Thread: Where are all the staff???

Originally Posted by Montreal

Overworked? How does walking around Crappy Tire - looking stoned out of your head - with no answers or any other type of service, make you overworked?

Try actually working for a living - and then complain of being overworked.

Nothing but 16 year old Bums working at Crappy Tire - or the Retard that is always Pushing the Pen on you - to get one of their credit cards. Dum da Dum dumb ....... Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuumb

I work at Canadian tire. I am a 17 year old student, who is getting a 4.0 GPA. I'm no "16 year old bum" (whatever the hell that means). I am a, honest kid, and I work at Canadian tire for spare change. What all you idiots don't realize is that you are yelling at the wrong people- it's not us that choose to be understaffed, its the management. Even those guys are screwed because they have a "people budget" to begin with. Hate the system- cheap fuckers who own the stores are the ones screwing us all over.

I help when I can, but I have a ton of things to do every shift. I'm more than happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability, but i'm not prepared to ask everyone if they need any help for a few reasons.
1) you usually don't know what the fuck you want anyways.
2) if you wanted my help, you could have asked?

Also, i'm sorry if i don't know the most minute specification on your axle grinder, how many feet per second that winch is or "where can i get that screw thing that goes into one of those plugs". I'm paid 9.25, and i'm in school. You think i have time, or energy, to look that shit up on my own time? because they sure aren't paying me to do it.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I work at Canadian tire. I am a 17 year old student, who is getting a 4.0 GPA. I'm no "16 year old bum" (whatever the hell that means). I am a, honest kid, and I work at Canadian tire for spare change. What all you idiots don't realize is that you are yelling at the wrong people- it's not us that choose to be understaffed, its the management. Even those guys are screwed because they have a "people budget" to begin with. Hate the system- cheap fuckers who own the stores are the ones screwing us all over.

I help when I can, but I have a ton of things to do every shift. I'm more than happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability, but i'm not prepared to ask everyone if they need any help for a few reasons.
1) you usually don't know what the fuck you want anyways.
2) if you wanted my help, you could have asked?

Also, i'm sorry if i don't know the most minute specification on your axle grinder, how many feet per second that winch is or "where can i get that screw thing that goes into one of those plugs". I'm paid 9.25, and i'm in school. You think i have time, or energy, to look that shit up on my own time? because they sure aren't paying me to do it.

Better hold on to that GPA cause you never gonna make it in the real world. Overworked????? No.... kids today simply dont know how to work and get whinney about it. That "people budget" you are referring to is an expense, the labour expense. It also happens to be the biggest, it's not that your bosses are cheap and want to line there own pockets ( although they do own the bussiness to make money ), its that to stay in businness you have to make money. A responible owner has to ballance the profit and expenses.

I agree with the 17 year old. I am older, and also work at a Crappy T. It is up to the owner of said store to distribute the lack of hours to the supervisors, who in turn make the schedules. What bothers me is that our owner will make everyone only work mostly 4 hour shifts at a time, and instead of distributing more hours to the people who already work there, or need them, he goes on a mad hiring spree for the summer which is totally unnecessary. That is because you would figure working many hours, being at the store constantly everyday, you have a better handle on what is occurring at the store work wise that week. In our case, crap, some people won't have a shift for 3 or 4 days, then they waltz in not knowing what the heck is going on. Also it is the owner's fault they keep hiring all these young high schoolers, yes some are knowledgeable and actually do work, but for the most part at my store, they are all slackers, and don't know anything, which is a sad situation. But then again to the person complaining, you really expect to walk into a Crappy Tire to experience good customer service? That is a joke. Crappy Tire strives in just having a buttload of random product, not training their employees with product know how or anything, and basically just saying you are in this department, figure it out for yourself. Crapy Tire is not there to hold your hand, they are there to hopefully have the products you are looking for. You want some tool to hold your hand, then goto Rona or Home Despot.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I agree with the 17 year old. I am older, and also work at a Crappy T. It is up to the owner of said store to distribute the lack of hours to the supervisors, who in turn make the schedules. What bothers me is that our owner will make everyone only work mostly 4 hour shifts at a time, and instead of distributing more hours to the people who already work there, or need them, he goes on a mad hiring spree for the summer which is totally unnecessary. That is because you would figure working many hours, being at the store constantly everyday, you have a better handle on what is occurring at the store work wise that week. In our case, crap, some people won't have a shift for 3 or 4 days, then they waltz in not knowing what the heck is going on. Also it is the owner's fault they keep hiring all these young high schoolers, yes some are knowledgeable and actually do work, but for the most part at my store, they are all slackers, and don't know anything, which is a sad situation. But then again to the person complaining, you really expect to walk into a Crappy Tire to experience good customer service? That is a joke. Crappy Tire strives in just having a buttload of random product, not training their employees with product know how or anything, and basically just saying you are in this department, figure it out for yourself. Crapy Tire is not there to hold your hand, they are there to hopefully have the products you are looking for. You want some tool to hold your hand, then goto Rona or Home Despot.

