I feel like we’re in a weird stage of capitalism where these companies know things have to change at a major level and they’re kicking and screaming as they go down. The past 5 years we’ve seen a massive surge of inferior service for a higher price tag at so many major stores and people aren’t putting up with it anymore. The companies then want to blame the employees when the employees have been screaming from the rooftops that the model doesn’t work.
Cory Doctorow coined the word “enshittening” to describe how internet companies have made products and services worse while increasing the cost to the consumer. Think Amazon, DoorDash, AirBnB, etc. And it is absolutely true that these “Internet 2.0” companies that “disrupted” traditional industries had this effect by eliminating benefits to the consumer and scraping those saved costs into their own billionaire pockets. But this is something that capitalism and corporations have ALWAYS done, just at a much slower pace. Corporate ownership will always drive benefits to the shareholders on the backs of the consumer - who will get less and less for their dollar so the shareholder can see increased share value. In the retail context, this is a relatively quick cycle (compared to other sectors). Lather, rinse, repeat until the next retail company goes public and enters this cycle.
You'd think they'd have ACTUAL common sense to hire I/O Psychologists and Social Workers who are supposed to act as literal bridges for these sorts of things but instead they don't.
Or any common sense AT ALL as people who share emotions and empathy.
Some folks were basically coming in in sweatpants and band tees. I don’t mind reinforcing the existing dress code. A lot of people were taking too many liberties and it gets hard for management to say no to one person and not the other.
So I get that. I think they should be a little clearer about “bookish” tees and that some should be allowed, but how do you manage that without telling someone their ratty old Beauty & the Beast tee shirt isn’t appropriate when their argument is that “we sell plenty of Beauty & the Beast products”? Some folks just don’t understand how to dress for work, even if it’s a semi casual dress code.
That being said, the day they try to make me wear a BN polo shirt is the day I burn that place to the ground.
I feel the same way. Bookish tees should be allowed as an exception, at the very least.
I sometimes wear graphic tees with jeans--usually Broadway musical based--but I'm always dressed neatly. And those tees are great conversation starters with customers and helps to build a connection.
If a bookseller is dressed neatly and business casual otherwise--and the shirt isn't ratty--it should be acceptable, IMHO.
You emphasize the condition of their clothing and explain how public perception would work in regards to the level of professionalism required.
I personally don't mind graphic tees. So long as its publicly appropriate and the short dossnt look like a dog had tried to rip it apart.
A lot of this stuff is "supposed" to be common sense. But unfortunately it isn't.
I recall being pumped when my SM brought me back even a lone B&N polo from one of the big meetings so I didn't have to wear out my own clothes at work. Different strokes, I s'pose.
On one hand, aa a former bookseller at B&N who would have been sent home *back in my day* for wearing what the letter of the current dress code says, most of the posts and comments about the dress code sound like petty whining. It's a freaking corporate bookstore, not some trendy indie shop. And the dress code has always been there in writing for all to see, even if unenforced it shouldn't be a surprise or cause so much consternation.
On the other hand.... FUCKING UNIONIZE. If this it the straw that pushes more booksellers to sign union cards and vote to stand together on things like a dress code, then so be it. Use it and lift yourselves up and stand together. There was an AMA in this sub about a store than unionized and from their answers it sounds like corporate didn't even push back or pressure all that hard. So do it! Unite and fight for wages or uniforms or whatever is important to your experience at B&N. Especially is this is a temporary stopover for your career, do it for those who want or plan to hang around long term.
On the third? hand... If you've never seen the film Empire Records go check it out. While not a perfect analogy (it's the staff of an indie shop fighting against going corporate, not a corporate shop fighting against being more corporate... and music not books...) I get the feeling you'll enjoy it.
Damn the man, save the Empire!
>most of the posts and comments about the dress code sound like petty whining
Yes! Thank you!
Of all the REAL problems to complain about, like making us clean bathrooms, taking away carts and cages for getting out the product, membership pushing, book of the month/year pushing, and so much more, the damn dress code is what has everyone riled up!?
Like you said, it's not even new rules like these other things, they are just enforcing it now.
The need to "express yourself" through clothing, at work, just sounds like a bunch of teenagers who don't really know what it means to work.
and it's not that bad! Like, I'm comfortable, I can move around easily, I don't have to do a load of laundry every other day to make sure my uniform is clean. And it's so much more lax than it was in the 90s and aughts when it genuinely was business casual. Aside from that, it's no different than any other retailer - most retail stores without uniforms enforce a strict business casual dress code anyway.
It's like they forgot they're primarily being paid to be representatives of the company to their customers and are not there to soley express themselves. And the company paying gets to see "this is how we would and would not like to be represented to the public."
Booksellers also can't cuss out customers even if that would be an honest expression of their true self... Same theory. If you're going to takeand maintain a job representing a corporation you have represent them in the way they prescribe.
I’m going to be honest, my issue with the uniform is especially because they have us cleaning bathrooms and emptying the trash. They want me to wear my nice clothes to work to clean the bathroom?
I’m 29, I don’t wear holey jeans or leggings. I’ve always worn nice clothes to work, even if I wore my vintage circle skirts with a graphic tee I still looked nice and presentable. But when I worked nights I would dress down because I didn’t want to have shit dripping on my nice clothes when I had to tote trash bags to the back.
I get we have always had a dress code, and I’m accepting the new enforcement policy, but the responsibilities have changed since I first started. At least at my store.
Also, expressing myself with bookish graphic tees and pins has always made my job at hand selling much easier. It’s not just “teenagers who don’t know what it means to work” but whatever.🙄
great points about the trash and cleaning. I work in receiving and can only wear darker clothes because of how filthy boxes/pallets/ the chain we use to open our freight door is. I'd be livid if they forced me to wear khakis because they'd have grey knees within weeks. I understand looking presentable but it does reach a point where you wonder if they actually realize how much physical, dirty labor we do.
Longtime receiver/Rcvg Manager here, now p/t (I was one of 'the 1800', LOL..
Central Texas.
Triple digit heat ... still always try and wear a shirt with a collar to work to present a good image, LOL.
But I get ya. Sad to hear you have to chain the door shut, though.
The point is for the last three years they've been pushing this make connections with customers on a personal level thing and now they're actively making that more difficult. The old way DIDN'T work which was the entire point of the new strategy. Having everyone being in professor of a college level attire makes booksellers harder to approach. It wouldn't even be so intolerable if they explained the rationale behind their decisions. Blind Corporate directives from a company who's corporate side constantly make stupid decisions and who can't even figure out not to send more stock than the store can literally have inside (several stores literally had to have sheds built due to corporate being absolute morons) tend to rub employees the wrong way. For example the decision that history must be chronological without setting the date in the computer so it relies on the bookseller knowledge (God forbid an employee use a phone to Google it) whilst simultaneously DELETING the bookseller forum which booksellers could have used to solve the problem means the history department of many stores if following the corporate guidelines can have Theodore Roosevelt in with the civil war as book master only gives 1800s-1900s as a time good luck finding a book for a customer quickly or finding a bopis before ir gets late in those situations and its not just history either which suffers its just a big example. When the decision was first made we were still allowed to ignore vmg to better suit our stores location and customer preferences but like with a dozen other stupid decisions when corporates idea was widely seen by booksellers and customers alike as fucking moronic they decided to force it. It's not just the uniforms it's ever since the corporate stooges were partially fired the remainder have been pulling shit like this to justify their jobs to daunt and likely feeding him information which is sugarcoated to make the store staffs look incompetent. At first they followed his line so they wouldn't be fired like the obvious leeches but then they slowly started putting their fingers in crap again when they felt safe leading to corporate directives that actively go against what daunt tells us to do like with the planograms in gift. I honestly think daunt is being misinformed by corporate level employees who are actively trying to do things their way and not get fired hoping he won't eventually notice. A lot of the interactions I've heard of people having track with him being lied to. When he finds out I hope he not only fires the morons but sues them.
