Due to the non-blogging contract, some Borders employees don’t feel like they can speak up for fear of being fired. I recently received an email from an employee at a store in Florida regarding a newly installed supervisor who posted the following by the time clock on July 4th.
Read Me
The past NO longer matters. It doesn’t matter who you are, how long you have worked here, or what your position is. If I do not feel that you are working hard meaning (selling make titles, shelving carts, cleaning the store, borders rewards, customer service, etc.) You WILL lose your hours and others will get them. I have people calling every day asking for jobs that I can hire. I do like the crew that we have and I do not want to cut any ones hours, I do not want to lose anybody BUT no more mister nice guy.
There’s a lot wrong with this ‘letter’, but perhaps the biggest is the fact that it was done on July 4th. The fourth of July!
All major chains have employee issues. Not every employee is a model employee. Yet, a disturbing pattern seems to be emerging. Any advertising or eCommerce veteran knows that a small pattern of complaints on an issue may point to a greater problem. For every incident reported, there are often 10 more that are not.
Borders does not seem to be investing in their employees during their ‘turnaround’ attempt. So, Borders employees are angry and I hope that the non-blogging contract doesn’t squash the normal type of commentary that anyone should have about their life experiences.
As a long-time foodservice and retail employee, I offer my condolences.
However this has been the status quo in our industry for over a decade now, and Borders is only catching up with the times, sadly.
I have a friend who works at Borders and she confirms all that you write about. This is very discouraging and not the way to keep a business going.
If I saw this when I worked at Borders I would have been so pissed. That letter is horrific.
This goes to show you WHY employee’s are so miserable. I would have burned this letter in the breakroom.
Holy crap-once again management treating you like you are 12 and not a grown adult. I think once they posted a note giving us crap. Tear all notes like this down.
This is why we’re miserable. I would have sent a copy to the DM and HR.
It surprises me that they still post their “love” letters to their employees. Then they wonder why they are so angry with them. It’s when this type of bullying starts. Because that is what it is..bullying. Period
All good jobs went over seas and now this is what we’re stuck with. Jobs that don’t pay and where they threaten us daily. Shame on them!! To post a note like this on independence day..of all days. Shame. We need to reclaim our rights back. People this is why employee’s stick together..use your voice. Employee’s feel scared so they don’t do anything and may even side with management when it’s clear this is a violation of one’s rights. They should have contacted HR and went straight up. These companies expect so much from their employee’s and take away even more. Shame.
I work at the Borders where this was posted. I’m glad to see that my sentiments are shared not only by the majority of my coworkers but with other impartial viewers.
Interesting fact. The ‘other’ he’s referring to, who got our hours, was his fiance. Who he recently had to fire.
At my store if your not friends with the manager (who is a jerk) you get no hours. I hate working in retail. Then they go on the walkie asking if you sold any make-titles. I didn’t so they cut one of my days..I said thank you because it was an extra day to go job hunting.
I know of this note too. Hours were cut-if you weren’t dating him or his friend. I agree with this statement in which you wrote about above:
Any advertising or eCommerce veteran knows that a small pattern of complaints on an issue may point to a greater problem. For every incident reported, there are often 10 more that are not.
This note posted on the 4th of July (as bad as it was) there were even more issue’s not reported againist the same person.Who can one complain to when the person doing this is the one in charge? But I guess it comes to the employee’s to show others what is being done, and this is where this site benefits all!!
I worked at a Borders where our manager would yell at our morning meetings. you know made you feel real good..special. He then would yell at the night meetings how we sold no make-titles. Yell if you were to slow ringing someone up. Yell if your Border Rewards numbers were too low. Yell yell yell. So on my last day I yelled back. Never went back and never will.
It’s a shame that management thinks this is the way they need to lead their employee’s. I notice it never is. The great ones that have been my bosses didn’t need to write notes like this because we chose to follow them rightly. The ones that needed to write these kind of letters were the ones that were awful bosses. That the entire staff did not like so this was the only way to get their point across. Am I right or what.
I was laid-off and at first I was really sad. I enjoyed my co-workers, but then they started telling me stories of the war going on in those walls of Borders. I see every store has it rough. I haven’t been back in that store ever.
