quite a load of bullshit

This past winter, I took on a seasonal job at a trendy retail store in the mall. What a mistake that was! Even with the discount, the clothes that we had to wear were super- expensive. And one couldn't just buy one outfit and wear that (like they had told us during training), oh no. Every couple of weeks meant a different product promotion, which in turn meant associates had to wear a corresponding outfit: November was sweaters, December was camel (a khaki color, only uglier), the beginning of January was denim, the rest of January was black, etc. The worst part of it was that most associates, myself included, didn't make enough money to pay for the clothes. I was usually pulling four hours on the job a week. The most I ever worked at that store was probably twelve hours a week, and even that's pushing it. I remember one poor girl who was pushing the four-hours-a-week deal with me had put her work clothes on her credit card she had with the store. Then she didn't work enough to pay the bill.

Add to that, the treatment we recieved from most of the managers only fed my animosity to the store. On any given day, two blood-thirsty managers parolled the sales' floor. One manager would approach me and chew me out for not doing a specific task, then order me to go perform that pointless and dauting task. I would hurry over and start the tast. The second manager would then rip me a new one and demand I stop doing the assigned task and go preform some other pointless task. And the phrase, "But Hellacious Asshole Manager #1 told me to do this" normally resulted in Hellacious Asshole Manager #2 to roll her eyes at me (because I was so obviously making the entire thing up... gggrrrrr). And this cycle would continue throughout the shift.

And for some odd reason, the store couldn't ever figure out why so many associates would just up and quit, normally without saying anything- just stop showing up for work. I helped out whenever I could. Everytime they called me and asked me to work, even at the last possible minute- I did it, no questions asked. Maybe I'm just a nice girl, but nice girls finish last. The last three weeks I considered myself to be an employee at that dreaded store, I wasn't on the schedule. When I eventually cornered a manager to ask him about it, he said, "Oh, we're probably done with you, bye!" THAT BASTARD! I saved his ass so many times when people went AWOL on him; I bit my tonguew whenever he'd ramble on about how he wanted "a bad boy who wasn't all "wham-bam, thank you very much, dude" (his exact words, I might add), but now this!

As cold and bitter I am towards that store, I recently recieved a letter from them that left me all warm and gooey inside. It reads:

"Dear Former ____ Associate,

I am writing to inform you about a lawsuit that has been brought against _____ in Pennsylvania. The suit alleges that ___ requires hourly associates to purchase our clothes causing associates to make less than minimum wage. While we would normally not want to infringe on your privacy, because of the litigation, the Court has required us to provide your name, home address, and telephone number to the attorneys suing ____. Over the next several weeks, you may be recieving communications from the attorney suing _____. It is your choice whether or not you want to talk to them.

I wanted to take this opportunity to explain our position.As you know, we do not require associates to purchase our clothes. Rather, we believe associates wear our clothes because they like them and because they get a generous discount on them.

Although we may be contacting you to discuss this matter at some point in the future, there is no action for you to take at this time other than to be aware of it. Should you have questions or want additinoal information about this matter, please do not hesitate to call me. I can be reached at __-___-____.

Thank you and regards,

Director of Human Resources - Stores

I love how they desperate try to save their own asses. They did tell us during our training that if we "found clothes that looked like what they had on the racks, we could wear them to work," but as I later found out, that is about as easy as neurosurgery. Also, I think that was no more than another one of those lies they spoon-fed us, because a co-worker of mine almost got bitched out because she took the hem out of the bottom of her jeans that were from the store. Apparently the big logo with the store's name on it wasn't enough to show that the pants were indeed from the store; the peon manager couldn't initally tell that the pants were store- brand.

Right now, I'm very tempted to contact the store and ask for the lawyers' information so I can contact them. I hope the store crashes and burns.

All in all, from this experience, I learned one thing: retail managers don't like college students because they have a brighter future than retail managing.