I have four weeks at most to get "immediate and consistent" results for Member Card numbers, email captures, and gift card sales, or I'm gone at Barnes & Noble.

Yep. I may get fired in 4 weeks because no one wants to buy a Member card for $25 (um... economy still sucks) and people are paranoid about giving out email addresses (they don't want more spam!), and no one's thinking of getting gift cards yet because it's just November or they're going the cheap gift route this year (see aforementioned economy note).

Never mind that I've put in 4 years of my life into this job. This job has driven me insane (literally, there's a file somewhere), caused insomnia, mental breaks, anxiety attacks, and depressive states, but I still came back after every episode because I love my job. I love helping people find books, telling them about my favorite authors and books, and seeing the joy on a little kid's face when they get their own book in their own bag and carry it out of the store. Never mind my great customer service skills, dedication to the company, rapport with customers and fellow employees. Never mind that.

I may not have a job in 4 weeks because I can't get the insane percentage of Member card transactions corporate has declared we must get in this economic shitstorm. And never mind that one week were I got  .97% I was on customer services and barely touched the register.

Whatever. Fire me and the numerous other employees at my store who do their job well and get it done right, who are trustworthy and have been with the company for 1+ years. Fire them and hire people who may or may not live up to what you demand out of your employees. An interesting note: Out of the last crew we hired for the summer, I think only 5 stayed? And we had hired about 7-10? A lot of them just stopped showing up for work, or just didn't hack it for some reason. Yeah. Have fun hiring about 15 new people and keeping maybe 6? Maybe. That's a nice gamble my store, and Barnes & Noble likes to play. I hope all those new hires work out (sense my bitter fiery sarcasm?).

So yeah. Fuck you, Barnes & Noble. I'm going to hit up Target and see if they're hiring. Because I sure as hell know I can't meet those insane standards for numbers they believe we can get. No matter what new way I phrase the same old questions, I won't get that Member card. No one wants to spend extra money now. I hope my store laments firing me, and I know they will.

 

parts x-posted to

bn_booksellers

 

EDIT: 440pm Is there something wrong with me? Seriously. I'm going to leave that fucking community. Almost every post I put up there gets slammed by people. One person gave decent advice/input to help with how to approach customers, but the other two to reply basically just said I was a whiny bitch and should suck it up or leave----in not as few words. God. Maybe there is something wrong with me. Maybe I should leave B&N. But I can't do anything else but retail. I have no experience anywhere else.

Shit. Why can't anything go right for me?