I work at Borders now. I’m very unhappy there. I hate it. Looking for work now. My manager is mean and talks down to us and his friend (whose a bookseller) is a nightmare. He thinks he can boss us around. But for now, until I find new work, I think of ways to get out of Borders
Nice note. It’s just another way Borders use to make their employee’s miserable. I think this site is wonderful because it allows us to see that it’s not just our store that is terrible..I hope we all move on to better days.
They are nuts. Period. My store isn’t that bad but I’ve heard from our sister’s store around the area. I hear they are finding any means to crack down…the biggest is Borders reward. Heads-up.
That is some serious crap. They expect employee’s to do everything and let me guess the person who wrote this was always in the back. They just wrote that, I’m guessing, so they wouldnt have to work. It’s the same every damn place. Bordes pay is crap-I say work for what they pay you. I, myself, have the best way for slacking off. It’s these notes that motivate me to keep it up.
I’ve been gone for awhile and it’s like a distance memory when I worked at Borders. Now seeing all the post and reading what managers are posting to employees gives me the sense I’m glad I’m outta there. My last week my dorky manager was riding my ass always complaining to me. So yesterday I see him at the mall and he’s all miserable and trying to be my friend. Get out of town. What you did was disrespecting me, man. Don’t try to play my friend after those months you made my life hell. I walked away in midsentence. Glad I’m gone.
So they’re hiring new employees at our Borders. When I started working there several years ago, they gave me lots of time and practice on the registers, showed me how things worked, gave me plenty of leeway and were extremely patient.
Speaking with a new employee yesterday, she told me how within a few days of starting work she was being yelled at for not selling make titles and not knowing where things are in the store or how to use programs. When she confronted the manager about this, she was responded with, ‘Next week that will be unacceptable’.
Sometimes I feel trapped in a George Orwell novel.
Man, this page is hilarious (not for the employees this note was intended for) It goes to show you how little Borders management really knows.
The employee’s at this Borders should have taken a million copies of this letter and posted all the car of the person who wrote this. Is that working hard enough for you?
I love this picture up top. Great page.
Ugh..terrible way to get the staff going. People have to write and ask why certain employee’s are angry. Come on. Give me a break. I always notice the ones asking why are the teachers pet while the rest of the ones get notes like these. Now I’m angry all over again. No wonder Borders are scared of blogging they have every reason to be with bad management.
This reminds me of how desperate things are getting at Borders. Glad my friends and I left.
I opened this up and started laughing. Our store is no different with angry and tired supervisors, to employees never even bothering coming to work. I guess I’m just finishing school and then i am out of there. We have one cool supervisor that, thank the heavens, makes it worth going to work. If he saw this note he would have contacted our DM, and then strung whoever wrote this out front!! I printed this out just to show him and thank him for being the coolest of them all.
You know these letters are the reason unions are formed. Back in the days many Borders tried to form unions, but when corporate find out they quickly moved in. There is only ONE store throughout Borders that has a union. These “letters” would NOT be tolerated in any means, and these raises that hasn’t happened in two years…would not happen. Employee’s walk around on eggshells allowing them to be bullied in any means and if they used their voice ours would be cut (to show them how little power they had)…just to scare them next time just whisper the word union and see your manager run to phone corporate.
No one tells me this crap. This person would have found a trash can over their face.
Just to clarify. Borders non-blogging policy is really a “you can’t blog at work on a company computer” policy. The other element is that you can’t divulge company information that is proprietary such as sales plan numbers, historical plan and sales data, information about competitive strategies, etc. There is no policy that bans an employee from discussing on a blog, or anywhere else, their likes or dislikes about their job or where the company’s going.
There seems to be a serious problem with the Possessive Apostrophe among you “readers”.
the union comment above is right on. The biggest argument made against unions by Borders mgmt was that they wound up being bad for the employees. I would tell the employees that anything management is so scared about should be the first thing on their agenda to pursue.
Someone posted that they should send a copy to the DM or HR. You don’t understand-they would applaud this approach, in fact he will probably be promoted because of it. The The fact that Julio still works for Borders after his horrific and embarrassing emails this year tells you how nasty this company has become. I wish they would change the name from Borders to anything else.
You are dead on LK, about the Julio thing, I read that email he posted(as well as most Borders employees did) this is the mentality of this company and many GM’s fled from Julio’s power of hell.
Oh by the way “matt” shut up, dude
One more thing the only Borders store that was union was closed. You see that is what happens to stores who try to have a voice. I say this where these blogs help the weary employees. There was nothing better than opening this site up and reading what Julio wrote.
