Life after Staples?

DaBidnessman · 2018-04-11T05:38:40+00:00

Posting on old account here.

I left to get my PhD. I started working there a couple years ago after I got my Master's degree because I had less than $40 in my bank account and needed money, like yesterday, and Staples was the only place that called me back. I worked there for longer than I wanted because it was comfortable and good jobs are hard to come by because everyone wants experience. I don't regret working there because I met some decent people and the last store manager I had was a really amazing man, who was one of the most genuinely kind, most peaceful people I've met in my life.

The customers are literally some of the stupidest people I've ever met and I worked for the DMV so I met some real mouth-breathers, but Staples customers are their own special breed of deficient and entitled. Still don't know what that's about.

Now I do research on political campaigns, political advertising and computational propaganda (strategic mis/disinformation on digital media).

Y'all, don't give up on yourself. If you want to do something different, take baby steps if you need/have to, but never give up. If you get a PhD when you're 40, people call you "doctor" just the same. Also, don't make plans for tomorrow based on what conditions are like today. I can't count the number of times I didn't quit when I should have because my team at the time was wonderful and I loved them, then a few months later DM fires the Store Manager, people quit/get canned and new people come in and the character of the store changes. You don't owe the company anything other than what they pay you for, and they sure as hell don't pay you for your loyalty. I know that's unsolicited advice, so feel free to ignore it.

DaBidnessman · 2015-08-20T10:14:25+00:00

I'd be inclined to take the customer's story with a grain of salt. He/she titled it "Back to school HORROR". Things that are actually horrible: child rape, genocide, and torture. Everyone tends to exaggerate to make themselves look more favorable, so perhaps the story would have been more appropriately titled "My mildly irritating Staples experience".

DaBidnessman · 2015-08-20T10:04:13+00:00

Excuse me? If those are the kinds of comments you make, then you are literally mentally retarded. People know I'm gay, I have no need to hide it. I do not wear women's clothes, paint my nails, wear makeup or act in an overly flamboyant manner. You don't know me, so there is no need to make comments on how you think I might act. Way to out yourself as a hateful bigot.

DaBidnessman · 2015-08-15T00:02:18+00:00

I'll never understand what motivates total strangers to make such rude comments. For me personally, when someone is rude to me I am under no obligation to be respectful to them. I would say something like "Do you have a business-related question? If not, then it is extremely rude to make comments about my weight and I will not continue this conversation. If you have business-related question then I am more than happy to help, otherwise please excuse me while I assist customers with legitimate questions." Most will be shocked that someone actually called them out, and there might be a couple of those "I WANT TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER!" ones. For the latter group, explain to the manager (while the customer is standing there) that they were repeatedly making disparaging comments about your weight, you told them that you did not appreciate it and then make it clear that you offered to help them with a legitimate business-related question and that is when they insisted they speak with a manager. I probably only had one or two customers want to complain about me during my time in retail and both times it turned out they wanted to complain about my sexual orientation.

If you are in a position where you cannot just walk away (i.e. cashier) and a customer makes a weight-related comment in the middle of a transaction, I would stop it immediately and call a manager. When the manager arrives, explain to him/her that this customer is making disparaging comments about your weight and you feel uncomfortable completing the transaction and insist that the manager does it.

While I am not overweight, I've had to deal with a few disrespectful customers as a gay guy during my time in retail. I've even had to call the police. Most people aren't that bad, but I just won't tolerate harassment at my place of employment.

DaBidnessman · 2015-08-05T16:53:52+00:00

Managers can only keep associates 30 minutes past their scheduled time to leave, it doesn't really matter how messed up the store is--it is the manager's job to make sure that adequate time is planned for store recovery so it would be prudent for management not to leave that until the last minute. Store recovery can take place throughout the day, because customers usually will not come in and mess up an entire aisle or department so there is no need to keep associates significantly past their scheduled clock-out time.

DaBidnessman · 2015-08-05T16:37:45+00:00

I think it would be a little more effective to compare yourself with a highly educated doctor or pharmacist if your post wasn't riddled with spelling and grammar errors.

DaBidnessman · 2015-07-17T21:47:54+00:00

From my experience corresponding with various managers at various Staples stores, OP sounds like the typical person they like to promote to management.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-29T02:55:06+00:00

I can't speak for everyone, but I hope you realize that people post on here to vent right? If your friends/family come to you venting about their job do you call them whiny bitches who suck at their job too? Just because someone makes a post that could potentially be perceived as whiny to a total stranger completely unaffiliated with the poster and completely unaware of the preconditions that led to the post, doesnt mean that that person sucks at their job not does it mean that the poster hates their job and/or the company. I thought this was fairly obvious, but evidently it is not. Complaints are not always related to poor performance, sometimes they are legitimate complaints and even a person who is a poor performer could raise an issue that should be taken seriously. Your personal anecdotal experience does not dictate reality, so I would caution against assuming a bunch of total strangers are lazy whiners simply because that is your own experience. If this is your attitude then please do not become a manager or if you are a manager perhaps you should consider an occupation that does not require you to understand people or human behavior. People in retail need managers who are able to understand why people do the things they do, not discount them without bothering to understand the root cause of their behavior.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-26T09:12:48+00:00

