Retail Therapy Blog

Retail Hell Underground Teaser

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-21T00:13:25+00:00

I'm sure you all know about Retail Hell Underground, but just in case you didn't, here's a trailer for their up-and-coming vlog series on YouTube. Enjoy!

Mr Brain and His Questionable Meatballs

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-20T14:53:43+00:00

Ok, I've been saving this one, it's the best yet.
No, it's not photoshopped, it's not from a foreign supermarket, I found it in none other than my local Morrisons.

Just to clarify: a faggot is a traditional British dish similar to a meatball. I don't know if there could be anything more wrong with Mr Brain's variety. The fact that they're called "Mr Brain's 4 Pork Faggots" couldn't get much worse, and I don't even want to know what the "rich west country sauce" might be.
I wonder if they've considered a re-brand. Better 50 years late than never.

Wiki: Faggot (food)
Anyone dare me to eat one?

A Blast From The Past

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-17T16:35:48+00:00

I used to have another blog which I stopped using last year. It was just a personal one, and just now, while I was bored, I went looking through it and found this:

Friday, December 09, 2005
I think i might have forgotten to mention I'd finally managed to get a job! A place called **** ***** actually employed me, after months of searching. It's so busy though, just over christmas. Stress. The manager did say I was a wiz on the jewellry though.

Nearly 3 years ago, a 17 year-old me was actually excited about going to work in retail. Well, just to have a job at all really. Too bad that manager turned out to be a psycho.

That same manager was in the store last week and, although I looked ridiculous in my Santa hat, I still smiled and said hello because I was just so happy to see her without having to work under her tyranny.
She's not the boss of me now and she's not so big.

The Peter Principal

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-15T14:36:52+00:00

Last night I came across the Peter Principle and I finally have a name for the disorder of management in retail stores, and other companies too.
Sorry if you already know all this, but I discovered it purely by accident and now have another piece of the puzzle that makes up Retail Hell.

So, the Peter Principle. It states that: in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently, but they will eventually be promoted to a position at which they will be incompetent.
This explains so much! People in our store get promoted to management because they've displayed good skills in their previous position. That doesn't necessarily mean they possess the right skills to be a manager so they are no longer able to carry out their duties and the work is left to those of us who haven't reached our level of incompetence yet.
BINGO!
Although promotions are intended to reward hardworking employees with increased status and pay, it will eventually be detrimental to the company when the number of incompetent outnumber the competent. It may also lead to "creative incompetence", where people pretend to be incompetent to avoid promotion.
I don't feign incompetence, but I do avoid promotion.

I could take it one step further and refer to the Dilbert Principle. I really feel I'm being quite patronising here, but I'll explain anyway.
The Dilbert Principle (based on observations by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams) states that: companies tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to management in order to limit the amount of damage they're capable of doing.
This differs from the Peter Principle because it claims that incompetent employees are promoted intentionally to withdraw them from a position where they could cause the most harm (such as reducing product quality or offending customers).

At first I thought the Dilbert Principal applied more to my store, but I don't think that's true anymore because the managers are still present on the shop floor and are therefore still capable of doing damage, if not more damage than the lower-ranking employees.
I think it's more a case of people doing a good job beforehand, then get promoted and find themselves out of their depth and panic a little. It's also sometimes down to favouritism, age, and length of time they've been with the company.
I do know of a store that does operate on the Dilbert Principle (as well as the Peter Principle) instead of just sacking the people in question and it annoys the hell out of me, and I don't even work there!

I'm just glad I found a name and explanation for something I knew of but couldn't explain beforehand . Somethings always better with a name.
Like when the term "mugging" first gained popularity, there was an increase in the number of reported muggings, because people now had a name for it. That's just something I picked up in Psychology. It might not be entirely accurate, but it is vaguely true.

Wiki: The Peter Principle
Wiki: The Dilbert Principle

Dobbies Garden World

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-14T22:22:18+00:00

To carry on from the previous post, all I can think of to explain the unusual tidiness at Dobbies is that:

Customers have more respect for newer looking stores
Although it looked like there was a lot of stock out, it was all spaced out with a lot of displays but not many items on the shelves. And there weren't that many shelves, for that matter
Because everything was exceptionally tidy to begin with, it kept tidier for longer, and
They hire ghosts which is why you can't see the staff

Honestly, if it weren't for the customers the store would have been like the Mary Celeste.
Everything was immaculate. The same calendars that we sell that always get in a mess and inevitably damaged were neatly stacked in rows, in perfect condition. Their craft department that sells the same stuff we do looks neater than my department ever has. I'm guessing they're not under any pressure to overload shelves and arms with all their stock, which looks like it's kept strictly to Do Crafts, unlike all the other cheap shit we get.
The only thing I recall seeing out of place was a tiny cookery book that wasn't stacked at a perpendicular angle to the edge of the table. That's it!
Something else that was really cool though was by their cafe there was a window with a sign that said "Bakery" overhead so you could watch them prepare all the cakes and buns. And those cakes looked very tasty!

