DUmmy CapsLock Spins A Retail Bouncy

[GOBUCKS]

NNN0LHI  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:33 AM
Original message
9.1% unemployment but every business we go into is understaffed. Explain that one
My wife and I started our day yesterday at Kohl's. Had a $10.00 gift card we received in the mail off anything we buy so we went to look at the shoes. I need a pair of shoes and figured I would get myself a pair of shoes for Fathers Day. Looking at the shoes and the box they came in my wife and I started looking for the COO(Country of Origin,) label and neither of us could find one after 5 minutes of looking. So we were going to ask someone where they were made. There was no one to ask. Only workers we could find in this store were the two people at the checkout who were busy as hell running peoples credit applications for a Kohl's in store credit card to get 30% off their purchases.

Never did find out what the COO was for the shoes but that is for another thread. Figured Kohl's can kiss my ass if they don't want to have enough employees to answer a question or two. We left without buying anything. And we won't go back. Cheap bastards.

Went out for lunch and found the same thing there. There was one waitress in the entire restaurant. And that appeared to be like they normally operated. I noticed the same lady who greeted and seated us was busing the tables after people left. Our drinks sat on the bar for about 15 minutes until the bartender finally brought them out to us. Not the waitress. I seen the bartender bringing out peoples meals because the one waitress was busy doing other stuff.

My wife and I discussed this on the ride home. Got to pay good money for bad service because the owner is too cheap to have a large enough crew to do the job right? No, that isn't happening any more. Won't go back to Kohl's and we will not be eating out much if at all any more.

Anyone else noticing this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1270101
DUmmy Capslock walks out of a store if he can't find the "country of origin" tag. Then he waits 15 minutes for a bartender to deliver his drink. I'm glad to see his patience seems to be improving.

Only two places irritate me with their staffing levels, Barnes & Noble, and Academy Sports. At both places, they have swarms of employees, herds of employees, wads of employees, all over the store, cluttering the aisles in little yammering groups. Employees everywhere you look. Both stores always have way more visible employees than browsing customers. Then you get to checkout, and one or two registers are open, out of a dozen or more. It takes forever to pay and leave. While you stand in line, you can watch as flocks of employees wander by, chatting about their boyfriends, or texting on their iPhones.
While waiting to pay, I'm always wondering how store management could be so blind.


DUmmy Deepnumbers has figured out this whole economy thing:

Deep13  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:36 AM
Response to Original message
3. I think big business is playing presidential politics.
They are sitting on a few trillion dollars in unused assets. They know Obama cannot be reelected if the economy does not improve. They are offended by his modest reform efforts.

FSogol  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 11:38 AM
Response to Original message
4. Cost cutting to increase profits despite declining sales.

The horror!
That proves what greedy bastards businessmen are, beyond any doubt.

Recursion (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:49 AM
Response to Reply #5
17. Best Buy has vending machines in airports and train stations.
Vending machines. For iPods and laptops.  

Double horror!!

femrap  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #6
23. +1000
I can't believe people check themselves out. I walk by them and say....'Hey, you're costing someone a job....don't you care?'
Most of the time, they don't even understand. No one uses their brain anymore.

I've never heard anyone in a grocery store tell someone "Go **** yourself", but I probably would if I shopped in DUmmy femrap's neighborhood.

Carolina  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 12:01 PM
Response to Reply #6
27. me, too
even when I have 10 items or less, I go to the manned check-outs!

 

valerief  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 12:37 PM
Response to Reply #6
46. That's why I don't use self-checkout. To keep the person employed.

I appreciate these DUmmies, because it means there'll be an open self checkout station.
 

aquart  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 11:39 AM
Response to Original message
7. Every store I went into the other day had a Help Wanted sign up.
It's just weird.

 

gkhouston  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:40 AM
Response to Reply #7
9. I can't remember the last time I saw a Help Wanted sign.

This reminds me, during the Bush Prosperity, how every day DUmmies would report going to the shopping mall and finding it eerily deserted.
No customers, during one of the biggest retail booms in history.

socialist_n_TN  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:40 AM
Response to Original message
10. Easy answer. It's all part of the overall class war.

Last night, we were seated immediately at a very nice restaurant. Drinks came in minutes, and our food was
served within ten minutes or so. I think we're winning this class war handily.

HopeHoops  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:49 AM
Response to Original message
18. One of our last two family-owned grocery chains ALWAYS has enough people - the Giant?
Oh no. Giant put in those stupid self-checkout things that take people longer to get through than a line with a human because they keep ****ing up. It is just down the street, but I rarely go in there unless it is an emergency (like dinner is in progress and "oh ****, we're out of..."). I've been there when the ONLY person working a register during a fairly busy time was six deep with full carts and the only other person doing anything was the one frantically running from person to person at the self-checkouts trying to figure out what they ****ed up. I finally decided it was quicker to drive ten minutes to another store, get my items from a register with a human in short order, and drive ten minutes back.