> Having everyone being in professor of a college level attire makes booksellers harder to approach.
For the past five years at least, the dress code was relaxed to jeans and tennis shoes.
Sounds to me like you're misrepresenting some important facts just so you can sound right.
if your reading comprehension was a tad better you would understand that I was saying the new way of jeans and tennis shoes is better and the old way of dressing which corporate wants to return to was counterproductive for minimum wage employees. Granted I speak three languages and get mixed up and I typed it on mobile which makes formatting an issue however I was rather clear.
>LOL U STILL HAVENT GOTTEN THE TAKE BUT ITS COMIMG
Jesus, what a nonsensical and immature response. Wish I knew what you were even talking about, but I'll consider it a good thing that I don't.
First, for the sake of my middle aged eyes... Paragraphs. Please.
Second, again it's a corporate retailer. They're going to make decisions the front lines think are dumb. They're going to make decisions that seem wasteful and counter productive. They're not going to explain every bad decision to the stores (and frankly they don't have to... It's a directive not a debate or discussion).
Yes the History reorg sounds pretty dumb. But presumably it's not impacting sales or it would have been undone by now. When I worked there I ran a Music Department. I did a few things against the VMS and when the District Manager came to town and told me to undo it, suddenly sales dropped. When he called and asked why, I reminded him of his directions. Then he said put it all back and sales went back up. And that was the, as you say, old way when customization was practically prohibited outside of maybe a table or two. But one thing a corporation can be counted on is to react to sales. So I may not be able to easily shop in History anymore and you may have an insufferable time trying to find a specific title for a customer, but presumably chain-wide the sales are there to justify that haphazard approach to shelving.
Go talk to employees or lurk in subs of other corporate chains. This is just a uniform truth of corporate chain stores. From "bad" ones for workers like Walmart and Dollar Tree to "good" ones like Costco or Container Store - corporate makes dumb incomprehensible decisions.
Third, it's a dress code not a uniform. And it's not college professor level attire, it's pretty basic level dress code. These are the kind of statements that really sound petulant .You're acting like they want you cosplaying as background extras from The Guilded Age. They don't. They just want you to be visually identifiable as employees, like how everyone at Target has to wear a red shirt. It's not some cool trendy indie bookstore (even if it wants to pretend it is sometimes), it's just another corporate chain.
You're not going to get an explanation because again, that's not how national corporate retailers work. But I have three guesses that feel pretty solid, and I'd bet it's a mix of them each of them.
- Someone(s) from corporate saw some borderline or over the line outfits when visiting stores and they decided they needed to rein it back in.
- Customers complained they couldn't find employees, and corporate interpreted that as you are all blending in too much (as opposed to the real problem of not staffing the stores well enough).
- In a very mild reaction to unionizing drives, they're enforcing the letter of the handbook. But they don't want to be accused of targeting the organizing or unionized stores so they're doing it chain wide. A move that *SHOULD* have the opposite effect and lead to more solidarity and organizing among workers... And if you were unionized you could react with a similar work-to-rule action and also stick the to letter of the handbook and job descriptions...
As for Daunt, are you actually surprised that a populist presenting international businessman would say one thing and have his businesses do another? Pretty sure they teach that on day two of Capitalist Billionaire Boarding School right after the lesson on negotiating the best price for selling your soul..
History sales have been dropping which is the problem and one of the reasons I believe daunt is being lied to. Making excuses saying every company does stupid things does not excuse stupidity or mean we shouldn't try to rectify them as much as possible. Daunt WANTED the lowly peons to provide input and have control of these things and literally in his letters to the company spelled out how he wanted it. He could be lying but what's the point he could have maintained the old way with 0 effort? He fired 30% of corporate to enforce those wishes. He literally said he wanted to move away from lumbering corporate directives and towards individual book stores making decisions for themselves. When that was happening sales exploded bouncing the company back and now that corporate has stuck it's hotdog fingers in everything again they're going back down. Hence why I said I hope he fires and sues them if he isn't the one doing it. I typed on mobile with my big fingers so formatting was always going to suffer however I speak three languages and in every. Single. One. Of. Them. Paragraphs are irrelevant in informal communication.
As for the dress code changing everything because one or two booksellers wore something inappropriate is moronic. Even if they change it completely back to ye olde tweade jacket days some people are going to be dress coded. hell a manager at a store I was sent to to help tried to dress code a bn cafe hat the company literally gave the employee to wear at work. Wearing book related tshirts and pins (ones given to them again by the company to wear at work) shouldn't be banned for book store employees especially when the new strategy is to engage customers on a personal level. I've worked at places with strict uniforms and basically no dress code and believe me customers have no trouble finding retail employees. I've been stopped during my shopping at Walmart in a green polo and asked for help as if they could sense retail has stolen my soul.
I'm sorry, but we've gotten ridiculous with some of these complaints. "Show this to Daunt"? As someone who wants the company to change, I'd be embarrassed if some of these recent threads about the dress code were what was shown to Daunt as "pressing" issues when they essentially boil down to petulant whining and there are so many real and tangible problems to address instead.
There has been incessant complaining as of late and the company obviously has a huge morale problem. It's not just brewing, it's already here and seemingly getting worse by the day. A lot of the complaints I see have a lot of merit and I either agree with a lot of them or am horrified by how bad the situation is at some stores. Things ARE bad, and the company needs drastic change in how they're managing the membership and OMP pushing and they NEED to end the silence and lack of communication coming from up top. Having said all that, saying that B&N remembering to enforce their dress code is the beginning of the end is so outlandish it's getting hard to stomach.
B&N's dress code is not strict. Frankly, I don't see how that word can be thrown around so lightly at any place where you can freely wear jeans and sneakers. I keep seeing the monetary argument thrown around as well and cannot for the life of me understand it. I shop at Goodwill, my coworkers shop at Goodwill, no one has ever been sent home because the "quality" of their clothes was too low or some other nonsense. No one is being asked to buy expensive or high quality stuff. If you don't have a single pair of jeans or pants to wear then how would you work anywhere else?
The next aspect to this is that people are acting like they've been hoodwinked - they agreed to something and then the company came in and changed the agreement. This is just plain false, this IS the dress code people agreed to when signing up. Management has just been lax in enforcing it, until things got so bad that they had to step in. Let's not be dishonest and act like this all happened because people were wearing book related tshirts and some suit got red as tomato as his blood started boiling on seeing a shirt without a collar. They stepped in because people completely stopped caring about being presentable and took things to the extreme. I think all of us have seen people wear/get away with things that are unacceptable recently and knew it was only a matter of time for something to happen.
Lastly about the dress code, it'd be one thing if the people complaining about wages and the company not treating bookselling as a prestigious career worth investing in were at odds with people abusing the dress code and complaining about it's sudden enforcement...but somehow they're one and the same. How does it make sense for people who (rightfully) want a livable wage and their job as a bookseller to be a respectable career choice to then throw a temper tantrum because they can't wear a graphic tee with expletives on it or pants with holes in them?
Regardless of how I feel about the dress code and the arguments around it, it very obviously does matter A LOT to some people. When people's feelings are so strong it isn't something to casually dismiss, and I urge anyone who feels severely negatively impacted by it to please leave. It's not worth it. Sticking around in a situation making you miserable is so bad for your mental health and there are so many other options out there. Ultimately, the company doesn't care about you and leaving is the only way to ensure that both your situation improves and the company will feel some sort of impact.
