(26-365) Asking...

I work at SAKS FIFTH AVENUE.    I WORK in the 5th floor contemporary shoe floor.  When I've got that job, I thought I was going to make tons of money, but I was wrong.  This entry will tell you what happened.

When I was offered to work for SAKS, I was already training to work for Jeffreys.  Jeffreys is a very exclusive boutique located in the meat packing district of Manhattan.  I was guaranteed to make at least 85,000-100,0000 dollars a year.   Why I declined that incredible opportunity?  Because I thought Saks was going to be like a second bergdorfs, and it wasn't.  

There were problems with my department.  My floor mananger didn't have any courage.  The stock room manager was kid that didn't now much about running a  stock room properly.  He didn't care about organizing the shoes by vendor color and size.  The store was or still practically hiring everyone that is unemployed in New York City.  In a commission environment, having tons of people competing with you is just not only unfair, but bad for business.  So these were some of the problems that I had working for there.  My co-workers had no other choice but to complain among each other about whatever they thought was screwed-up about our workplace.  I decided to do something different.  

I wrote a letter to the president, and the letter that I wrote was this: 

Dear Ms. President, 

My name is Hans Gonzalez, I work on the contemporary shoe salon on the 5th floor.  I have been working here since last October.  With this letter, I wanted to bring your attention to my department  and express the concerns that we all have.

I have been working in retail for about 14 years now, and honestly, never seen some many disatisfied people in one department.  Since I started work here a little bit over 5 months now,  5 or more people have left the floor.  Everyone i ask expresses the same feeling.   The problems that we complain about are not many, but they are very serious problems, and surprisingly, they have very easy solutions.  But it seems the decision-makers that could easily create the changes that are needed not only for us the associates, but for Saks as well, are too busy with other things, or have no interest whatsoever.  We need to create  an environment that is in accordance with Saks' mission statement: "A great place to work, a great place to shop, and a great place to invest." 

Our problems are these:   The size of our floor can only hold 15-18 people max.  We have 24 and counting.  Having lots and lots of people makes it extremely difficult for everyone that work here and the more people that you bring, the less money we all make.  Think about it!  What would you say, if your boss tell you that your salary next year will have to be cut in half?  Living in New York is extremely expensive and we all have bills and responsibilities.  I hear people say that just to pay their rent they had to cash out their 401k, ask money from relatives, etc.  I for one had to stop paying child support in more than one occation because at times, I wasn't making any money at all.  Sure we can all become sharks and struggle for survival,  but what does it say about Saks Fifth Avenue?  How would our customer perceive us if every time they come to shop, more and more people are on the floor, and the people that were here for a long time,  had to leave to other companies?

The second problem is our stock room.  There is just not enough place to stack so many shoes.  It is extremely difficult to find shoes in here when the "organized not only by the color of the vendor's boxes, but by the color, style and size" is def. not in the vocabulary of the people in charge of running it.    Hundreds of thousands of dollars are lost each year just because of all the shoes that we are never never able to find.  Talk about putting a price to a simple problem!

We have other issues, but if only these two were addressed and taken care of,  our department would transform overnight into a really enjoyable place to work.  What we want will not only benefit us the employees, it will also benefit our level of productivity,  sense of pride,  our customer's perception of the department, sale volume,  and general satisfaction.  Wouldn't be good to double our sales in a single year? 

Sincerely yours,

Hans Gonzalez

I WROTE this letter.  TWO days later,  the stockroom was organized.  Two days later,  my boss, bring me up to her office to thank me that I wrote that letter and to promise me that things were going to change.  She basically asked me to be patient about it.

What I want to do with this post is to show you that complaining to your friends about your life doesn't work.  It might give you a outlet to escape, but it doesn't give you any power.   What does help is for you to talk about the right people about what you want to happen, making a request for them to hear to you and see the results.

Thanks for reading.