I woke up this mornig thinking about unions and Borders which was an excellent topic bought up. I did looked it up because I have heard about prior Border stores trying to become a union. It has been going on since the mid 90′s. That’s tells me that prior employees felt the same frustrations we felt.
We seem to forget powerful companies like Walmart that make a profit this term but pay their employees nothing to the point they are taking out government assistance.
Anyways here is a clip from a old news article that was addressed to an old Borders executive.
I feel bad, Joe, that you had to attack me so personally, calling me
names — I have never done that to any Borders executive through this
whole conflict. But that is the refuge of one who doesn’t have the facts
or the truth on his side, so I understand your malice. I love how you
blame the AFL-CIO for being behind this big, sinister plot to unionize
your stores and other service workers. The AFL-CIO, until recently,
couldn’t organize their way out of a paper bag. If you get anything out of
this letter, please understand this: YOU, and other corporations like you,
are organizing the workers. By not paying a liveable wage, by promising
benefits and not delivering — you have brought this on yourself. I wish
I could take credit for it, but the credit is all yours
Couldn’t have said it better, but now its alittle to late with the money crisis of this company. Its still nice to know that prior employees tried to stand together for better pay and benefits.
So on the other LJ page they have a link that brings you to this site. The best part someone posted Julio’s letter and then I got to read this one. I like the comments on the union thing. It has been well known for YEARS that Borders employees have tried to start a union but failed.
They are demanding so much now with no pay raises for TWO YEARS. So I went digging and found this article. If you work or worked at Borders you should read this. Oh and if you havent’ read Julio’s email go to the other site and read it.
http://www.labornotes.org/node/1010
May we all have better conditions at work.
God Bless.
I heard whispers of forming a union years ago but nothing more. I think now it’s alittle too late. Shame.
Hey Shutup,
Good article and it’s nice to see employees stand up for once.
Help me….
I can’t find the link to Julios email. Can someone help me out.
Thanks
Do you want his email? or that site where you can read his letter to the GM’s.??
Sorry,
I wasn’t real clear. The site where I can read the letter.
Thanks
Julio lives through other bad management. It’s nice to see they are getting trained on how to make employees feel worthless.
All live Julio!
I’m curious, what was your last raise? I know it’s been awhile but what did this company give you?
My last raise was two years ago and it was ten cents. How kind. Half-hour going in detail my faults and how faster I could work. Ten cents. So laughable.
I can’t even remember. Sad. Terrible. Not worth the trouble. I just got home from work and my head is exploding. Dont know why I stay with a job that doesn’t throw it’s employees a bone.
I got a raise two years ago for an embarrassing nineteen cents. Everyone who received a raise that day were more pissed than happy. If they are that broke then keep their change, I’ll try elsewhere.
My co-workers showed me all the websites available for Borders employees. It’s been a real treat to read that my store is not alone in anything.
I use to work at Toys R Us. My store was up for being closed and daily I was yelled at for not unloading shipments faster. My managers were all on edge. I know what it is like to work for a bad company.
My friend got me my gig at Borders not that long ago. I’m not use to it at all. I feel like there are too many coupons. Coupons on the right to you. Coupons to your left. Coupons in the mouths of customers. They come in and just expect these coupons or just demand it. I’m not good at recommending books and now I am forced. I am lucky because my boss let me go out of town these past few days but now he said I need to double my sales of make-titles. I just dont know anymore. Then I call for backup and no one helps me. I don’t know if it’s because they don’t like me or if I’m new.
I have worked for a dying company before but most of the time I want to stand at information and yell
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for letting me vent.
I read that Walmart wants to crush the competitors who are weak-that includes Toys R Us. In fact I read that this week. I bet they will soon go after Borders.
Coupons have gotten worse over the past year. When it first started it was only one coupon for a certain amount of days. Now it’s everyday and if it’s only four coupons, that’s a good day.
One thing if your calling back-up and no one comes probably there is no one on the floor. I use to feel I was the only one on the floor and it felt creepy.
Good luck.
Sears is in big trouble too. The stores have gotten very run down and Kmart is close to closing down after the holidays I heard. Borders is not the only one in trouble. I doubt seriously Borders will close after Christmas, but they might start closing many stores. Kmart has been in trouble for years. If many don’t already know, Kmart use to operate Borders. In the good old days. It can take many years for them to close a huge retailer but they start closing stores that don’t make any profit. I sense alittle panic when I read some of the postings.
