Need advice on a work situation

[AmyP]

A lot of you know I work part-time at Gymboree. I'm mainly there for a little extra income, adult time, and the employee discount. My store manager (S) knows this.

I've been having a problem with one of the assistant managers, E. E normally works in a different store and is pretty new at being a manager, from what I understand.

The first time I worked with her, it took her an hour to close the store (we're normally alotted 30 minutes). There was another associate and I straightening up the store, taking out the trash, sweeping, etc. This manager took forever to find the paperwork, count the registers, etc. I figured it was because she doesn't normally work in our store, and I think that was the first time she'd worked in our store. The other associate and I gave her as much help as we could, but we're not allowed to run reports and such.

The second time (a little over a week later), it took her an hour to close the store AGAIN. I don't even know why this time. She'd had a little trouble counting the registers again, but it seemed it took her all night to do everything.

Both times I have left the mall after 11 pm and gotten home around 11:30. Not good, especially since DH is in bed around 10:30 and I cannot possibly go in without waking him up.

I really want to talk to my store manager about E. I'm scheduled to work with her tonight, and we close at 11. There is no way on earth I want to be there until midnight tonight. The parking lot is well-lit and all, but I'm a little scared to be out that late by myself.

I was talking to another associate yesterday at work and she feels the same way about E as I do.

Not only does E close the store as slowly as she possibly can, but she's also rude and obnoxious. She's a know-it-all and talks to the other two of us like we're idiots. :rolleyes: When I worked with her last week, I was checking my watch a lot as she closed the store because I was tired. She said to me, "If you look at your watch again, I'm going to go slower." :wtf: Not like she could have possibly gone slower anyway!

I'm going to be at the mall helping my youngest brother Christmas shop during the day and I want to stop in and talk to my store manager about E (I know S works during the day today). The main thing I want her to do is talk to E and tell her to please try to close the store more quickly. Aside from the other reasons it sucks, it ends up costing the store and company money because they have to pay us for the extra time worked.

How do I tell her this without sounding catty or petty or something else negative (can't think straight this morning)?

Thanks if you read this far.

[Colleen]

Oh wow Amy. It sounds like E and one of my former assistant managers were separated at birth. :lol: T was a witch, and I actually begged my manager for me not to be scheduled with her.

When you speak to S, I'd ask her how long it is supposed to take for closing, and mention that E takes an hour to close. A lot of times, the manager would close the extra registers a little early to help speed things along. I would also mention her comment to you when you looked at your watch. And you could mention that E's comments are unprofessional.

As for going out to the parking lot late, we always parked in the same area and walked out together. We always waited til everyone was in their cars and had them started before we left. Can you get mall security to walk you to your car?

Good luck! The extended holiday hours will only last another week or two!

[redhairedgirl]

Colleen has great advice. I would definitely tell your store manager about the comment when you looked at your watch.

[AmyP]

Thanks, guys.

Colleen - The scary thing is she DID close one of the registers down early last time.

I'll definitely mention the comment. I even mentioned it to DH and he said, "She should be doing her job and not watching you." Good point. He suggested I just up and leave tonight at 11:30 whether or not E is finished. I won't, though, because it's not fair to the other associate.

I think S will take me seriously because I'm one of her better associates. I'm always helping out the customers and selling up like we're supposed to.

The other fun thing about E is that her one friend always comes into the store and she spends forever yammering away with her friend, usually until closing. My best friend Jess comes into the store and we do chat, but I keep it short, and if we're busy, I tell her and she understands and leaves.

Also, I asked her to come out and help me with a customer (something manager-specific, I forget what), and she took her dear sweet time coming out of the back room to help. Long enough that I almost went back there and asked a second time (I was about to when she came out).

[AmyP]

Well, I didn't really get to talk to my store manager. I talked to another assistant manager (C) who came to E's defense. As I should figure. :rolleyes:

C says I wasn't totally in the right for looking at my watch and that she can see how the other manager took that as being obnoxious. :rolleyes: I suppose I see that, but she could have simply asked me politely not to do it because it was making her nervous or whatever and I would have stopped. I'm one of those people who always has to know what time it is, so I always look at my watch.

Besides, if I were being obnoxious, I would have looked at my watch and sighed loudly or something.

I did ask the store manager to please ask E to try to close the store quickly because my DH doesn't like me being out so late and I really didn't want to be at the store until midnight. Hopefully S will say something and E will get us out of the store by 11:30 like she's supposed to. I don't even know who I work with since she had her shift changed today.

[JustJen]

Amy, I've had some similar issues working at Gymbo.
Our Manager up and quit without any notice a couple weeks ago. So we have a new manager and 2 new assistant managers from another much smaller less busy store. :rolleyes:
I think you should go talk to the manager directly. I don't think the assistant manager was really that receptive and I'd be suprised if she did anything to help the situation.

