Listen! “It’s too late… to apologize.”

I realize they are just a …”cool” boy band that will be mocked very soon… but I can’t stop listening to their CD. It makes me tingle. I think I listen to Apologize at least 6 times a day, and I’m not even exaggerating. I made them put the One Republic CD in at work, so it plays a couple times a day while I’m there, and I listen to it to and from work… and usually when I’m blow drying my hair in the morning, and before I go to bed. It’s such a good song. Apparently it’s over played on the radio, but honestly… I wouldn’t know. I don’t listen to the radio, except for CFUV.

In other pop-news, I also got Britney Spears’ new album, it’s a piece of junk except for the song Toy Soldier. I put it on at work one day and I had a lot of people come up asking who it was saying they really liked it. After I told them it was Britney they were a little embarrassed, but seriously - it’s a fantastic song.

I also got Craig David and James Blunt’s new albums. Neither of them is anything special. I really like James Blunt’s voice… and Craig David’s lyrics. So they were disappointing or anything. Just nothing to go ape-shit over, like the One Republic CD. So. Good.

I worked 11 hours today… and then went out with work people. Gah. I need a life. I made a lot of commission today though - and hit 22% PSP… which gives me an average of 25.5% for the weekend. Fuckers can’t fire me now. (Actually, I got talking to a couple guys who have been with the company for a really long time and they think I should go to human resources with the issue because apparently they can’t make that threat.)

Other pop-ish things in my life - Surf’s Up and Happy Feet = awesome. I’m addicted to Guitar Hero. I sit on facebook on my blackberry for hours. My blackberry is sexy as hell. (The blackberry Curve…mmm) And I’m on season 2 of Heroes, which I think is pretty much the best show in the entire world … next to Sex and the City, of course. Hey - at least I’m not reading cosmo and watching the OC… I could be worse.

Future Shop Guelph - 631: Grand Opening

I started working at Future Shop just about 4 months ago. It seems like much longer than that, but that’s definitely not the case. It didn’t take me long to start standing out in my department as someone who has their head screwed on properly and can accept more responsibly without compromising their performance. I loved working at Future Shop. I loved that I was working for a store that had values and guiding principles all set out for the employees so that we all knew we were walking into a company that really cared… here are some of those guiding principles and values?

- have fun while being the best

- learn from challenge and change

- respect and integrity

- begin with the customer in mind

There are others, but I can’t remember them all right now. I keep speaking in past tense. This is because it was up until yesterday that I loved working at Future Shop. Sure I had my down days when I didn’t want to be there - but that’s only because I work on the floor and I think I’d have made a much better customer service specialist.

At Future Shop we offer something called a Product Service Plan. I don’t sell a whole lot of product service plans, because I personally see them as a rip off for some customers. When you’re buying a $99 camera, it’s hard to see the reasoning behind getting a service plan that is $30… 1/3 the price of the camera, to protect a camera for 4 years that will be more than obsolete in 4 years. It doesn’t make any sense. Anyway… I had had a few meetings with my managers about needing to get my psp up, which I understood. It’s hard to keep the companies numbers up and look good when your full timers aren’t selling the products.

What I didn’t know is how heavily this PSP weighs in on our job. Yesterday I was pulled into the office and told that if I didn’t have 10% PSP on Saturday and Sunday that on Monday I would be relieved because there would be no place for me on my managers team. (The company goal is 8%…)

Huh.

I’m down right pissed off about it. Using scare tactics to get me to sell something… and the only reason they want us to sell so much is because the company makes so much damn money off the things. I don’t think that this method was going to help me have fun while trying to pump out my best. I also don’t think it upheld any sort of integrity or respect. And I definitely don’t think it began with the customer in mind. Instead it begins with the number in mind. I spend all morning avoiding customers terrified that they weren’t going to get PSP.

