hardware store put the fast people in the Jpeg sections and put the newbies and slower people in the dump bins. The slower people can count nails, bolts and nuts to their heart's content and the newbies can sweat it out a little there too, and it gives the manager a chance to see if 1. they can do a good job and 2. if they have the stamina and patience to sweat out a long day counting out things piece by piece.
misfit:
It is somewhat puzzling how this RGIS stupidity can continue year after year in so many districts. With the long rumoured pay classification bands supposedly to be implemented soon, one could (paranoiacly?) surmise that just maybe this poor placement of auditors is a semi-deliberate attempt to knock down the APH`s of some of the better counters so the company can justify, with documentation, an upcoming pay cut.Why else would Area Managers be assigning so many good counters, including myself,so many low APH/dollar value areas,such as bread gondolas, dump bins, gaskets, furniture, etc.,lately? On the other hand, RGIS HDQ historically has never been been shrewd and smart enough to plan anything out long term.Everything is day to day; one knee-jerk reaction after another.Would the company deliberately take a productivity/profit hit in the short term, if they knew it would benefit in the long run with lower payroll costs? Hmmm... Now the nefarious Blackstone Group is running the show. Time will tell....
D771 is Newcastle England and the DM is Murray.
I used to work in there all the time (splits) and he is a bit of a knob.
Must be something about that place, never held a DM for longer than a year and several have been sacked for stealing etc...
Im good now, work in a better ops group but good this company is robbing our customers blind!!!! Did you know we make 70% profit from every Saisnburys and even the shit ones like poundland return over 50%!!!!
Just think about that, if their costs are $3000 a night they are pocketing $7000 pure profit!!!!! And thats an average size store!!!
Ive seen it all, dodgy timesheets, travel forms going missing, expenses not paid, no payrises this company never fail to surprise me.
One thing i do look forward to is when the Inland revenue (IRS i think!!!) take a look at the company cars. I know of at least 10 AM's that dont declare mileage and stick in thru on company logs....
Ah well i might as well go and enjoy my one day off, back to the hell hole tomorrow :-)
OTL: I know what you mean. I'm of a rather suspicious nature and everytime something like that (misplacement of auditors) happened I would immediately think, "Aha! They're doing it on purpose! They want me or so-and-so to look bad (slower) so that they won't "have to" give us a raise or whatever." But like you mentioned I think that might be giving them just a little too much credit in the old brains department.
No, I guess it's just that some RGIS managers have a tendency towards multiple brain farts when it comes to assigning auditors to areas. Who knows, maybe they panic at the pressure of completing an important inventory on time and just assign people willy-nilly. "Here, you go there and you go here and you, just...go count!" I'm thinking that maybe a lot of them just don't plan it out in advance and do everything at the last minute. If you know your district well you should know who's fast and who's slow, and where they should be placed accordingly. It seems like all it would take is a few minutes of planning the night before an inventory. I mean, most of the stores have been inventoried multiple times before and the managers should be familiar with their layouts, so they should know who would do best where. But our managers were constantly running late for inventories and would often show up for one AFTER most of the auditors had already arrived and were standing around the parking lot waiting for them, so I guess it's not surprising that they didn't give much thought to planning ahead.
The Pier 1 Imports inventory that I mentioned was run by an AAM who had been with the district for years. He's the guy that placed a super fast/accurate counter to do the incredibly slow one-on-one furniture counting. I later heard that he got chewed out by our DM for this gross misplacement of an auditor. The AAM himself mentioned it a few days later and sheepishly admitted that he had made a mistake in placing that auditor where he did. His explanation for it was that the auditor was very accurate and all the furniture were big ticket/high cost items so he wanted to make sure that everything was counted correctly. Well, for God's sake even a newbie could count expensive furniture correctly when working one-on-one with a Pier 1 Imports employee pointing out the price tag on everything being counted.
Accuracy is our Secondary Concern: Great username! :-D
misfit:
At least your DM was smart enough to realize that they made auditor placement errors. Our managers are totally clueless in this regard.They virtually never realize when they make a mistake, and certainly would never admit it.
Your story on the Pier 1 furniture one on one count reminds me of a time where the supervisor assigned a particulary dense (but not a rookie) auditor to do the count. This auditor just could not remember the easy 5 or 6 digit skus that the store person was reading him. He contiunally would miskey the sku, and ask for it to be repeated, to the point that the store person slowly got frustrated/pissed off until he went ballistic and asked for another auditor.
On the subject of furniture,I recently also got stuck doing an import store stockroom, mainly hard to reach furniture and rugs, a real tedious APH hell.( Probably why they deliberately assigned it to me.)Well,being a crafty old RGIS vet, I got a store associate to crawl, climb, lift,and read me off all the skus, while I leisurely stood around keying.Then at the end, there were a bunch of shrink wrapped pallets, which the AM figured I would be stuck unpiling and opening boxes to count. Hell,since I knew that these items had been just received,I got the store to give me the invoice, and I keyed them all in off of it! Ended up with a decent APH, afterall.Score one for us peons!
accuracy is our second concern:
Do they still have timesheets in GB, or do they use a Time Collection Audit,like here? D771 sounds like RGIS at it sleaziest, exactly like how our district was run 8 or 9 years ago.Makes me all teary-eyed (from laughter)nostalgic!
O T L, have they explained the new pay bands to you yet? When we ask our area managers, they all claim they haven't heard anything about them in a while. I am quite sure my District manager is getting info, but is trying to find a way to lie to everyone about it. He does not know how to tell the truth. As far as top guns running stores, I think my district only has 2 that run stores. However, one of them runs the CVS dedicated team. Don't know how happy he will be if he runs all the CVS' and has to travel everywhere at a reduced pay. I'm sure my DM's wheels are spinning about lowering the classification so he can run the CVS team, but...lowering the classification will mean a greater pay cut. And, where in there minds do they think that people will still want to run stores at a reduced pay rate. We can just go back to counting and not run their stores for them. I, for one, will not run stores if my pay goes down to a level I was making 7 years ago. They will get what they are willing to pay out of me and no more. I see their point about top guns though. Let them count and make them more money. And, if they give you more per hour for running stores, the top guns will already be the top paid in the office, so why give them more. Unfortunately, and sadly, I see how their wheels spin since these new owners took over. And it makes me sick and I hate what they are doing to the moral.
Yeah we use the TCA but the system is soooo poor it is easily changed.
Dont listen to the powers that be when they say 'they cant change the times in it' its all bollocks.
Ive seen at least 5 different supervisors changing times in it and i know for a fact that when the timesheet goes to the office they have the ability to change it there as well. So not only are they rounding up in the store the managers in the office will be doing this as well.
Ive been here for years and when the secrataries were here this never happenned, mainly because they just sent the timesheet without the DM & AM getting to see it....
908s is another pisstake as well, my current DM is well known for just ignoring the hours in the hope that the Auditor forgets what he did.
If you are new to this awful company then please never EVER trust their word.... Get everything in writing and always, always, always get ALL your hours printed off every payday and compare with your own. I guarantee you it will never ever match, even if its only by 0.3 hours.
Just multiply that by 40,000 Auditors and the $$$$$ signs soon stack up. On my very rough estimates this company is probably raking in $0.25million a month by under paying everyone 30 mins!!!!!!
Enron would have been proud of those numbers!!!!
Got called in to give a deposition for the lawsuit later this week. Woo.
I haven`t heard anything officially about the new pay bands.They are awfully secretive around here, especially when they are about to try to screw us over.
You have to watch it with the TCA`s; make sure you write your hours down to the minute.I can`t help but notice that if we clock in a few minutes early,the management will go to great lengths to change everyones` time to the official start time.But if everyone is late clocking in because the DM or AM was ditzing around and late in downloading a time machine, you don`t often see them changing our clock in to the right time. Also,in the larger stores, sometimes there`s one TCA for 70 or 80 people or more. The last people to get a hold of it to clock in will be shortchanged--unless the management alters the time (fat chance!).When I get gypped like in the above examples, I just make sure I loiter around in a store( during the next pay period after I was shortchanged ) for a few minutes before clocking out, just to even things out.