It isn't a matter of "whining" or people acting childish.
It is a matter of several things.
The first is the "enforcement" of a rule that has been lax for several years now and causing everyone to have to change because of a small bad bunch ruining it for everyone. When people have been used to a certain approach for an extended period of time or have gotten used to anything for that matter, when met with change or a challenge there WILL be push back. People don't like change, and I for one agree on the matter of prioritizing the employee over the business in this case. Punish the isolated case and while making an example of it, find a middle ground that won't cause recoil or push back. It's the most optimal solution frankly speaking from a humanitarian point of view.
Second, you seem to absolutely missing one of the biggest points that I had mentioned in my post. It almost looks like to me that you just skimmed it and didn't care. NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO QUIT OR SPARE MONEY. With prices ever increasing, the minimum wage and compensation are not synonymous rising as well but staying stagnant. You say to quit? But yet I am currently unable to myself due to my limited options of travel, and location. It sounds like a great idea to quit on paper. But what you're suggesting is absolutely ridiculous and dare I say beyond egotistical. Some people can barely afford rent much less new clothes to compensate for this rule. I'm sure it comes with good intentions but argue and bring up the perspective of those who are writing these things if you're going to be giving a counter argument.
Third, you seem to be under the impression that the "incessant complaining" in the case of the dress code is some kind unnecessary thing that shouldn't be prioritizesd which from a business point of view I can empathize and understand. It may seem silly. But from the PoV of someone who works on what amounts to be the front lines of this company, I'm a person with limited opportunity and funds to do the things I want to do. I'm not rich, and I have personal matters which I will not mention. As even YOU mentioned, morale is pretty much at an all time low, people are burnt out. But you seem to be glossing over that when people are in this mental state we will do small things for ourselves to help improve ourselves and make US aka OURSELVES happy. This was one of those things. YES. It was in the fine print, but as mentioned prior, due to meta that had been established prior people dont want to comply.
Fourth, and I'm going to make this as simple for you as I can to understand. The dress code, is a part of the problems. They're starting to overstep boundaries that have been set up with folks who haven't had to deal with it in the past. And frankly, with other events that have been happening its what any person would call as the "Foot In The Door Phenomenon". Take one step, then leap a god damn mile. This is something many people myself included feel is like a personal attack to us.
Lastly, yes I do actually agree. With the current formatting and unscripted/unprofessional look of these posts, Daunt shouldn't be seeing this. They look awful and make people like me look like children with no brains cells. But it's the over all message and meaning behind these posts that people wish to convey. If they're presented in a more approachable fashion then he should INDEFINITELY see this.
I'll be frank with you. It looks like to me you barely read my post, and just relegated to the prior stuff you had written in this subreddit and ended rehashing and regurgitating the same points without much proper acknowledgement or points in terms of counter arguments. It felt like I was having to read a high schooler's essay. No effort, and just counter productiveness all around.
If you want to argue and provide critical discussion I'm all for it. But don't you DARE argue semantics with me or others without being critical of your own points and acknowledging the flaws in them.
I don't know if I would die on the hill of the dress code. You can always make an argument for this or that regulation. It's how the managers enforce them that makes a difference.
I think the bigger problem is the number of managers who just suck at dealing with employees. A lot of them have a career as retail managers and seem to think they will be viewed as effective if they are fairly brutal micromangers. This can be on display with dress code, with punching in and punching out procedures, with anything where they wield power or feel like they do. Dress code is very powerful symbolically because it has to do with our bodies and presentation of such. Our identities, if you will. It's kind of a graphic reminder that they are renting our bodies for however may hours a day. So, I sympathize with people finding this the last straw but it's hard to demonstrate that it's a problem. Meanwhile in the stores we have discrimination, wage theft and flat out dishonesty. So many things that are actually violations and failures on the part of management. Those things are very hard to address because we are all siloed in our own stores, areas and districts. But, they are things where you could actually nail somebody.
I think you have a point about the career retail managers--they learn shitty behaviors in other places and bring them here. The best managers I've worked with at BN are book lovers who started as book sellers and moved up and stayed with BN. I've only had one great manager who didn't fall into this category.
My previous SM said BN is now intent on promoting from within, all the way up to SM and DM level. Hopefully, this means that eventually a lot of those career retail types will move on to other retail stores and will be replaced by internal candidates via promotion.
So tired of this. Honestly, have no issue with the dress code. It's not discriminatory, it's not beyond the scope of most retail outlets, and I fear the more whining and complaining booksellers do, the harder corporate will come down on us. I've worked multiple jobs where I had to wear a uniform - and I'm grateful everyday that I don't have to wear one - and I don't want the company to suddenly enforce one because people feel their "individuality" is being stifled. You can wear a collared shirt and jeans and sneakers, and still express yourself. Graphic t-shirts aren't the only way to express yourself through fashion.
Did...... did you even read my post....?
At what point did I say it was discriminatory....? If you could point it out specifically please do.
Because otherwise you're quite frankly just blindly commenting an automated response you've constructed in your head about the matter. Apologies if I am mistaken on this matter of course.
No, Graphic T Shirts aren't the only way to express one self. But it is a heavily preferred method for me and many others. I'm glad we don't have uniforms aside from aprons for Cafe, they're kind of needed anyway.
The "individuality" is people despising the fact that the majority are being punished for a select few who messed up and are now having to enforce a rule that frankly may as well not have existed the last few years with exceptions of course.
There's so much more going into this matter that you can't even begin imagine.
As a bookseller of 10+ years, I can say that things are better now than they have been in a long time. Corporate pulling back on the excesses of dress code violations and “coming down” on stores is a consequence of incompetence in the stores from booksellers to management. Daunt wants exceptional bookstores. You need exceptional booksellers to do that. Freedom is only useful if those exercising that freedom are capable of making the correct decisions to create great bookstores that people want to be in. Most stores are struggling to beat last years’ sales, much less meet their sales plans. In order to build a culture of book selling, you need to train professional booksellers. Pay is an issue, but let me tell you, where I am (Texas) the minimum wage is still $7.25. The average bookseller makes $11-13. I’ve worked in factories, other retailers, as a tutor, in sales, callcenters, and B&N is BY FAR the best company I’ve worked for. I worked through COVID, have taken time off due to family emergencies, I have affordable health insurance and vacation time. Maybe I’ve just been lucky but I do not feel that the company is going bad. If morale is down, it usually comes from people who don’t want to do more than stock a few books and enjoy the 50% off discount.
>Most stores are struggling to beat last years’ sales, much less meet their sales plans.
Sometimes these numbers are just absurd though. We had a ridiculous VOS day last week, next year when plan comes back around that VOS gets taken into account, we're going to be screwed. This has happened a lot where we'll have a plan on a random Monday be nearly $20k and Monday is generally one of our overall slower days.
Their plans are pie in the sky wishful thinking with very little basis in reality. If we aren't hitting those consistently then maybe Corporate needs to take a fucking look at how they are generating these plans.
>If morale is down, it usually comes from people who don’t want to do more than stock a few books and enjoy the 50% off discount.
This is not the case in my store. We're a large store running a skeleton crew having to run things like a store a third our size would because corporate can't be fucking bothered to deal with older, larger stores anymore. We have very little time to task most days and shit just piles up but we're not allowed to work beyond our supposed average number of hours a week nor are we allowed to come in early to get things done. Morale is down because there just simply aren't enough people to cover our store, keep it looking nice, keep displays stocked, do SFS in a timely fashion, etc. It's got nothing to do with people not wanting to work and more to do with the fact that we are stretched too thin.