This anonymous, faceless unterprimitiven is one of the worst liars I've ever read.
 

femrap  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 11:53 AM
Response to Original message
20. Yes, I notice it all the time....
the reason why they're not hiring is to keep their PROFIT MARGINS UP.

Again, more evidence of the brazen greed of American business.


On these class struggle threads, a Lousy Freeper Troll always shows up:

Manifestor_of_Light  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 12:14 PM
Response to Reply #28
35. Good Italian shoes: go to Neiman-Marcus.
I used to buy all my work/dress shoes there.
You can get 'em resoled and re-heeled. They're soft.
Bruno Maglis, Amalfis and Ferragamos.

I got some black suede Ferragamo sneakers once.

pipi_k  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 12:05 PM
Response to Original message
30. I've been seeing it for a while really...
I mean, it just seems to be in the nature of business to try and get the most it can from the fewest numbers of people it has to pay.

Back when the economy didn't suck, they didn't get away with it a whole lot.

But they really seem to be taking unfair advantage of things now.

Anyway, I think people might want to write to these businesses and let them know that they won't be back because of shitty (or no) service.


PS...one of my favorite targets is a Burger King down in the Big City. I don't eat there a whole lot, but I do stop in sometimes to use their bathrooms. I've sent complaints twice to their Corporate offices complaining about the filthy conditions.

msongs  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 12:35 PM
Response to Reply #30
44. gee maybe if actually BOUGHT something there they could hire a person to clean up after YOU  

iris27 (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 12:10 PM
Response to Original message
34. Easily explained - the businesses are too scared/cheap to start
hiring again. They would rather squeeze everything they can out of the people they still have on payroll.

They're afraid of what additional socialist regulations the muslim and his cadre of bureaucrats will hit them with next.
 

Javaman  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 12:23 PM
Response to Original message
40. Life as the bottom line.  
What we are now experiencing is the "fast fooding" of retail.

I know, my GF works in retail.
We are becoming the faceless workforce of the corporations.
This is the route to the complete destruction of the last remaining union workers. And our basic worker rights.

We are dying.

 
Luckily for DUmmy Javaman, his girlfriend is part of the faceless workforce. She pays his rent and buys his dope.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Javaman  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 12:23 PM
Response to Original message
40. Life as the bottom line. 
What we are now experiencing is the "fast fooding" of retail.

I know, my GF works in retail. We are becoming the faceless workforce of the corporations.
This is the route to the complete destruction of the last remaining union workers. And our basic worker rights.

We are dying.

Do you suppose Coffee Boy means his Gay Friend or Girlfriend?

[franksolich]

Oh.

The grouchy old primitive, Don.

Notice, please, the grouchy old primitive doesn't mention the times of the days he was at these places; most retail operations schedule employees to work at appropriate times (like during "rush hours" in customer traffic).

Maybe the grouchy old primitive was at Kohl's early in the morning, and at the restaurant in mid-afternoon.

Don's definitely on my top primitives of 2011 list.

[jukin]

Low sales, high prices, and low profits equals no hiring. Add in that Obama and the donk reign of incompetence in the 110th and 111th made hiring a low level person almost twice as expensive.

[DLR Pyro]

Carolina  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 12:01 PM
Response to Reply #6
27. me, too
even when I have 10 items or less, I go to the manned check-outs!

typical liberal DUmmy mindset.  Can't lift a finger to do something for themselves and depend on others to help them out all the time.  reminds me of all those "victims" in New Orleans who were given several days advance notice to GTFO of town because Katrina was coming, but stayed and demanded the government help them out.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Deep13  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:36 AM
Response to Original message
3. I think big business is playing presidential politics.
They are sitting on a few trillion dollars in unused assets. They know Obama cannot be reelected if the economy does not improve. They are offended by his modest reform efforts.

I understand that what Dipshit13 is trying to do is paint a picture of a capital strike but this is a stupid hill to die on. He's essentially claiming there is a ton of economic activity waiting to be unleashed if only businesses would do business and that they are for some reason passing on making profits out of spite.

[jukin]

I understand that what Dipshit13 is trying to do is paint a picture of a capital strike but this is a stupid hill to die on. He's essentially claiming there is a ton of economic activity waiting to be unleashed if only businesses would do business and that they are for some reason passing on making profits out of spite.

The reason it is not being spent is because it will not come back, much less come back with some profit.

If they will not spend it freely, I'm sure that Obama, the fascists in the democrat party, and at the DUmp would make them spend it. It's only fair.

On another note, why is that every single thing has to be framed in "what will it do/not do for Obama?"