Nice to hear that the lawsit is progressing. 404 girl, if you hear anything about trial dates,please let the rest of us know.
Not sure how much I can divulge, but I did find out that the actual trial, if there is one, coule be anywhere from fall of this year into next year.
Thank god I'm outta this company now- what with overweight managers spending the expense money on champagne, and the notorious d771(well it was when i was there!) god knows i have so many contacts now if the staff of that district had not been brainwashed by management and new staff, then maybe some of my old friends would answer their phones!
So take note, Murray the misfit and Tariq the terrible TCA fiddler oh and dont forget the guy who gets you fired....Johnson the Jackass! The DWP know only too well about your employment methods and staff behaviour-so stop stuffing yerself HUNT, dont eat other peoples lunches, caliming poevrty, TARIQ, and keep quiet, JOHNSON!
Keep us updated 404girl!
I was wondering where I could get my hands on one of the older audit machines from a few years back. Would love to buy one of those. It would be great for where I work now to key in stuff quickly with something I was used to.
I heard a rumor.... there were more layoffs at Headquarters last week.
Anybody know how many?
Just a word of warning to anyone in the d410 Area ( east washington state) Dont work for rgis here. The DM up here is one of the most witless, spineless, penny pinching, slave driving, oblivious idiotic..hell you name it, she's probebly it, with the exception of anything that might make her sound good. The AM's arent any better either, hell she has her own mother and brother working for her here and she treats them like shit, and considering they are both a TL and AAM, we..the workhorses in turn get treated like shit. Oh and dont expect yourself a raise here unless you have blonde hair, blue eyes, and your female.
On another note.. From what I've read here in the comments and elsewhere..Why on earth don't we just strike? the current employees that is. Yeq I know they could easily replace everyone, but they cant stop people from doing what every good striker does...Hang around the office with nice little signs declaring bodly to the world what you get for working for this shithole of a company. Which this does raise the nice question of..If all these lazy ass DM's AM's Fake "Super Star" Counters, all the useless garbage in the RGIS hierarchy of shit, that do about as much work as a corpse, suddenly had to count stores because the rest of us told them which bodily orfice they can shove this job into. If said mass strike of emplyees occured, what are the chances anyone here thinks that the tune would change? that they would actully make and keep offers of pay raises, better travel compensation, and maybe, just maybe, a better schedule hour wise? Just a thought..well pipe dream more like it.
Anon from D410: If you do organize some sort of strike/picket line another good place to picket might be outside of the store that's actually undergoing a RGIS inventory. The bigger the store the better, since you'll get more attention that way, especially if the store's open when you're picketing. Maybe something like a Kmart, Sear's, etc.
I must say I love reading your blog and the comments posted from all over the planet. I've posted a few comments here and there, too. (Anon, but no more.)
It's amazing and funny that not much has changed in the 15 years since I left. (We had the BIG 3 1/2 x 11" yellow tags!) And I was there for 9 years! The audit I used when I first started had an additional battery pack that used 4 "D" cell batteries! And the first bar-code inventories were not with guns, but with pen type readers that had to be held at the correct angle and slid across the barcode at the right speed.
I did give breaks. And I did buy food or treats on some (I'll admit mostly rare) special occasions. And we did have some district christmas and summer get-togethers. In my time, it was the customer that got the screws, not the staff. Most of the TLs made $10-14 an hour. Not bad for the late 80's, early 90's.
Batching is taught - and condoned from regional management. We didn't call it that, but it's the same whatever it's called. It's about the bottom line and profit is the primary concern. As long as you could "earn your keep" you were fine. (Counting at the requested amount per hour or better.) It's all about the averaging effect of numbers.
A good inventory is one where inventory labor (everyone's hourly wage x hours worked) is 1/3 of the total billed to the customer. That's 66% profit! Of course, salaries, technology, and home office support costs aren't included, but still, it's a money machine! And the higher you go up the laddar, the better the annual profit bonus! If you can take the lack of morals, you got it made!
Profit: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying my blog. I'm so glad I started it because as you mentioned I too enjoy reading everyone's comments from all around the globe. I'm both heartened and saddened to know that my experiences with RGIS were not limited to my dist. alone.
Those audit machines of old sound like a real burden. Four D batteries in addition to the ones already in the machine? Yikes! How did you keep from leaning to one side?
And yeah, I know what you're saying about batching being "taught". I think it was/is a very delicate line that RGIS crosses all the time. Managers and TL's have to discover which of their auditors can batch and not get caught at it by store personnel. I think it involves time, and studying auditors, and auditors learning what you can get away with batching and in which stores. And it all really has to be done silently; most managers won't tell an auditor to batch outright. It's just sort of understood by veteran auditors that if you want to get this or that store done on time and get home at a decent hour then there are sections that had better be batched or we'll be there all night.
Has anyone seen the new reports that AMs and DMs get for stores?
It shows how many pieces/dollars counted, hours and APH, like normal.
But then it also gives the amount of downtime that the RM was not counting (scanning or keying). And it will also give a percentage that that person was not counting.
It counts filling out area tags, putting up yellow tags, etc. as not counting (but takes out time for lunches).
Supposedly, they want it at around 20 percent not counting.
anonymous, I haven't seen the reports, but from hearing some of the TLs talk, the downtime figures are available on the portable as well.
Profit: I know it is easy to look at a store and say the goal is 1/3 for auditor cost and wow, therefor management for be making "66%" profit. There is so much more that goes into that price. Lets take it from the top. Some times it takes weeks to sell some accounts with tons of man hours going in to preparing contracts. Then procedures need to be created by evaluating the client and what RGIS's and the Clients standard is. Many of the clients have specific reports and programs that have to be created. How about the work that has gone into the building, developing the RM1. Both on the design and software side. There is a dedicated team of developers working on changes to the RM1. There is another team that programs the portable and are moving old accounts over to the new system. The is Accounting, Payroll, risk management, human resources, training, Website, Backend programmers. District Managers are only one level, there are many others that are above that. All of that has to come out of the "66%" or whatever the real number is. Sometimes we only look at the situation through our limited tunnel vision.
This is complete and utter horseshit.
E. said...
"Lets take it from the top."
Ok, let's do that.
"Some times it takes weeks to sell some accounts with tons of man hours going in to preparing contracts."
Is it any wonder? The customers aren't nearly as stupid as you seem to think they are. Knowing how incompetent and unethical RGIS is, the customers have to try to ensure that RGIS performs at a minimally acceptable level, and that there is legal recourse for failing to do so.
"Then procedures need to be created by evaluating the client and what RGIS's and the Clients standard is."
RGIS has no standards.
"How about the work that has gone into the building, developing the RM1."
How about it? This was nothing more than an attempt by some overpaid, under-worked dickhead at HQ, trying desperately to justify his useless position and outrageous salary. How much has this fiasco cost the company? How many millions of dollars were wasted? Besides the wasted time, money, and effort, their precious "efficiency" has actually declined because of this system. Why hasn't the dimwit who dreamed up this boondoggle been terminated? As usual, RGIS seeks to cover its own ineptitude by trying to squeeze even more money out of the people who actually do the work.
"District Managers are only one level, there are many others that are above that."
That's the fucking problem, you moron.
A few comments on some of the most recent postings:
Regarding the problems in D410 Spokane, which do not suprise me: This is because the RM in charge of that district--and mine,too-- is a classic "lead not by my example " type. You know, the kind of manager that turns his phone off rather to deal with crises such as extreme short-staffing in stores, or other issues.He also spends a lot of time out of the office ( on company pay, of course)attending to his personal life, while the urgent issues at hand have to wait.He`s quick to take credit for successes that he had very little to do with, and even quicker to blame others for his screw-ups.Rewards and encouragement are nearly non-existent. He`s got all the DM`s and AM`s under him uptight and watching their backs.It`s inevitable that this management style permeates down to the district level,ultimately making life miserable for all the rank and file.
