Not a Good Time, not a Good Future

[dalonzo9]

Many warning signs have been popping up with alarming frequency since I've returned home from the comfort of the Air Force military family. The economy here is getting worse and worse and has shown no signs of getting better. Not now, not soon

Comments

[holtzapplepie]

I found the meeting amusing. Nobody gives a shit if they get smiled at while buying tickets. Nobody refuses to come back because the lobby person didn't say "WELCOME!!!!" They don't come back because they realized they paid 17 bucks for entry into a dirty museum with out of date and/or broken exhibits. I've had numerous people I've met tell me this, no one has mentioned anything about the staff. Because nobody cares!

And as I've complained many times before this over emphasis on kissing customers' asses gives bad customer service to everybody. I don't want to wait longer in lines because of idiots, I don't want to deal with burned out salespeople or a bunch of incompentent newly hired staff due to high turnover rates. And surveys piss me off. And stop telling them to say "HO HOW CAN I HELP YOU TODAY!?" when I walk into a store. I know there most be others like me who buy less when approached by staff, because they are so far up my ass I decide to go where they allow me some peace.

[dalonzo9]

Yep. I like how I brought that up and was pretty much shot down with lies. Was it me or was my criticism completely avoided?

[holtzapplepie]

Oh, they just avoided that. They know in their hearts of hearts its bullshit, but they also know that their jobs are on the line. I think a lot of people are overlooking the fact, that the top 2, are getting shit from higher ups. Heaven forbid, the president or one the upper people take a salary drop to improve the the museum. Instead it's so much easier to blame our department, and to keep cutting our budget. I honestly think that if they just gave our department the money and staff we needed, we would be fine. A and W, I think, want to be fair and don't want to pull the bullshit they are but don't have a choice.

[dalonzo9]

Then A and W need to step up and be better managers by challenging the people above them who have even less a clue.

[larivee22]

I think the burnout is what's really hurting them too -- Aileen mentioned the low staff numbers and the fact that the people there are undertrained, but they genuinely seem to have no idea what caused the problem.

One of the better parts of my other jobs is that the supervisors I have also have to do floor time -- in a small museum, no one in a particular department can be above anything, not enough people for that -- a promotion doesn't get you away from shit work, so you keep your sense of proportion.

[larivee22]

You know, before I left last year, I told them several times throughout the month of August that I was leaving in September, that I was going through interviews and stuff and had already gotten an offer, that I'd go to casual temp and leave it at that for the time being, and yet somehow when I officially "quit" and went to casual temp on Sept. 4th it came as a total suprise to everyone there.

I had to practically camp out at her office to do it too -- I just walked up and said "I quit" but then she said I'd have to make it an offical meeting and blah blah blah -- and then she said I owed them money and might have to work it off (payroll disagreed -- I was over my vacation time slightly but they just took it out of my last full time check and everyone was happy).

I think I had a harder time leaving than I had getting hired, it was ridiculous -- and indicative of their desperation.

I think staff should be nice to customers in an "I'm professional while doing my job" sort of way but anything else annoys everyone involved.

[dalonzo9]

I vaguely recall your mentioning your ordeal with leaving. The whole situation reeked of desperation... and unprofessionalism.

Yeah, I'm all for staff being professional. I just feel they should not be held to anything more. I'm in Mia's camp: as long as I can easily get what I want.

[holtzapplepie]

Everybody should be in my camp. We have hot orgies all the time.

[dalonzo9]

Yeah, it baffles me how they know not what's causing such high turnover rates and lack of job knowledge/proper training.

'Twould be best if they had to get out onto the frontlines, especially when it is busy. Obviously they want no part of that.

The three times I've been called from Membership (what I signed up to do) it was because the Box Office was "swamped." Now, each time I was expecting something akin to the Body Worlds II fiasco. Not 'tall. 'Twas merely a full line and, shockingly, a shift leader had to cash for a bit. One of the times Aileen was cashing. Why? Most of the cashiers called in and they only had two. The line wasn't terrible. Once I joined in, the line died down and they kept me around for another two hours. I twiddled my thumbs for the time remaining.

So, if they're avoiding working even during a short spring rush, they clearly want no knowledge or experience of what we must go through.