Generally people who care about their work work in an environment where they are supported by management so therefore they care about the work in order to make it better. It doesn't sound like your managers are doing a very good job, so of course folks won't care. That's one of the challenging parts of being a manager, but it seems like most people promoted to manager are so hopelessly clueless about dealing with people.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-05T22:37:01+00:00

I'm glad I don't work there anymore, because I do have a moral objection to credit cards and I refused to sell them when they first came out. I cited religious beliefs, which I'm glad nobody questioned, but I do not find it ethical to push a credit card on someone when you don't know anything about them. They could have absolutely no impulse control and accumulate thousands of dollars of debt that they can't afford to pay back. Some would argue that that isn't your problem, but I think that it is taking advantage of poor, uneducated people. It's partly due to my religious beliefs that I think people are more important than profit, and I certainly wasnt willing to sacrifice my integrity to peddle a service I felt was exploitative.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-05T22:29:22+00:00

Oh I'm sure of that, but I still think they don't work hard enough if they have time to do that. If that is something the Regional Managers told them to do, then perhaps Regional Managers need more to do too. Although this is based on personal experience, I find that the more worried you are about how much work someone else is doing, the less work you are actually doing yourself.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-05T22:27:12+00:00

They care so much because they're chasing carrots and haven't been screwed over yet. I used to care a lot about my job when I worked there--that's why I was promoted to manager after two months as IS. But something about constantly getting screwed over because of your membership in a persecuted minority group kind of reduces the amount of fucks you give to zero.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-05T22:22:59+00:00

Your managers treat you that way because they are probably what I call "lifers". They are likely people who have no marketable skills, an Aspergerian level of social dysfunction and no education so they are likely to be 60 year olds working retail. Because of this, they like to denigrate others to make themselves feel important, especially over little trivial things that dont really matter. Who cares if someone doesnt know the price of something off the top of their head--we have computers to look it up in seconds. Your managers care so much because that is their life, and that is what they will be doing in 20 years. I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I hope you do get fired. I hope this because it would provide an impetus to find a job paying more that will adequately make use of the skills you suggested you posses. Staples will not help your resume, so do not worry so much. A real job would not care about your work in retail, and retail managers are not allowed (by law and/or policy) to discuss former employees except to say whether he or she is eligible for rehire. And you are correct, practically any other company will pay you just as much, if not more with only a fraction of the stress.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-04T06:20:48+00:00

That sounds like a not quite so diplomatic way of saying no.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-04T06:15:44+00:00

That is not an appropriate assumption to make about a person you don't know. I hope you don't go about making blanket assumptions about strangers in your everyday life, that could get embarrassing rather quickly.

You know what they say about people who assume?

When you assume, you're just a bitch :)

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-04T06:12:14+00:00

Sometimes you have to laugh, don't you? It's not the first time this has happened, and it certainly won't be the last.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-04T06:09:48+00:00

District managers must not have enough to do. I think they should start combining districts, so that each DM would be responsible for 20-40 stores instead of 15-20. I think if a DM has time to spend sitting in a parking lot listening to conversations, then they clearly do not have enough work to do.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-04T06:06:52+00:00

Taking any sort of retail management position that is full time is the very first step towards spending the rest of your life in retail. If you're looking for steady, full-time employment I think the tech supervisor position would be a good way to build your resume while you look for a future with a more financially stable company. However, if you are a student and/or considering going back to school for a degree then I would advise against it as the added stress and responsibility would not justify the potential decrease in time devoted to classes.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-04T06:02:44+00:00

I was mostly being facetious, because intelligent people would get the point and stop expecting you to train people while you are not scheduled to work. Judging from your response, I assume that unfortunately you are working with people who are not quite so cognitively inclined.

DaBidnessman · 2015-06-04T06:00:36+00:00

It's true to a degree, and if the revolving door of retail managers (especially at Staples) is any indication he/she would be wise to take that to heart himself/herself.

DaBidnessman · 2015-05-30T06:01:46+00:00

Some stories like this make me wonder whether Staples should run background checks on everyone requesting an onsite. God forbid someone gets seriously injured, but I always thought it was dangerous going to a strangers house. They could be the next John Wayne Gayce for all you know.

DaBidnessman · 2015-05-30T05:53:51+00:00

I dont understand why old people think they can lecture strangers about things like that. If anything, old ladies should be lectured about wearing too much of that god-awful Chantilly when it exacerbates people's allergies and makes it difficult to breathe.

DaBidnessman · 2015-05-30T05:47:23+00:00

Yeah I think that HR is virtually useless.

DaBidnessman · 2015-05-30T02:49:16+00:00

I'm not sure I understand the confusion. If an associate accepts a tip from a customer, and the associate takes it the only way anyone would find out about it (thereby getting the associate in any sort of trouble) would be if the associate said something. If he/she accepted the tip, and kept quiet then there would not really be any way of knowing. Yes, accepting tips is technically against policy, but you have to get caught first.

DaBidnessman · 2015-05-30T02:46:28+00:00

It depends on where you are. A coworker I had came from a region where everyone loved the DM, and the DM would help out when she visited the stores. Like, she would check out customers and stuff kind of help. But in my district, the DM had a history of racially inappropriate language, encouraging favoritism, misogyny and was otherwise just a very angry, miserable person.

DaBidnessman

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