The post about the good old days brought back a few memories, especially about the old pen lasers.You could always tell if an item had been around in the last inventory by the grooves in the bar code from the laser touching and scanning it.Also,if the item was deeply grooved ( from many scanning attempts ),it was a dead giveaway that it would be a bitch to scan, and that you would probably have to manually enter the sku.Equipment sure has changed over the years.
On the subject of lasers, our district recently got something like 50 o 60 new finger lasers in lately--contrary to the rumor that they were going to be phased out.Has anyone else out there receieved a big shipment of them? Naturally, we still have that minor problem of actually getting these lasers into the auditors`hands.It seems that our narrow minded DM is so afraid of losing them that he`d rather keep them locked up in the office then actually put them to efficient use!Sort of defeats the purpose of having them in the first place, if you ask me....
I got a kick out of "e"s comments. ( Obviously a mamagement shill.)Strangely, he didn`t mention the RGIS Legal Department, whose operations must take a big bite out of the RGIS operating budget. It seems that they are very busy with all the competitor, auditor,( and probably )client lawsuits going on.Hell,they are probably RGIS`s highest growth department!You can sweep the dirt under the carpet for only so long before the piles become noticable.There are a lot of big piles now.
I have to agree with anonymous` statement that RGIS has no standards, at least at the district level. "E" tells of how much time and effort RGIS spends tailoring programs and reports to the clients needs.If that`s the case then why are all DM`s and AM`s are given impunity to go out and fuck the client on a daily basis? Over the years,I`ve been amazed by all the procedures that were either ignored or tampered with,all in the name of expediency,ie: profit/bonuses.
Finally, we all know that the RM-1 research and developement group is a joke. The machine was hastily developed in an emergency program because of the PICS lawsuit. It`s full of flaws, and a ergonomic nightmare. I think these R&D guys must get together once a month at the local tavern, and, after a round of heavy drinking,start adding new features and programs.
anon at 9:47 a.m......could not have said it better!
e.... Let's talk about that RM1 and the guys at the top checking our downtime. There isn't one inventory where there are not people standing around while their infamous RM's are rebooting. And, the more that team of yours tries to fix it, the worst it gets.
Let's talk about that questionnaire that you put into the program. Nothing more frustrating than being an inventory supervisor with productive people scheduled, and watching while 5 out of 7 are not counting because they are filling out a questionnaire about why their RM's rebooted. "did you feel a breeze from a fan or open door'? Please!!! And of course, if your machine rebooted itself 10 times, you were answering the questionnaire 10 times. Then, you have the audacity to question downtime!!!! These RM's may be new technology but the reconfiguration of the keypad caused mega keyers to learn to key again. Then, the keys took us back 10 years with their hard touch. Oh yeah, and let's talk about the fact you created a handheld machine and we have now gotten directives that no one is to be caught holding them at any inventory. Too many carpal tunnel issues from the weight of these things, perhaps? So, you paid a ton of people to create a handheld machine that we are not allowed to hold. And, let us not forget the ring lasers. The new ring lasers have a connection that is a little too large for the port on the machines. Result??? For 10 minutes or so at every inventory, people are standing around trying to get the external lasers working.
Connect them, machine can find it, disconnect them, reconnect..try again, and again and again till the machine finds it. And of course, you have those RM's that find the external laser, but every 5 or 6 scans, you have to re-enable the external laser. Where the hell do you think all this down time is coming from? Don't you even have a clue how frustrating all these things are for those of us who supervise inventories, and are productive?? So, don't discuss your overhead with us. We are out trying to do the best job we can with what you are providing us to work with. And, we, the workers are being threathened with pay cuts, etc. for what was created at the top.
And, take a good look at your DM's who are so busy playing favoritism to friends, family of friends, family of favorites, etc. that on any given day in my District, the very productive are sitting at home while the family friends work.
You want production, etc., then start asking questions as to why someone who counts 3,000 dollars an hour is in a financial
inventory and 20,000 and above people are sitting home. And, yes, this goes on daily in my District. Maybe that is why your 66 percent profit isn't happening.
Misfit..sorry this is so long, but I can't believe what is going on with this downtime issue when these idiots created it.
TL Too: Please don't feel like you ever have to apologize for a post being too long. People like you and OTL and so many others here are doing such a wonderful job of sharing vital info about RGIS and what's going on in your own districts, and I believe that it's helping a lot of people feel better about themselves and their own experiences with RGIS, finding out that they're not the only ones going through challenging situations with their jobs.
Anybody heard about this P4 thing coming out?
tl too:
We`ve had no such directives about either filling out surveys about rebooting RM-1`s, or on holding the new machines. ( There are not enough shoulder straps and belts for every auditor in our district,probably because the dingbat managers keep forgetting to bring them, along with finger lasers, stepstools, yellow tags,the correct area tags type and sequences, plus other necessities that make our job easier, out to the stores.)Maybe you are in a test district--or your DM is a masochist.
anonymous: What`s a P-4? Care to elaborate?If it`s anything new,out West we`ll probably be one of the last to get it. ( Maybe not a bad thought, considering the present sorry state of RGIS equipment!)
OTL...the surveys were right in our machines as part of every store. We got them through some software update. When the machines reboot, the questionnaire comes up and you can't keep counting or do anything till you fill the damn thing out. Our division may have been the test for this. It involves about 10 questions with one being :"Did you feel a noticeable breeze from a fan or open door before your machine rebooted?" It asks what you are wearing, what kind of floor you are standing on, what you were counting, what material was the product made of, what kind of laser,etc. What I really, really love about it is that every time you start the machines to download them for a new store, the damn thing comes up automatically. So, before you can even initialize for your next store, you have to answer the questionnaire on every single machine. One of the questions is about what you were counting and this little tiny keyboard comes up where you have to type in what you were counting.
The letters are so tiny that you end up typing the wrong letters, and it looks like some sort of code. lol lol There is nothing more fun than turning on 10 machines when you are in a hurry, and having to answer that thing 10 times before prepping your store.
And, I have run 3 person stores where the other 2 are constantly answering the survey, while I am counting alone. The stores get very annoyed. As far as holding the machines, I assumed the directive was from HDQ. I know it isn't coming from my District only. Again, it could be just my Division at the moment. But, we were warned that we are NOT to be caught holding these machines anymore.
Anon.
P4=new pay grades=pay cuts for most.
You should be getting something in the mail when your District kicks it in.
tl too:
I had a machine at my last store that rebooted about four times in a ten minute period, before I dumped it.But no survey came up,thankfully. I did some asking around, and one other supervisor said that he had seen the survey pop up on just one other machine. So either we don`t have the latest software update here--posssible-- or maybe the survey feature is account specific or just programmed into a random or test group of RM-1`s.
How old are you and your friends? Sounds like your 12.
OTL
we must be the test Division for the survey. It is in all our RM's and in all our stores. My AM told me they will be taking them out soon. They were trying to find out why these machines reboot all the time. I can believe your machine rebooted 4 times in 10 minutes, so imagine having to answer that survey every time. I'm not sure how much they are learning. The answers to the questions are mostly multiple choice and most people are answering anything just to get by it. One of the questions is 'what is the last thing you touched on the machine?' Duh!! A lot of times we aren't doing anything, not touching anything, and they just reboot themselves. Most of our downtime is from answering their survey. lol lol
I ended up going in for an interview yesterday with another inventory company, and the interviewer had the best line ever:
"Oh, you worked for RGIS?...Well, we won't hold that against you."