Generally when an employeer gives everyone part time instead of employing fewer full timers its becasue of who they employee and needing flexibility. When %80 of your staff are students doing this is often required, the owners primary focus is to keep his store running. It is not to hire as few people as possible and hope they show up to work. Now this said i personally think full timers are far superior becasue they are both more inclined to care and have better training but running a CT and employing only full time people is a pipe dream.

" Generally when an employeer gives everyone part time instead of employing fewer full timers its becasue of who they employee and needing flexibility. When %80 of your staff are students doing this is often required, the owners primary focus is to keep his store running. It is not to hire as few people as possible and hope they show up to work. Now this said i personally think full timers are far superior becasue they are both more inclined to care and have better training but running a CT and employing only full time people is a pipe dream. "

- You are just basically restating the point I made about how there is a lack of full time hours. I never said anything about the owner hiring as few people as possible or being understaffed. I said how our owner in fact recently hired too many students back and by doing so, that is cutting hours of people like myself who actually do give a shit about working there and actually help people out and do whatever work that needs to be done. I had to get a second job, just to be able able to pay my car insurance, but now I am working basically 3 departments to add up the hours so it is decent for the moment. Yes employing only full time people at CT is a pipe dream. You have to be a department supervisor, or just have more time in the company than others, and even then you would have to hassle management and our owner for months to get the hours turned into full time. All of what I said in my previous post, and in this one, have to do with my store specifically. Now a lot of people do not realize, many CT's are localized, and some are run differently than others, as well as they carry different products than others. What ticks me off beyond belief is that the other store in my town, will send customers over for products they do not have in stock, without bothering to call over to see if we actually have it, and then the customer obviously gets super pissed at you, when it's not your fault whatsoever. The system also is usually off by 1 or 2 numbers, and the system is ghetto DOS 1980's program, which works fine for what it needs to do, but the stats do not get updated sometimes til the end of the week. In the end though, I would say that my store does have a lot of people working with great knowhow, and who will help customers out til the end, and we do have great managers. But our owner is a cheapskate, and he grunts a lot rather than talking. Also I find it incredible how adults, not teenagers, will rip the store apart, opening leaving open packages and garbage everywhere, shoplifting, it is unbelievable, and never stops.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I work at Canadian tire. I am a 17 year old student.... I'm paid 9.25, and i'm in school. You think i have time, or energy, to look that shit up on my own time? because they sure aren't paying me to do it.

spoken like tomorrows welfare cases, bums etc.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So, I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say here..."we're students, and we're overworked, so its OK for us to ignore you"?

You are working in the SERVICE INDUSTRY, your job is to PROVIDE SERVICE TO CUSTOMERS. If you can't provide service, then LEAVE. Maybe you are one of the new generation that expects to have a management job handed to them when you graduate, but suck it up and work a little. It builds character, and you turn out to be a better person, instead of a whining sniveling "if you spank me I'll call the police" spoiled child of the current generation.

I'm a 17 year old student who's been working at Canadian Tire for almost 3 years now.
Before you criticize our generation, take a moment to remember who raised it.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

if you wanted my help, you could have asked?

And you still don't understand what is wrong with that statement? Spoken like a true 17 year old who thinks the world owes him something.

Hello, I've been working at CT for over 3 years now, part-time while I go to school. I work in the warehouse, however I still end up helping customers when I'm on the floor on my way to do carts, carry-outs, fill propane tanks, etc. Its nice and easy to blame the floor staff for being incompetent and lazy, as well as baked out of their minds. (Yes, its very mindless work most of the time, so some staff like to show up to work high, just like most low end service jobs.) Never mind that we work odd hours, with shifts ranging from 3 - 16 hours, dealing with customers who constantly put us down, expect us to come when they snap their fingers, and know the entire store by heart no matter what department we work in, tell us we're idiots even when we find the right product because "the packaging in the picture is different" or simply take one look at us and say we can't possibly know anything about what you're looking for because we're too young, etc.

I've personally witnessed a customer try to bully one of our courtesy staff into accepting his credit card without checking to see that his signature matches the one on the back of it, to the point where she broke down in tears. We're not even allowed to post signs asking not to use our shopping carts as dumpsters because a customer found it offensive. I've even heard customers make quick jokes about our service as paramedics are dealing with one of our older staff who had a heart attack scare. Its not to say everyone is like that, but those that seem to have a problem with our service to that extent (and those we try to spot and avoid) have no respect for us. If you expect us to have proper knowledge and work ethic for minimum wage work, you should at least be able to learn some manners and common courtesy.