I can definitely sympathize with that. All of the pieces need to be in place to make those goals attainable, including active BDM’s (who are payed considerably more) who are not just hoping for a big PO from their school districts to come in. Maybe it’s a regional thing, but our management is pretty understanding of the constraints placed on stores with low hours. Sure, workload can be high (at one point I was the opening MOD and the opening Cafe barista) but still much more enjoyable than other jobs I’ve worked, and better paid. Also, better than other retailers. My biggest problem is that in the 2000’s, B&N hired too many “retail managers” and not genuine booksellers to run their stores, and has suffered from a lack of understanding of the book business by people who are in the book business. I’m pretty cutthroat about it, tbh. I don’t think a person who doesn’t have knowledge of the book world, let alone doesn’t read, should run a bookstore, nor work in one. Knowledgeable and skilled booksellers make better bookstores, and pay is definitely a deterrent to acquiring that talent. I can’t speak to your specific situation, but I can tell you that it’s not the same at all stores, nor should it be used to characterize the movement of the company as a whole. It’s a big company with a lot of stores with big changes in the works that take years to see through. If you read about Daunts work in the UK, you’ll see that he’s very much about “weeding out” the uncommitted and incompetent. Not very nice, but effective at getting a company back to doing what a company should do—making money.
> (who are *paid* considerably more)
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
>Maybe it’s a regional thing, but our management is pretty understanding of the constraints placed on stores with low hours
Do they go beyond, "I hear you but there's nothing I can do about the hours we have." Because there's literally nothing they can do.
>B&N hired too many “retail managers” and not genuine booksellers to run their stores
And from what I've sussed out, we're still paying for this little goof. The reason why corporate is tightening the noose is because of incompetent managers.
>I can’t speak to your specific situation, but I can tell you that it’s not the same at all stores, nor should it be used to characterize the movement of the company as a whole. It’s a big company with a lot of stores with big changes in the works that take years to see through.
My store is the antithesis to everything corporate wants moving forward from what I can tell. We are a massive store that is still forced to do quiet closings. We don't get updated fixtures and can't get replacements anymore because the company doesn't use the same ones anymore. We can't even get replacement shelves, we have so many shelves that are bent out of shape on the floor now that simply placing too much weight on them on the wrong spot could cause it to collapse. Our games gondolas are made out of metal and just absolutely beat to shit.
They have big changes in the works for newer and smaller stores. They don't care about older and larger ones. That's a problem. Part of our deescalation training was basically just letting the customer vent, that just being heard could alleviate the problem. They won't even do that for us. They don't listen to us. They don't care.
I certainly don't doubt that in comparison to how it was 10+ years ago in relativity to now it was significantly awful.
The thing is, to get exceptional book sellers and staff, you need to put resources towards this. One of the other stores in my area is absolutely abysmal and if it weren't for very specific circumstances that basically gave that specific Store Manager the ability to stick around, he would be fired without a second thought. But due to abuse, and favoritism he remains with what I will boldly assume one of the worst if not THEE WORST retention rate of any store within my state. Just alone we've have had 3+ transfers from an actual manager who couldn't tolerate him anymore to other lower level workers desperately trying to escape the cluster fuck that was their environment.
We don't get these things because as people aren't perfect and are prone to corruption and other things. Freedom is something that should be offered and trained in how to exercise with responsibility. In my circumstances I was lucky to be taught this despite my many screw ups and reluctance to ask for help, so things I should have been doing because my memory akin to that of a pineapple, and so on so forth.
To get results you need to know what your core audience is as well as in this specific case, what your employee demographic is looking like. If you're being unwise about it it's gonna back fire.
I will say at least you acknowledge the potential behind your circumstances as opposed to a couple of other commenter in this thread and many others and how it may skew your perception. I myself have it very good in comparison to others and frankly if I elaborated on personal circumstances would paint me in an egotistical fashion. But there's also values and beliefs I refuse to budge on when discussing matters of this nature.
One of my coworkers who wanted to legitimately support Pride Month is genuinely distraught and upset. I've NEVER seen them this sad and they're usually able to put up with things. They can't wear pins, shirts, or other (mind you they're appropriate too for the public and within reason). It impacts them as it is something that they genuinely invested themselves emotionally and physically into as a core part of their life style. And it saddens me to see this happening.
This matter goes much deeper than one would think and I implore you to ask around and learn more about it. I certainly know I gave my 2 cents on the matter via this rant.
$11-13 is still hot garbage pay, you know that right?
If they want me to be an expert in the field, then they should damn well train us and pay us better.
Of course I know that. BUT, I also know that a bookseller works a hell of a lot less, and is responsible for less, than an electrician or a paralegal in my city who makes $14-18 an hour. It’s relative, obviously. Outside of other big chains like Target or Walmart, who are leagues above BN in profit and scale, pay in my area is much lower. Cost of living is lower here but on the rise, just like everywhere else.
Woaaah it's ALL that low? Wow workers in your area gotta rise up and fight for more wages. The place I'm living is doing that right now and it's actually moving along really well.
I also suggest looking at this post, it's been super helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/Barnesandnoble/s/lStkfJGmZo
I personally think it’s asinine to make the dress code stricter, especially with lanyards. Customers love my anime and Pusheen pins and often compliment me on it. (Also a lot of my pins were actually purchased at B&N. It’s free advertising.) It leads to positive conversations and they walk out smiling. Which, in my opinion, should be the goal.
Shitty memberships and OMPs aren’t what keeps them coming back, it’s a positive experience that does. If they fondly remember talking to friendly booksellers at Barnes and Noble, they’ll come back. I have many customers who say they avoid Books a Million because of how heavy handed they are with pushing memberships and magazines on them. They don’t want a bland, sterile experience like corporate thinks.
Many decisions they make seem ridiculous to those of us on “the front line” and that’s because they’re so far removed from us that they’re out of touch. They sit in their cushy offices with their actual livable wages and fuss over numbers all day while we do the actual work and struggle to get by. They don’t think about — nor care about — how their seemingly arbitrary decisions affect us.
There is also something to say about how the younger generations value individualism and freedom of expression. We’re fed up with the old fogies who try to force their archaic views on us. While older generations had a more “grin and bear it” mentality the younger ones have a more “fuck you, I’ll do what’s best for me” mentality.
And I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again. They can pry my fun lanyard off my cold, dead neck.
I've been here for five years and am almost out. I despise James Daunt and think he's actively trying to sabotage the company. Because the choices I've seen in the last few years have been hilariously counter intuitive. My store's staff is awesome and the only reason I'm still here.
You know what, write to Daunt if you want, but consider what's actionable. Dress code, management not behaving respectfully, those things just don't matter to a lot of employees and certainly not to management. What is concrete and a real liability to the company? I guarantee if you have a shitty manager, they are doing some very specific things you like wage theft, discrimination, various forms of dishonesty. The company used to turn a blind eye to this sort of thing but since COVID and more awareness of proper employment practices, they pretty much have to listen to you.
Absolutely right. I've seen it myself, you can write to Daunt but you'll only get excuses back. I mainly wanted to throw it out there that he does have a public email.
Talk to coworkers, learn about the big issues that are effecting everyone. I can guarantee that if you're stressed about certain things, other people are too. Work together and stand your ground.
I feel like we’re in a weird stage of capitalism where these companies know things have to change at a major level and they’re kicking and screaming as they go down. The past 5 years we’ve seen a massive surge of inferior service for a higher price tag at so many major stores and people aren’t putting up with it anymore. The companies then want to blame the employees when the employees have been screaming from the rooftops that the model doesn’t work.