It will take time but if your store is not making profit then we shall see what Borders will decide after the holidays or through the year. For many companies this holiday season is a do or die. Even Michaels is having problems and I loved working for them years ago. I wish everyone a good holiday run.
I am an angry employee for soooooooo many reasons. the above letter is but a small example of what we hear every day. Every few hours we get an update on make books sold, donations given, rewards cards used or issued, and it is always give more. The Kennedy book is given to rewards fool for 40% off plus $5.00 off, and imagine my amazement and disgruntlement when I realized the the customer saved over $17.00 savings. This is more than twice my hourly salary. It does not matter how hard you work, what your numbers(mine have been the highest in the store since the onset of tracking) and you NEVER hear what a good job you are doing. My DM has never even spoken to me(since I am a girl).
I keep saying a pat on the back is free, but our hedgehogs give nothing to their peons for free.
Thanks, for letting me speak. J
I hate that I am having trouble finding a job right now and forced to stay at Borders. It drives me so angry.
I hate going to work and all the favorite games that goes on in my store. I go into work and they give the people who call out every weekend all the hours, but I don’t know if I’m going to get any hours. They also make me shelve most of the carts while others get no projects.
My GM mostly hangs out in her office and, trust me, when I leave I will give away my identity.
I have been at the company only a year and already I feel ready for a meltdown. Thanks Borders.
Hey Jean and Mule,
I am so sorry you guys are stuck in this horrible situation. Keep on looking because you will find something where you are appreciated and respected. Have you googled the “angry Borders employees” sight. Good stuff on there to. Best of luck to you.
Well woke up this mornig to see Blockbuster in the news. They are going to close many stores but they still have green in the bank (unlike Borders) They made 5.3 billion last year but that is down from last year. They are having major competition and many of there stores are old and empty.
I still predict that Borders will start closing stores instead of just disappearing. But I doubt Blockbuster made their employees feel like criminals (hint hint Bordes)
Lets hope, as they said, the worse of the recession is over. Now why don’t I believe that.
So I just read that Youtube will allow viewers to pay to watch movies. I guess Blockbuster knew of this and decided to jump ship.
Blockbuster hired me when I was nineteen and that place was always packed. Insane crap.
I keep reading that many people on these blogs feel Borders wont last through the year. I feel no major retailer is safe. At all.
So did I read wrong that Headway is now doing temp hiring for Borders-for Christmas? This is a first and really strange. What happened to HR and GM having the ability to hire?
I have been an employee of Borders for several years and how it has changed in the last year or so. There’s too much aggressive in-your-face selling going on, too many questions to ask customers. I’m not a book salesman, but rather a bookseller, and would like to keep it that way. But the company seems to have other ideas.
Don’t get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with asking a customer a question or two. Then after helping them we should go our seperate ways. I thought I felt this way because I am more of a shy and introverted person, but even some of the more outgoing employees feel the same was I do.
Some customers don’t mind being approached while others get sick of all the attention. Then there are the self-sufficient regulars who have been coming to Borders for years. We don’t really have to ask them anything, but the company wants us to go after every single person. This can be pretty sickening at times.
I really like my GM. He’s probably the best I’ve had in my retail career. I understand he’s only following company orders. But that doesn’t mean I have to agree with all the stuff thrown at us each week. It can be quite overwhelming to have to do these things eight hours a day. Maybe I should go back to groceries.
Robo
Congrats! You belong to a desperate company who love to shove toys and crap in our customers faces. I feel bad for the fellow who just wants to come in to buy a newspaper “Do you want a Rewards Card? “How about looking at this make-crap-title?” “Buy a over-priced bag of coffee?” “Donate a book?” I would run out the door.
Most of my friends fled and it’s just me and a few other prisoners. I miss the days where we would enjoy our work and the hours would fly by.
We have a supervisor at our store that makes little comments about you under her breath. It makes work all the more fun. If you don’t sell a make-title during your shift, she will say something so others will hear. It makes you feel like crap. I have to deal with being the only one on the floor and then have something said so others will hear it. The best part is when she gets them laughing at you. My anger usually is at a boiling point by the time I walk home.
I swear one of these days I am going to tell her what I think. This week I only have two days. I could handle the make-titles and everything that Borders brings my way except her little comments. I hope for the Christmas holiday I am working anywhere else. Just then maybe I will walk out before my shift ends.
