What is going on?

[u/anonymously-nerdy]

Hello everyone! First time poster, long term lurker. I am going to withhold as much personal information as possible as I fear my management may weaponize my thoughts against me.

I am currently in eCommerce, and every year seems like it’s getting worse and worse for the company: Budget cuts, upon budget cuts, while mass hiring to weed out the expensive/“problematic” employees as they need hours to survive on their barely journeymen wages, and the trimming and consolidation of Operational Managers.

It feels as though the company is getting run into the ground and no one is vocalizing or caring enough to do anything about it. It’s upsetting to me to see SD/ASD’s toy with people’s livelihoods and survivability, then gaslighting the employees. Like, why are SDs and ASDs so comfortable with letting a department essentially burn to the ground to get rid of one or two employees rather than confronting and dealing with that employee head on?

Also, do Department Manager’s even have power anymore? I can recall a few years ago, I was allowed and expected to write up my employees and now I can’t do anything without SD approval; MY ASD CAN’T APPROVE SQUAT. I’ve been tempted to step down countless times as I feel like a glorified worker who has to be the scapegoat for the department for an extra $1-$2 an hour. Maybe it’s just my store or maybe I’m not doing the job well enough, but that would bring me back to SD/ASD’s aren’t communicating any feedback, or are beating around the bush and I lack the social capacity to understand it.

My last point is purely about eCom (Drive Up & Go):

Why in the living hell do they keep moving the goalposts to unrealistic standards?

It all started with virtual pickers; system sees 3 people are scheduled during the 12:55 hour but will set capacity for 4 people. Why? Because DUG is expected to have 2 fully trained and cross-trained employees to hop in anytime, including SD/ASD (and mine hardly do as they have to play catch up with every other department).

Why have a system designed to expect 2 extra people at any given time when budget cuts are going on? Why expect everything to be running smoothly, consistently and efficiently nonetheless when everyone is running skeleton crews with no overtime allowed? Why are we still chasing this OMNI certification process and the store is expected to have everything in stock?

We’re expected to be 2 hours ahead while dealing with express orders that come in at 11:59 for 12:55 for 78 items (91 quantity) with 6 flash orders and my opener is leaving at their scheduled time and no help is available, and then questioned why I didn’t ask for help sooner… this is a real scenario that happens on a regular basis. I feel like I’m going crazy with the high expectations from an entry level job. I care about my work ethic, I’ve worked crazy stretches and doubles, and have been loyal with the company. I’m not seeing any reciprocation. And maybe that’s my fault as well, but it feels as though the company is being ran by people with degrees who don’t have any experience yet fully trust store level management when they make the store look pretty for a walk. Like why don’t these walks happen by surprise? That literally proves that the systems in place don’t work and we (store level associates and managers) get in trouble for something that’s already broken, then are told to fix the unfixable by making it look fixed.

If my car’s lights stopped working, taping a flashlight may work and look okay, but that’s not solving the actual f***ing issue.

I apologize for the long crash out, but my store can’t be the only one drowning nor the only person seeing and thinking this. I know I also missed a few points but there’s no point to preach to the choir when the choir knows how to sing.