I later decided to just have fun with it and started skewing my numbers by walking customers who weren’t getting PSP to the front so someone else would ring them in and just ringing in accessories, none of which are eligible for PSP, thus wouldn’t bring down my percentage. … I ended the day at 29.1%, but made a point with that… I can get any number they want me to do. Hell, I could have gotten higher than that, but I didn’t shitty quality sales on my daily sales, and horrible customer service.

Tomorrow I plan on following the program, ringing in all my sales, and just seeing how it goes. If I don’t get 10%… then I don’t get 10%… I’m just going to see what naturally happens. But I sure am angry. This was a company that I stood up for on a daily basis telling people that it wasn’t like other companies… that they actually care. That because my managers and I are best friends, then it must be different. I would tell all my hippy friends that it is a great place that isn’t 100% focused on the capitalistic nature of the world, but it is. And that really makes me quite sad.

Someone needs to mention to our managers that their employees aren’t sales. The use the same technique on us. They make us their friend, gain our trust… try and make us believe that they actually care about what we need to do our jobs, try to make us believe that they are actually qualifying us for the positions that we’re in… and then they ask for the sale (the 10%) and if they don’t get it, you’re not even worth their time anymore.

One thing that really bothered me, was when my manager brought me into his office for the initial “you’ll get fired” meeting he drew a graph. On one side he listed what Future Shop gives me, and on the other what I give future shop. He listed about 11 or 12 bullshit things on the Future Shop side (like 30 million in product to sell and a community…) and only listed four on my side.

Why did this piss me off? I spend ounce of energy, time and creativity that runs through me on Future Shop. I helped plan the Christmas Party, I’ve slowly become the leader of our community outreach board, I merch my department, I keep my guys in my department on top of things and organized, I trained our new hires, I have more product knowledge than most people… I bring so much in there every single day - but because I don’t have 10% PSP… I’m not worth the company’s money.

I have brown hair now. And no lip ring. … and no makeup. I’m almost growing up.

I realize that it’s been a somewhat extended period of time since I last decided it was a good idea to update this dear old blog that I’ve been stuck to for so long. In fact, all of November was missed, and the majority of October. I apologize, I lost my voice and my way for a little while, but I feel like it’s back and ready to go.

I was definitely drifting the past little while… I didn’t scream at people who didn’t recycle, and the fact that my big box company throws out tons upon tons of paper every single day for some reason wasn’t even pinching a single nerve. I work with a bunch of sexists, and never really let it get to me.  I brushed it off really.

There were even nights when I sat staring at some of my books such as “Social and Political Philosophy” or “Gender on Planet Earth” or  “Philosophy and Biodiversity” …questioning why I still had them. Luckily I didn’t go to the extent of giving them away, that would have been horrible. I don’t know if school had just gotten to me and I was sick of thinking, or if I was sick of fighting, or if it just seemed easier to become submissive… whatever it was - it’s gone, hopefully forever.

As a quick update - I haven’t been doing anything with my life. On my downtime I play guitar hero, I can play expert on some songs… and I work. I go out a lot of weekends, but that’s becoming slight more expensive then I’m able to keep up with. I still work at Future Shop, but I have a great ranty post about them coming up. I’d like to go back to school - at this point it’s just figuring out where to go back to, and what to go back doing. I realize those are two very important things… but I don’t know yet. Radio? Writing? Geography? Geology? Religion? … I have no idea. Once I figure that out, I’ll go back, and hopefully actually finish this time around.

I guess that’s it for now. I have a lot of built up anger and frustration from the past month and a half so I’m ready to start typing my brains out… !! Woo! I’ve missed this.

…Oh, and another note - I realize the site needs some updating. This probably isn’t going to be any sort of science site… or even overly academic in anyway. I actually expect a lot more creative writing to be incorporated, and also a little bit of here and there photography if I get around to it. I spent a long time on the whole pink and white design, but I just don’t think it’s going to fly anymore. Which will probably piss Aaron off because he took such a long time getting the banner together. Sorry Aaron, I love you.