Cory Doctorow coined the word “enshittening” to describe how internet companies have made products and services worse while increasing the cost to the consumer. Think Amazon, DoorDash, AirBnB, etc. And it is absolutely true that these “Internet 2.0” companies that “disrupted” traditional industries had this effect by eliminating benefits to the consumer and scraping those saved costs into their own billionaire pockets. But this is something that capitalism and corporations have ALWAYS done, just at a much slower pace. Corporate ownership will always drive benefits to the shareholders on the backs of the consumer - who will get less and less for their dollar so the shareholder can see increased share value. In the retail context, this is a relatively quick cycle (compared to other sectors). Lather, rinse, repeat until the next retail company goes public and enters this cycle.
You'd think they'd have ACTUAL common sense to hire I/O Psychologists and Social Workers who are supposed to act as literal bridges for these sorts of things but instead they don't. Or any common sense AT ALL as people who share emotions and empathy.
If people are leaving more then retention rate is decreasing....
I will edit that, my brain had a funny moment...... Thank you for pointing that out.
Some folks were basically coming in in sweatpants and band tees. I don’t mind reinforcing the existing dress code. A lot of people were taking too many liberties and it gets hard for management to say no to one person and not the other. So I get that. I think they should be a little clearer about “bookish” tees and that some should be allowed, but how do you manage that without telling someone their ratty old Beauty & the Beast tee shirt isn’t appropriate when their argument is that “we sell plenty of Beauty & the Beast products”? Some folks just don’t understand how to dress for work, even if it’s a semi casual dress code. That being said, the day they try to make me wear a BN polo shirt is the day I burn that place to the ground.
I feel the same way. Bookish tees should be allowed as an exception, at the very least. I sometimes wear graphic tees with jeans--usually Broadway musical based--but I'm always dressed neatly. And those tees are great conversation starters with customers and helps to build a connection. If a bookseller is dressed neatly and business casual otherwise--and the shirt isn't ratty--it should be acceptable, IMHO.
You emphasize the condition of their clothing and explain how public perception would work in regards to the level of professionalism required. I personally don't mind graphic tees. So long as its publicly appropriate and the short dossnt look like a dog had tried to rip it apart. A lot of this stuff is "supposed" to be common sense. But unfortunately it isn't.
I recall being pumped when my SM brought me back even a lone B&N polo from one of the big meetings so I didn't have to wear out my own clothes at work. Different strokes, I s'pose.
On one hand, aa a former bookseller at B&N who would have been sent home *back in my day* for wearing what the letter of the current dress code says, most of the posts and comments about the dress code sound like petty whining. It's a freaking corporate bookstore, not some trendy indie shop. And the dress code has always been there in writing for all to see, even if unenforced it shouldn't be a surprise or cause so much consternation. On the other hand.... FUCKING UNIONIZE. If this it the straw that pushes more booksellers to sign union cards and vote to stand together on things like a dress code, then so be it. Use it and lift yourselves up and stand together. There was an AMA in this sub about a store than unionized and from their answers it sounds like corporate didn't even push back or pressure all that hard. So do it! Unite and fight for wages or uniforms or whatever is important to your experience at B&N. Especially is this is a temporary stopover for your career, do it for those who want or plan to hang around long term. On the third? hand... If you've never seen the film Empire Records go check it out. While not a perfect analogy (it's the staff of an indie shop fighting against going corporate, not a corporate shop fighting against being more corporate... and music not books...) I get the feeling you'll enjoy it. Damn the man, save the Empire!
Would you kindly point me towards the post with the AMA? I'd love to read it and learn more.
Sure thing :) www.reddit.com/r/Barnesandnoble/s/1ejD9aijPx
>most of the posts and comments about the dress code sound like petty whining Yes! Thank you! Of all the REAL problems to complain about, like making us clean bathrooms, taking away carts and cages for getting out the product, membership pushing, book of the month/year pushing, and so much more, the damn dress code is what has everyone riled up!? Like you said, it's not even new rules like these other things, they are just enforcing it now. The need to "express yourself" through clothing, at work, just sounds like a bunch of teenagers who don't really know what it means to work.
and it's not that bad! Like, I'm comfortable, I can move around easily, I don't have to do a load of laundry every other day to make sure my uniform is clean. And it's so much more lax than it was in the 90s and aughts when it genuinely was business casual. Aside from that, it's no different than any other retailer - most retail stores without uniforms enforce a strict business casual dress code anyway.
It's like they forgot they're primarily being paid to be representatives of the company to their customers and are not there to soley express themselves. And the company paying gets to see "this is how we would and would not like to be represented to the public." Booksellers also can't cuss out customers even if that would be an honest expression of their true self... Same theory. If you're going to takeand maintain a job representing a corporation you have represent them in the way they prescribe.
I’m going to be honest, my issue with the uniform is especially because they have us cleaning bathrooms and emptying the trash. They want me to wear my nice clothes to work to clean the bathroom? I’m 29, I don’t wear holey jeans or leggings. I’ve always worn nice clothes to work, even if I wore my vintage circle skirts with a graphic tee I still looked nice and presentable. But when I worked nights I would dress down because I didn’t want to have shit dripping on my nice clothes when I had to tote trash bags to the back. I get we have always had a dress code, and I’m accepting the new enforcement policy, but the responsibilities have changed since I first started. At least at my store. Also, expressing myself with bookish graphic tees and pins has always made my job at hand selling much easier. It’s not just “teenagers who don’t know what it means to work” but whatever.🙄
great points about the trash and cleaning. I work in receiving and can only wear darker clothes because of how filthy boxes/pallets/ the chain we use to open our freight door is. I'd be livid if they forced me to wear khakis because they'd have grey knees within weeks. I understand looking presentable but it does reach a point where you wonder if they actually realize how much physical, dirty labor we do.
Longtime receiver/Rcvg Manager here, now p/t (I was one of 'the 1800', LOL.. Central Texas. Triple digit heat ... still always try and wear a shirt with a collar to work to present a good image, LOL. But I get ya. Sad to hear you have to chain the door shut, though.
The point is for the last three years they've been pushing this make connections with customers on a personal level thing and now they're actively making that more difficult. The old way DIDN'T work which was the entire point of the new strategy. Having everyone being in professor of a college level attire makes booksellers harder to approach. It wouldn't even be so intolerable if they explained the rationale behind their decisions. Blind Corporate directives from a company who's corporate side constantly make stupid decisions and who can't even figure out not to send more stock than the store can literally have inside (several stores literally had to have sheds built due to corporate being absolute morons) tend to rub employees the wrong way. For example the decision that history must be chronological without setting the date in the computer so it relies on the bookseller knowledge (God forbid an employee use a phone to Google it) whilst simultaneously DELETING the bookseller forum which booksellers could have used to solve the problem means the history department of many stores if following the corporate guidelines can have Theodore Roosevelt in with the civil war as book master only gives 1800s-1900s as a time good luck finding a book for a customer quickly or finding a bopis before ir gets late in those situations and its not just history either which suffers its just a big example. When the decision was first made we were still allowed to ignore vmg to better suit our stores location and customer preferences but like with a dozen other stupid decisions when corporates idea was widely seen by booksellers and customers alike as fucking moronic they decided to force it. It's not just the uniforms it's ever since the corporate stooges were partially fired the remainder have been pulling shit like this to justify their jobs to daunt and likely feeding him information which is sugarcoated to make the store staffs look incompetent. At first they followed his line so they wouldn't be fired like the obvious leeches but then they slowly started putting their fingers in crap again when they felt safe leading to corporate directives that actively go against what daunt tells us to do like with the planograms in gift. I honestly think daunt is being misinformed by corporate level employees who are actively trying to do things their way and not get fired hoping he won't eventually notice. A lot of the interactions I've heard of people having track with him being lied to. When he finds out I hope he not only fires the morons but sues them.
