I've walked into Kmart's before where the merchandise is not tidy on the shelf and has things like candy wrappers etc all over the shelves. That is NOT Eddie's fault, that's the fault of the so called employees at that store. Some Kmart have great employees and contribute to the company and you can tell that they're busy, some aren't run as well. This has nothing to do with corporate and everything to do with the pride of local employees and how well they want to serve their communities.
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No, it's the fault of the so-called customers since Americans have clearly turned into very trashy (literally...) people with absolutely zero respect at all for stores or the people who work there. Getting so tired of this kind of behavior. It's not all of course, but there are far too many now outweighing those that aren't. Somewhere people have mistaken customer SERVICE with SERVANT. I'm there to help them, but I don't work for them - I work for the STORE.
I mean... a few weeks ago, given the mess that was left behind, someone had apparently sat themselves down on one of our fixtures at the front of women's sleepwear and eaten a handful of walnuts - WITH SHELLS. And left the pile of mess behind. Who the hell does this in a department store? Did they bring a nutcracker?? I'm sorry, but this nonsense was not in our job description and I didn't apply for the janitorial job.
I have worked 10 hours in the last two weeks. I used to work 20-25. i have the same job with the same resposibiities. Everyone in the store has the same story. We come in, unload truck, put stuff on shelf, go home. Rinse, repeat. Day after day, week after week the same thing. Unload, stock, go home.
No time to clean, no time to help customers, no time to straighten. If they want that i am more than willing to do that but i need more than 5 hours a week. We have 35 people working in the store. This is the whole store all shifts. Two years ago we had 90 and we made money. Now we have 35 and lose money. Doesnt seem like the cuts are working in our store.
@zuu- absolutely correct.
I worked for Sears for quite a long time. Shortly after Lampert took control, all of our best managers left like lightning. No manager worth their weight in salt will stay with a company that doesn’t care about them anymore.
But still, even as the quality of our in-store management took a sharp downturn, we ran a profitable store with many committed full time employees who cared a great deal about the store and its customers.
But then they were all layed off or otherwise driven off. Then the hours were cut to the bone. Then they took away the discount.
And it was STILL a profitable store. The most profitable store in the district even.
You’d think that store was safe.
It’s being shut down in April.
Actually, it is Eddie's fault that the stores are like that. Its called a company culture, and company morale. Employees have seen layoffs, no raises, hour cuts, and overwork... and that's just to start.
Additionally, if Eddie won't invest in patching leaks in the roof or giving the QMTs and maintenance staff what they need in hours and supplies to do their job it creates a downward spiral. Look at the "Clean India" project or even just the Broken Window theory.
If you treat employees as disposable and pay them just enough to work for you, they will give no loyalty and do just enough work not to get fired.... especially in the face of seeing great long time employees get laid off or treated poorly.
There are historically great places for workers and working cultures, Container Store, Costco, and Aldi are typically viewed as places where they employees are well treated and compensated, and tend to be on the higher end of that employment sector. Those companies will weed out people who don't fit the standard pretty quickly. Is Kmart going to fire all of its staff at once for underperforming... would most people really care?
You would be surprised how little it takes to have a loyal workforce, its amazing that SHC has pretty much made that impossible at all levels. (I've seen it from the store level to work visa managers... do you know how bad you have to screw up for a visa worker to risk being kicked out of the country to get away from you?)
I wish I were Eddie because if I were Kmart would be the number one retailer in America. I love Kmart, I'm not saying that nothing is Eddie's fault, but blaming Eddie isn't doing this company or any jobs any good. Fact is that people are free to work or not work for Kmart so if people don't want to be loyal and work hard to make Kmart great then why bother working for it. You would think people who work would be happy and relieved at the thought of profitability, not annoyed.
Keep posting, Eddie. Maybe you will bump the earnings leak off the front page.