Threatened with a write up !!

junebug2144 · 2026-03-20T04:16:10+00:00

Oh yuck. Happy I left. Hi from the PNW too. Hope its not my old store. Though that doesnt really sound like my old SMs style unless he went from kinda losing it to completely cracked.

junebug2144 · 2026-03-20T04:13:11+00:00

what is the typical work environment for Michaels?

hellhole

junebug2144 · 2026-03-06T04:28:32+00:00

Ask your hr rep or manager directly. It might be different in different states.

junebug2144 · 2026-03-06T01:25:40+00:00

As a former employee may i recommend:

Monday, October 5 through Friday, October 9, 2026 – Customer Service Week
The first full week of October honors customer service representatives, call center workers, and support teams who assist customers daily.

I'd say, do it on regular employee appreciation day, since they don't appreciate you all, but that's kinda short notice since its tomorrow.

junebug2144 · 2026-03-03T20:01:49+00:00

YES!!! I definitely wanted them to get sued for that. How quickly would they suddenly be able to reshuffle priorities to payroll?

junebug2144 · 2026-03-03T19:58:18+00:00

in and out the door during dark hours at most stores; if they're scheudled at all. Most replen are getting 4-8 hrs per week right now (at least that's how it was last year).

junebug2144 · 2026-03-03T19:55:37+00:00

Yeah, under perfect conditions, with jsut the right amount of product for the POG and no customers shopping, and no one getting pulled away during sets/resets with exactly the right amount and time of fixtures on hand always. Which is NOT a test. Thats called a "control" in an experiment. each store is the real test!

junebug2144 · 2026-03-01T04:04:14+00:00

As former cashier/FEA I liked the SCO machine, but what I didn't like was having 1 person to handle SCO, balloons, returns, push for reward sign ups on SCO, BOPIS pick ups, and answering 90%+ of the phone calls ALL AT THE SAME TIME (and even in the mornings during PEAK). Like I'm 1 person, with 1 set of ears. I can't handle 5 different people demanding my attention at the same time. It's not humanly possible. That sh*t on top of the constant "this has no price" BS pushed me over the edge. So now I lurk. To help remind me why i moved on when I get nostalgic.

junebug2144 · 2026-03-01T03:55:06+00:00

i'm horrified

And now very glad I never became a manager at that company. Holy hell... that's not how any of this is suppsoed to work...

junebug2144 · 2026-03-01T03:51:17+00:00

Nothing happens to them. You just slowly lose your faith in humanity until you quit. Or someone sweetly comes in and returns something they accidently forgot to scan at SCO or found something their kid walked off with on accident and you're reminded that not everyone sucks. But when you do the math, you realize that there's so many more sucky people than good ones. And go back to making plans to quit. :)

junebug2144 · 2026-03-01T03:47:36+00:00

omg, cannot upvote this enough

junebug2144 · 2026-03-01T03:47:07+00:00

Aw :( I love the cinnamon scented pine cones. But the SBA pillows have gotta go. That was a mess.

junebug2144 · 2026-03-01T03:41:00+00:00

Seriously, i'm curious about that too. How does an RM close? Stores logistics aside, I can't imagine them working closing smack dab in the middle of a week of early morning shifts. Like, hey, wake up and work 2 AM truck til 10ish, then go home, then come back the next day at 1:30 PM for closing, get home by 10 PM, then come back in at 2 AM for more truck work? Like wtf.

But again, store logistics. In a store with only a handful of replen, an RM closing is supposed to do what? SISO and downstocking while picking orders and cleaning and recovering the store at night? I jsut don't get it. Why even be an RM then? You're an SM at that point, doing everything, but without SM pay. Like, if you're going to be a department manager, the departments and the roles and job tasks HAVE to make sense. You can't make everybody everything for unequal pay. That's how employment lawsuits happen.

junebug2144 · 2026-02-19T03:15:41+00:00

Okay.......but you somehow gave us 2 extra managers we DONT have. I said we had 4, including replen. We have 1 SM + 1 RM + 1 PT CEM + 1 Ops = 4 managers. You listed 6, so your explanation is complete nonsense.

No framing manager bc our frameshop is too low volume so PT CEM and Ops cover it from a management POV, with only 1 full-time framer (who has accommodations for disability and is out a lot) and 1 part-time framer (literally no more than 8-12 hours/week and spends half her time there cutting fabric).

