For those that missed the original post, I quit my IT career for a part-time job at Lowe’s, for 1/4 the pay. Can’t afford the low pay ATM, but I think my wife and I can muddle though until I go full-time, get promoted, whatever. I want to thank ALL of you who encouraged me! Cannot say how much more sane you all made me feel.
First thing our trainer did was give me a 10% discount card and program it. “Are you married?” Made another account for my wife. No lie, first thing we did.
I worked closely with HR on my last two jobs to build and improve our onboarding process. Lowe’s made me feel amateur. Let’s just say it was about as slick as such a complex legal and logistical process can be. (Yes, there’s far more than most people see or think about.)
The person that got us going did the job I’ve done in my last two roles, got new people on the right foot. Yes, even working IT, I was the first person they met and got settled with. She did pretty damned well. Got stuck watching a recorded onboarding meeting, loathed the presenter. Ever known one of those women who are all smiling teeth, while frowning at the same time, and totally fake? “Oh my gosh! What GREAT input!” Fuck me. I started first and the other 3 guys finished first because they skipped some video. Cheating bastards. :)
LOL, they had the exact rig I built for one company. Some flavor of Debian, locked in kiosk mode, Firefox, on a crappy PC. Perfect for onboarding, training and as a time clock.
They seem pretty cool. The CEO was nice to listen to, seems a solid leader. Black guy, and they talked about DEI initiatives a good deal, doubt they’re backing out, I’m sold. The store manager chatted with us for 30-minutes. Hell, my last CEO was an excellent leader, with half the staff, and he didn’t take 30 to talk to 4 low-paid beginners.
The main thread I picked up, from my interview, to the CEO talk, to the manager, was that you can move up fast if you come in, do a good job and take care of customers. Well hell, that’s what I’m best at. Everyone I’ve met in leadership started on the floor for shit pay, CEO as well.
Turns out my direct super is the British dude that’s helped me before, love that guy! Be sweating my ass off in the outdoor area soon enough, the position I asked for, but I think having that man on my side will get me through.
So, be honest, am I fooling myself here? This ain’t my first rodeo and I got very positive vibes, but it’s a monster retailer so there’s that.
EDIT: Forgot some of the meat of the story. Time and attendance policy seems lenient enough, though I’m not used to even thinking about it. PTO is crap compared to what I’m used to, which taking about every Friday off. Can’t say about health, 401K, all that, but they offer it to part timers. Not great, more than I expected, who knows. All in all, no threatening crap like I expected for $15/hr. “You toe the line or you’re fired!”, kinda bullshit. Turnover is a metric they take seriously, and call out management on it. I’ll drill into it more tomorrow when training is more 1-on-1.
Idk. All my personal experience in retail says they always preach about fluidity in position, benefits of working there, and how freeing it is to have a job where you just show up, do work, and leave.
In college, I was demanded to work 60 hours a week (I was part-time) with any call offs without prior approval a fireable offense (at-will state) While college classes started, which is why we were so busy. And then I got fired anyway; I’d worked for 2 1/2 years there. I bought jumper cables to jump start another employees car; I was told to do this by a manager. So I did. But I was the only one working customer service; for 2 days, I couldn’t return them. I was a broke college student, I needed my $20. So another employee came through at some point, and I had them return it. They kept the money, so I didn’t pocket cash out of the register, and then I got the money after my shift. Then I got fired, because I scanned my receipt while I was logged into the computer. Didn’t matter that I was on camera, not returning it to myself. The printout said I did it, so I was fired. They did invite me to re-apply in 90 days when I was taken off the blacklist. I worked in retail for another maybe 6 or 7 years, so I wasn’t jaded against retail just against that company. Retail is just that soulless.
I expect you’ll are in a short staffed store with unrealistic expectations and people over you in similar positions, with greater demands on them, also trying to move up. I’ve had people work at Lowes and it’s the same retail story; It’s lobsters in a pot pulling each other down to get out.
I hope it works out though, I really do. It’s a publicly traded company though; it demands more profits and quarterly growth. At the end of the day, what is going to matter? Employees getting out of the rat race and being comfortable, or shareholder profits?