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Location: The Northeast - hoping one day the Northwest!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xhayatox
I've been unemployed for a few months, and just recently I got hired for a retail company and I completed my orientation today, and I got a chance to learn about the company and what it expects of me, and it's really strict. Basically, you always have to smile at work, you have to stand in a certain way, you are only allowed to wear the color black, you also must use the "Six Company Phrases" every day when interacting with customers, and overall they just want you to become and act like a complete robot. What should I do? Suck it up? I really need the money but at the same time I feel like they just expect way too damn much and I don't know if I can handle it? My last two retail jobs were nowhere near this strict, so that's why this is uncomfortable for me and I don't know if I can accept working like this. I just don't know how to push myself out of my comfort zone and become a complete robot and act the way they want me to. "Always smile, always remember and recite the 6 company phrases when talking to a customer, etc" It just makes me feel like a complete fool.
If I was in the same position - I would suck it up. Yes, it might suck but it's money. Also, while you are employed there you can look for other jobs. Also, besides it might be better than you think! Most companies have a dress code of sorts. It makes employees easier to recognize. Also, from a customer standpoint - it's nicer if someone is smiling. The other day my hubby and I grabbed something to eat and the cashier had no expression on her face at all. Even the customer in front of us was trying to get her to smile and nothing.
I was unemployed a few years ago. I was laid off in June 2011. In October 2011- I actually got TWO job offers. One was for Target seasonal overnight and another one was for a temp for a call center during the daytime. I did both. It was the hardest 3 months of my life, but I sucked it up. I would get home from the call center, go home, take a "nap" for 3 hours and go to Target until about 6am. Go home - shower and go to the daytime job. Those nights that I didn't work Target, since I woke up the previous night at about 9-9:30 it was not uncommon for me to me up for 26 hours. The ONLY way I got through it was I knew it was only temporary. Just like this is for you!
I would actually count down the weeks until I knew this would be over!! It was the beginning of January, Target ended and my training ended at the call center. I was then on the phones. Then I had a shift of 12:30-9, and only one job. It's not going to be a life-long job. It might suck now, but you never know what could happen 3 months from now. In February of 2012 I was offered at position at a law firm. Since then I have been promoted twice and in my new position once I am all trained I will be able to work from home!
So I have been in similar shoes. Besides if you do take it, it might end up being better than you think. Good luck to you!
Just a few minutes ago I had the perfect example happen to me of how companies and businesses think they are doing the right thing but end up shooting themselves in the foot.
Tuesday I took one of our cats to the vet for a check up because he had the sniffles. They gave him a shot and some meds and worked up a "plan of treatment" for the future. I took the cat home, he is now fine and right back to his old self.......it was a kitty cold. However, on Wednesday they called me to "Check up on Chewy" and at the end of the conversation asked if we wanted to schedule another visit for the stuff on their plan. I told them we were not going to do that right now and I would get back to them sometime if we wanted to do it.
Just now the phone rang and they were once again "Checking up on Chewy" and once again asked if I wanted to schedule the other work. I told them not now, I will call them if I am interested. So now what will happen is that I am blocking their calls and will never go back there again. While I love my cats I will not be constantly pressured like that........they pushed it too far.
That is what some businesses do when they force their employees to disregard their own instincts and insist the employee read the script to make sure they squeeze every dollar possible out of the customer. In most cases it backfires and makes people reluctant to want to do business there.
Well, if they were letting you act like a rogue killer robot, it might have at least been more fun... stomping through the crowds, while calling out "EXTERMINATE!!!!" However, this doesn't seem to be that type of job.
Long story short, you said you need the money, so I'd suck it up for now while looking for more sane places to work. While I agree with the concept of a dress code in retail to make it easy to find staff on a crowded floor, the rest of that place sounds like the nutty restaurant in Office Space that worried about how many pieces of flare the employees were wearing.
Whatever the company and whatever it's rules, if you find it beneath you or demoralizing or uncomfortable there's a simple one-size-fits-all solution. Quit and find something which betters suits you. When you become a business owner you can make your own rules or not, as you choose, but as long as someone is enabling you to keep a roof over your head do what you're charged to do.
Obviously you didn't do much research on the store before you started to work there as you would easily have seen the protocol just spending a few moments walking around.
Small business owner, are you: Putin Hardware? I'll go to McGukkin's instead.
Smiling, presenting the company's "6 phrases" to customers, and following a dress code are not difficult. Most jobs are even more strict and demanding, including the trades and office jobs.
There are even more rules and regulations for a job in medicine, finance, energy, construction, manufacturing, etc. Retail jobs have fewer rules than other jobs. It's about smiling and engaging the customer.
That above. In addition, just because they have a dress code and standard phrases you are required to say, doesn't mean you can't also inject your own style with customers. I bank at a WF bank and all the tellers say "have I met all your expectations today" and I find it very artificial. But during transactions, I see real humans who interact with me as people. I have favorite tellers and less favorite. But they all say the same key phrases at times. I don't see them as robots.
If acting like a robot is all that keeps you from mooching off the taxpayers for your living, then it's noble to act like a robot, better a robot than a bum.
MOST of us who don't have wealthy parents have had jobs we didn't like. I was bored out of my mind in some jobs I had, but I knew I couldn't act like that or I would be fired. Those jobs were just for the paycheck ... the rest of my time was my own, and I spent it going to school so I could get a BETTER job later (and it worked).
I absolutely love my current job, but I went to school for a zillion years to get it, and the pay (while "good" by most standards and perfectly fine for me) doesn't reflect all the years of school. Oh, well -- I CHOSE it and it suits me so I'm not going to whine about it.
I think employers should treat employees well, but that doesn't mean they can't require you to do certain things that are part of their "brand" or image or whatever. OP, just do it. Look for something else in your spare time, if you really can't stand it. I find it mind-boggling that you would consider quitting after having recently been unemployed, and simply because you don't like it. Ahhhhhhh, poor you.
(Whatever happened to the idea that there is dignity and worth in any job?!!)
OP, you make it sound much freakier than it is. These are the phrases
Quote:
1) Hello, my name is ____, how are you today?
2) Did you find everything you were looking for?
3) Let me know if you need anything. My name is____.
4) Thank you for waiting.
5) Did you find everything you were looking for?
6) Good-bye, we hope to see you again soon.
they are all standard phrases in retail. #2/5 in particular is phrased that way because it's most likely to get aresponse.
OP - some of what you are describing is referred to as emotional labor - its actually a pretty interesting topic.
From the wikipedia link:
"Emotional labor is a form of emotion regulation that creates a publicly visible facial and bodily display.[1] While emotion work happens within the private sphere, emotional labor is emotional management within the workforce that creates a situation in which the emotion management by workers can be exchanged in the marketplace.[1] Example professions that require emotional labor are: nurses,[2]doctors,[3]waiting staff,[4] and television actors.[5] However, as particular economies move from a manufacturing to a service-based economy, many more workers in a variety of occupational fields are expected to manage their emotions according to employer demands when compared to sixty years ago."
If you really want to get into this topic, there is a very interesting article called The Smile Factory: Work at Disneyland which goes into this issue (and others) at Disneyland theme parks.
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Ahhhhhhh, poor you. 