We both sell a lot of the same stuff, but Dobbies has a more upmarket image so the customers seem to treat it better, and because it's quite a new store, everything is extra clean.
Also, because the shop floor is more open, it's easier to see if a customer is up to no good and because everything is on display, there's no need to rip open boxes.
It makes me a little annoyed that the company I work for has the "stack 'em high, sell em' cheap" attitude. It creates a lot more work and stress, most of it unnecessary, because they'd rather have stock overflowing onto the floor than a little bit more space and a few more displays which would make it easier for the customer.

All this makes me want to go and work for Dobbies. The store was pristine, the staff seemed more relaxed, and they weren't snowed under with stock. But who knows, the grass is always greener. Someone who used to work at our store went to work for Dobbies when it first opened, but they didn't last long. And maybe our store was once like theirs, and soon enough they'll be in the same mess we are.

Robot Santa Band

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-14T15:06:44+00:00

Yesterday, I took a trip to Dobbies Garden World. As soon as you walk in the door you're faced with a Santa band, mechanically singing Christmas songs, but ignoring that, the place was pretty much spotless. It was weird, not a staff member in sight and yet there was nothing out of place. I'll write more about it later. I haven't worked out how they managed it yet.

Wake Me When It's January

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-10T16:11:50+00:00

I fortunately haven’t had any really bad customers over the past week, but because karma’s a bitch, we’ve had to listen to Christmas songs since the 1st November. Two months we have to put up with Christmas for!
But it doesn’t just stop with the music. Staff had to wear Santa hats over the weekend and one person even donned a Santa suit (beard included) and walked around handing out sweets to customers. By the end of the day there were sweet wrappers everywhere. Typical!
I hate having to scan and bag Christmas decs too. They’re so tacky and get all tangled up and they’re just a constant reminder that it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.
When it gets a bit closer to Christmas, the Seasonal department will start looking more and more like a bomb site. Customers will rampage through it like a pack of animals, like in Jumanji. They’ll moan about queuing, even though we’ll have every till open. Stressed Out Mum Syndrom won’t just apply to mothers and everyone will become a hillbilly with knife skills.
The credit crunch does seem to be softening the blow a bit, thank god! I know that’s not good for business but it might make this holiday season a little easier to bear.
A little over 6 weeks and it will all be over. 45 days until Boxing Day. The countdown begins...

Retail-worker.com Fail

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-11T23:46:49+00:00

In my hunt to find more retail workers fighting back, I came across a forum called retail-worker.com. Great, I thought, and tried to sign up straight away. “Tried” being the key word there.
I enter my email and website, among other details and hit Submit, only to go back to the page a minute later and find an error message saying:

“Sorry, the email address has been banned. Sorry, the website appears to be spam. Sorry, the AIM ID appears to be spam. If you believe this is an error please continue registration without entering your AIM ID/website and contact the administrator.”

WTF? Either someone’s been masquerading as me and spamming or, I can’t even think of another reason. Maybe a forum about retail blocked emails and websites containing the word “retail” :/.
I managed to find an email for the mods so I asked them what the hell was going on but no one's got back to me, and I even tried signing up with a different email address (leaving out the website but still using a username with "retail" in it) but the administrator still hasn't activated my account.

I think retail-worker.com just flipped me off. Anyone else a member?

Consumer Politics

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-09T16:06:00+00:00

When did the saying "The customer is always right" first come about? It's so engrained into consumer politics that for a party to disagree with it would be political, therefore economical, suicide.

It also seems that the bigger stores get, the louder customers feel they need to shout and stamp to be heard. Anyone else have a constant ringing in their ears?

For instance, before the friendly neighbourhood stores were driven out of business by the likes of Tesco, I can't imagine a customer going into their local corner shop effing and blinding to try and settle a dispute. The shopkeeper was quite possibly their neighbour so any disagreements could be resolved in person, and peacefully.
No need to ring their "customer helpline", or write to head office, or even Trading Standards; the guy behind the counter was probably "the man".

But now individual customers don't have the same hold over shops that they used to. Threatening to withdraw their custom doesn't have the same impact anymore. When a customer says to me "Well! I won't be shopping here anymore", I just think- yeah right. I'll just go and inform the manager that The Important Mrs. A will be shopping at Woolworths in future, but when you can't find that love seat anywhere else, you'll be back.

So customers resort to other tactics: threatening your job, threatening to ring Trading Standards, threatening to sue. I’m sure there’s always been people like this but it’s becoming more acceptable to be an asshole in public.
It’s ironic that as customers become more insecure, they deal with their problems in the least helpful way. Since when did being an A-hole gain you any empathy? I’m much more willing to help someone when they’re being civil rather than rude, and yet they still usually leave with what they wanted because it’s the only way to do business.

