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"Quitting" My Job
noobert
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The situation is: I work in retail, selling higher end computer/laptops/accessories and general solutions to the public and business. I started this gig about 18 months ago as part time, but was offered a full time position after the first 6ish months. As a salesman i was started in the slowest shop, but as my skill increased i was moved up and up until i reached pretty much the end of the chain... the busiest store as the main sales person.
The first month of this was good, I made a pile of money gained a whole lot of respect from with in the company. It was worth the 50 hour weeks.
But, now, after having proven myself, i am being watched like a hawk. Sometimes i mess up, I'm only human, but when it happens there is a phone call for me with in 10 - 15 mins. This call is from the powers that be, letting me know of my mistake and often attempting to give me a stern talking to. Now these mistakes are more often than not trivial things: Entering the code for a 256mb graphics card instead of the 512mb that was sold, leaving off serial numbers for stuff i have sold, but don't yet have in stock. Things that will get fixed when i review the day.
It also seems that the quality of our product has been falling very, very quickly. I estimate that 60% of items that walk out the door come back for some reason with in the first week. Obviously when people are buying what they believe to be higher end items, they are angry and need someone to blame. That someone is the person who sold it to them.. If the complaint is passed onto the powers above me, it comes back with "deal with it" attached. They couldn't care if the cheap PSUs have what seems to be a 50% fail rate, they couldn't care that poor production quality is giving us hell.
The attitude of anyone not directly on the "front line" is causing more and more people to leave. I'm quickly thinking about becoming one of them. The money is amazing, but the stress and hostility from everyone bar the guys i directly work with is taking its taking its toll. Since I'm young i have a legit out. Education. I could use that as a reason to drop back to part time, where there is no responsibility, No ever growing sales target, No "Product of the week" etc.
Having read what i typed, this seems more of a vent than anything, but any comments or suggestions would still be helpful.
The first month of this was good, I made a pile of money gained a whole lot of respect from with in the company. It was worth the 50 hour weeks.
But, now, after having proven myself, i am being watched like a hawk. Sometimes i mess up, I'm only human, but when it happens there is a phone call for me with in 10 - 15 mins. This call is from the powers that be, letting me know of my mistake and often attempting to give me a stern talking to. Now these mistakes are more often than not trivial things: Entering the code for a 256mb graphics card instead of the 512mb that was sold, leaving off serial numbers for stuff i have sold, but don't yet have in stock. Things that will get fixed when i review the day.
It also seems that the quality of our product has been falling very, very quickly. I estimate that 60% of items that walk out the door come back for some reason with in the first week. Obviously when people are buying what they believe to be higher end items, they are angry and need someone to blame. That someone is the person who sold it to them.. If the complaint is passed onto the powers above me, it comes back with "deal with it" attached. They couldn't care if the cheap PSUs have what seems to be a 50% fail rate, they couldn't care that poor production quality is giving us hell.
The attitude of anyone not directly on the "front line" is causing more and more people to leave. I'm quickly thinking about becoming one of them. The money is amazing, but the stress and hostility from everyone bar the guys i directly work with is taking its taking its toll. Since I'm young i have a legit out. Education. I could use that as a reason to drop back to part time, where there is no responsibility, No ever growing sales target, No "Product of the week" etc.
Having read what i typed, this seems more of a vent than anything, but any comments or suggestions would still be helpful.
noobert on
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Posts
Maybe you should consider looking for other jobs in the same field. With your experience, you have a pretty decent chance to net a solid pay raise with a better company.
Well I have a year left to go on an I.T (Programming) degree, So yeah, I'd finish that off for sure... While staying part time with these guys.
The money isn't a concern here, it pretty amazing. It's the conditions and lack of flexibility that are pushing me to leave. Not even 15 mins ago my request for Thursday off was denied due to "staffing issues".
As long as your are being honest about your position in the store and not glamourizing yourself your position sounds pretty safe. That being said, this is retail:
Retail stores have a high turnover rate in employees, how many people have you seen come and go? The point I am trying to make here, is that actual good employees will never get fired. So you do have some leverage on your side.
Now understand the other side of the table here. Most electronic retail stores are poorly managed, the managers are usually very crude, poorly educated, and unfriendly. I am not trying to be overly mean here or anything this is more of stating the obvious. These guys want their money plain and simple, but someone farther up the anthill keeps pushing their buttons, so they push yours. Their training with the company has told them to continually monitor your sales and continually criticize every mistake to maximize sales.
My advice to you is simple don't deal with them on their terms.
Now I am not saying walk in their and give them the finger when they call you over. Im saying when someone wants to berate you about something meaningless don't get upset over it or riled up. Managers also notice when you don't care if they berate you about something. So this is a careful line to walk. As for stuff like requesting time off, the common thing where I worked was simply calling in sick the same day if they didn't give it to you. Once again this may differ depending on where you work so be cautious if you need your job financially.
My last 6 months or so at my retail job I didn't give the manager's an inch on anything. I still kept a good work ethic but I was never bullied or hasseled.
If you can really sell and enjoy doing it. Look into Business sales or a business degree at school, turn your gift into a paycheck.