You know that 21-day mantra I was yakking about a month or so ago? How it takes 21 days of doing something before it becomes a habit?

Well, a couple weeks ago, someone from our Company Wellness department dropped this green sheet of paper down on everyone’s desk.

Yes, my Company has a Wellness department, and we have a fitness center. We have a track, and an exercise room full of fancy equipment. Our Company has paid nurses and Wellness Specialists on staff. There are fitness classes everyday, at all times of the day.

So, why exactly am I oveweight? I know, I seriously have no excuse.

Anywhoooo, back to the little green note. It was a teaser for a new program we could participate in.

Starting today, the goal is to plan and track some sort of physical activity every single day for the next six weeks.

That’s forty-two days of exercise, in case you’re keeping count.

Of course, being the joiner that I am, I signed right up.

What’s the prize, you ask?

A t-shirt.

Yes, I exercise for 42 days and I get a free t-shirt.

I’m nothing if not predictable.

 I quit my part-time job Friday night.

I didn’t like having to do it, because I really enjoyed the store and the extra money, but there were just too many things going on there that I couldn’t deal with anymore.

I will say that the number one reason I decided to quit was because I felt like I was neglecting my kids. The money I was earning wasn’t worth the price I was paying of seeing my kids less and less each week.

But on the job? I will just start by saying again that I liked this job. I didn’t think I would enjoy retail ever again in my life, but I did enjoy this job. I won’t mention the name of the store simply because this is the internet and all, but for those of you in Iowa… here’s a few clues: big fancy mall anchor store at all four Des Moines malls, and I worked at the Valley West mall store. Kinda rhymes with BONKERS, which is basically how I felt every time I got home from working there.

I’ve already mentioned before that I was working in the Children’s Department. After I started working, I began hearing bits and pieces of conversation from other employees that this particular department had a hard time keeping employees. Probably my first red flag.

The training they give there? Virtually ZERO. I spent less than 2 hours total learning how to run a register, open instant credit and all about the store history, and then I was put on the schedule to begin working almost 2 weeks later. I was given a tour of the store so I knew where the restrooms, elevator and escalator were at. And that was where the training ended. I was required to sign a blank training checklist when I was first hired, signing off that I had completed all of the training. After a month, I can’t say I was ever trained on any of it. Everything else involved in my job I either had to figure myself, or I had to ask. No one was going to train me on anything.

The other big gripe I had was with a couple of the people I worked with, one in particular. Most all of them were extremely negative about the store, its Managers, and the company as a whole. I heard nothing but complaints all the time, and grew very tired of it. I saw people working for a store that boasts of their great customer service, treating customers very rudely and with very little respect. I was embarrassed to be working with some of these people, and I felt horrible about the way the customers were being treated.

I won’t go into detail about the problems I was having with one particular co-worker, because thats really a whole other post in itself.

Finally, I had decided to quit. Last Friday before my shift I had written out my resignation letter. It was all ready to go, and I headed into work for my 5+ hour shift. This, of course, was AFTER working my regular full-time job. This time, I was scheduled to work in the Women’s department. After the first couple hours of my shift, I was actually enjoying this department. I loved conversing with the customers and helping them decide on clothing to purchase. It was SO much more fun than working in the Children’s department, and I thought maybe instead of quitting, I just needed to change departments.

That was when I had two experiences that evening that solidified my decision to quit. I got to work at 4:00, and was scheduled to work until 9:15. There full-time day person was there until 5:30, so she spent some time showing me around the department, and it was then that I realized I was going to be covering a VERY huge area of the store, including two separate cash register counters, 3 dressing rooms, two stockrooms, and several expensive coats that needed to be unlocked every time someone wanted to try one on.

And did I mention I was doing this all by myself?

I checked the computer schedule, which we can do from the cash register, and I saw for my 5.25 hour shift, I was allowed a 15-minute break and a 30-minute lunch. The schedule said I was supposed to take my break at 5:45 and my lunch at 7:45.

At 5:45, the full-time person had already gone home, and I was very busy waiting on customers, and noticed no one came to offer me a break. Once it got to be around 7pm, I thought maybe I should call someone and make sure they knew I was by myself. Usually, I worked in the Children’s department where they always had two people working at a time, so there was never an issue about covering breaks and/or lunches.

I called the Customer Service and told them I needed to speak to a Manager. When they asked why, I indicated I was trying to find out if someone would be coming to give me my lunch. Within about 30 seconds, the Manager on Duty called me back and here was the conversation we had:

Manager: I understand you are asking about your lunch? Can I ask why we are taking lunch breaks when its already 7:00?

Me: Well, I did not come into work until 4:00. I’ve had customers and have been busy this whole time.

Manager: In the future, you need to make sure that all breaks and lunches are taken before the day shift people leave. I will try and find someone to come down and let you go.