Well, I have been working for rgis now for almost 3 months and have noticed a lot of screwed up things in that short period. I think that we may be the test district for this new plan but we are now on quanity teams or auto 1 teams. Me being new am strictly on an auto team. I do only stores that require that. I am a part timer so it has cut my hours even more. I am lucky to get 8-10 hours a week. Also have you all recieved the info about the new pay system? I am not really sure how it works but no more pay based on APH.
404 Girl: LOL!!! Score one for the other inventory company.
Pay is still based on APH. Just the DM has less control to manipulate the system. Pay is not longer based on how long you have worked at RGIS.
As for the "other inv comp" getting our scraps. The more people who can not hack it with us head over there the better. They just pick up the bottom of the barrel.
I'm one of those that "bottom of the barrel" people that annonymous refers to.....
I worked for RGIS for 15 years and now they're selling this P4 crap!
The "new" inventory company not only matched my rate but increased it by $1.00.
Their equipment is similar to the "old A14" with some great modifications, believe it or not I have done three inventories this week without a single equipment issue, when was the last time you can say that at RGIS?
They also still believe that the Auditors are their number one asset as well as treating their Customers with respect and exceeding their expectations.
Don't just accept a pay decrease check out your options.
"As for the "other inv comp" getting our scraps. The more people who can not hack it with us head over there the better. They just pick up the bottom of the barrel."
Trash talkin' the "other inv comp"... interesting... sounds a little like unease over someone else nipping at their heels...
The worst greasiest slime found at the "bottom of the barrel" are some of our DM`s,RM`s,and OPS managers.It`s a shame that Blackstone/RGIS can`t clean that sludge out.
We did an inventory the other day of a large chain store--the first store of many--and the main emphasis of the pre-inventory auditor briefing, was about APH much more than accuracy.We were told that it was the OPS Manager`s personal account, and that he wanted the best APH in the division.(Can you sense a big bonus check for him at stake?)It was well implied that we were to maximize batching and minimize sku checks.And as usual,other than risking a pay cut,there were no incentives for us.Many of us veterans were pretty disgusted that the purpose of inventories at RGIS have fallen to this low level.Talk about bottom of the barrel....
OTL: Wow, and that came from the Ops manager. This is why I'll never have faith that RGIS will ever become what it's supposed to be: all about the accuracy. "Accuracy Is Our Primary Concern" my ass.
Misfit: 'accuracy is our primary concern' went out the window with these new owners. They don't even mention accuracy anymore. It is all about profit.
OTL: not surprised by what you said. With p4 and probable pay cuts, they are very well aware that people WILL slow down if their pays go down. Everyone is saying they will count slower and make up their paycuts with longer inventories. Well, this week I did a store where I had instructions in my package about the expected APH. It actually said to check the averages after 1 hour. If people were too low, it said to talk to them about speeding up. Check again at hour 2.
If no improvement: SEND THEM HOME.
Uh? 6 person store with a window to get out. And, you want me to send some home?? Won't the account be thrilled if I suddenly would send 3 home and tried to finish in that window with just 3 people? Don't they ever think things through before they make these decisions?
Anon with the 'new inventory company': The powers in RGIS had better be watching them. They are laughing that company off as far as competition. They continue to scoff up auditors, old AM's, DM's, etc. Not all these people are 'bottom of the barrel'. They are smart and starting with experienced people on staff. This 'new company' now has 16 District Offices throughout the country. They are growing.
Great blog, Mistfit! I feel like I know everyone you're talking about because I have their "twins" in my district. We even have our own version of Mondo.
Does anyone have any useful information about this P4 thing? My AM keeps "threating" us with it, ("Things are going to change soon and you're all going to have to start counting faster") but won't explain exactly what is going on. My boyfriend is out of work and I'm barely paying my bills as it is, so if they think they can cut my pay and still rely on me to do all their work for them in every inventory, they'd better think again.
TL Too: Lol, does it still say "Accuracy is our Primary Concern" on the yellow tags? I wonder if that will become an archaic phrase from RGIS' "glorious" past. "Gather 'round kiddies and let me tell you about the time when RGIS at least made somewhat of an effort to pretend to care (somewhat) about accuracy." "Ooh, tell us more Grandpa!"
And "send them home"? I'm with you. Who the hell wrote those procedures? Certainly no one who ever ran an actual inventory, or counted in one either.
Countess: Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. My sympathies are with you, suffering with your own Mondo. You might want to think about carrying a can of Lysol with you, and spraying the air around your Mondo for easier and safer breathing. ;-)
First of all, Anonymous, thanks for the laugh. I can only speak for myself, but I didn't leave RGIS because I "couldn't hack it". I left because I was tired of dealing with a DM who treated the equipment better than the workers, and not being fully paid for work/travel I was doing.
Anyway, I started training with Northwest Inventory Service this week. Seems like it's going to be a good place to work...and the only thing it seems to have in common with RGIS is that they both do inventory.
Misfit: the yellow tags have nothing on them now. Not even RGIS. lol lol
We used to joke to the stores that we always left a few behind for free advertising.
Dist 67 here -- I got this P4 thing in with my latest schedule and it's mostly uninformative. The company has indirectly threatened to cut pay for slow counters* before but so far it hasn't happened to me yet.
*(usually in the form of sheets that had a table of APHs matched to pay scale they would give you in some stores)
I've also read in the archives about what sounds like a SECOND class-action lawsuit that I don't think I ever got a copy of (around March 08) -- is it too late to opt in?
Early this year they had us all come in to talk about some kind of 'mentoring program' they were starting up but after that initial meeting we never heard a peep about it again. The same in other districts?
Aahh, the mentoring program! I don't participate if I can help it, but I have an ATL who is getting screwed over by it. In larger inventories, my AM always makes my ATL work with the rookies because he is patient and a very good teacher. As a result, though, his APH suffers. So the AM has decided he can't count fast enough and now always places him on crap areas where he never has a chance to improve his APH. Its been almost two years since he's gotten a raise. Just another way RGIS sets people up to fail.
Was skimming through the comments and several of them reminded me of the time in a store when 3 members of upper management (our Ops Mgr, the Ops' Mgr's boss, and someone from Michigan HQ) were going through a store in progress when yet another discrepency was brought to the attention of the RGIS supervisor. Once the customer (store in progress) was out of the range of hearing the comment was made (by the RGIS executives regarding the auditor who had miscounted yet again) "Someone needs to promote him fast because he can't count!" Needless to say, they did, eventually, and he was only fired when his wife threw a fit because he was "fraternizing with a subordinate", and the company was afraid the subordinate (and drug whore) would sue them for harassment.
As for the new pay scale, etc, just found out today that my decade+ of hard work and - yes even - loyalty (more to a good DM than to the company) was being rewarded by an attempt to cut my pay by several dollars per hour (after more than two years without a raise because I refuse to batch, guess-timate or outright fabricate counts that would create the perception of a high APH). Supposedly there may be a bonus/ incentive program down the road, but I won't hold my breath, because I'm not ready to turn blue and die . . .
As for the lawsuit someone was asking about, my understanding is that is only relevent to California and Hawaii. Unlike the last lawsuit, I have not seen a dollar figure/settlement indicated, but if the lawsuits are truly linked, then I would expect the bulk of the funds to go the Hawaiian auditors (past and present) for the travel violations -- think of non-payment of time incurred waiting in airports for travel to other islands to complete inventory . . .
If you want a really good laugh, read the RGIS Principles (http://www.rgis.com/about/principles.aspx). If I had any sense of humor left after todays news, I would laugh my self to death.
"Accuracy Is Our Primary Concern" -- Oh, yes, I remember when those yellow tags first came out . . . my then AM popped his head around a corner and, like an excited little boy said "Did you see the new tags?!!!". He seemed somewhat dumb-founded when my response was "yeah, obviously someone's got a sense of humor". This same AM, a short time later (same day, same store -- a Marshall's) came up to me and told me (yes, instructed me!) to batch, assuring me that the skus were all the same. Not only did I know that they were not (I had glanced through the product, just out of curiousity), some of them had been acquired from a different source and had a different price point. At the time I was too tired to appreciate the irony, but today, I find it amusing but sadly typical.
