Capitalism at its best.

Capitalism at its best.

For those of you who have busted your butts for a corporation, and found yourself kicked to the curb, here is some insight to what’s really going on.
I am a former manager of Barnes & noble, where I worked for several years. Below is a confession I sent anomalously to fellow/former employees. This most likely applies to most cooperation.

For employees: as a company we are being restructured at the store level in such a way that promotion from within no longer exists, so be aware. If you've been waiting for that bump up to management & sweet full-time, forget it. Do yourself a favor & update your resume. The Lead positions are bye-bye. We have been ordered to keep booksellers, cafe servers, etc. below 15 hours p/wk with max 4.5 hour shifts. The goal is to get rid of expensive long-time employees & discourage the formation of new ones. This is all from corporate. About the generous raises B&N gives, those are in the past. We are now told to write up all booksellers of infractions, so that the few who last a year won't be eligible for the automatic increase due to chronic performance problems. WTF! The benefits, promotions & fat raises, would motivate people if they are achievable, which they aren't any longer.
To Angry Customers: all of the above factors lead to piss poor customer service (Happy Workers, Happy Customers anyone?) It also means that the good workers aren't going to stick around because of low wages & no career path, so the bad booksellers are increasing in numbers. I am finding that the booksellers who are staying are the ones who don't NEED a paycheck. They have little investment in their job and it shows. Kids of affluent families, retirees who want to get out of the house, bored housewives, people who live in their mom's basement. God, I hated employing them. Almost uniformly they do the absolute minimum not to get fired & nothing more.

As an angry or wronged customer this is the only course of action you can take too make a difference when you complain. Go home & call the B&N Customer Service number 1-800-THE-BOOK (1-800-843-2665) and ask to file a complaint. Be specific & don't soft pedal the bad parts, try to use names & make sure you save your receipt. Your voice/sales as a customer is the only one corporate cares about. You could of complained to me until the cows come home, but when I passed your complaint to corporate they thought I was making things up because I don't want to do my job! They absolutely never take any complaints from the store level seriously, ever ever ever! If enough customers complain directly to them about an issue it becomes more important than anything. Plus, did I mention that if you are upset & angry enough about the bad service you will get a nice fat gift card?

I post this to those who still have a sense of humanity. I no longer work for B&N.

There is a new form of slavery and its called “EMPLOYEE”.

Is there away to stop this?????????

You know what is funny? Guys/Girls who have ran their own company are going to appear here, and say that you are lazy, and unmotivated, and all kinds of other things, because they have never worked for a publicly traded company.

I've worked both kinds. I will tell you this: Publicly traded companies (and very large private companies) do not care the least little bit about you. ALL they care about is profit. They do not care about customers. Not really, all they care about is profit. Profit is a God to them, it's what they worship, and who they bow down to.

I saw a very good and knowledgeable employee get "laid off" due to "expense cutting". Only thing was, she was the highest paid person in the department. It didn't matter that she did twice the work of other people, only that her salary was the highest (and she didn't make twice as much as other people, if that's what you are thinking).

At one company, I saw a guy quit over $60 in overtime that he was due, and didn't get. Because of this, the company lost a $30,000 job that was coming up in a few weeks. All because they were greedy for that $60.

I saw a company that "restructured their bonuses" to avoid paying a guy the huge bonuses he received. His base pay was $30,000. Everything else was in bonuses. He made over $125,000 a year. It was too expensive, you say? He made the company over $300,000 a year. This was a service job, so you can say (roughly) that it cost the company $125,000 a year to earn that $300,000 a year.

I saw a company that got rid of an entire (small) division of a company that I worked for, because it "wasn't making enough money". It had 6 employees, did $1,000,000 a year in business at 23%-30% NET profit a year , and had been doing this for 10 years. I tried to talk this one guy into "buying" it (really, all he would have had to do is take over the salary and material payments, and collect the checks). He had his accountant look at it, and do you know what the accountant said? "There's no way they are making that kind of money!" The guy I was trying to get to buy it even said "No company would get rid of a division making that much money!". I SAW the P&L statements. I *KNOW* how much net profit they were making.