Me: So, what you’re saying is I should have come in at 4:00 and taken a break and a lunch before 5:30?

Manager: Yes, thats what you should have done. I am having someone from Customer Service come down to cover your lunch. Are you going to be taking the whole 30 minutes?

Me: Um, yes. I planned on it.

Manager: *sigh* Ok, then.

So thats that. Apparently, in my first 90 minutes of working, I was supposed to learn the whole department and where things were, and also squeeze in 45 minutes worth of breaks and lunches. WHAT THE HECK?

The manager then came down to where I was at, and I showed her my schedule on the computer, showing that my break and lunch were actually scheduled after 5:30. She indicated that “we never follow what the computer schedule says for breaks and lunches” and I guess being a new employee it was just one more thing I had to learn as I go. She indicated that the store had cut back so much on their staff, that the people that work in the evenings were just going to be inconvenienced because there wasn’t enough staff to cover lunches and breaks for everyone.

And just an FYI, I got my lunch break that night but no 15-minute break whatsoever.

After I got back, the store was pretty dead, so I spent some time reading through some of the materials at the register. What I read was pretty much the deciding factor as to why I quit that night. I wanted so badly to take pictures of what I saw, but I am pretty sure that posting them would be a major violation of my employment agreement. So I refrained.

That particular department had a list taped to the counter for all employees (and any nosy customers) to see, which listed each department employee and their progress towards a particular goal for the year. That goal was opening new credit card accounts. Everyone could see how many the other people had opened, what their goal was, and how far off their goal was. But the last sentence at the bottom was what really got me.

It basically indicated that everyone needed to work very hard to reach their goals, because it was the only way they could get a “Good” rating on their employee review.

WTF? SERIOUSLY?

It’s all about the credit cards at this store. I have a hard time talking someone into applying for a card with a 22% interest rate just so I can make $2 off of it, and get a good performance review. Apparently, though, my job depended on it.

If you go an entire month with only 1 (or none) instant credit applications, you are required to go through additional training. If it continues for a consecutive month, you meet with the store manager. If it happens for a second consecutive month, the disciplinary action simply says “To be determined.” I assume this means they can (and will) fire someone for not touting the joys of going into debt with a high-interest rate credit card.

When I was done with my shift that night, I went back to the Human Resources office and turned in my letter of resignation, effective immediately. In the letter, I didn’t give any reason, but I apologized for the inconvenience. My next day to work was yesterday, and I was shceduled for nearly every day this week.

So far, no one has called me to find out why I left, and I don’t really think they probably care. I might have been just one of many through their revolving door of employees. They will replace me with someone else quickly, as holiday season is fast approaching.

All I can say is I’m disappointed in the whole experience.

 I had forgotten just how bad the retail world really was.

It doesn’t matter if you work in a high-end department store selling expensive name-brand children’s clothing, or work in a Wal-Mart store as a greeter. You get the opportunity on some rare occasions to meet some truly nice genuinely fantastic customers who appreciate what you do, and are thankful for your help and advice.

More often than not, however, you see the lowest of the low. The bottom of the customer gene pool. And I am not just talking about rude people. I encounter rude people every day all over the place, its merely a fact of life these days. People overall seem to care about themselves and no one else.

There are two types of people I am talking about… the slobs and the return-whores. Many times, they happen to be the same person.

SLOB Example #1: I stood and watched a woman the other night walk through the children’s department pushing a stroller while talking on her cell phone. As she pushed her stroller through the aisles, she was knocking clothing off of hanging racks on either side of her. At first, I thought she was completely oblivious to what she was doing and I was going to give her the benefit of the doubt. After she had passed 7 or 8 racks and knocked down at least a dozen outfits, I noticed she finally turned around.

Once she noticed what she had done, she simply shrugged her shoulders and kept on walking, all while continuing her phone conversation. Apparently bending over and picking things up was beneath her.

SLOB Example #2: A mother and daughter took several pairs of jeans into the fitting room Monday night. I think there were at least 10 pairs. Some on hangers, some not. They ended up buying one pair. When they left the area after I rung up their purchase, I walked back to the fitting room to get the other pairs and put them away. The other pairs (all NINE of them) were all over the floor of the fitting room in a pile, turned inside out, hangers everywhere.

People are slobs.

Any random walk through the fairly large children’s department in our store and you will pretty much always find empty drink cups people have left behind from the food court. I have found actual food on the floor, napkins, used Kleenex, dirty diapers, you name it…

People are slobs.

All I have to say is I feel sorry for people that work at Wal-Mart, because I have to assume that it is worse there. Right?

Tomorrow I will delve into the other type of person that makes my job less than pleasant. The return-whores. Be ready for that post… you will hear more than one story that involves POOP.

You’ve been warned.