Old School Auditor: LOL! A fine example of RGIS irony. "Hurray! Let's celebrate the new "Accuracy" yellow tags by batching the hell out of the store!" And your AM did this in the same store too. That's priceless.
Glutton For Punishment: "Someone needs to promote him fast because he can't count!" Hey, I think I've met more than a few RGIS managers that were promoted under this policy!
Glutton,
the 'pay massacre' has started here too. The smallest I have heard so far is 1.00 an hour with most being much higher and these are the top of the line counters.
the bonus/incentive isn't due to start, if it starts, till later in 2009, well after the January, Feb. rush.
I just realized today what the RM stands for: Retarded Machine.... because that's what happens to it ALL THE TIME. And I mean no disrespect for anyone who is handicapped... please don't take it that way!!!
Misfit: Thank you so much for keeping this blog going. You are doing a great service for a lot of us who are stupid enough to stay. The morale is horrible there/ you let us know we are not alone.
OTL and TL TOO: you two are great at giving us information about what is going on. Thank you.
OTL: I remember the wands, but I'd completely forgotten about the grooves in the tags! Was your district like ours when the new lasers came in? The pets got to use lasers, the rest of us had to keep using wands.
TL Too: We haven't had any questionnaires in our district, but if we ever do, I will deliberately lie just to fuck with the assholes.
BTW, I was the one who replied to E. He's going to like my next message even more :)
Dear Mr. Street:
I am one of those Evil Short Sellers who helped bring down Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch. I can't wait until the hedgies go after Blackstone. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Bend over and kiss your ass good-bye!
OTL: Hahahahahahahahaha! Fastest growing department at RGIS! Wish I'd thought of that. Remind me to buy you a beer :)
TL Too: The other two were filling out the survey while you were counting alone? Sounds kinda like you were using an old machine at a convenience store. Naughty Naughty :)
I quit last Spring because the inventories were missing laser attachments and pigtail attachments for the old lasers causing us to hirt ourselves using the built-in lasers of the new machines. I liked working for RGIS but couldn't risk permanent damage to my wrist by manuvering that big new machine for entire inventories. My wrist would hurt the next day(s) afterwards when I did it.
RGIS should have equipped all the team leaders and supervisors with external lasers/attachments before rolling out the new machines in 2008.
SKU check, I was doing a 3 person, one on one, high dollar jewelry store. The store people paired up with my people were getting more than a little annoyed just standing there while mine were filling out questionnaires. lol lol
Then, we were doing a 3 person bath & body type store and again, 2 people doing questionnaires, 1 person counting. This is really annoying the store people. They keep asking us what we are doing, why we aren't counting, and what seems to be the problem with our machines. lol lol
It would take a month to explain everything that is wrong with our machines.
God forbid we should use old audits anywhere. When the RM's first came out, there were not enough for every store. Every time we used the old audits, we got some nasty email from our Ops manager.
Now, a few weeks ago, I had a defective access point. I was doing a store by myself. So, I used a media stick. NO NO NO!!!!
I got a nasty email asking me why I didn't use the access point and telling me NOT to use a media stick. So, I guess if I am somewhere by myself, my machine refuses to transmit, I will just keep that inventory in the RM and leave the store. Sorry, store people, I can't transmit and I can't use a media stick. So, until I can get this damn thing to transmit, you will have to wait for your results. Could be an hour, a day or a week. lol lol
Good thing we get paid by the hour, huh?
Ooops! Looks like we've got another credit downgrade....
Moody's Downgrades Blackstone's RGIS Holdings
LBO Wire, 26 September 2008, 178 wordsEnglish
Blackstone Group-owned inventory services company RGIS Holdings LLC received a downgrade from Moody's Investors Service for missing financial targets in a challenging market....
https://www.fis.dowjones.com/article.aspx?ProductIDFromApplication=15&aid=DJFLBO0020080925e49q000ur&r=Rss&s=DJFLBO
Anyone got the complete DowJones article. The link above requires membership.
Moody's Downgrades Blackstone's RGIS Holdings
Eric Baum
September 26, 2008
Blackstone Group-owned inventory services company RGIS Holdings LLC received a downgrade from Moody's Investors Service for missing financial targets in a challenging market.
Moody's Investors Service Inc. lowered its corporate family rating and probability of default rating of RGIS to B3 from B2, but said the rating outlook is stable.
"The downgrade reflected weaker than expected financial performance, aggressive pricing actions by competitors and a difficult retail climate in the U.S." Moody's said in a press release.
Blackstone, which declined to comment, acquired Auburn Hills, Mich.-based RGIS from the company's founders and Impala Partners LLC early last year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
RGIS provides inventory services for retailers, warehouses and various distributors in North America.
Revenues for RGIS during the 12 months ended June 30 were $695 million, according to Moody's.
It's no wonder they have to lower Auditors pay... revenues were only $695 million... @ 50% that would only be about $347 million!
I think their goal was to hit a billion in gross per year.
Confidential to OMD: Hope that things turn out better for you and yours soon.
Heyas,
I used to be in District 128 and whatever district Tallahassee, FL is in.
My Big, Bad RGIS Tale comes from when I was in Tallahassee. A van-load of us were waiting at the north-side meet spot--but there was no van. Leave-time was 6 a.m., but Management Goober Warren didn't show.
6:15...nope. 6:30...nope. 6:45...nope, nope. We agreed to hold on 'till 7, then go home.
6:55, the screech of tires, and here comes AAM Warren's Astro van. He locked up all four tires and waved wildly for us to get in the damn van.
Mr. Punctuality had overslept.
We had two Big B drug stores (similar size to Walgreen's) that day, and the first started at 7 a.m. in Camilla, GA, about an hour north of us.
Warren hauled cans out of there, up the narrow and still-dark Thomasville Road. He was hitting 85 in stretches. We got to Thomasville in about 35 minutes, where we picked up a few more bodies before hauling cans again.
He nailed the pedal down as soon as we got out of Thomasville. A few miles ahead along the stretch of Highway 300 we could see a lit-up ambulance running north. Warren sped up. Closer...closer...the ambulance was in the inside lane doing at least 80. Warren passed it at about 85--and waved at the medics.
Georgia State Patrol and the Pelham PD were waiting at the city limits of Pelham (about halfway between Thomasville and Camilla). Warren pulled over, did his little tap dance...and while he danced, the ambulance passed us. The medics waved.
Apparently Warren danced nice enough that the coppers didn't give him a ticket--just a warning. We stayed at the speed limit through Pelham and up 300 all the way to Camilla.
Then Warren had to explain himself to John, his boss. Ouch.
We finished up that store and headed back to Thomasville for the second one, where Warren had to explain himself to Patsy, everyon's boss.
Ouch, ouch. He was pale and extremely polite (totally out of character for him) for the rest of the day.
OTL, have the paycuts started in your end yet? They got the topguns in our District about 2 weeks ago. The team leaders got cut this week. Some have outright quit and others have turned in their equipment. The adders or 1.00 to run a store don't start till January supposedly, if they ever start. But, the paycuts are effective immediately. But yet, these oh so thoughtful owners, are still having their big old meeting in Florida that costs them a ton of money in December. How about starting there with cuts?
tl too:
Yes, they cut the pay of our best top guns, too.I don`t know if anyone has quit yet, but I`m sure that everyone will now think twice before going the extra mile for the company.