I know I sometimes struggle to keep it together myself. I recently got asked for ID even though I wasn’t even buying anything, but my boyfriend was buying alcohol. Since when have companies started asking not only the customer for ID, but every other person they’re with for ID too? I can sort of see where they’re coming from, but if they’re going to start doing that, where does it end? Will we need references soon?
True, the alcohol was for me and I’d taken my ID out my bag literally that morning so I was even more annoyed. It was my mistake and I didn’t take it out on the cashier. She was really nice too. Being rude to her would have gained nothing, but you shouldn’t have to work in retail to know that. It should be common sense.

I just wish Joe Public weren’t under the illusion that they are always right, and that companies didn’t indulge their stupid fantasy. There’s no give and take, just taking on both sides.
We take their money, they milk us for everything we’ve got.

Finalised blog design

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-08T22:03:54+00:00

Ok, I think I’ve made the final changes to the new blog design. There’s a new banner and I’ve binned the logo in the sidebar. I also have a custom Twitter background to match.
The banner and “I <3 RT” blog logo were designed by Mark Adamson (www.maaku87.co.uk) so many thanks to him.

There is also a new poll up. I was thinking about starting a newsletter and would like to know if anyone’s interested.
The results from the last poll were: Restaurant-0 votes, call center-0 votes, shop-7 votes, other-1 vote. (What was the other?)

And last but not least. I love hearing from you in the comments, but if you have a retail hell story to share and would like to see it on the blog then get emailing. I can’t guarantee neon lights but you may find yourself with your very own post. You can submit your story using the Contact Me page...or through MySpace...or AIM.

Thanks,
RT

Work Experience

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-06T17:58:29+00:00

Here in the UK, every kid in Year 10 (14-15 years old) has to do 2 weeks “work experience”. You can choose to organise your own if you have a particular place in mind, or the school organises it for you, in which case you will end up somewhere completely irrelevant to any career prospects you might have at 15 and it contributes absolutely nothing towards your education.
The only person I know who got anything of value out of it was one of my friends who spent a fortnight working in a veterinary surgery, and now she’s soon to be a qualified vet nurse. For the rest of us it was just a big sit off, and a way for shops to get unpaid labour.

I bring this up because we have a girl on work experience in our store at the moment. She’s so quiet, it’s hard to get a word out of her, and I doubt she’s going get anything useful out of her experience. The only thing I get out of working in our store is: don’t work retail!

My work experience was in a pet shop. It was, well...it could have been worse. It was so close to my house I could see it from my window and I only worked 6 hour days. Plus, there were animals! How could you get bored with animals around?
On the downside: the owner was racist, his friend had no teeth and I ended up inadvertently killing a gerbil. It jumped out my hand, it wasn’t my fault. And you do not leave 15 year old girls in charge of your pet store anyway. Something bad was bound to happen.

Although I refused to answer the phone or clean out the cages, my other tasks were: russian dwarf hamster rehabilitation after they had a traumatic run-in with a rat and the serving of the odd customer. We did not get many, I’m surprised the shops still open today.
Other than that, the only other things I remember is doing a lot of standing around and a customer who got annoyed because I didn’t know where most of the budgie stuff was.
So, counting my lack of knowledge of pet supplies, not answering the phone or cleaning, and gerbil manslaughter, I was about as much use as a chocolate teaspoon. Worse even, I did more harm than good, but I somehow passed.

Thankfully, I didn’t work retail again for another 2 years and by that time had learnt enough to be a worthwhile employee...in a not very worthwhile job.

Grand Unveiling

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-05T01:01:24+00:00

Well, it’s not that grand, but very, very different. Welcome to the new Retail Therapy Blog!
I hope you all like it. Any problems, just let me know. I know I should have scheduled any maintenance for the early hours of the morning incase something goes disastrously wrong but I think I have everything covered.

Oh wait! It’s gone 1am already and I’m still awake while my boyfriend gives me a running commentary on the election. Damn you CNN!

Anyway, to point out a few things in particular: if you haven’t been following my Twitter then you can now see my latest three updates down the sidebar. Convenience!
And I’m not-so-secretly quite proud of my little drawing. :D
No doubt there’s still some tinkering to do; a few minor changes here and there, but for now...enjoy!

RT

Twinings Tea Bags: Special Lindt Edition

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-10-30T21:00:33+00:00

Who’s betting some customer tried to get those chocolates for 99p? Including the Milkybar.

Retail Therapy now on AIM

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-10-28T22:51:21+00:00

Retail Therapy is now on AIM so you can chat to me about anything retail-related in real time, wehey! I’m interested in hearing from you. You can just have a bitch or tell me your own retail hell stories.
This may not be a permanent thing, I’m just giving it a trial run. If you don’t have AIM, I’m sorry, I did try Windows Live but it was a train wreck.
My AIM screen name (and email address) is in the sidebar for you to copy.
Speak to you soon!

RT

Those Pesky Quarter Niners

admin@retailtherapyblog.com — 2008-11-11T18:18:16+00:00

Or Five Fifteeners, whichever!

more funny charts

So true, so true.