It does not surprise me in the least that B&N would do that. I think publicly traded companies actually ought to be illegal, but I would settle for them not being allowed to ship "manufacturing" overseas, and not being allowed to hire two part-time people instead of one full time worker.

How to increase share holder/CEO’s profits is the only thing that matters in the cooperate world today. It’s all a matter of, “The Art of Taking Other Peoples Money”. This IS the world we live in today. I think the finical pit fall the US is headed for, is because of this greed.
Well, where in for a lot of trouble unless some paradigm shift takes place. Unless you’re willing to become some subservient slave/manager, you will be basically breaking rocks the rest of your life. What I really wont to know is there a way to stop this? Maybe I am to optimistic, but never the less, I think its worth the thought. I feel I might have wasted the last 8 years of my life.

It's the same here, it doesn't seem to matter that the company I work for gets more happy customers and profit because of the work I do, only the profit is important.

One day this world will indeed be brought down by the greed...

Wahhh Wahhh. My emplyer doesnt "care" about me like my mommy does. My mommy wipes my nose and tells me Im a precious snwflake but my mean old employer just views me as a cost. Wahh Wahhh. I wish I worked for my mommy.

"care" is also about getting paid for the work what you do

and it seems too much employee's nowadays don't "care" about how good you are in your work.

so please don't be so ignorant.

Originally posted by Shazam The Unbowed
Wahhh Wahhh. My emplyer doesnt "care" about me like my mommy does. My mommy wipes my nose and tells me Im a precious snwflake but my mean old employer just views me as a cost. Wahh Wahhh. I wish I worked for my mommy.

Did I not just predict this kind of IGNORANT response? Yes, I believe I did. Notice he wants you to think this complaint is ABNORMAL. This isn't about companies "taking care of me like my mommy", this is about companies doing what is IN THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS IN THE LONG RUN.

Look at the OP. The company he works for is basically saying "Screw the Employees!". The OP told you the RESULT of that, which was good people quit, and bad employees that didn't really even need the job (thus, have no incentive to do well) are now being hired. Which, taken even further, results in crappy customer service. How long before customers take their business elsewhere?

Do you know how Dell got to be the #1 company in PC sales? When they were new, they provided OUTSTANDING customer service. Now that you can't even understand their tech support people (thanks to outsourcing), they've slid from the #1 spot. Do you think the SHAREHOLDERS would have agreed to this, if they had known the outcome beforehand?

Just remember this: Unions don't spring up in companies that have happy employees. They spring up when employers screw over their employees continuously.

People like the person I quoted are most usually either a younger person, who still believes the lie that if they work hard, and make the company money they will be rewarded, or someone who owns his own company, and thinks he runs it flawlessly, because it is "making a profit". (Don't forget, slave traders, pimps, drug dealers, and hit-men also "make a profit"!)

People like the guy two posts above me are going to be in for a rude awakening when TSHTF. They will scream the loudest when the power comes from the barrel of a gun, instead of how many pieces of paper you have in your wallet. And when it does happen, which inevitably it always does when those "in power" (whether economically, politically, or socially) abuse those under them, they inevitably are the ones to scream the loudest and longest about their "rights" and about the "barbarians" that are "robbing them" (forgetting that they, themselves, usually got into that position by "robbing" their employees, customers, and shareholders).

[edit on 12-8-2008 by sir_chancealot]

Originally posted by sir_chancealot


Did I not just predict this kind of IGNORANT response? Yes, I believe I did. Notice he wants you to think this complaint is ABNORMAL. This isn't about companies "taking care of me like my mommy", this is about companies doing what is IN THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS IN THE LONG RUN.