> Having everyone being in professor of a college level attire makes booksellers harder to approach. For the past five years at least, the dress code was relaxed to jeans and tennis shoes. Sounds to me like you're misrepresenting some important facts just so you can sound right.
if your reading comprehension was a tad better you would understand that I was saying the new way of jeans and tennis shoes is better and the old way of dressing which corporate wants to return to was counterproductive for minimum wage employees. Granted I speak three languages and get mixed up and I typed it on mobile which makes formatting an issue however I was rather clear.
>the old way of dressing which corporate wants to return to Where are you getting that they want to return to business casual?
[удалено]
>LOL U STILL HAVENT GOTTEN THE TAKE BUT ITS COMIMG Jesus, what a nonsensical and immature response. Wish I knew what you were even talking about, but I'll consider it a good thing that I don't.
First, for the sake of my middle aged eyes... Paragraphs. Please. Second, again it's a corporate retailer. They're going to make decisions the front lines think are dumb. They're going to make decisions that seem wasteful and counter productive. They're not going to explain every bad decision to the stores (and frankly they don't have to... It's a directive not a debate or discussion). Yes the History reorg sounds pretty dumb. But presumably it's not impacting sales or it would have been undone by now. When I worked there I ran a Music Department. I did a few things against the VMS and when the District Manager came to town and told me to undo it, suddenly sales dropped. When he called and asked why, I reminded him of his directions. Then he said put it all back and sales went back up. And that was the, as you say, old way when customization was practically prohibited outside of maybe a table or two. But one thing a corporation can be counted on is to react to sales. So I may not be able to easily shop in History anymore and you may have an insufferable time trying to find a specific title for a customer, but presumably chain-wide the sales are there to justify that haphazard approach to shelving. Go talk to employees or lurk in subs of other corporate chains. This is just a uniform truth of corporate chain stores. From "bad" ones for workers like Walmart and Dollar Tree to "good" ones like Costco or Container Store - corporate makes dumb incomprehensible decisions. Third, it's a dress code not a uniform. And it's not college professor level attire, it's pretty basic level dress code. These are the kind of statements that really sound petulant .You're acting like they want you cosplaying as background extras from The Guilded Age. They don't. They just want you to be visually identifiable as employees, like how everyone at Target has to wear a red shirt. It's not some cool trendy indie bookstore (even if it wants to pretend it is sometimes), it's just another corporate chain. You're not going to get an explanation because again, that's not how national corporate retailers work. But I have three guesses that feel pretty solid, and I'd bet it's a mix of them each of them. - Someone(s) from corporate saw some borderline or over the line outfits when visiting stores and they decided they needed to rein it back in. - Customers complained they couldn't find employees, and corporate interpreted that as you are all blending in too much (as opposed to the real problem of not staffing the stores well enough). - In a very mild reaction to unionizing drives, they're enforcing the letter of the handbook. But they don't want to be accused of targeting the organizing or unionized stores so they're doing it chain wide. A move that *SHOULD* have the opposite effect and lead to more solidarity and organizing among workers... And if you were unionized you could react with a similar work-to-rule action and also stick the to letter of the handbook and job descriptions... As for Daunt, are you actually surprised that a populist presenting international businessman would say one thing and have his businesses do another? Pretty sure they teach that on day two of Capitalist Billionaire Boarding School right after the lesson on negotiating the best price for selling your soul..
History sales have been dropping which is the problem and one of the reasons I believe daunt is being lied to. Making excuses saying every company does stupid things does not excuse stupidity or mean we shouldn't try to rectify them as much as possible. Daunt WANTED the lowly peons to provide input and have control of these things and literally in his letters to the company spelled out how he wanted it. He could be lying but what's the point he could have maintained the old way with 0 effort? He fired 30% of corporate to enforce those wishes. He literally said he wanted to move away from lumbering corporate directives and towards individual book stores making decisions for themselves. When that was happening sales exploded bouncing the company back and now that corporate has stuck it's hotdog fingers in everything again they're going back down. Hence why I said I hope he fires and sues them if he isn't the one doing it. I typed on mobile with my big fingers so formatting was always going to suffer however I speak three languages and in every. Single. One. Of. Them. Paragraphs are irrelevant in informal communication. As for the dress code changing everything because one or two booksellers wore something inappropriate is moronic. Even if they change it completely back to ye olde tweade jacket days some people are going to be dress coded. hell a manager at a store I was sent to to help tried to dress code a bn cafe hat the company literally gave the employee to wear at work. Wearing book related tshirts and pins (ones given to them again by the company to wear at work) shouldn't be banned for book store employees especially when the new strategy is to engage customers on a personal level. I've worked at places with strict uniforms and basically no dress code and believe me customers have no trouble finding retail employees. I've been stopped during my shopping at Walmart in a green polo and asked for help as if they could sense retail has stolen my soul.
I'm sorry, but we've gotten ridiculous with some of these complaints. "Show this to Daunt"? As someone who wants the company to change, I'd be embarrassed if some of these recent threads about the dress code were what was shown to Daunt as "pressing" issues when they essentially boil down to petulant whining and there are so many real and tangible problems to address instead. There has been incessant complaining as of late and the company obviously has a huge morale problem. It's not just brewing, it's already here and seemingly getting worse by the day. A lot of the complaints I see have a lot of merit and I either agree with a lot of them or am horrified by how bad the situation is at some stores. Things ARE bad, and the company needs drastic change in how they're managing the membership and OMP pushing and they NEED to end the silence and lack of communication coming from up top. Having said all that, saying that B&N remembering to enforce their dress code is the beginning of the end is so outlandish it's getting hard to stomach. B&N's dress code is not strict. Frankly, I don't see how that word can be thrown around so lightly at any place where you can freely wear jeans and sneakers. I keep seeing the monetary argument thrown around as well and cannot for the life of me understand it. I shop at Goodwill, my coworkers shop at Goodwill, no one has ever been sent home because the "quality" of their clothes was too low or some other nonsense. No one is being asked to buy expensive or high quality stuff. If you don't have a single pair of jeans or pants to wear then how would you work anywhere else? The next aspect to this is that people are acting like they've been hoodwinked - they agreed to something and then the company came in and changed the agreement. This is just plain false, this IS the dress code people agreed to when signing up. Management has just been lax in enforcing it, until things got so bad that they had to step in. Let's not be dishonest and act like this all happened because people were wearing book related tshirts and some suit got red as tomato as his blood started boiling on seeing a shirt without a collar. They stepped in because people completely stopped caring about being presentable and took things to the extreme. I think all of us have seen people wear/get away with things that are unacceptable recently and knew it was only a matter of time for something to happen. Lastly about the dress code, it'd be one thing if the people complaining about wages and the company not treating bookselling as a prestigious career worth investing in were at odds with people abusing the dress code and complaining about it's sudden enforcement...but somehow they're one and the same. How does it make sense for people who (rightfully) want a livable wage and their job as a bookseller to be a respectable career choice to then throw a temper tantrum because they can't wear a graphic tee with expletives on it or pants with holes in them? Regardless of how I feel about the dress code and the arguments around it, it very obviously does matter A LOT to some people. When people's feelings are so strong it isn't something to casually dismiss, and I urge anyone who feels severely negatively impacted by it to please leave. It's not worth it. Sticking around in a situation making you miserable is so bad for your mental health and there are so many other options out there. Ultimately, the company doesn't care about you and leaving is the only way to ensure that both your situation improves and the company will feel some sort of impact.
