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Who said anything about minimum wage? And no, you're incorrect, I have good friends paying $500-600 for their place in this area. They have roommates. Nothing wrong with that.
Of course, if I recall correctly, you live in Haverhill and complain about not being able to get a job but you're unwilling to commute for it either and are full of excuses.
I was referring to private apartments, not roommate situations.
I did not say that working in retail or restaurants was a good job or that you would be able to work full time but it is a good option for the semi retired, students or people who need a few extra bucks in a second job.
If you want to work full time in retail and make a living doing it, you are better down south where things are cheap.
They told me they pay $8 an hour at K Mart in Fairfax VA and $7.80 an hour in Jackson MS. You can survive on $7.80 an hour in Jackson but not in Fairfax VA.
The wages show there is not a lack of qualified people; if there was a lack of qualified people, the wages would be much higher.
Turn-over is so high that many places are in a constant state of hiring; I remember being at a Target in the area and they were handing out fliers at the check-out trying to get people to apply there. The issue there along with other large stores is that they routinely fire people for not pushing enough store credit cards on people. So depending on the store mananger at the time, some places like Target and Macy's fire solely based on this, along with general BS favoritsm found in low wage sectors between low end managers and employees; and they wonder why they are in a constant state of hiring.
Same situation here in Silicon Valley. A lot of retail and fast food restaurants have "HELP WANTED" signs all over. Problem is, the salary of these jobs will not allow you to even rent a room in a house here, as the COL is very high.
The wages show there is not a lack of qualified people; if there was a lack of qualified people, the wages would be much higher.
Turn-over is so high that many places are in a constant state of hiring; I remember being at a Target in the area and they were handing out fliers at the check-out trying to get people to apply there. The issue there along with other large stores is that they routinely fire people for not pushing enough store credit cards on people. So depending on the store mananger at the time, some places like Target and Macy's fire solely based on this, along with general BS favoritsm found in low wage sectors between low end managers and employees; and they wonder why they are in a constant state of hiring.
I worked for Macy's (Federated Department Stores) and that certainly was not true where I worked and I never heard that statement made there even from the most disgruntled employee. Were clerks pushed to open credit accounts? Yes. It was mentioned constantly. Were they were rewarded if they did? Yes, we were paid $2 extra for each account we opened. (Whoopee!) If we failed to open many (which was my circumstance 100% of the time because I thought it was stupid to push credit on people) it was mentioned in my employee review. But fired? Even if that criticism was coupled with many others? NO.
One of the reasons customer service is so terrible in America today is that not enough employers fire bad employees. And someone who merely fails to open credit accounts is not a bad employee. They are simply not a 100% adored employee.
Employees who clerk or do food service are most often fired for the following things: stealing, failing to come to work when assigned, constant tardiness, being adversarial with their manager, being rude to customers. But corporate retail/food businesses find it so hard to find employees willing to work for what they want to pay, they are loathe to fire them.
The wages show there is not a lack of qualified people; if there was a lack of qualified people, the wages would be much higher.
Turn-over is so high that many places are in a constant state of hiring; I remember being at a Target in the area and they were handing out fliers at the check-out trying to get people to apply there. The issue there along with other large stores is that they routinely fire people for not pushing enough store credit cards on people. So depending on the store mananger at the time, some places like Target and Macy's fire solely based on this, along with general BS favoritsm found in low wage sectors between low end managers and employees; and they wonder why they are in a constant state of hiring.
I can't speak for Target but I worked for Macy's (Federated Department Stores) and that certainly was not true in the location where I worked. I also never heard that accusation made by any employee of Federated that I ever knew. Were clerks pushed to open credit accounts? Yes. It was mentioned constantly. Were employees rewarded if they did? Yes, we were paid $2 extra for each account we opened and sometimes $5 on special sale weekends. (Whoopee!) When I failed to open many (which was my circumstance 100% of the time because I think it's stupid to push credit on people) it was mentioned as a failing in my employee review. But fired? Even if that criticism was coupled with many others? NO.