Now whos being Ignorant son?
For the record, I have worked for small business owners, major multinationals, and myself. And whether you like it or not, employees are a cost. nothing mroe, nothing less. At best they might perform sefices equal to what they cost although usually not. Anf there was ntohin in the OP about companies doing whats best for themselves.. Just a lot of whining that his his employer doesnt act like his mommy.

Look at the OP. The company he works for is basically saying "Screw the Employees!". The OP told you the RESULT of that, which was good people quit, and bad employees that didn't really even need the job (thus, have no incentive to do well) are now being hired. Which, taken even further, results in crappy customer service. How long before customers take their business elsewhere?

Thats his perspective. The fact is B&N is trying to reduce cost in what is essentially a low skill, low wage, lowest common denominator job. Its a job that has always been doen by teenagers and the mentally enfeebled because it deosnt take much to put books on a shelf or run a cash register.

Do you know how Dell got to be the #1 company in PC sales? When they were new, they provided OUTSTANDING customer service. Now that you can't even understand their tech support people (thanks to outsourcing), they've slid from the #1 spot. Do you think the SHAREHOLDERS would have agreed to this, if they had known the outcome beforehand?

Yes I do. You apparently do not. Dell did not becoem #1 becaause of "oustanding customer service" anywhere outside of a commerical. They were among the first to develop the model of creating custom made to order computers online and shipping them to customers. Thier share price has slid because they cant make them as cheaply as in china.

Just remember this: Unions don't spring up in companies that have happy employees. They spring up when employers screw over their employees continuously.

They spring up anywhere unions think they can make money.

People like the person I quoted are most usually either a younger person, who still believes the lie that if they work hard, and make the company money they will be rewarded, or someone who owns his own company, and thinks he runs it flawlessly, because it is "making a profit". (Don't forget, slave traders, pimps, drug dealers, and hit-men also "make a profit"!)

Son Im a 31 year old Ceritifed Financial Planner. The only one here who soaunds immature or uninformed is you. And the rest of your post is nothing more than anarchist mental masturbation.

Here lies the problem with the thinking of the OP. Getting raises at a job is not a right. You are not entitled to anything other than what a company gives you. If you are seen as a liability to a company, the company has the right to take the appropriate action.

I don't know any job where an employer guarantees life-long employment. That is an assumption by those who feel that a company owes them something.

This is a growing problem in North America. People think they are entitled to everything under the sun when the truth is nobody owes you anything.

Originally posted by sir_chancealot

Originally posted by Shazam The Unbowed
Wahhh Wahhh. My emplyer doesnt "care" about me like my mommy does. My mommy wipes my nose and tells me Im a precious snwflake but my mean old employer just views me as a cost. Wahh Wahhh. I wish I worked for my mommy.

Did I not just predict this kind of IGNORANT response? Yes, I believe I did. Notice he wants you to think this complaint is ABNORMAL. This isn't about companies "taking care of me like my mommy", this is about companies doing what is IN THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS IN THE LONG RUN.

Look at the OP. The company he works for is basically saying "Screw the Employees!". The OP told you the RESULT of that, which was good people quit, and bad employees that didn't really even need the job (thus, have no incentive to do well) are now being hired. Which, taken even further, results in crappy customer service. How long before customers take their business elsewhere?

Do you know how Dell got to be the #1 company in PC sales? When they were new, they provided OUTSTANDING customer service. Now that you can't even understand their tech support people (thanks to outsourcing), they've slid from the #1 spot. Do you think the SHAREHOLDERS would have agreed to this, if they had known the outcome beforehand?

Just remember this: Unions don't spring up in companies that have happy employees. They spring up when employers screw over their employees continuously.

People like the person I quoted are most usually either a younger person, who still believes the lie that if they work hard, and make the company money they will be rewarded, or someone who owns his own company, and thinks he runs it flawlessly, because it is "making a profit". (Don't forget, slave traders, pimps, drug dealers, and hit-men also "make a profit"!)