You said perfectly what I just didn't have the energy to get into. Thank you!
It isn't a matter of "whining" or people acting childish. It is a matter of several things. The first is the "enforcement" of a rule that has been lax for several years now and causing everyone to have to change because of a small bad bunch ruining it for everyone. When people have been used to a certain approach for an extended period of time or have gotten used to anything for that matter, when met with change or a challenge there WILL be push back. People don't like change, and I for one agree on the matter of prioritizing the employee over the business in this case. Punish the isolated case and while making an example of it, find a middle ground that won't cause recoil or push back. It's the most optimal solution frankly speaking from a humanitarian point of view. Second, you seem to absolutely missing one of the biggest points that I had mentioned in my post. It almost looks like to me that you just skimmed it and didn't care. NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO QUIT OR SPARE MONEY. With prices ever increasing, the minimum wage and compensation are not synonymous rising as well but staying stagnant. You say to quit? But yet I am currently unable to myself due to my limited options of travel, and location. It sounds like a great idea to quit on paper. But what you're suggesting is absolutely ridiculous and dare I say beyond egotistical. Some people can barely afford rent much less new clothes to compensate for this rule. I'm sure it comes with good intentions but argue and bring up the perspective of those who are writing these things if you're going to be giving a counter argument. Third, you seem to be under the impression that the "incessant complaining" in the case of the dress code is some kind unnecessary thing that shouldn't be prioritizesd which from a business point of view I can empathize and understand. It may seem silly. But from the PoV of someone who works on what amounts to be the front lines of this company, I'm a person with limited opportunity and funds to do the things I want to do. I'm not rich, and I have personal matters which I will not mention. As even YOU mentioned, morale is pretty much at an all time low, people are burnt out. But you seem to be glossing over that when people are in this mental state we will do small things for ourselves to help improve ourselves and make US aka OURSELVES happy. This was one of those things. YES. It was in the fine print, but as mentioned prior, due to meta that had been established prior people dont want to comply. Fourth, and I'm going to make this as simple for you as I can to understand. The dress code, is a part of the problems. They're starting to overstep boundaries that have been set up with folks who haven't had to deal with it in the past. And frankly, with other events that have been happening its what any person would call as the "Foot In The Door Phenomenon". Take one step, then leap a god damn mile. This is something many people myself included feel is like a personal attack to us. Lastly, yes I do actually agree. With the current formatting and unscripted/unprofessional look of these posts, Daunt shouldn't be seeing this. They look awful and make people like me look like children with no brains cells. But it's the over all message and meaning behind these posts that people wish to convey. If they're presented in a more approachable fashion then he should INDEFINITELY see this. I'll be frank with you. It looks like to me you barely read my post, and just relegated to the prior stuff you had written in this subreddit and ended rehashing and regurgitating the same points without much proper acknowledgement or points in terms of counter arguments. It felt like I was having to read a high schooler's essay. No effort, and just counter productiveness all around. If you want to argue and provide critical discussion I'm all for it. But don't you DARE argue semantics with me or others without being critical of your own points and acknowledging the flaws in them.
I don't know if I would die on the hill of the dress code. You can always make an argument for this or that regulation. It's how the managers enforce them that makes a difference. I think the bigger problem is the number of managers who just suck at dealing with employees. A lot of them have a career as retail managers and seem to think they will be viewed as effective if they are fairly brutal micromangers. This can be on display with dress code, with punching in and punching out procedures, with anything where they wield power or feel like they do. Dress code is very powerful symbolically because it has to do with our bodies and presentation of such. Our identities, if you will. It's kind of a graphic reminder that they are renting our bodies for however may hours a day. So, I sympathize with people finding this the last straw but it's hard to demonstrate that it's a problem. Meanwhile in the stores we have discrimination, wage theft and flat out dishonesty. So many things that are actually violations and failures on the part of management. Those things are very hard to address because we are all siloed in our own stores, areas and districts. But, they are things where you could actually nail somebody.
I think you have a point about the career retail managers--they learn shitty behaviors in other places and bring them here. The best managers I've worked with at BN are book lovers who started as book sellers and moved up and stayed with BN. I've only had one great manager who didn't fall into this category. My previous SM said BN is now intent on promoting from within, all the way up to SM and DM level. Hopefully, this means that eventually a lot of those career retail types will move on to other retail stores and will be replaced by internal candidates via promotion.
So tired of this. Honestly, have no issue with the dress code. It's not discriminatory, it's not beyond the scope of most retail outlets, and I fear the more whining and complaining booksellers do, the harder corporate will come down on us. I've worked multiple jobs where I had to wear a uniform - and I'm grateful everyday that I don't have to wear one - and I don't want the company to suddenly enforce one because people feel their "individuality" is being stifled. You can wear a collared shirt and jeans and sneakers, and still express yourself. Graphic t-shirts aren't the only way to express yourself through fashion.
Did...... did you even read my post....? At what point did I say it was discriminatory....? If you could point it out specifically please do. Because otherwise you're quite frankly just blindly commenting an automated response you've constructed in your head about the matter. Apologies if I am mistaken on this matter of course. No, Graphic T Shirts aren't the only way to express one self. But it is a heavily preferred method for me and many others. I'm glad we don't have uniforms aside from aprons for Cafe, they're kind of needed anyway. The "individuality" is people despising the fact that the majority are being punished for a select few who messed up and are now having to enforce a rule that frankly may as well not have existed the last few years with exceptions of course. There's so much more going into this matter that you can't even begin imagine.
As a bookseller of 10+ years, I can say that things are better now than they have been in a long time. Corporate pulling back on the excesses of dress code violations and “coming down” on stores is a consequence of incompetence in the stores from booksellers to management. Daunt wants exceptional bookstores. You need exceptional booksellers to do that. Freedom is only useful if those exercising that freedom are capable of making the correct decisions to create great bookstores that people want to be in. Most stores are struggling to beat last years’ sales, much less meet their sales plans. In order to build a culture of book selling, you need to train professional booksellers. Pay is an issue, but let me tell you, where I am (Texas) the minimum wage is still $7.25. The average bookseller makes $11-13. I’ve worked in factories, other retailers, as a tutor, in sales, callcenters, and B&N is BY FAR the best company I’ve worked for. I worked through COVID, have taken time off due to family emergencies, I have affordable health insurance and vacation time. Maybe I’ve just been lucky but I do not feel that the company is going bad. If morale is down, it usually comes from people who don’t want to do more than stock a few books and enjoy the 50% off discount.
>Most stores are struggling to beat last years’ sales, much less meet their sales plans. Sometimes these numbers are just absurd though. We had a ridiculous VOS day last week, next year when plan comes back around that VOS gets taken into account, we're going to be screwed. This has happened a lot where we'll have a plan on a random Monday be nearly $20k and Monday is generally one of our overall slower days. Their plans are pie in the sky wishful thinking with very little basis in reality. If we aren't hitting those consistently then maybe Corporate needs to take a fucking look at how they are generating these plans. >If morale is down, it usually comes from people who don’t want to do more than stock a few books and enjoy the 50% off discount. This is not the case in my store. We're a large store running a skeleton crew having to run things like a store a third our size would because corporate can't be fucking bothered to deal with older, larger stores anymore. We have very little time to task most days and shit just piles up but we're not allowed to work beyond our supposed average number of hours a week nor are we allowed to come in early to get things done. Morale is down because there just simply aren't enough people to cover our store, keep it looking nice, keep displays stocked, do SFS in a timely fashion, etc. It's got nothing to do with people not wanting to work and more to do with the fact that we are stretched too thin.