One of the reasons customer service is so terrible in America today is that not enough employers fire bad employees. And someone who merely fails to open credit accounts is not a bad employee. They are simply not an employee 100%-adored by management.
Employees who clerk or do food service are most often fired for the following things: stealing, failing to come to work when assigned, constant tardiness, being adversarial with their manager, being rude to customers. But because corporate retail/food businesses find it so hard to find employees willing to work for what they want to pay, they are loathe to fire them. Especially once they have paid to train them. If they paid better, they would get better-qualified people and customer service would improve. But I can hardly fault workers for failing to be enthusiastic about jobs that keep them in poverty.
I can't speak for Target but I worked for Macy's (Federated Department Stores) and that certainly was not true in the location where I worked. I also never heard that accusation made by any employee of Federated that I ever knew. Were clerks pushed to open credit accounts? Yes. It was mentioned constantly. Were employees rewarded if they did? Yes, we were paid $2 extra for each account we opened and sometimes $5 on special sale weekends. (Whoopee!) When I failed to open many (which was my circumstance 100% of the time because I think it's stupid to push credit on people) it was mentioned as a failing in my employee review. But fired? Even if that criticism was coupled with many others? NO.
As I mentioned "depending on the store manager". You can go to various blogs and glassdoor and browse through and see where various sales associates and specialists have been terminated or constructively discharged over the credit cards. I know this happens for fact as I know and are related to a few people who went through this. That along with idiotic goals that many times are impossible to reach, like as if someone can sell $5000, that is right $5000, worth of kids socks when they are on sale. But Cincinnati knows best!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl
One of the reasons customer service is so terrible in America today is that not enough employers fire bad employees. And someone who merely fails to open credit accounts is not a bad employee. They are simply not an employee 100%-adored by management.
No, customer service is bad for many reasons; there is no inventive to provide good service, someone provided great service will be treated according to how the manager likes them, not their skill, and many of these places have their little cliques going.
Customers are horrible, you should know working at Macy's the irritation of everyone and their brother asking constantly for discount, lying they got an item off the discount rack, asking to call manager when you state the fact about the discount, and the returning massive amount of items just to repurchase them because now there is a sale.
These stores are not about customer service, they are about pushing products, especially those stupid credit cards; the companies do not care much about customer service other than not committing a crime against a customer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl
Employees who clerk or do food service are most often fired for the following things: stealing, failing to come to work when assigned, constant tardiness, being adversarial with their manager, being rude to customers. But because corporate retail/food businesses find it so hard to find employees willing to work for what they want to pay, they are loathe to fire them. Especially once they have paid to train them. If they paid better, they would get better-qualified people and customer service would improve. But I can hardly fault workers for failing to be enthusiastic about jobs that keep them in poverty.
Well, low pay and low hours tend to attract a great deal of people who cannot find any other work. You would think Macy's, with there 150 question assessment on top of everything else, would be better at hiring.
Yes, employees do get fired for those things, but the company also instigates a few things as well. Macy's liked to change hours without notification, as if someone suppose to hover around myschedule all of the time.
Macy's are strict with the report time, which makes it an issue in places where mass transit is utilized; they have points now so that issue of tardiness is mitigated some. They also like someone to report on time, as everyone, but thinks nothing of asking people to stay late, usually around closing.
As for being adversarial with managers, there are numerous horrible managers in retail, and they often play the favoritism game with employees they like. This tends to create conflict as there is nothing worse than being treated differently, tasked with duties others do not ever get tasked with. better yet, when the favorite employee(s) can just go disappear hours at a time and no one says nothing, but when another employee finally steps away for their twenty minute break, they get yelled at for leaving the area unattended. This along with the constant (nothing is correct you do) harassment.
Again, this is all store, even department specific.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by parried
I was referring to private apartments, not roommate situations.
That is a luxury. Something that needs to be earned.
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But Cincinnati knows best!