Stupid Co-Workers

[Apocalyptic]

As some of you may or may not know, I'm a front end supervisor at my local K Mart. This means that I supervise the cashiers and do customer service. Every shift, there are typically two supervisors active so you're either supervising the cashiers or at the customer desk, with the exception of the times where you're alone because the other supervisor is on their break, half hour lunch, or hour lunch. In these cases, you're on your own and have to divide your time between supervising the cashiers and watching the service desk in case any customers go in for help.

 

I was recently promoted to front end supervisor after a year of working as a cashier. In retail, I've learned that there is just so much drama. It's ridiculous. I hate it so much. After a few months of working at K Mart, one of the associates that work in electronics had already crossed me several times. He was very rude to me at random times, and sometimes even in front of customers. I spoke with the front end lead (head of the supervisors), I spoke with several managers, the store manager, and with the Human Resources manager. The general response I got was that I should just ignore it or say something back to him so that he stops which I thought was very ridiculous since it's unprofessional for someone to yell at another associate in front of customers. Anyway, on one occasion, I was working as a cashier and a phone call came in for electronics. At the time, I was fairly new to K Mart. I believe I had been working there 5 months or so. I knew a lot about the front end, but wasn't familiar with the procedures of the electronics department. The associate that I'm talking about wasn't answering the call, so I decided to turn my light off and take the call for him so that the customer didn't have to keep waiting. I believe that the customer was asking for a gaming console. I'm not sure what it was; it may have been the x box. They were asking whether we had it in stock. I checked and saw that we were out of stock. When asked when we'd be getting more, I was stumped. I didn't know this then, but K Mart gets weekly trucks of products and no one knows what is in those trucks until they are unloaded. I didn't know this at the time, so I went over to this electronics associate and said "Excuse me." since he was helping a customer. The other customer had been waiting longer and I didn't want to keep them on hold for another long period of time. I told him the situation and asked him when we'd be getting more x box's. His answer was very rude. It was something along those lines of "Well, it's common sense that we get weekly truckloads and that we don't know what's in the trucks until we unload them. I'm surprised that you've made it here without knowing that. Now if you're done being rude, I have a customer that I was assisting before you interrupted." I said thank you and walked away. I seriously felt like yelling at him right then and there, but I didn't want to be unprofessional and do the same thing he had done. I told the customer on the phone the information that he needed, and hung up with them.

 

A few minutes later, when Scott (the electronics associate) was done helping the customer, I went over to him and said "Hey, I'm going to explain something to you. The next time that you talk to me that way in front of a customer, I am going to embarrass you. I don't care if you talk to me that way in front of just employees, because I don't give a damn what any of you here think of me. I come here to work, not to make friends, but in front of the customers, I can't blow you off because that would be as unprofessional as you were today when I was helping YOU out."

 

His response was, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be an ass, it's just that's how my personality is. I've been told before that I come off as an butthole but I don't mean to sound that way. It's just how I am."

 

I was just tired with being degraded though, and I was letting my frustration out, so my response was "I don't care if that's how your personality is. You need to control it with me because I don't disrespect you, and you certainly aren't going to disrespect me."

 

Since then, Scott's been very careful about being that way with me. I don't really talk to many of the associates. I'm friendly with everyone, but as soon as my shift is over, I leave. Like I said before, I was recently promoted to front end supervisor. One of the other supervisors was running her mouth with a friend of mine about how I had stolen her hours and about how I was cocky because I didn't accept her friend request on Facebook.

 

My friend told me that same night and when I went in the next day, I was supervising with Holly, the supervisor that had said everything about me. For the record, Holly has a college degree. She is a teacher but hasn't found a permanent teaching job, so she's had long term substituting positions, but that's it. She's in her mid 20's. In addition to working as a long term substitute, she works at K Mart, Tj Max, and Waldenbooks. She's also married but lives with her husband's parents. She isn't in dire need of money. I don't get why she is the way she is. But anyway, I walked into work, and she was quick to greet me and try to hug me. I asked her if I could talk to her in the office, and we went in there very quick. I had to tell her exactly what I felt about her comments.

Here's the convo:

 

Me: Holly, I'm trying to understand your mental process. I really am. I am trying to understand why a college educated person would be upset by a teenager's decision to deny their friend request on a social networking web site. I also don't understand why you would feel comfortable talking about me when I'm not around, and then having the unabashed gull to try and greet me and hug me as if nothing had happened. It's ridiculous. Do you feel that because you work with high school students as a substitute, that you have to act like them? Is that what's going on?

 

Holly: No, Roberto, I don't understand - I didn't say anything about you.