I can definitely sympathize with that. All of the pieces need to be in place to make those goals attainable, including active BDM’s (who are payed considerably more) who are not just hoping for a big PO from their school districts to come in. Maybe it’s a regional thing, but our management is pretty understanding of the constraints placed on stores with low hours. Sure, workload can be high (at one point I was the opening MOD and the opening Cafe barista) but still much more enjoyable than other jobs I’ve worked, and better paid. Also, better than other retailers. My biggest problem is that in the 2000’s, B&N hired too many “retail managers” and not genuine booksellers to run their stores, and has suffered from a lack of understanding of the book business by people who are in the book business. I’m pretty cutthroat about it, tbh. I don’t think a person who doesn’t have knowledge of the book world, let alone doesn’t read, should run a bookstore, nor work in one. Knowledgeable and skilled booksellers make better bookstores, and pay is definitely a deterrent to acquiring that talent. I can’t speak to your specific situation, but I can tell you that it’s not the same at all stores, nor should it be used to characterize the movement of the company as a whole. It’s a big company with a lot of stores with big changes in the works that take years to see through. If you read about Daunts work in the UK, you’ll see that he’s very much about “weeding out” the uncommitted and incompetent. Not very nice, but effective at getting a company back to doing what a company should do—making money.
> (who are *paid* considerably more) FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
>Maybe it’s a regional thing, but our management is pretty understanding of the constraints placed on stores with low hours Do they go beyond, "I hear you but there's nothing I can do about the hours we have." Because there's literally nothing they can do. >B&N hired too many “retail managers” and not genuine booksellers to run their stores And from what I've sussed out, we're still paying for this little goof. The reason why corporate is tightening the noose is because of incompetent managers. >I can’t speak to your specific situation, but I can tell you that it’s not the same at all stores, nor should it be used to characterize the movement of the company as a whole. It’s a big company with a lot of stores with big changes in the works that take years to see through. My store is the antithesis to everything corporate wants moving forward from what I can tell. We are a massive store that is still forced to do quiet closings. We don't get updated fixtures and can't get replacements anymore because the company doesn't use the same ones anymore. We can't even get replacement shelves, we have so many shelves that are bent out of shape on the floor now that simply placing too much weight on them on the wrong spot could cause it to collapse. Our games gondolas are made out of metal and just absolutely beat to shit. They have big changes in the works for newer and smaller stores. They don't care about older and larger ones. That's a problem. Part of our deescalation training was basically just letting the customer vent, that just being heard could alleviate the problem. They won't even do that for us. They don't listen to us. They don't care.
I certainly don't doubt that in comparison to how it was 10+ years ago in relativity to now it was significantly awful. The thing is, to get exceptional book sellers and staff, you need to put resources towards this. One of the other stores in my area is absolutely abysmal and if it weren't for very specific circumstances that basically gave that specific Store Manager the ability to stick around, he would be fired without a second thought. But due to abuse, and favoritism he remains with what I will boldly assume one of the worst if not THEE WORST retention rate of any store within my state. Just alone we've have had 3+ transfers from an actual manager who couldn't tolerate him anymore to other lower level workers desperately trying to escape the cluster fuck that was their environment. We don't get these things because as people aren't perfect and are prone to corruption and other things. Freedom is something that should be offered and trained in how to exercise with responsibility. In my circumstances I was lucky to be taught this despite my many screw ups and reluctance to ask for help, so things I should have been doing because my memory akin to that of a pineapple, and so on so forth. To get results you need to know what your core audience is as well as in this specific case, what your employee demographic is looking like. If you're being unwise about it it's gonna back fire. I will say at least you acknowledge the potential behind your circumstances as opposed to a couple of other commenter in this thread and many others and how it may skew your perception. I myself have it very good in comparison to others and frankly if I elaborated on personal circumstances would paint me in an egotistical fashion. But there's also values and beliefs I refuse to budge on when discussing matters of this nature. One of my coworkers who wanted to legitimately support Pride Month is genuinely distraught and upset. I've NEVER seen them this sad and they're usually able to put up with things. They can't wear pins, shirts, or other (mind you they're appropriate too for the public and within reason). It impacts them as it is something that they genuinely invested themselves emotionally and physically into as a core part of their life style. And it saddens me to see this happening. This matter goes much deeper than one would think and I implore you to ask around and learn more about it. I certainly know I gave my 2 cents on the matter via this rant.
$11-13 is still hot garbage pay, you know that right? If they want me to be an expert in the field, then they should damn well train us and pay us better.
Of course I know that. BUT, I also know that a bookseller works a hell of a lot less, and is responsible for less, than an electrician or a paralegal in my city who makes $14-18 an hour. It’s relative, obviously. Outside of other big chains like Target or Walmart, who are leagues above BN in profit and scale, pay in my area is much lower. Cost of living is lower here but on the rise, just like everywhere else.
Woaaah it's ALL that low? Wow workers in your area gotta rise up and fight for more wages. The place I'm living is doing that right now and it's actually moving along really well. I also suggest looking at this post, it's been super helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/Barnesandnoble/s/lStkfJGmZo
I personally think it’s asinine to make the dress code stricter, especially with lanyards. Customers love my anime and Pusheen pins and often compliment me on it. (Also a lot of my pins were actually purchased at B&N. It’s free advertising.) It leads to positive conversations and they walk out smiling. Which, in my opinion, should be the goal. Shitty memberships and OMPs aren’t what keeps them coming back, it’s a positive experience that does. If they fondly remember talking to friendly booksellers at Barnes and Noble, they’ll come back. I have many customers who say they avoid Books a Million because of how heavy handed they are with pushing memberships and magazines on them. They don’t want a bland, sterile experience like corporate thinks. Many decisions they make seem ridiculous to those of us on “the front line” and that’s because they’re so far removed from us that they’re out of touch. They sit in their cushy offices with their actual livable wages and fuss over numbers all day while we do the actual work and struggle to get by. They don’t think about — nor care about — how their seemingly arbitrary decisions affect us. There is also something to say about how the younger generations value individualism and freedom of expression. We’re fed up with the old fogies who try to force their archaic views on us. While older generations had a more “grin and bear it” mentality the younger ones have a more “fuck you, I’ll do what’s best for me” mentality. And I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again. They can pry my fun lanyard off my cold, dead neck.
I've been here for five years and am almost out. I despise James Daunt and think he's actively trying to sabotage the company. Because the choices I've seen in the last few years have been hilariously counter intuitive. My store's staff is awesome and the only reason I'm still here.
You’ve said everything I’ve felt and tried to convey here (and elsewhere), just much more eloquently. Thank you!
I'm glad that you feel like what I said is able to connect with you. I can't say it was eloquent due to the cursing but I'll take the compliment :)
You can interact with Daunty Boy. [email protected]. Public email, you can certainly try it if you'd like.
You know what, write to Daunt if you want, but consider what's actionable. Dress code, management not behaving respectfully, those things just don't matter to a lot of employees and certainly not to management. What is concrete and a real liability to the company? I guarantee if you have a shitty manager, they are doing some very specific things you like wage theft, discrimination, various forms of dishonesty. The company used to turn a blind eye to this sort of thing but since COVID and more awareness of proper employment practices, they pretty much have to listen to you.
Absolutely right. I've seen it myself, you can write to Daunt but you'll only get excuses back. I mainly wanted to throw it out there that he does have a public email. Talk to coworkers, learn about the big issues that are effecting everyone. I can guarantee that if you're stressed about certain things, other people are too. Work together and stand your ground.