That being said, CT corp is a mess. Our store warehouse is a mess, despite being billed as one of the best kept, according to our regional manager. A disorganized warehouse means it'll take longer to find stock in the back, as well as a lot of items not being found at all (especially sale items). We recently had our store renovated as Corp didn't feel it was necessary to build a bigger store, which we desperately need, or even bother fixing the leaking roof, and as they own the building, as opposed to the store owner, we have no say. I can't speak for all the contractors they recommend, but the guy our store owner chose from their list was an idiot, who did things ranging from stupid to downright dangerous, and wouldn't listen to anybody. Coincidentally, we had shelving collapse during and after the reno, which has never happened before in our store, including one that fell on a customer, and had to reduce how much stock we put on the floor because the bincap amount was bending the shelf.

As for customer service, there is an online "university" for store associates to learn product knowledge and customer service skills, but its mostly optional and our employer doesn't want to pay to train us properly, so most of our work is learn as you go. Remember as well that the turnover at CT stores is about 6 months, and the same thing for a lot of the buyers as well, so we're constantly reorganizing for new stock, and most of the stuff we sell, and sell a lot of, is junk with the right price. Also, a lot of the floor staff is also expected to fill shelves because we can't budget enough fill crew to cover our store (and we supposedly have more staff than we should), so a lot of the time when they're avoiding customers they're either filling aisles (which they have X amount to do in a shift), or already helping another customer( or two or three....)

We usually try our best, so please be patient if you see the store is busy, or find one of the buzzers for customer service to let us know where to be.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hello, I've been working at CT for over 3 years now, part-time while I go to school. I work in the warehouse, however I still end up helping customers when I'm on the floor on my way to do carts, carry-outs, fill propane tanks, etc. Its nice and easy to blame the floor staff for being incompetent and lazy, as well as baked out of their minds. (Yes, its very mindless work most of the time, so some staff like to show up to work high, just like most low end service jobs.) Never mind that we work odd hours, with shifts ranging from 3 - 16 hours, dealing with customers who constantly put us down, expect us to come when they snap their fingers, and know the entire store by heart no matter what department we work in, tell us we're idiots even when we find the right product because "the packaging in the picture is different" or simply take one look at us and say we can't possibly know anything about what you're looking for because we're too young, etc.

I've personally witnessed a customer try to bully one of our courtesy staff into accepting his credit card without checking to see that his signature matches the one on the back of it, to the point where she broke down in tears. We're not even allowed to post signs asking not to use our shopping carts as dumpsters because a customer found it offensive. I've even heard customers make quick jokes about our service as paramedics are dealing with one of our older staff who had a heart attack scare. Its not to say everyone is like that, but those that seem to have a problem with our service to that extent (and those we try to spot and avoid) have no respect for us. If you expect us to have proper knowledge and work ethic for minimum wage work, you should at least be able to learn some manners and common courtesy.

That being said, CT corp is a mess. Our store warehouse is a mess, despite being billed as one of the best kept, according to our regional manager. A disorganized warehouse means it'll take longer to find stock in the back, as well as a lot of items not being found at all (especially sale items). We recently had our store renovated as Corp didn't feel it was necessary to build a bigger store, which we desperately need, or even bother fixing the leaking roof, and as they own the building, as opposed to the store owner, we have no say. I can't speak for all the contractors they recommend, but the guy our store owner chose from their list was an idiot, who did things ranging from stupid to downright dangerous, and wouldn't listen to anybody. Coincidentally, we had shelving collapse during and after the reno, which has never happened before in our store, including one that fell on a customer, and had to reduce how much stock we put on the floor because the bincap amount was bending the shelf.

As for customer service, there is an online "university" for store associates to learn product knowledge and customer service skills, but its mostly optional and our employer doesn't want to pay to train us properly, so most of our work is learn as you go. Remember as well that the turnover at CT stores is about 6 months, and the same thing for a lot of the buyers as well, so we're constantly reorganizing for new stock, and most of the stuff we sell, and sell a lot of, is junk with the right price. Also, a lot of the floor staff is also expected to fill shelves because we can't budget enough fill crew to cover our store (and we supposedly have more staff than we should), so a lot of the time when they're avoiding customers they're either filling aisles (which they have X amount to do in a shift), or already helping another customer( or two or three....)

We usually try our best, so please be patient if you see the store is busy, or find one of the buzzers for customer service to let us know where to be.

I also want to add that when a customer comes in to do an exchange, customer service calls an employee from that department to bring the item up to customer service. Employees spend a lot of time tending to customers this way as well. This doesn't happen at other big boxed stores. Customers leave the item at customer service and go get another one to exchange it. Employees at Canadian Tire are overworked and under paid. I've been a full time employee with CT for 8 months now and the CT store I work at dosen't even give employees pay raises. Customers need to know that employees do not know all the info on products. What they do is read the packaging to find out - something customers can do on their own. Customers expect too much. They should be complaining to the general managers re: "where are all the staff?" because it is them who aren't staffing the store properly. Stop taking out your frustrations on the little guy and go after the people who can make the difference.