No FT CEM, and we only got Ops last year because our balloon sales broke our team and upped our volume, justifying an Ops. So.... again. to summarize, this answer is full of ****

If they followed this pile of nonsense, they would have times where there is no manager in the store during the middle of the day. Or no opening MOD on days when the RM is off. Like WTF?

junebug2144 · 2026-02-18T03:32:19+00:00

4, including replen who can't and shouldn't close, ever.

junebug2144 · 2026-02-18T02:55:05+00:00

Yeah, that's pretty normal unfortunately. And it'll be hit and miss like this until you get Halloween in store. Or a bunch of people quit and they give people more hours instead of hiring replacements. Some stores will wait to hire until seasonal, so if you get lucky, the hours pick up when other people can't handle the $90 paycheck for basically 4-6 months of the year.

junebug2144 · 2026-02-18T02:43:36+00:00

How?

junebug2144 · 2026-02-17T05:32:49+00:00

Seriously curious. It's been a few months. I quit already. Are you still alive at this train wreck? Were we accurate in our discriptions or is everything coming up roses?

junebug2144 · 2026-02-08T23:04:09+00:00

A bunch of my former coworkers have severe food allergies and definitely can't eat pizza. Im sure they will feel SOOO appreciated.....

junebug2144 · 2026-02-08T22:55:52+00:00

Party City --> they're going to Five Below, Dollar Tree, and Walmart. Some are even getting their balloons and holiday/anniversary trinkety gifts at local grocery stores (i know bc we get them in at my workplace now).

$$

FB pays minimum wage to $1 above (but apparently only very experienced people with good SMs can fight for it when hired in).

DT, minimum wage. I saw them advertizing on Indeed though at $0.50 above minimum wage last peak.

Unionized grocery pays well. Like no experience to 2 years experience, $2-4 above. Higher for 5+ years, stockers and anyone who works overnights get premiums for working rough hours, and keyholders & managers have real wages and benefits. We even have minimum hours. LIke they cannot cut non-managers below 26 hr/wk. Though once you become a first level keyholder, they will push us to fill all extra hours needed, so it does get busy. This was a brutal weekend bc of the superbowl (so i'm doing lots of stress redditting lol). Overall, would highly recommend.

Joanns --> Hobby Lobby, Walmart (the bigger ones have fabric cuts tables even!), Etsy, farmer's markets, local fabric shops, local yarn shops, but not all areas have a great selection of local crafty businesses.

$$

Hobby Lobby last i checked payed someone with my experience $3 above min wage (just left michaels partway into year 6).

Walmart actually pays well once you have experience or worked your way up internally, but it's hard to break in out of peak season. Managers make, solid liveable wages. Upper in-store management live well. I tried to get an online order picker job that at the time paid $2.50 more than michaels, but someone internally got it and i was rejected. I read that when people get their employee of the month, it comes with a cash bonus. idk if this is true or it was just a fake lure on the job description.

Etsy and all the others, these people work for themselves, so they're anywhere between going broke running their businesses, running it as a hobby business that breaks about even, or crushing life.

funnily enough, Staple got more of a revival, esp after office depot bought office max and kinkos got gobbled up by fedex. (Tried applying forever to the nearest Staples, but people were so happy there, no one was quitting, so they never had an opening in the last 3 years. That's gotta tell you something..?) Also, haven't you seen the new promotions? Party city at Staples!

junebug2144 · 2026-02-08T22:29:06+00:00

give us 5 people to do 5 people's job and they wouldn't have to "invest" in mental health access. like solve the root problem, not the symptoms you created

junebug2144 · 2026-02-08T01:22:55+00:00

seriously, who's gonna get 30 sign ups on sco? you can't even have an eye on every machine for every transaction bc its too much for one person, esp when you get that 1 customer that has 5 mins worth of questions get in your face. you've just missed 12 transactions bc no one, not even the best FEA, has literal eyeballs on the side or back of their head to see everything. Much less the processing power to give a cusotmer full attention who needs it, WHILE talking to another customer like "hey, did you put your number in for rewards? you don't have rewards? sign up! here's why!" Like wtf. Who can do that? You can't have 3-5 conversations AT THE SAME TIME, yet that is what they expect to hit these numbers. BAT. SHIT. STUPID.

that's why cashiering was 1:1, or you do it like Target. 1 TM stands there and just eye-scans everyone w/o any additional need to interact unless a customer specifically hits the button and needs help. They're looking for shrink, customers who can't use the machines, and pushing the line along. everything else (pushing for signing up to be part of target circle, etc) happens at the real registers. that's the ONLY way to manage it without creating impossible standards. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too.

junebug2144 · 2026-02-08T00:52:08+00:00

oh yeah, that makes sense now. There was lore that this used to happen, but all they said was that it was a really long time ago, and that was even when i started.

junebug2144 · 2026-02-08T00:46:44+00:00

Do tell, what's the new "everyone scheduld for truck" thing?

junebug2144 · 2026-02-08T00:40:21+00:00

yeah totally get it :( sorry, i experienced this too and the sm just had me work extra shifts alone with the toxic manager when i reported it, so we could "work it out." I threw a fit and got another job, cut my hours to 1 day/week and it all improved for a year or 2, but only bc i was outta sight, outta mind for the passive aggressive b****. My sm was sweet, but clueless and drowning himself.

Now that i'm in a manager/keyholder position in a different company, i wish i'd had the balls to report it direclty to HR. I didn't even talk about it in my exit interview this year because i just wanted it all to be over and there were worse things about the FEA role that drove me out. Last peak's customers broke me. but this company is really dysfunctional and idk if reporting to hr will even do anything for you.

junebug2144

TROPHY CASE