As I mentioned in previous postings, it`s pretty obvious that RGIS is going to a minimum wage type of company, especially with the lowering of the hiring age to 16.There are some relatively new people,who have been around since last January or before--decent counters too-- who are still making the minimum RGIS wage.This APH thing is just a bunch of a "carrot on a stick" BS, and I think most auditors, with the exception of the naieve newhires, are realizing this. I`m still waiting for Blackstone/RGIS to get serious in their cost cutting and eliminate at least half the management positions--that would save them a lot more money ( and impact the quality and efficiency of inventories less ) than the nickel and diming of the audiors.Our district is currently being run as poorly as ever.Our RM and DM, are classic "buck passers"--everything is Headquarter`s fault, or the team leaders or auditors, never theirs. Yet,we have big time staffing and scheduling problems, such as incorrect inventory times or not enough auditors, or newbies in difficult quantity counting stores (sometimes when the good audiors are being wasted in auto qty stores going on at the same time).We wouldn`t have most of these problems if the salaried management types did their job and communicated with the client, the team leaders, and each other. Misfit,it`s quite ironic that RGIS has just lately comeout with a so called "productivity chart" that supposedly tracks the auditors` counting and non counting time, the result being apercentage of actual units counted vs. potential units counted.( Big Brother is now watching you!)We supervisors are supposed to use it to prod the auditors into greater productivity. The only problem is that it is totally bogus.For example if you have to wait 20 minutes for the last customer to clear out of the store, it all counts as "non-count" time, so everyone takes a hit,even though it`s not our fault.Also, the pre-inventory briefing--usually at least 5 or 10 minutes long is also down time. So are breaks and things like waiting on a sku check on the last item in an area (especially in 100% printout stores where if the items are not in sequence the store will have trouble following the printout). And,of course, the people who pull all the yellow tags will be nailed for "non count" time!I also noticed that auditors that count one on one with the store are docked heavily,too. Apparently, you must be keying in so many keystokes a minute to be considered counting. Nevermind if you were waiting for the store person to read you the skus, or count all the cans of cat food for you, etc.,you, according to the computer, were not counting!I would love to see a program like that for the management that shows the time they were out of the office on personal business, or making personal phone calls on company time, and all the other ways they shirk their responsibilities!
Misfit, you should have seen the brochures and letters they sent us out lately. One was extolling the new P4; very slick indeed.My favorite part was the line: "Accuracy is the admission fee, meaning you must count accurately to stay employed."Lol! How many managers and manager pets have I see over the years go into the store and either make up numbers or just slam areas out with no regard to sku integrity, none of these people having ever been fired. Conversely, most of them were promoted!This brochure couldn`t have been any more condescending and hypocritical.
Also, we have been informed that RGIS has outsourced it`s Payroll Department and that we have to soon either go to direct deposit or get paid through some cockamamie debit card system that charges service charges for about every kind of transaction, unless you do it in Wal-Marts.(They actually extol the no charge usage in that store!)Some of us suspect that Blackstone/RGIS probably has a stake, if not a controlling interest, in some of the companies involved in our payroll outsourcing. Hell,it won`t be too long before we are told to go down to some store owned by the Blackstone Group to buy our own work shirts!
I work in D19 and I use the Ecount thing, which recently seems to be owned by Citi prepaid now. They charge a $3 monthly fee but no per transaction fee. I don't mind it much. I used to be an Expert but was demoted down one level, no change in my $8.69/hr pay, though I started at $8 a year ago.
As for the tag pulling, they make us log off our machines as soon as we finish counting so it doesn't count against our APH. They have started overbooking shops, though. There were a couple 2 hour counts recently, one 90 minute count, both smallish mall stores that were overstaffed. There's a push lately to get in and out as fast as possible, they're really pushing us for speed and a lot of the Top Guns have left over the new policies.
I work night stores only right now, seriously slow. I worked a Target Oct 2nd and there's nothing on my schedule through the end of the month. Disappointing.
OTL:
Could not have said it better myself. That p4 brochure was nothing but propaganda. One of my AM's told me that this bogus bonus program will be a sham. Let's say you have a store that hits the store average and bonuses out. You may have several topguns in there who counted you out of the store but didn't hit their personal averages because they are so high, then you have an auditor, lowest classification, whose average is much lower, and he hits his. He could conceivably get the entire bonus for the store. The bonuses for a store will be shared by those who hit their averages in the store. You could have 12 people in there who helped hit the bonus, but only 1 who got their personal average and that person will be the only one to get it.
As far as pay cuts, we haven't lost top guns, but we have lost team leaders who ran a lot of stores because of the team leader pay cuts. Those who have not left turned in their equipment. Most, even with a dollar adder for running a store, will be making less money than they were before the cut so they just will not run stores. And I agree with you about cutting the management and monitoring them. How many times do they actually do their PIVS, but leave the office early saying that is where they are going? They go out with their company vans, on company time, and run their personal errands or just plain go home. We have had the worst issues with staffing,inventory times, etc also because these people are just not doing the jobs they are being paid to do. And, we the team leaders, are left to often face the wrath of the customers because these idiots are not doing their jobs.
Hello, Blackstone??? Are you paying intention. Figure out some Big Brother way to watch the people who are screwing you the worst. And, it isn't the auditors who are actually out there counting your stores and earning you your profits.
This is in response to the tag pulling comments.
It doesn't matter if your machine is logged off. That time still counts against your APH.
The APH numbers that are displayed on the RM are only an estimate. The "real" numbers are based off of your TCA hours and the number of pieces/dollars you counted.
If you have an area deleted because it was wrong, those pieces would still show in your RM APH, but you would actually not be getting credit for them, unless you were the one to go redo the area.
True APH is figured in Oracle after the store is transmitted and the timesheet closed.
Oh and no team leader pay cuts here yet.
otl and tl too: if it wasn't for you a lot of us wouldn't know what's going on. Thank you for that. I've been with them since 1994 and have seen a lot and have had a lot taken away. Then after not getting a raise at all for almost the last 3 years/ yep they cut my pay too. Thanks for that slap in the face for my loyalty and hard work.
anonymous in D19: just because you log off the machine doesn't mean anything. It's the time you are on the clock that your aph is still being counted.
tl too:
Did you infer that there is some kind of new program out in RGISland somewhere where there are individual store bonuses to be divided up? I haven`t heard anything. If there is, it will be interesting to see who gets to count stockrooms--PRELISTS,in many cases. Nothing like a fat prelist to bloat the old APH. Of course, the management will do the prelists themselves (I`ve been noticing a bit of this lately--maybe RGIS doesn`t want the rank and file to up their APH`s and qualify for raises.) Or, they will delegate them to either,#1, their relatives, #2, their pet auditors.
OTL:
the bonus program is supposed to start in January. This was explained to me when my pay was cut. There will be 4 base pays.
Auditor: starting pay in your district
specialist: 1.00 more an hour
expert: 1.50 more than specialist
top gun: 2.00 more than expert
Anything above auditor, those are the max pays for that class. The top guns will never make more unless they run stores, or get bonuses. And their averages will need to be so high, bonusing isn't going to be easy.
I don't know what they plan to do with people who are making amounts that are in between these pay bases. I would bet they will go down a level. We have a top gun.
He makes 12.50. Instead of bringing him to 14.00, they lowered his classification and brought him to 12.00.
There will be adders. the adders being 1.00 or 2.00 more an hour to run stores, that is after your paycut of course and they don't start till January.
They are trying to make the paycuts sound great because of the adders and this bonus program that will start. Although they are very vague about how much bonus, etc. We all run stores that we know are just plain pits. We would know going in that we would never bonus in those. Who in their right mind would now agree to run them? Knowing you will work your butt off, they could put people who can't count in them, and your reward will be nothing.
