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Does my manager have the right to treat me the way she does? :S

Hiya,

So I currently work in a fashion department store as a Part-Time Sales Assistant at a well known company and I need this job since I want to work in the Fashion Industry. In order to achieve this goal I will be attending one of the best Fashion Schools in the world so this job is a stepping stone for my career. :biggrin:

However lately the store has not been performing well and my manager has been stressed out as I have heard her saying 'I don't know why the shop floor is so messy, its not even busy and we aren't even making the targets, why aren't customers coming into our shop etc.' Also the store is understaffed and they have very high expectations which in my opinion is achievable so when things go not as planned this manager finds their way by unleashing their anger out on me. :frown:

So for my shift I was assigned to the fitting rooms and so I had no real targets apart from closing the fitting rooms.' So I finished closing the fitting rooms on time. I found 2 security tags a customer had hidden behind the stool at the end of the day and when I handed it to her she said what is this? whereby I responded by saying I have found these security tags in the fitting room and she responded by giving me a long cold stare.

Then I went to the shop floor to help out the other Sales Assistants since the shop floor was huge mess as it is the sale season. As I was doing my job she kept making comments like how long are you going to spend on that rail and I responded by saying I'm nearly done. And then I went to close the new season and she even came to check why I was taking so long. The reason for this is that the new season has to be impeccable and I have to adhere to all the standards otherwise she will complain and come to criticize me about it later on. After this I went to close another rail which was a complete mess and so I had to rearrange the rail and by accident I had left a long dress on that rail and that dress was not meant to be there since she told me it was new season and so I went to look in new season only to come back and tell her that it wasn't there and then she told me to look again. I looked again and it wasn't there so I told her maybe its not out on the shop floor. However I realised later on that the dress was on sale so where I had left it was actually on of the right places to put it. Its not the fact she criticizes me and tells me when I haven't done things the right way like she expected but it is actually the way she does it. She constantly yells my name on the shop floor and she is not even saying my name properly and i don't expect her to since it is not her fault she cannot pronounce it properly. But when she constantly yells my name half of the time I have to think twice about if she is calling me since I don't understand especially since she is yelling it. On top of that when i have done something wrong its the way she tells me it very angrily and aggressively and makes the biggest fuss about it when in fact its not a huge deal and she can tell me in a more nicer way.

Lastly I was on my way home and so I went to collect my online parcel which was behind the cashdesk. The parcel was just on the edge and so it was really easy for me to pick up. All i had to do was bend down and get it as it was literally near my foot. And then she had another go at me saying oh you are not allowed to be behe cashdesk especially now that you have ur bag since I was leaving to go home and that if any money went missing etc etc. Then she asked the cashier to give me the parcel and I told the cashier that the parcel was just near the foot. Then the cashier got annoyed and told the manager why can she just not get the parcel herself it is right there near her foot anyway? At the end of all this drama I ended up picking up the parcel myself like I would have done in the first place.

Then she asked me if I was going to be in tomorrow and I said yes and she said Good im in tomorrow too. I think this was meant to be some sort of threat which I am not really threatened by so now i know she will have her eye on me and she will be on my case from now on. She already has her eye on me all the time and she will go to my section and find the tiniest fault so she can come to complain about it to me. However she only does this to me since she doesnt go to anyone elses sections to check apart from mine and when she finds the tiniest mistake she will have a go at me.

But despite all her negativity I am actually proud of myself since I don't let her attitude get to me and despite this I am able to stay happy. Also the first time I went to get my parcel she asked me if I had signed off for it and I said no then she took it away from me and told me I could not take it home since I hadn't signed out for it and then she threw it behind the cash desk and I just said oh I guess Ill just have to collect it tomorrow. Another Sales Assistant told me that the way she had acted that day was quite strange since another manager let someone else take a parcel home when they forgot to sign out for it.

Additionally I am becoming concerned about how other members of staff may perceive me since I don't say anything when she is being negative towards me since I just have to grit my teeth and deal with it esp if I want to work for that fashion company. I only plan to work there for a year so I can build up my fashion CV as it will give me an competitive advantage in the future. If others perceive me as a doormat I am afraid that they think that they can just push me about too just like my manager because I will not say anything.

What should I do about this? A) Stay silent? B) Talk to her and ask if I am doing something wrong? C) Get transferred to another store maybe one in Central London? I really do not think talking to her will actually help since another employee talked to her about the way the manager was talking to her and the manager said she was doing good and that it was nothing personal. I feel like the employees at this particular company in general are undervalued for all the hard work which is required from them especially when they work so hard and when management expects so much from them by setting unrealistic standards and when we don't finish on time they go mental.

The only thing which is keeping me at this job is the pay and how well known the company is and so working there will look fantastic on my cv in the future :biggrin:

Also I don't have a lot of retail exp so I doubt I could get another better job.

Reply 1

UniMastermindBOSS

try get transferred to another store?

Reply 2

Hippysnake

Just rest in the knowledge that she probably isn't getting any.

Reply 3

scrotgrot

Bit of a long read but the upshot is she hasn't treated you badly or unfairly at all. She is just stressed due to the difficulty of a situatiob where there are not enough customers coming in. Your manager sounds like she's probably a young girl herself thrown in the deep end when really she knows very little about business or leadership and probably couldn't run a lemonade stand.

It is terribly short-sighted of these retail chains to stretch the workload over as few and as inexperienced staff as possible while half the time not allowing them the latitude to exercise their own judgement on what to sell and how to sell it. They are probably a zombie company with a clunky outdated business model and are eking out their survival in a hostile market.

Reply 4

doodle_333

I would try and talk to her, use 'I feel' sentences and don't make accusations and just explain that you really enjoy your job and would like to work better together, it probably wont work, but then you can decide whether to either make a complaint about her or ask to transfer and if anyone asks you will have done all you can to improve conditions

another tactic might be asking another member of staff how they feel honestly about your performance and just make sure you do everything impeccably all the time, it is still bullying if she treats you differently regardless of whether you're doing things right, but it makes her look much more petty if she has nothing to pick on and it will be much more clearly personal