I think things were better back when we had staff picks. You could talk honestly about a book that way. But with the make books you almost have to pretend you read the whole book and loved it even if you have no interest in it. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future the whole staff has to read make books from beginning to end.
Robo from the get-go my GM would often quiz me on the make-title and I better know the book. It would help if they would pick one book I liked.
Dan I had an old supervisor like that. I don’t let people walk over me. I say take the high road and ignore that person but, at Borders, there is no high road anymore.
No more mister nice guy!
I haven’t heard that in a long time. LOL
Found this site. Been an employee for two years. It’s nice to see a place for employees. My store isn’t so bad but the staff is running on empty. I hope we just make it through the year at my store. It’s not busy at all.
I’m trying to get these videos out again for the crew to see. I think they will make all us laugh for all the bullshit we have endured.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1JYr7qQ3h8
I found another job, people by connections through Borders. So thank you. Sorry for what has happened to this company. You guys were once great, but even the great has to fall sometimes.
Shouldn’t the whole G.R.E.A.T. campaign be called T.H.R.E.A.T.?
I just found this page. I love when employees nail on their uppermangement level. We had a note like this about punching in early. It was all in bold letters and it felt just like my manager yelling (as he always did) So we all turned it around and wrote what we really thought of him. It was so funny cause he never knew. Then the GM took the note down and saw what we all wrote on the back. Know what the GM did? Laughed his ass off.
No one like that damn fool. Unions. God, if only. A union would really help us now. Oh well, to late to daydream, isn’t it.
Anytime a company starts really threatening their employees/cutting masses amounts of jobs then there is a problem. I never would have thought that Borders would have taken this road. I long for days when the Border brothers had the invention to open Borders. It’s disgusting what “business degrees” can do for a company.
I’m all out of words for this company. It’s a dead-end to a horrible story.
This is a very sad thing to see. I started at borders about a week after that note was posted, not in that store, but in the same “zone”. I can say our GM at the time was very nice to your face and then would stab you in the back, light you on fire, and giggle when you weren’t looking, thankfully she quit in Sept, our sales manager has been running the store since, hoping & praying to get the gm position and me hoping & praying to get her position, until we found out about that last little bombshell the old gm left for us, she made sure to not recommend either of us in writing to our zone vp that neither of us were ready for the job, even though our sales have been up, our make/key items are always met and we consistently number 1 for bean friday. Now they cut my overtime, 400 a month pay loss, are bringing in a new gm that worked at kmart before, who is training until january but his hours come off our weekly payroll. I just wonder if borders is going to be around after the holidays, because the panic that is coming down on us from corp would suggest not.
It sounds like at every store a war is brewing. I still don’t understand why in the hell would anyone advance in this company when they stab every employee in the back. But I guess it happens, who cares anymore.
I remember once my GM told me I better sell a make-title that day. Was she serious? I told her to take her threats somewhere else.
Just so everyone knows Borders made the top ten list of companies that will belly-up in 2010.
Keep strong everyone.
I was in the zone that this note was posted. We were all bullied and still are. Now we are scared of more firings and layoffs. How long till we do something?
Threats are abound in my store. Somehow I avoid them, but others do not. One coworker wast told he would be written up for not selling make Items. I generally refuse to recommend them, and am proud to ask every customer to sign up for a Borders Reward Card, and yet have no sign ups. I also dislike how we are treated like little kids. I have seen all the good supervisors at the stores I have worked at fired or leave due to the pressure put on them by the DMs. I wonder how much if anything will change with the departure of Ron Marshall. also I heard from one of my sups that Some in Corporate got bonuses (correct me if I was incorrectly informed). If anything they should be cutting their own pay as they are killing the company.
Slim
I agree with you about being treated like little kids. I’m a grown man. I stress every week when the schedule goes up wondering if I’ll have enough money to eat.
I need to find anything else but what.
Borders is killing me, physically, mentally, but the biggest shame of it is my soul has died from the many different, and unending demands and humiliations thrown our way by both corporate, management(high and low). The customers are another story, they actually get out of their cars grasping their 10 copies of the coupon. Since I am usually one of 2 on the floor it is me they fling their wrath on, and then management flings it on me if you ever have the temerity to offend the offending, demanding customer.