[Texacon]

HopeHoops  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:49 AM
Response to Original message

18. One of our last two family-owned grocery chains ALWAYS has enough people - the Giant?

Oh no. Giant put in those stupid self-checkout things that take people longer to get through than a line with a human because they keep ****ing up. It is just down the street, but I rarely go in there unless it is an emergency (like dinner is in progress and "oh ****, we're out of..."). I've been there when the ONLY person working a register during a fairly busy time was six deep with full carts and the only other person doing anything was the one frantically running from person to person at the self-checkouts trying to figure out what they ****ed up. I finally decided it was quicker to drive ten minutes to another store, get my items from a register with a human in short order, and drive ten minutes back.

Heh.  DUmmie has hit on a truth and doesn't even know it.  This is how free market capitalism is supposed to work!  If enough people stop shopping there because it is easier/better to go 10 minutes down the road then Giant will either change their ways or go broke.  It is that simple.

KC

[franksolich]

You know, the "back-story" on the grouchy old primitive, Don, is that he thought he had everything all figured out.

Don is from Chicago, and right out of high school, the day after he turned 18 years old, he went to work in an automobile factory.  Don was bound and determined to work hard, keep his nose clean, save his money, and then retire after 30 years, at the age of 48.

Nothing wrong with that, nothing at all.

Anyway, so Don retired about 10 years ago--he's now in his late 50s--and settled down for retired bliss.

Well, things are now catching up with him, and they aren't old age.

Don's complained, constantly, that his property taxes on his home in Chicago, when averaged out for the whole year, are more per month than his mortgage per month.  Don's complained, constantly, about high taxes.

Back when Don was figuring it all out, he figured it best to support the corrupt Democrat political machine running his city and county.  Ever since he was old enough to vote, Don's been a big booster of the local political machine, figuring they would take care of him.

For about 40 years now, Don's been supporting the local bosses.

He doesn't see a connection here.

The future at the moment appears dire for older folks, and franksolich's heart goes out to both the overburdened taxpayers of Chicago and of Illinois, and for older folks.  Don, however, always voted for this, and franksolich has no heart for Don.  One reaps what one sows.

Probably about the time Don hits 70--unless we've had some Republican rule, local, county, state, and national--inbetweentimes--he's going to have to go back to work, probably as a wheelchaired "greeter" at Wal-Mart or somesuch.  He's going to have to go back to work if he wants only to live, to have a crust of bread.

Poor Don.  But it's Don's own damned fault.

[sybilll]

femrap  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #6
23. +1000
I can't believe people check themselves out. I walk by them and say....'Hey, you're costing someone a job....don't you care?'
Most of the time, they don't even understand. No one uses their brain anymore.

Yet, these are the same DUmmies that willingly put thousands out of work to "save" the Delta Smelt, and lizards in Texas. 

[Karin]

why is that every single thing has to be framed in "what will it do/not do for Obama?"

One of the DUmmies' more annoying, irritating features.  Of course, Obama himself thinks this way.  DUmmie. 

[thelaughingman]

9.1% unemployment but every business we go into is understaffed. Explain that one

 

How stupid are DUmmies?  Pretty damn stupid.

Listen up, idiot lurkers.  It's very simple.  The Democrats wrecked the economy.  No, scratch that.  They didn't just wreck it.  They wrecked it and then butt****ed it into traction while telling us it would help the economy recover.  This affected businesses and individuals.  When businesses are affected, they do everything they can to cut costs.  This includes cutting jobs.  Business would rather be "understaffed" than bankrupt and out of business.  And once businesses start laying off people, a vicious circle starts.  Jobless people can't spend as much, which affects business, which then have to continue to cut costs and lay off people.

[Karin]

Oh here we go:

Deep13  (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 12:57 PM
Response to Reply #53
55. He's not doing enough. That's true...
 ...but there isn't much he can do about big business refusing to spend money.
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TBF  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 01:04 PM
Response to Reply #55
58. Tax the crap out of them rather than giving them rebates -
 use that tax to create jobs (yes, government jobs - the horror!). 

Somebody with a Marx avatar posted a like to www.marxists.org, but my mouse won't touch it.

Here's some very simplistic "thinking:"

Zambero (1000+ posts)     Fri Jun-10-11 12:06 PM
Response to Original message
31. If large businesses inceased their staffing by 10% across the board...
 A couple of things would happen:

1. Added employment would pump up the economy, increase sales and services, and result in added profits that would more than offset the hiring cost.
2. Increased service and customer satisfaction would also result, also incrasing sales from repeat customers.
 

Which reminded me of the South Park thing:

1.  Steal underwear
2. ???
3.  Profits!

Ian David  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jun-10-11 12:19 PM
Response to Original message
38. They open up a new line at the register when there are too many customers waiting in a line. 
 They don't open up a new register when the business owner gets a tax cut.
 

Shouldn't you be pimping out your daughter, Ian?

[Ralph Wiggum]

Economic wizards, aren't they?

