Fired For Credit Quota Has Happy Ending

Hello there Retail Hell, been lurking for a couple months and finally decided to post something.

Call me Katiedid, because... well just because, I guess. My story comes from when I was a newbie at working, still full of hopes and dreams that I would have the best job out there. That dream got smashed pretty quick.

My first job was at a place called Zellers. I'm not afraid to use the real name because I'm in their no-hire records anyways, so I don't care. Zellers is a part of the Hudson's Bay Company, which is a huge corporation here in the great white north of Canada. So, I was hired end of November in eleventh grade, having never worked anywhere but a summer camp in my life.

On one of my first days I got a comment along the lines of 'oh her soul hasn't been sucked out yet'. I should have known then that it would be bad.

It started out okay, the managers were fairly friendly, the work didn't seem too bad, but then the holidays rolled on. Oh my freaking god. I don't know what the hell is wrong with people sometimes, but I was brought to tears on a regular basis because of people yelling at me over prices or some other shit.

My biggest headache though was the credit card program. You know, the kind with a fuckload of interest that they want you to get people to sign up for? Yeah, those ones.

I'm kind of shy, and I don't like confrontation, so whenever I'd ask if they wanted to sign up for the card, the looks of death and the nasty responses would send me scurrying for cover.

Eventually I just stopped asking, which is not good, because the managers wanted all of us to get someone to sign up for the card at least once during our shift. This, when I think about it now, is bullshit. We're not a big city, we're not a bustling hub that gets new people coming in regularly. If people come into our store, they've usually been there before and have the card, or don't want it. 

I started dreading work so badly after a couple months, to the point where I could feel my stomach knotting on the way to work every day. I don't think it's right that you should dread work that much and I feel for anyone stuck in that sort of job. The managers were always all over us about the cards and one day even threatened to make us wear these dorky reindeer antlers if we didn't get an application. I think that was just downright cruel. In addition to this, even after the holidays I was getting 25 hour weeks. I know that's not a lot when you compare, but I was in school full-time, with hard courses, and it was getting to the end of the semester. I was stressed out beyond anything I'd ever been in my life.

Even with all this I threw myself into the job. I was friendly, polite, I followed the rules, I came in when they called on my days off. I even came in during a goddamn snowstorm!! But what did this amount to in their eyes?

I got laid off when my end of probation came around, all because I couldn't get the goddamn credit cards. Even when I tried I couldn't get them, and I did everything else well, even going above and beyond. Here's the thing though, one of the other stores had closed, and so we had all the people that used to work there working with us, so we were overstaffed. Coincidence?

You know what though, I'm kind of glad for being laid off, because I wouldn't have had the nerve to quit and would have had a nervous breakdown eventually. I have now been working at a fast food restaurant that wants you to be 'lovin' it' for the last three years and while it has its own nastiness, I'm a whole lot happier.

Just goes to show you there's a silver cloud in everything.

--Katiedid

 

Comments

[Queer Geek]

I feel you Katiedid. Unfortunately, most retail companies push for credit card quotas. There's no avoiding them. Until, the government starts pushing for stricter credit card regulations I don't see that changing anytime soon.

[NC Tony]

It's the same here for Zeller's American equivalent, Target (or as we RHUers like to call it, the Bullseye). I remember hearing my former co-workers grumbling and bitching about the credit cards and getting chewed out by management for not hitting their quotas.

[The Last Archimedean]

One of my ex-girlfriends does just about all her shopping at Target and actually almost decked a manager whom she overheard reprimanding an employee for not selling enough of those dumb credit cards. She stepped in between and told the manager, using very vulgar language, that the employees should worry about helping customers and not have to try to seell those cards which the sutomer doidn't want anyway. Deleting the cursing, she then told the manager that she does all her shopping at Target and like most regulars she would bever buy their dumb card and to stick the card... well, where the sun don't shine.

[Cell-Circuit Chick (formerly caper)]

Oh I used to work at the Bay so I know all about those hbc credit cards.