And yes, I told my DM just what you said. The poor schmucks who always get one on one things to count will get nothing while the AM pets will get prelists and high quantity areas. Guess who will bonus in a store? Just another sham to make it sound good that our pays are being cut. My DM said "you will have control in your stores and can position your people to bonus" Uh? Yes, I have control in my stores but I don't have control of where AM's put my people in their stores and that is where they will get screwed. And, duh, with my paycut, if I run a store and get 1.00 more an hour, I'll still be making less than I was making to begin with. Supposedly, there will be 1.00 adders for people running flows in stores also. Guess who will be assigned that job? Pets again. Nothing can work fairly unless the damn favoritism stops and it never will. I do believe my AM told me they want them to count prelists from now on. They are not going to make this easy. But anyways, every classification has different averages that people must hit in order to bonus. and that is only if the store bonuses or the store average is hit. They don't seem to know how the bonuses will work for the team leaders running stores.
Anon. in D-19: your average is based on your time on the clock and not when your RM is logged off.
Someone is throwing you some BS to get you to pull tags. Be careful!
When this bonus program starts, you could hit your average while counting and if you stay to pull tags, your average will go down and you might lose the bonus.
I have heard that there might be 1.00 adder for tag pullers. Doesn't that tell you that they know you are hurting your average, so they will give you 1.00 more but you won't bonus.
Believe me, they don't do anything for the benefit of the employee. If they are willing to give you a 1.00 more an hour to pull tags, then they will screw you with your APH.
As far as your pay not going down, if you started at 8.00 an hour and were an expert, you were grossly underpaid to begin with.
If the team leaders were not cut, then they may not have been making what they consider the max a team leader is worth. The people in my district that were cut were making more than what they feel should be the max.
OTL:
the bonus program is supposed to start in January. This was explained to me when my pay was cut. There will be 4 base pays.
Auditor: starting pay in your district
specialist: 1.00 more an hour
expert: 1.50 more than specialist
top gun: 2.00 more than expert
Anything above auditor, those are the max pays for that class. The top guns will never make more unless they run stores, or get bonuses. And their averages will need to be so high, bonusing isn't going to be easy.
I don't know what they plan to do with people who are making amounts that are in between these pay bases. I would bet they will go down a level. We have a top gun.
He makes 12.50. Instead of bringing him to 14.00, they lowered his classification and brought him to 12.00.
There will be adders. the adders being 1.00 or 2.00 more an hour to run stores, that is after your paycut of course and they don't start till January.
They are trying to make the paycuts sound great because of the adders and this bonus program that will start. Although they are very vague about how much bonus, etc. We all run stores that we know are just plain pits. We would know going in that we would never bonus in those. Who in their right mind would now agree to run them? Knowing you will work your butt off, they could put people who can't count in them, and your reward will be nothing.
And yes, I told my DM just what you said. The poor schmucks who always get one on one things to count will get nothing while the AM pets will get prelists and high quantity areas. Guess who will bonus in a store? Just another sham to make it sound good that our pays are being cut. My DM said "you will have control in your stores and can position your people to bonus" Uh? Yes, I have control in my stores but I don't have control of where AM's put my people in their stores and that is where they will get screwed. And, duh, with my paycut, if I run a store and get 1.00 more an hour, I'll still be making less than I was making to begin with. Supposedly, there will be 1.00 adders for people running flows in stores also. Guess who will be assigned that job? Pets again. Nothing can work fairly unless the damn favoritism stops and it never will. I do believe my AM told me they want them to count prelists from now on. They are not going to make this easy. But anyways, every classification has different averages that people must hit in order to bonus. and that is only if the store bonuses or the store average is hit. They don't seem to know how the bonuses will work for the team leaders running stores.
Anon. in D-19: your average is based on your time on the clock and not when your RM is logged off.
Someone is throwing you some BS to get you to pull tags. Be careful!
When this bonus program starts, you could hit your average while counting and if you stay to pull tags, your average will go down and you might lose the bonus.
I have heard that there might be 1.00 adder for tag pullers. Doesn't that tell you that they know you are hurting your average, so they will give you 1.00 more but you won't bonus.
Believe me, they don't do anything for the benefit of the employee. If they are willing to give you a 1.00 more an hour to pull tags, then they will screw you with your APH.
As far as your pay not going down, if you started at 8.00 an hour and were an expert, you were grossly underpaid to begin with.
If the team leaders were not cut, then they may not have been making what they consider the max a team leader is worth. The people in my district that were cut were making more than what they feel should be the max.
This is what I've heard about the bonuses.
If the store makes its average or whatever and it bonuses, then everyone in the store would get a bonus.
And then they would divy up the bonus based on how you counted. Obviously, store supervisor would get the top bonus.
But with all these rumors going on,I think there is only one thing: no one knows for sure.
tl too:
Thanks for the information. As always, the management out here is reluctant to divulge anything about the changes,particularly since they negatively impact the vast majority of the auditors.They feel that the less we know, the better it will be for them.I think that they are holding off on most of the pay cuts ( quite a few people, including myself, are currently making more than the proposed pay caps ). The hope is that maybe they can get through the busiest part of the year in January with adequate staffing.If they cut everyone`s pay now, they would be hard pressed to staff all the January stores, because many auditors and supervisors will either quit or turn down a lot of jobs.We have a difficult time as it is to make it through January.I think that our local management`s brilliant(?) plan to counter a possible major loss of experienced people in January --if a pay cut goes into effect-- is to expand the crew base now. Apparently, they have hired in our district somewhere around 50 to 70 people lately, even though things are slowing down, and there will be little work in November and December.The management`s dream--talk about a fantasy--is that all these people will still be around come January.I guess it doesn`t dawn on them that most of these people will quit if they only get 5 to 10 hours of work per week or less!It`s kind of hard to live on less than $100 a week, in case RGIS management hasn`t noticed.
I am amused that RGIS figures that a one or two dollar per hour supervisor differential ( I like to call it combat or hazzardous duty pay) is enough to bribe people to run stores for them. Just imagine an extra five or ten dollars(Wow!) a day to deal with short-staffed crews, the occasional stupid new hires, and anal store people, with the added bonus of being criticized or yelled at by your DM!There are stores that I reluctnatly run that I wouldn`t do for any extra $5 an hour, if I had any choice.Like you said, they are pits that only make you look bad, especcially in January with all the staffing and auditor quality shortfalls.
All the proposed "incentives" you mention are so vulnerable to corruption and abuse that it`s inevitable that another class action lawsuit will soon follow if they are enacted.
I've asked everyone I can about the pay cuts or phony bonuses and no one claims to have heard anything about them. Then again, eastern Canada has, I could be wrong about this, the lowest wages in the Canada, so maybe it just hasn't really left an impact.
More recently, we nabbed the shoppers drug-mart contract, leaving me to do dispensaries pretty much all year round, and they were just starting to go pretty good, when head office decided our APH wasn't good enough. And insisted we do the stores with half the staff, and these f--king clowns were shocked... SHOCKED that it was taking us twice as long to do the same amount of work. Granted, our APH was the lowest in the country, but with lower wages and less contract as well, not to mention considerable turnover as a result.
Their solution, turn it into a national contest. Whatever district lands the highest APH will get a bonus of... I can't recall, but it was a pretty pathetic amount when you divvied it up among the entire Shoppers team.
Our DM... now an ADM (all of New Brunswick is now being run out of Halifax) gets rather competitive about this, I guess it hurts his feelings that Quebec is in better shape than us (I have no idea why we should even care) and seriously tried to use this moronic contest in order to rally us into somehow doing the same amount of work with half the people.
It always seems to come back to motivation, like the only reason we're not doing as good as Oracle says we should is because we're not motivated enough. No, it can't possibly be lack of experienced counters, 4:30AM pick up times, in-fighting, or any number of prep issues on the part of the stores themselves, the real reason we're not up to spec is because we're not trying hard enough. Give me a damn break.
Well, the United Rentals are coming up, which, in my case, amounts to keying in skus on rental equipment, one on one with an employee, and usually spending as long on variances as we do counting. Some of those tractors and things are pretty expensive, so maybe my APH won't plummet too much, not that I've ever paid the slightest attention to APH.
I'm pretty sure aph is based on pieces in all stores now. No more $ aph. Your aph at United Rental could qualify you for a pay cut. Be careful and good luck.