 

Me: What you said was that I was stealing your hours and that I am cocky because I did deny your friend request on Facebook. I'm going to explain both parts to you. As far as stealing your hours goes, I was promoted to supervisor. I was not promoted to human resources manager. I do not do the scheduling. If you have a problem with the hours that you're getting, you don't need to talk to me or about me with other associates. You've been here long enough to know that you take it up with Bruce, who does the scheduling as one of the requirements of his job as our Human Resources Manager.

 

As far as not adding you on Facebook, YOU and I are NOT friends. We are co-workers. There is no reason for me to accept you on Facebook or try in any way to become intimate with you or any of my co-workers. It isn't personal, but I want to keep things professional. There are about 10 people in this entire store that I would even acknowledge if I saw them outside of work. You aren't my friends. I didn't come here to make friends. My life doesn't revolve around the drama of K mart. I come here, I do my job, and I leave. That is it. If this isn't your case, that's your problem, but be very careful about putting my name in your mouth and bringing me into your drama.

 

Holly: Roberto I am so sorry. I didn't mean to be offens-

 

Me: You don't have to apologize or explain yourself. You and I are on the same level. You don't owe me explanations. I was simply explaining to you (out of desire, because I don't owe you an explanation either) the reasons for my decision to deny your friend request and why I couldn't possibly "steal your hours" as you said to another associate. Now let's go and get to work, because that's what we should be doing.

 

As you can see, there is a lot of drama and tension at k mart. It's ridiculous. I just can't stand it. Everyone talks about everyone, and that's why I just try and keep the people I talk to there at a very minimum. I had a few employees as friends but I recently deleted them. I only have on there the people that I knew from outside of work and now I happen to work with them. I went to high school with a few of the employees, so that's the difference.

 

Anyway, sorry about this long blog on the drama at k mart, but I've been so pissed about it lately and I wanted to let it out here haha. Comments or questions are welcome

 

This post has been promoted to an article

[Wolfie]

There be drama everywhere. Customers taking personal offense to human mistakes, slackers getting away with crap because those in management not enforcing work ethics or believing it's better to have a useless body than no body at all, etc.

 

I learned from a previous boss I had that it's better to do without the drama and to do it yourself than to rely on those who won't do things the right way. We were really low on the number of employees we had and so were working quite a bit to keep things running ourselves. Reason being that if someone wasn't going to do the job they were being paid for, then they weren't going to keep the job. It's just a matter of doing what needs to be done instead of paying others to "maybe" do it. Pick your battles, because a lot of times, it's not worth the time to fight over something. Very useful advice.

[Apocalyptic]

There be drama everywhere. Customers taking personal offense to human mistakes, slackers getting away with crap because those in management not enforcing work ethics or believing it's better to have a useless body than no body at all, etc.

 

I learned from a previous boss I had that it's better to do without the drama and to do it yourself than to rely on those who won't do things the right way. We were really low on the number of employees we had and so were working quite a bit to keep things running ourselves. Reason being that if someone wasn't going to do the job they were being paid for, then they weren't going to keep the job. It's just a matter of doing what needs to be done instead of paying others to "maybe" do it. Pick your battles, because a lot of times, it's not worth the time to fight over something. Very useful advice.

 

I agree with you. I wasn't fighting at all though, I was just explaining to her that she wasn't bringing me into her drama. Like I said, I don't talk to most of the associates if it doesn't have to do with work. I do my job and I leave. I'm very friendly with everyone but that's because I'm a positive person and I don't want to be the one that makes the environment a negative one. I don't listen to anyone's stories about other associates. I've literally walked away from people who begin to talk to me about other associates. I don't want anything to do with it. But yeah, there's drama everywhere.

[Wolfie]

I was just adding my own comments to it, wasn't saying you were doing it. Just a general rule of thumb to pick your battles. You know me, I avoid drama too. Look at a certain chatroom where there is chaos among order, anarchy among discipline. Where the rules are magically altered to fit certain people but others are given no such consideration. Some people use that drama for amusement (which is fine if that's what amuses them), but for me it's a waste of time so I don't even bother.

 

Grape ape, grape ape.

[Apocalyptic]

I was just adding my own comments to it, wasn't saying you were doing it. Just a general rule of thumb to pick your battles. You know me, I avoid drama too. Look at a certain chatroom where there is chaos among order, anarchy among discipline. Where the rules are magically altered to fit certain people but others are given no such consideration. Some people use that drama for amusement (which is fine if that's what amuses them), but for me it's a waste of time so I don't even bother.

 

Grape ape, grape ape.

 

Are we talking about a Christian chat room?

[Wolfie]

Maybe...

[Apocalyptic]

Hahaha.