12-02-2009, 08:28 PM
Hard not to admire M A V I C's willingness to thrust himself into the narrative, and champion the unpopular and dysfunctional management at this particular store, while casually demeaning the concerns of the staff members. You go girl!
Though it's been a few years, I have first-hand knowledge of the employee point of view, having worked on staff at this particular location. My income there was not critical, it was a temporary job. But for those that work there full time, they take their jobs as seriously as I imagine M A V I C takes his job, and--like all of us--have every right to expect to be treated with fairness and respect in the workplace. Is that somehow not relevant if it's merely a low-wage "retail" job? I understood it to be the case no matter what type of job it is.
Sometimes standing your ground, to alter the climate, is more sensible than scrambling off to fill out applications elsewhere. Or not. Depends on the situation. But for an employee to be told to fold up and go work elsewhere if they don't like being mistreated? According to this view, mistreatment is justifiable because employees are easy to replace. Is this really a position worth defending?
When I was at this location, even as a part timer, I was aware of morale problems, and of an unfavorable climate between management and staff. I assumed it would pass, as turnover in retail would probably clear out the undesirable elements in middle management. Apparently it's still problematic. And high employee turnover only adds to the problem, it doesn't solve anything.
The irony is, the Apple Store is such a pleasant place to work, such an appealing job to have, that even under tyrannical, inept, careless, or slightly abusive management, it's still a reasonably fun place to work--in spite of those headaches--that's how good it is. Management would have to be really onerous, really abusive, to make the working atmosphere so bad that employee concerns would spill over to this degree.
But if anyone wants to champion the cause of bad management, and dismiss what likely are legitimate employee concerns, by all means, be my guest. In a just society, even poor management needs a defender!
Though it's been a few years, I have first-hand knowledge of the employee point of view, having worked on staff at this particular location. My income there was not critical, it was a temporary job. But for those that work there full time, they take their jobs as seriously as I imagine M A V I C takes his job, and--like all of us--have every right to expect to be treated with fairness and respect in the workplace. Is that somehow not relevant if it's merely a low-wage "retail" job? I understood it to be the case no matter what type of job it is.
Sometimes standing your ground, to alter the climate, is more sensible than scrambling off to fill out applications elsewhere. Or not. Depends on the situation. But for an employee to be told to fold up and go work elsewhere if they don't like being mistreated? According to this view, mistreatment is justifiable because employees are easy to replace. Is this really a position worth defending?
When I was at this location, even as a part timer, I was aware of morale problems, and of an unfavorable climate between management and staff. I assumed it would pass, as turnover in retail would probably clear out the undesirable elements in middle management. Apparently it's still problematic. And high employee turnover only adds to the problem, it doesn't solve anything.
The irony is, the Apple Store is such a pleasant place to work, such an appealing job to have, that even under tyrannical, inept, careless, or slightly abusive management, it's still a reasonably fun place to work--in spite of those headaches--that's how good it is. Management would have to be really onerous, really abusive, to make the working atmosphere so bad that employee concerns would spill over to this degree.
But if anyone wants to champion the cause of bad management, and dismiss what likely are legitimate employee concerns, by all means, be my guest. In a just society, even poor management needs a defender!