I've worked in retail for a long time and have spent several years in retail management. However, I took a part time sales position at Athleta because I wanted to get out of the retail world but still needed an income while I looked for other work. Before I continue, different stores may not be as bad as this one. I think a great deal of issues simply come from the "leadership team," which in this case seems to be a group of women who stopped maturing when they graduated high school. Its hard to respect your managers when they swear almost constantly- even on the sales floor- and talk about how drunk they got last night. Its also hard to respect your managers when you hear them talking about other managers within earshot of employees. So now, as an employee, I know this manager isn't living up to expectations (authority immediately undermined there) and that employee performance is talked about openly in front of others...might as well hold reviews in front of the entire store (trust is gone.) We are not to have phones on us while we work which is totally reasonable, we aren't being paid to use our phones, but maybe management is because they text there various love interests and gal pals while on clock. They also almost constantly assume that the sales associates are idiots and speak towards them in a condescending manner. When, in fact, the sales associates while, yes, some do need further training, are really working hard and doing the best they can in the structure in which they've been provided. They don't need to be told the same thing by each manager as they come on duty- who doesn't think to ask if this has been addressed with you yet (and they aren't addressing this because you've done something wrong, rather its because they've gotten in trouble with their managers and are passing the buck to you.) Think the TPS reports from Office Space. Only you're not even the one responsible for the TPS report to begin with.
Also, while we are told to build relationships with our customer, referred to as the generalized "she" or "her," its kind of hard to do because sales associates are not allowed to travel outside their respective zones. Hence, "she" will have 4 perhaps five people helping "her" during one visit. I'm not exactly sure how one is supposed to build a relationship with "her" when you are literally told you are not allowed to leave your area of the store. I can't make friends with someone and build rapport with her if I am unable to help her throughout the store. This accounts for the lackluster service I received on several occasions prior to working there. I wondered why the girl who was initially helping me never returned to tell me if they had the size pant I wanted. Now I know its because she had to hand it off to someone else, who probably had to hand it to someone else, who probably then was stuck helping someone else for a bit, who then probably forgot about finding pants in my size. Hence me literally standing outside the dressing room for 10 minutes wondering where the associate was. And yes, there were other associates wondering around but no one really felt concerned or thought to check on me. I finally got someone's attention. Now, being someone who worked with Athleta's competitor for awhile in a management position, I know how quickly I would have been in not only checking on the pants but also in bringing several more items for me to try. But then, myself and all of the sales employees were allowed to move freely about the store. And would never leave a customer that they were working with without help for longer than a few minutes.