People like the guy two posts above me are going to be in for a rude awakening when TSHTF. They will scream the loudest when the power comes from the barrel of a gun, instead of how many pieces of paper you have in your wallet. And when it does happen, which inevitably it always does when those "in power" (whether economically, politically, or socially) abuse those under them, they inevitably are the ones to scream the loudest and longest about their "rights" and about the "barbarians" that are "robbing them" (forgetting that they, themselves, usually got into that position by "robbing" their employees, customers, and shareholders).

[edit on 12-8-2008 by sir_chancealot]

Quote:
Did I not just predict this kind of IGNORANT response? Yes, I believe I did. Notice he wants you to think this complaint is ABNORMAL. This isn't about companies "taking care of me like my mommy", this is about companies doing what is IN THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS IN THE LONG RUN.

Tell me the purpose of a company? Is it not to sell a product or service in order to make money? Do you not willingly choose who you work for? If you agree with the above, then stfu. You choose to work for these companies and if you feel you rate more, then leave. Someone else looking after their business will pick you up if youre an asset.

reply to post by Shazam The Unbowed


If I could flag your last post I would would. Sometimes people just have to face reality.

Originally posted by Cool Hand Luke
Here lies the problem with the thinking of the OP. Getting raises at a job is not a right. You are not entitled to anything other than what a company gives you. If you are seen as a liability to a company, the company has the right to take the appropriate action.

I don't know any job where an employer guarantees life-long employment. That is an assumption by those who feel that a company owes them something.

This is a growing problem in North America. People think they are entitled to everything under the sun when the truth is nobody owes you anything.

I wholeheartedy agree. The only thing youre entitled to do is die. Other than that everything has a price in some way.

I've worked for corporations and I can agree with the OP. Our socioeconomic system is going to go into collapse because of them, and imo it's by design. War on the middle class anyone? Job stability is out the window. Personal satisfaction is out the window. Good wages are out the window. The elite who run this pathetic show called western civilization want us little more than peasants. Or perhaps corpses. The destruction of the well paid job is part of a bigger plan. People need to realise this, and realise that the core cause of all this is greed. This is also by design, the elites know that money is a spell and if they control that spell they control the minds of people. Thats why we have all this selfish insanity in the world today. Instead of an educated moral people that do what is right we are turning into a bunch of overdressed pimped up money whores that only do what they need to get the bottom line.

And people are so stupid they hear the word "competition" every day and don't realise how it is eating away at the very society they depend on. What happened to cooperation? What happened to generosity? What is happening to justice?

WAKE UP.

Originally posted by Zepherian
I've worked for corporations and I can agree with the OP. Our socioeconomic system is going to go into collapse because of them, and imo it's by design. War on the middle class anyone? Job stability is out the window. Personal satisfaction is out the window. Good wages are out the window. The elite who run this pathetic show called western civilization want us little more than peasants. Or perhaps corpses. The destruction of the well paid job is part of a bigger plan. People need to realise this, and realise that the core cause of all this is greed. This is also by design, the elites know that money is a spell and if they control that spell they control the minds of people. Thats why we have all this selfish insanity in the world today. Instead of an educated moral people that do what is right we are turning into a bunch of overdressed pimped up money whores that only do what they need to get the bottom line.

And people are so stupid they hear the word "competition" every day and don't realise how it is eating away at the very society they depend on. What happened to cooperation? What happened to generosity? What is happening to justice?

WAKE UP.

What happened to cooperation? Ask the Soviet Union. What happened to generosity? America continues to be the most generous nation on the planet. Why? Because Americans as a whole continue to live in the wealthiest lifestyle on the planet.
Overdressed pimped up money whores? Is having the ability to buy more clothes than you need the sign of a failing middle class? If so, let the depression come.

I know this is a conspiracy page and all but some of you guys need to stop, think, and speak in that order.