Today I was definitely going to call and tell them I was done and never coming back. However by the end of the day, I came to terms that in this economy I am doomed to suffer until a job comes around.
I had such great hopes when I began at borders 5 years ago, what a young fool I was. I have never been treated in such a disrespectful manner in my life.
When I fly from borders, corporate will definitely hear from me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1Yeah, i am angry.
Really, really angry.
Thanks for listening.
Is this company for real? I mean this is one of the worst places I worked for. Layoffs after layoffs and firings after firings. ENOUGH.
I will not speak of what happened lastnight at work. The best manager is gone after this round of layoffs. I feel like going nuts but who will hear me. I will be the only one on the floor.
Good luck anyone out there on Borders land.
I really don’t get the mentality of the managers at Borders. Their constant put down and belittling of employees does nothing but drive morale into the ground. The only reason why I and my fellow employees are there is because we have no choice right now. Everyone of us are looking for jobs elsewhere. The first thing I ask when I walk in is what kind of a mood our gm is in and then do everything I can possibly do to avoid her. I’m so sick of being bullied and threatened with the rewards garbage, if a person doesn’t want to sign up after asking and explaining it to them what else can I do? Also I don’t know what other stores do in regards with donations but ours is a total scam. The book drive for a local charity was supposed to go until Easter but it ended up being extended an extra month and a half and that was because Borders was the one that was benefitting the most from it. We went through the same thing in November and December and some of the boxes with books that were donated by customers were still sitting in the stock room well into January. They were supposed to be delivered before Christmas. Right after the book drive finished the coffee started. I have no problem with asking for donations but Borders shouldn’t be the ones that are making the most and giving very little or nothing at all in return. And not giving customers a chance to breathe in between drives just makes them angry and who are the ones who pay for that anger? That’s right, us little people on the floor working the job of three people and getting paid crap.
This reminds me of a time when things were awful and wrong. Always use your words and get the word out.
Borders. What a bad experience, I think you were for most people. I see things hasn’t changed. It’s nice to be gone after 6 years. There are so many websites for unhappy employee’s of Borders. I would think that AA would open their eyes now, but I guess when their closed for so long not much you can do.
When I first applied to Border in May of 2010 I thought working there would be fun. I loved books. I loved reading. I also loved to talk about books and reading. I was sadly mistaken. Borders is the worst job I have ever had. I was hired at 9.00/hr and had to argue to get that pay. I haven’t made that low amount of money since I was 16 years old and that was over 8 years ago. The 9.00/hr is barely worth coming to work to have to put up with the crap that our GM puts us through. Let me let you in on our GM’s secret:
Recently we have begun collecting books for a center nearby that helps children with mental disabilities. I was all pumped to ask customers to donate to this worthy cause, but found myself getting mad at customers because they didn’t want to donate. When I looked at the price tag of the books I understood why in this economy (17.99 for a 20 page picture book). A lot of the books being donated weren’t age appropriate for children of the age at the center anyway. The children that I know who have mental disabilities do not have the ability to sit down and read a 300 page chapter book from the IR section. (I later learned that the chapter books were up there because they were 8.00/book, not because the kids could read them). One day when my GM wasn’t there, I asked the MOD if I could use bargin books that were 1.00 instead because I thought donations were donations. This manager said yes and I got piles of donations that day (we’re talking having to count by 10′s I got so many). People didn’t mind donating books when they were 1.00. Many customers changed their mind and donated when I told them the books were 1.00! My next day at work the GM scolded me for using the 1.00 books and told me never to do it again. The GM made me go choose books that were over 7.00. When I asked someone why we couldn’t use the bagin books I was told that the GM was trying to boost the average $$ spent in the store by having customers donate more expensive books. In other words, the GM was profiting off of the donations customers paid for, for these children. Needless to say I went from having handfuls of donations in a few hours to only 1 or 2 donations for the whole day. As someone who is an advocate for children with disabilities I literally wanted to go home and cry. We should not care about how much customers spend on the donations, but rather, we should care about the customers donating at all.
Next time you donate ask them who gets credit for the donation. When the GM drops the books off at the center will they say the donation is from Borders or Borders’ customers. Borders didn’t put ANY books in the donation pile. The customers did. Customers weren’t even allowed to write their name on the inside covers to say the books were from someone. Makes you think about the logic behind it.
As soon as I find another job I am quitting this company. It makes me sick to work for them and if I didn’t have to pay bills I would quit today.