Have heard the new pay per ranking is going to start Nov. 17. No one knows what those pay rates per ranking are going to be.
Haven't seen this posted here yet, but RGIS lost the Family Dollar account. Apparently, they were bidding to get all of them, now they have none.
In this district, it's a loss of 12 stores, just in January.
Our Family Dollar DMs weren't too pleased with the switch.
Anon 1:56
Isn't United Rentals a man-hour? If so, it wouldn't count against your APH anyway.
And financial stores, like grocery or liquor stores are still by the dollar.
Anonymous at 11:38
Any idea who got the Family Dollar account? Is it WIS or PICS?
We have a bunch of them in our District. Also, as much as we slow down in November and December, we usually manage to get a few hours. But, this year, we basically have very little for the rest of the month. And we are an extremely busy district.
It was WIS that was awarded the Family Dollar account. WIS is starting to shine and pick up the accounts that RGIS are not paying attention to.
Ah, I might as well start putting some sort of name to these posts to make it easier for people to follow. I've made more than 2-3 now.
Anyway, TLtoo, Washington got all the Family Dollars.
The Dollar was always a pretty easy account. I could usually get high 60-low 70s percentage-wise in them.
I wonder how long it will take The Dollar to come back to RGIS. 2-3 years ago, JCPenney let WIS do 2 stores but cancelled the third one in the middle of the inventory because WIS people all looked like convicts and were caught sleeping in the bathroom, in addition to their bad counts.
It's slowed down a bit here too. Less than 20 hours the last two weeks. The next two weeks are a bit heavier, tho.
Has anyone heard how PICS is doing? Have they got any bigger accounts yet?
I know one local smaller account went to PICS for a quarter, but came back because all the PICS people did was bitch about RGIS people while they were counting.
Heh. I heard the RGIS was handing out raises soon. Finally seeing the other end of the changes. I heard somewhere close on 4000 people. Glad to see these changes starting to effect the little people.
I guess you can call them raises. They are just moving everyone up, based on their ratings, come Nov. 17. So if you're rated an expert and are only making $9, then yea you'll get a raise.
Nobody is losing money YET. That doesn't come until March 1.
Pay bands are out. Top guns rate is $11.25. Can't remember the other rates right now, but a brochure is supposed to be emailed out.
Haven't announced what the adder rates are going to be.
There was an interesting story in the New York Times today. RGIS`s parent company, the Blackstone Group, just reported a $500 million dollar loss for the third quarter of 2008, and their stock is now worth about one quarter of it`s price of when it originally went public a year ago.Their stockholders are probably more than a little pissed off. I certainly wouldn`t be too optimistic about any forthcoming raises. Instead, Blackstone will probably be soon trying to squeeze some more blood out of the RGIS turnip.
I want a raise..
I wouldn't be celebrating too quickly. 4000 is only one tenth of the 40,000 people who work for us. What they will be doing is bringing people up to the pay grade for their APH classification.
So, if you are getting an auditor pay but your averages are higher, or in the next classification, then they will bring your pay up to that class. However, once you jump a class, then your expected APH also goes up. They will be reclassifying everyone periodically and constantly adjusting pay grades. Those people who are making a pay grade and their APH falls within that pay grade will get nothing. And keep in mind, once you go up, you can also go down during the next reclassification. For the people making the in between amounts right now because pay rates do not fall into 4 categories, they will leave it alone till after the new year.
The pay grades for our district:
auditor: starting pay for the district
specialist: 50 cents more than the auditor (was supposed to be 1.00)
Expert: 1.50 more than the specialist
Top Gun: 2.50 more than expert
So, if your starting pay is let's say 9.00
Auditor: 9.00
specialist 9.50
expert: 11.00
top gun: 13.50
Eventually, everyone will fall within those 4 pay grades. The in between amounts will disappear.
So, if someone is paid 12.00 an hour, and they count like an expert, they will eventually go down to 11.00 or will need to count like hell to go up to 13.50.
The only people getting raises right now will be the people who consistently average higher than the grade they currently are in.
If someone was overlooked for raises for a long time and are stuck at 9.50 for instance, but they have expert averages, they will go up to their grade.
One major problem with this: if you happen to have machine issues, or problems in stores, they will think you are suddenly slowing down because you are not counting enough for your pay grade. That is why they are monitoring down time, etc. Big Brother will be watching always. and, they will leave the people who should be going down alone for now because they don't want a mass exodus before january. They brought down top guns and team leaders already because they were already above the max for their class. If we had topguns making 14.50, they brought them down because 13.50 is the max they will make. The only shot they have at raises will be this bonus program that has yet to be explained.
This pay scale thing is totally absurd and comical! One`s actual counting skill is now all but irrevelant. In the store it`s all going to come down to either the luck of the draw, or whose supervisor`s ass you kiss ( or are related to ): Will I be counting the prelist or the box of tangled clearance clothing, the wine gondolas or the coffin freezers, the hard to reach items twelve feet high up, or the easy accessories on the floor racks? Etc.,etc. The inevitable lawsuit should be impressive!
Anyone know what happened to DM of D771?
Hi, I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be unable to publish comments left between now and Wednesday (out of town and no Internet access!). But feel free to leave comments and they'll get published on Thursday. Sorry for any inconvenience!
OTL, have you noticed the insanely high amounts the Top Gun levels are in some stores?
Also, there are huge drops from Top Gun numbers to Expert. Take Kohl's for example. Top Gun is listed at 900 per hour. It then drops all the way down to 510 for expert.
Misfit, has anyone from RGIS ever contacted you about this blog? Anyone ever try to shut you down?
StewieGriffin: I've had some confidential (not published) comments left to me by others that said some higher-ups at RGIS were none too pleased with this blog but nothing more than that.
stewiegriffin:
Out here in my district in the the West they have just begun the process of purging/reclassifying auditors. Most auditors, unless they have access to a team list, do not know what their designated ranking is. Judging by the team lists that I have seen,many people, particularly newer people with good APH skills, are rated below what their actual counting ability is. This, of course, makes sense from the management perspective. Why give a good new person huge raises when you know you can string them along for a year or two or longer by dangling the APH carrot? It kind of reminds me of the old days when the newhires would end up waiting six months to a year for their supposed "30 day review" to get their first 25 cent raise. Sorry,I digress;back to the top gun APH goals. No,we haven`t seen much of that--yet.But all of the grayshirts and old timers (the few that are still around )realize that these goals are a joke.The "sweatshop" mentality now rules RGIS.We all know that unless you get a big prelist or are designated a prowler--such as in a Target-- where you can cherrypick the best areas all night, it is almost impossible to SUSTAIN a high APH throughout the ENTIRE job.Eventually,unless you are a friend/relative of a manager, you`ll end up in crappy, low APH areas such as softlines or whatever.A couple of those type of areas are usually enough to prevent a top gun from achieving his/her`s APH for the day.Also, don`t forget that the first break will knock about 10% off of anyone`s APH.And finally,there`s the inevitable yellow tag pulling,running down missing areas, recounts,and other post-inventory detention, to do in your APH, just when you think you have made your goal!
Was the DM of 771 finally forced out, or did he leave for the good of everyone elses health?
When I left that district a few months back my health certainly improved, and you can bet it was a good career change i made, on the advice of my doctor!
Good riddance to the fat DM of 771, and may he never EVER darken your doors again!
Love your blog. It's provided me many good laughs throughout my time with RGIS. I've finally made the decision to quit, and haven't bothered to show up for my last few scheduled stores. Woke up today to find countless calls from my DM and AM saying how my no-call no-shows have "hurt their business". I can honestly say that it was music to my ears. After two years of their slave labor, quitting was the most liberating thing I've ever done.
I plan on burning my badge, taking a picture, and mass messaging it to my DM and AM to get the point across. Screw their "business". I hope it burns just like my name tag.
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