We have the same rule that Colleen mentioned. We must park in a designated spot and walk/drive eachother to our cars. We have been closing at 11pm and then doing 2 hour closings. (But we had corporate show up for our annual inspection). So I've gotten out as late as 1am at times lately. Hence my babysitter refusing to ever babysit for me again in a temper tantrum and then no showing the next day. :fado:

I am constantly checking my watch too, but I don't see that as being obnoxious. Just conscious of what time it is. We have a very strict timeline for when we need to be out of the store. We went over our allotted hours last month by 249 hours. :jawdrop:
I hope things get better for you.:hug1:

[Bev]

C says I wasn't totally in the right for looking at my watch and that she can see how the other manager took that as being obnoxious. :rolleyes: I suppose I see that, but she could have simply asked me politely not to do it because it was making her nervous or whatever and I would have stopped. I'm one of those people who always has to know what time it is, so I always look at my watch.

Besides, if I were being obnoxious, I would have looked at my watch and sighed loudly or something.

What a load of :bs: You're not allowed to look at your watch now!? I hope you got this all straightened out. Better yet, I hope she goes back to her own store and leaves you alone!

[JennyB]

I did ask the store manager to please ask E to try to close the store quickly because my DH doesn't like me being out so late and I really didn't want to be at the store until midnight.

I agree with you. I don't think looking at your watch was obnoxious. She sounds like she is just lazy and time isn't an issue for her. One thing I thought I would mention is not to blame things like that on DH. It can come across as you not having your own opinion and since DH doesn't work for Gymboree they could probably give a flying f*ck what he thinks about the situation. I hope things get better soon and don't worry....the holidays are almost over!!!!

[Melissa]

To me it sounds like she needs some extra money and by taking her sweet time she gets an easy excuse to put some more money on the table. I hope you aren't driving home at midnight tonight.

[Jen]

Why do they make you stay after there is nothing else you can do? You should be allowed to leave and let the manager take her time if she wants. Did you try, "Is there anything we can help you with so we can get this wrapped up?" I know there probably isn't because you said you did all you could but if you ask in a nice way maybe she would get the hint.

I agree you should also go to the store manager and let her know what is going on. You can tell her you tried to follow the chain of command and go to the asst. store manager but she was not very receptive.

I would again mention the snide remark made by the manager. If you were looking at your watch to be rude, that's one thing, but I don't think that is the case. Even if you were trying to hint that it was taking longer than the time allowed, it is not professional or polite to say, "I'll go slower!" That is childish and sounds like she has control issues. She's basically saying, "I know what you want and I'm going to do the opposite".

[Bridget]

ITA that you must visit with the store manager. It's the only way to truly see if you will receive back up.

The watch thing is stupid and ridiculous. Even if you WERE (and I am not saying you were of course) sighing or acting rude it is the job of any management personnel to be above such behavior.

The key issues are this:
-The AM could be going more quickly and seems ambivalent to the needs of coworkers, and the needs of Gymbo, and is wasting company funds by her inefficiency
-regardless of the behavior of her "subordinates", beligerant and/or demeaning comments should never be welcomed by any employer
-you have a right to reasonable expectations of work time/closing time/etc.

I'd bring these points to the Manager in a very matter-of-fact way. Be nice, but firm in asking for her opinion on how these issues can be resolved. I think you'll know pretty quickly whether or not she's going to address the issue/back you up.

Hopefully she'll be human about it and address the problem and you won't have to stress.

OR I can call you store and tell them that she was mean to me one day when I came in and I'm really hurt and sensitive about that big wart on my face... and never shopping there again! :lol: That'll fix her. :lol:

[redhairedgirl]

OR I can call you store and tell them that she was mean to me one day when I came in and I'm really hurt and sensitive about that big wart on my face... and never shopping there again! :lol: That'll fix her. :lol:

I can too. :heee:

[AmyP]

Well, I actually got out at 10:15 last night. I sort of wonder if she knows I've complained about how long it takes her to close the store. Or she was happy with me for running to the food court to get her a snack (common request from managers since they're not allowed to leave the store). Either way, she told me I could go home after straightening up this one section if we weren't swamped by the time we were done because she didn't need all three of us to be there to close the store.

I do plan on talking with the store manager as soon as I can anyway. I do want her to talk to E and tell her that her comments were unacceptable.

As I got in last night, the store manager was leaving and she gave concrete suggestions on how to get out of the store quickly (I could go into specifics, but you wouldn't understand unless you worked at Gymbo). I hope they got out earlier than midnight last night.

I found out that E is transferring to a different store (not ours and not the one she is normally at) in mid-January. So I don't have to deal with E for very long no matter what, so that's good.

Like I said, I do plan on talking to S when I get a chance. It's important that E know not to make such snotty comments.

Bridget and Mandy, I could give you guys my store's phone number and E's full first name if you'd like to call in anyway. :lol2:

[sunnyflower]

Seems like some great advice. Talking with your manager is the best way to go.

~Kerrie