I have a line of a million people, and a busy department of people needing shoe sizes, but who cares ? Push the card. I'm sure all of the others standing in line and needing assistance won't mind... /sarcasm.

Just before I quit I got a few write ups for not selling those awful cards.

[trekkiebabe31]

Yeah, that's the one thing I really don't like about Narnes & Boble, having to push the member cards plus all the other cards (educator, kids). At least most of ours are free except for the member card.

[Former Popcorn Pit Slave]

I got blacklisted from HBC for about the same reason (and also my manager hated me and made up lies). They didn't fire me though, they just waited until I quit on my own. I feel your pain! I even tried to sell those stupid cards but if people say no, there is nothin anyone can do except congratulate them for not signing up for a ridiculous interest rate and not being a sucker.

[tripichik]

That sucks.

Since I'm a deadhead, all I can say is,
"Every silver lining's got a
Touch of Grey."

http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/touc.html

[LadyBelle]

I got my credit ruined by the Hellmart card. I was paying and paying but the balance never went down. I finally called the company and asked them to break down the fees and why they were so high. Apparently they had been taking on a $50 a month "security" charge. When I told them I never signed up for that, I got told it was handled by a third party company and I had to call them.

So I called the third party and got asked "well did you activate your card by phone?" I said yes, because as far as I knew that was the only way you could activate cards. "Oh, well if you don't stay on the line after you activate and talk to a customer service rep, the charge is automatically put on your card monthly."

What got me is it didn't list this charge on any of the card statements or anywhere else I could find, it was just lumped on one line with other charges under "fees"

[Greenhouse Gal]

Another "I feel ya." At my store, something like 50% of our performance is based on selling memberships (at least it's not credit cards--we're not expected to sell those, but we do get a bonus if we do). While to some degree I understand why our corporate office emphasizes it so much, it causes a ton of problems. And I'm also currently annoyed that I got a smaller raise at my last review because I didn't hit my arbitrary goal.

I work the registers. It's a running joke between us and the folks on the floor that we sometimes "steal" their membership sales. It's a joke...but not always (I have seen it happen a couple of times). Plus, when I have someone come up with the membership slip with a floor person's name on it, but the customer has NO idea what it's actually about and I'm the one that actually makes the sale--I get resentful about not getting credit for the sale. Plus customers get hit, repeatedly, with the sales pitch, and it *really* annoys some folks (which I understand--it would bug me, too).

I'm glad you're happier at your new job. I'm working on using my annoyance at our system to push me to look for something new, too.

[Joe the Cigar Guy]

I'm right there with ya', Katiedid! I formerly worked at Lord & Taylor, another store in the Hudson Bay "family". I too got sick and tired of the out-and-out threats from management over their damn outrageous 25.9% APR credit card.

Congratulations on getting out of there with your sanity!

[greenie]

Were I work we don't have to push a credit card, but we do have to push an "up-grade" to their membership. I work at a warehouse club, so the customer is already paying to shop there; asking them to pay more and get "2%" back is not fun.
To make matters worse they just up the fee for the "up-graded membership" So now it is an additional $50 on top of their $50 membership. They are almost impossible to sell. If given the right tools I can sell at least 1 a shift, and most days 2 or 3 in a shift, but that is when I'm given the scan gun that will show how much the customer had bought in the past year and how much they would have got back if they had the up-graded membership. Usually if a customer see that they would have got back $150 for the $50 up grade fee then they will go head and sign up.
But how often do I get that scan gun? About once a week. UGH! If they want me to sell the damn thing, why wont they give me the tools to sell it? Then get made at me when I don't?

[Allen Walker]

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[Free Credit Check Report]

I got laid off when my end of probation came around, all because I couldn't get the goddamn credit cards.

[free credit report vs free credit score]

Businesses store and process sensitive credit card information today more than ever before. Yet companies don’t always protect that data well, leading to expensive public breaches that cost the organization both money and customer trust.

[loans with no credit check]

I don't think it's right that you should dread work that much and I feel for anyone stuck in that sort of job.