Crap. I got hired recently and can’t help but notice how many websites for angry Border employees there are. Now I’m nervous. I notice the post above me the person makes 9 bucks an hour. WHERE? I got hired at 7.50. I just recently graduated college and NO ONE is hiring. I had to take it because I’m sick of not working and my mom is sick. I’m on my own.
It seems that many of the management at my store are all new. I often hear employees talk about all the employees who left. So right off the bat I’m just hoping to stick around until any other place hires me.
Retail is long since dead. Back in the 50′s you could have retail as your profession and make a decent living. Now, many of the retail stores are up to their neck in debt. I recently walked into a Sears and it looked like a junky dollar store. Sears is in masses debt and barely hanging on. When I grew up Sears was really nice. It’s shocking to see the downfall. I guess the same could be said for this company.
So to my surprise, the second week I come in and I’m at seventeen
I hate when you start a new job and come to find out that is just sucks balls. I should have known by seeing the pissed off faces that I got from the management team. Glory. Glory.
I got hired at a Mass. store.
I came across this site in thanks to my cafe sup. All of the staff from my store is gone except for me, cafe sup and the old guy on the books side. I find it almost a relief to see all the rest of Borders employees in the same boat as I am. I start school in Jan and I am outta here. It’s been a long depressing ride. If it wasn’t for the cafe sup, I would have left awhile ago. Peace out.
Hello,
I read this article, it sounds like at every store a war is brewing. I still don’t understand why in the hell would anyone advance in this company when they stab every employee in the back.
Thanks!
My GM plays favorites all the time. I have yet to get a decent schedule and barely make enough to get me through the first week (the week we’re paid I’m broke as hell) I’ve only been with Borders for 5 months but already I’m counting down till I go off to school in Jan. I don’t even think I will last that long. It’s all bullshit at my store. Every single person is miserable and all the favorites are nothing assholes (excuse my french) I’m suppose to work tomorrow but I’m thinking of calling out. I don’t want to deal with one manager and her tag-a-long who rats on all of us. Let them deal with the pest-control of Sundays. It sucks because I can tell Borders use to be a really good place to work. I hear it all the time from our IPT girl, which is leaving after 7 years due to stress from our GM.
Well, thanks for letting me rant and this really helps. I like going on all the different sites and seeing just how bad we all got it.
I am a former employee and just learned of this site and the LJ site. It blows because these sites could have really helped me out during my experience at Borders. I felt forced out after I hurt my hand and became “useless” to my GM and her followers. I will miss it come Christmas because we all had so much fun. I guess the fun times do come to an end. I can’t wait to email my boyfriend these sites because he worked last year for Borders and quit on the spot after finding the place rather awful. I read all the post on this page and the other oh and how I can relate. Our GM would post notes, not like this one above, but rather rude indicating how worthless we all were. What goes around comes around, I always say.
Oops did it again
You are right, what goes around comes around. Times 2.
This is raw. Been in retail for years, but really never seen so many websites against a company. I’m afraid of what’s around the corner but most people are. Whether you’re with Borders or not. The book industry is weak and there hasn’t been a huge seller since Twilight. My GM has his fingers cross for this holiday season because our store is up to close. We’re in need of some major dough. Chris, your the raw deal. We’re behind you.Good luck. It’s a rough ride and nobody gets off from here.
Been reading the sites that employees write on here, and LJ. I left a few months ago and was freaked out when I heard my GM quit. Just when you think that all is calm, the shit hits the fan. Damn. I doubt I will step foot back in Borders again. If my old GM left on her own free will, then that tells me that it still sucks balls.
I too conceive thence , perfectly composed post! .
I’m in the zone and know this store closed. I guess it pays to be nice to people but Borders makes the ugly come out. RIP Borders. My store is on the list that they are looking at the lease.
WOW
buyer beware
what a rip-off. ALL MOST NOTHING is 40% off. Most are 10-20%. TOTALLY MISSLEADING
cCHECK FIRST AT THE CHECK OUT TO SEE IF IT IS A 40% ITEM OR NOT BEFOR BUYING
There is life after Borders.We all loved working there and with our co-workers.I was a Sup. and got fired right after the last court date.I now have a great career with a wonderful company.You guys can do it too!!!Don’t let them tell you about the “retail wasteland” out there.There are jobs you all can do.If you can,get OUT NOW!!!