I managed to get a job in one large construction store! I knew that trade is never calm, because in my youth I worked part-time in a shop as a sales assistant. But I still went here.
I hoped that in an administrative position they would definitely not squeeze all the juice out of me, since sales do not depend on me. And until recently, my expectations coincided with reality.
There were few free minutes, but I had no illusions about it. The store is not a budget organization; here you have to really work, and not sit through your pants. But the money they pay here is completely different.
I prepare bills, invoices and other documents all the time. On pre-holiday days, when sales are at their peak, the workload increases, but even in this case the work does not cause negativity.
And what really provokes stress is the new director and his creativity. He replaced his predecessor a few months ago, and since then our store has been buzzing with various innovations.
Alexey Borisovich, that’s the director’s name, is very concerned about competition. For the management of private shops this is a common occurrence, but for our Alexey Borisovich it reaches the point of paranoia.
They say he hired professional sniffers, who then report on how competing stores are doing. If some new instrument appears there, it will soon begin to be sold with us.
The same applies to promotions, sales, corporate culture and even the appearance of letterheads. Now our prices are constantly changing. Managers and salespeople, who previously could not boast of strong nerves, became completely twitchy.
They simply do not have time to learn what is written in the price lists, which is why unpleasant stories happen with customers. But salespeople not only need to know prices by heart, but also wear perfectly ironed clothes and shoes polished to a shine.
-Borisovich has already gone completely crazy! I hired a person who every hour counts the folds in our clothes and evaluates the cleanliness of our shoes. It seems that some competitors have such a feature,” one of the sellers complained to me during the lunch break.
Thank heavens, there is no such madness in our department, I thought then. By a fatal coincidence, these bad trends soon reached us.
Those new forms have appeared, which, according to the director, look more respectable. Also, on his whim, he had to create sample documents with different wording at a waltz pace in order to keep up with competitors.
Although there were no objective reasons for such serious innovations! Okay, if something in the laws changed. As it was, I spent almost a week on this not particularly necessary activity, and I also let down my sales colleagues because I often made delays.
The period of paper updates is over, and we have exhaled. Now we can work as normal, the girls from the department and I chuckled.
But then other troubles followed – T-shirts with corporate symbols, Talmuds with the characteristics of our tools and building materials, smiles from ear to ear. While everyone was blinking their eyes in surprise, I asked a logical question:
-For what? We don’t communicate with customers and almost never leave the department.
-Sellers have such a workload that they have no time to run to you. Therefore, you will carry the documents to the sales floor yourself. And there, you know, there are buyers. It’s not good to walk around in front of them haphazardly and with gloomy faces,” Alexey Borisovich answered me.
– Everything is clear with clothes and manners. But why do we need to know the assortment thoroughly? – I continued asking the director.
The reason lay there, in the workload of the sellers. If we find ourselves in the hall, and they are not nearby, then we will have to communicate with the clients.
I asked about the increase. Consulting clients is not our responsibility, and therefore must be paid additionally. Alexey Borisovich turned purple with indignation:
-How can you demand money for helping your colleagues?! You can’t be so mercantile! Look, even our direct competitors’ cleaners know the prices and products by heart and don’t demand anything for it!
-I specifically came to this position to be away from clients. It’s stressful for me. And since it cannot be avoided, then let it be paid. I have the right to this! And in general, lure these all-knowing scrubbers to you to spite your competitors,” I unexpectedly became rude to my boss.
It’s clear that after such passages you don’t even have to think about further work in this store. Therefore, I soon wrote a statement on my own. A couple of other colleagues followed my example.
The ranks of sellers are also thinning. And this is just the beginning! I am sure that soon Alexey Borisovich will have to recruit the entire staff again, and then repeat this operation several times.
No one can tolerate these absurd demands for long, which do not bring the store any closer to the level of competitors. But, on the contrary, they only drag you to the bottom.
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2023-10-28 14:36:03
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