A horrible, soul crushing, life sucking company to work for - Customer Service Associate Toys "R" Us Employee Review

I could write a book- Let's see, they jam the importance of "guest service" down our throats each and every day, yet continue to cut employee hours to the point that there is NOBODY available to help customers. The store that I work at is extremely busy- every God-given morning there are people camped out front waiting for us to open, and upper management is aware of this. But instead of having a cashier or two scheduled to be there for opening, they will schedule only one to come in an hour after we open. So do you know what that means? That means the service desk associate gets to ring purchases, do returns, adjustments, layaways, internet orders, help customers find items, and answer the 12 phone lines that constantly ring off the hook. Then, when you finally do get a cashier, they will pull them to the entrance to "greet" the customers coming in the door, because we have to constantly worry about our GSAT (guest satisfaction) scores. So while people are waiting in line forever, they can look over and see an associate just standing there saying "hello" to people. They in turn get pissed off and get nasty with whoever is working the front end, and ask why that person is just standing there when the lines are so long. Then the idiots in upper management wonder why we get crappy survey scores! They can't seem to fathom that most customers would rather be able to make their purchases quickly than to have someone greet them at the door and make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Our registers and computers are often very slow, which just adds to the stress level. Half of what's on sale each week will not ring up correctly, and we are constantly having to check signage and our ads because of this. Why can't things be programmed properly, EVER?? Isn't that somebody's job, to make sure that the sales ring properly? And when you are up at the front end by yourself and there's no one available on the floor to check the signage for you, you have to run back and do it yourself, leaving your line of customers to do so. I have never seen this happen in other stores, at least not on a consistent, daily basis. Also, the air conditioning in our store is practically nonexistent. In the summer time, it gets so hot and uncomfortable and stuffy in there. We always have customers complain about it as well, and they will be dressed in tank tops and flip flops. Try being in long pants, socks and shoes, and a nasty red polo shirt, running around helping people like a chicken with its head cut off! But do you think that upper management will have the AC replaced?? Of course not, what do they care? They're sitting on their lazy butts in a nice peaceful air-conditioned office! They don't have to hear the customers complain about the heat, and they're not the ones getting light-headed, dizzy, and sweating their butts off! You will never enjoy a holiday, ANY holiday again, if you work here. It doesn't matter if it's Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter or the Fourth of July. We always have one ridiculous ad or another out during any given holiday. The problem is, we often won't have many of the items in the ad in stock, which really angers people! Or, if we do have the item, we will only have a few of them, so we run out the first day of the ad. (also angering people) The customers in turn proceed to scream and yell at the service desk associate, because it is their fault after all, isn't it?? Then you will have the people that call on the phones nonstop,as if we're the Home Shopping Network, wanting someone in the store to do their shopping for them. The problem is, we are always so short-staffed that the people who call on the phones are often on hold for an eternity. Of course, that's IF the service desk person has time to even answer the phones at all! Then some of our managers even have the gall to ask why the phones aren't being answered in a timely manner. Um, hello, I'm alone up front with a line a mile long!