Zambero (1000+ posts)     Fri Jun-10-11 12:06 PM
Response to Original message
31. If large businesses inceased their staffing by 10% across the board...
 A couple of things would happen:

1. Added employment would pump up the economy, increase sales and services, and result in added profits that would more than offset the hiring cost.

Just hiring people doesn't increase business you ****ing dolt!

[BlueStateSaint]

Economic wizards, aren't they?

Just hiring people doesn't increase business you ****ing dolt!

H5 for the bolded combination--one I haven't seen in a while!

[Tucker]

Only two places irritate me with their staffing levels, Barnes & Noble,

I'd say B&N has to hire the extra staff to replace all of the books by conservative author's that dummies hide/cover up/move.

[Ralph Wiggum]

H5 for the bolded combination--one I haven't seen in a while!

Thanks.  The DUmmies get me a bit riled up when they attempt to discuss economics.

[JohnnyReb]

If, and I do mean "IF", big business/industry is sitting on a pile of money, I can't blame them for holding on to it. All you have to do is look at the big eared Kenyan and those he's placed in charge of the different government agencies to see why they are holding on to any cash they may have. There is no telling what that bunch of over educated idiots are subject to do next.

[compaqxp]

Recursion (1000+ posts)      Fri Jun-10-11 11:49 AM
Response to Reply #5
17. Best Buy has vending machines in airports and train stations.
Vending machines. For iPods and laptops. 

Really? We need to get some of those here! I could finally just pay for a laptop or ipod without dealing with annoying sales type people.

[USA4ME]

NNN0LHI

Got to pay good money for bad service because the owner is too cheap to have a large enough crew to do the job right?

Here's an idea:  Why don't you start your own business and show everyone how it's done, Don?

Yeah, that's what we figured, another primitive with all yap and no backbone.

.

[diesel driver]

Finding the COO on a pair of shoes is quite simple.  If it's not on the box, right on the same label that has the size on it, it's under the tongue of the shoe, also with the size label, usually in 3 languages.

F'n retards!   

[GOBUCKS]

If Best Buy puts electronic gadgets in vending machines, how will they peddle their extended warranty agreements, by far the most profitable thing they sell.

[Evil_Conservative]

Okay... speaking as someone who "floats" at her current job, the customers often think the same thing of the company I currently temp with.

I'll be at the counter, then the exit booth, or return agent.  A customer could see me in all three stages of their business with us.  I could rent them the vehicle, check them out at the gate, and then check them back in in a few days.  Does it mean the company is under staffed?  Not at all.  We have plenty of employees, but since it's summer time, the company hired people to help out every where.  I am labeled a "jack of all trades".  And I love it.

I can speak from the view of the waitress too.  When I was a server, I would seat people, take their order, cash the customer out and bus the table.  This was in 2004.  The restaurant was not under staffed by any means.

Some people don't mind working past their job description.

[BEG]

Okay... speaking as someone who "floats" at her current job, the customers often think the same thing of the company I currently temp with.

I'll be at the counter, then the exit booth, or return agent.  A customer could see me in all three stages of their business with us.  I could rent them the vehicle, check them out at the gate, and then check them back in in a few days.  Does it mean the company is under staffed?  Not at all.  We have plenty of employees, but since it's summer time, the company hired people to help out every where.  I am labeled a "jack of all trades".  And I love it.

I can speak from the view of the waitress too.  When I was a server, I would seat people, take their order, cash the customer out and bus the table.  This was in 2004.  The restaurant was not under staffed by any means.

Some people don't mind working past their job description.

Must not be a union job.

[GOBUCKS]

Okay... speaking as someone who "floats" at her current job, the customers often think the same thing of the company I currently temp with.

I'll be at the counter, then the exit booth, or return agent.  A customer could see me in all three stages of their business with us.  I could rent them the vehicle, check them out at the gate, and then check them back in in a few days.  Does it mean the company is under staffed?  Not at all.  We have plenty of employees, but since it's summer time, the company hired people to help out every where.  I am labeled a "jack of all trades".  And I love it.

I can speak from the view of the waitress too.  When I was a server, I would seat people, take their order, cash the customer out and bus the table.  This was in 2004.  The restaurant was not under staffed by any means.

Some people don't mind working past their job description.

I think that over the past few years, car rental operations have gone from being maddeningly slow and inefficient, to being among the best-operated businesses around. They've done it mainly by making use of evolving computer technology, and their employees are almost uniformly pleasant and efficient. It's really appreciated by business travellers. Complainers are almost surely those who travel once every five years, or maybe never before.

This is one place where the difference between the U.S. and Canada is astonishing.
Renting a car or checking into a hotel in Canada is a third-world experience compared to U.S. efficiency.
And that's even if you compare rural Arkansas to downtown Montreal or Toronto.