I stopped in at a national motorcycle gear retailer, and the manager was impressed with my knowledge of manufacturer quality and general safety. He offered me a job on the spot. I was well into FU and FI status, but figured it'd be fun BSing all day with the close-knit community of riders. I didn't think much of it, until I got a call for the first round of interviews. They wanted it done immediately, but I was in the middle of something and asked for an hour. The job was close. The first round of interviews go great, until at the end I find out the job I applied for isn't the one I'll be getting. I debate saying well, when the job I want opens up, let me know, but on a whim I say screw it, I'll see what it's like as a salesman instead of a merchandiser.
Round two of the interviews, and I'm with the district manager. I explain to him I'll be happy to work there if I'm not micromanaged, if customer service is top priority over sales, and that the company treats their employees like people. I'm promised up and down that everything is awesome.
I start my first day. It's supposed to be a week of training behind closed doors, but after the second day I'm thrown into the fold. It's retail, so the learning curve isn't steep. I spend two glorious weeks chatting it up with every biker who comes in with an interesting story, make 140% of whatever my sales are supposed to be, and have a blast with the people I work with. Everything is still awesome.
Third week rolls around. Old manager is fired, a new manager-in-training (MIT)is brought up, along with a more seasoned manager (MSM) who's supposed to be showing him the ropes. MSM's idea of manager-employee relations is asking such skill-building questions as, what's your favorite color? Quality leadership right there, right?
Micromanaging from MIT begins immediately. I refuse to upsell the crap they're trying to unload on people that's always front and center on the checkout counters. The people who want them will see them and buy them. The people who don't won't, and I'm not going to try to sucker people into buying things when their wallets are out because corporate feels they're more susceptible to buying crap at that point. So in the middle of a transaction MIT steps between me and the register while reaching across from me to grab whatever trinket's on sale and tells me to try and sell it. Strike one.
One guy and his wife comes in, they had a flat or blow out or something, so they're stranded in the parking lot. I get them a tire and let them borrow tools to fix it. MIT says because of insurance reasons no one can do any maintenance in the parking lot. I ignore him. Bikers don't leave bikers stranded when they can help; the good ones don't, anyway. Another guy comes in at some point and wants to see how a bike stand works. Super fancy thing, top of the line on the market in terms of quality. My personal favorite; I've got a pair in my garage. I'm too happy to show him, because I believe in buying quality once so that you BIFL. I need an adjustable wrench to show him, so I go grab one. MIT doesn't ask what it's for, first thing out of his mouth is we don't lend tools.
My eval comes up, and either it's corporate policy or MSM tells him that no matter how good someone is, they should get the lowest score possible on one eval criteria. Mine was presentation, which means I was poor at explaining to a customer how a product worked. No one in that store knew how anything worked better than I did. I had to show them all the proper way of sizing helmets, for crying out loud. And MIT's surprised when he pulls up my sales and sees I'm still cruising at 140% over quota. At this point, we're reached strikes two through screw this 'tard.
In the meantime, I also have a job as a consultant making about one forty times an hour what I am there. It means meetings and such at times when needed, but not within the hours I'm at the store. I've told them this at the store; they have me from such-a-such time on these days, that's it. Okay, they say. Well, once a month at the store, it's time for everyone to come in late after hours and re-organize displays for new sales. Only MIT also wants everyone to also give a presentation about their favorite item in the store. I say first, that's stupid; that's eating away valuable time it takes to get the store set up. I say second, I probably can't make it anyway, I have a meeting at my other job, and it's outside the hours I said I'd be available. I let the assistant manager know. I let the MSM know. MIT isn't there the two days prior, but I'm not too worried about him not finding out because I just told two other managers.
But apparently communication isn't taught to managers here, because the next day rolls around and it turns out to be a beautiful day in the FUhood. Because of the stupid show and tell tap dance MIT wanted, the store didn't get done, so everyone's scrambling to get that fixed while people are wandering the store. MIT is finally there. I work the day, and at the end MIT asks to come to the back office for a chat.
He gives me a spiel about the importance of teamwork and if I don't show up again without any notice, he'll consider firing me. Then he slips out a written notice of reprimand. I told him I'm not signing it and list my grievances. Goes in one ear and straight out the other. I take my employee shirt off on the spot, toss it on the desk, and tell him I quit. I lasted at that job three weeks. I spent longer waiting for the job interview and corporate to process my resume and do a background check than I spent on the actual job.
Six months later the store was closed down.