/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

[Anonymous No.7778163]

Joanns thread? I'm starting working there tomorrow morning and already work retail, anything in paticular I should know (particular types of customers, employee discount, etc)?

[Anonymous No.7778173]

When I worked there five years ago, no sew fleece throws were the bane of my existence. Dunno if that's still the case, though. I'm sure there's some new trendy annoying project to take its place.

Also you will hate most quilters.

[Anonymous No.7778186]

>>7778173
Why's no sew fleece the worst? Isn't it just a layer of fleece with serged ends rolled up?

[Anonymous No.7778189]

just know, most of the customers you will come across will be bitchy old ladies. so long as you know they're gonna bitch you out, they have no power over you. and the regular bitchy ladies sometimes will even come to like you because you don't take their shit and you know to cut them 31" of ten types of fleece so they can feed their crazy dog blanket addiction.during the holidays (starting now) there are a lot of people who try to swindle the company out of a couple of inches (to several yards) or try to get you fired to get a deal. the cut table intimidates all of the newbies, most people quit pretty quick if they're trained there first. and when I say trained. you may not get that. at our store it's more of a trial by fire. throw you in on a busy weekend after giving you the bare minimum and expect you to act like you've worked there for 16 years. the 20% total purchase discount is pretty nice though. but honestly it varies by location. but most of the problems stem from corporate being shitty. out of like 14 people I'm one of two of my hiring date last year in august. most people learn to hate it quick, unless you have a background in textiles. then you learn to hate it slowly. also burlap is the fucking devil.

[Anonymous No.7778194]

>>7778186
it's the customers who want to make them who are the worst. those blankets require ZERO knowhow so every idiot entitled pinterest mom wants to buy materials to them and acts shitty in the process.

[Anonymous No.7778196]

>>7778173
they're still a thing. it's still annoying.

we have them in packages and they all are really weirdly sized. people tell us they want the exact size of the package and get super pissy that we can't give them that. an then bring up 30 bolts of fleece to make new-sew throws for a whole volleyball team or whatever.

[Anonymous No.7778518]

Literally not on topic, but I'll reply anyways.

It's your average retail, with a little more caveats I think. Skeleton crews seem to be the normal (bare minimum people to work, effectively making breaks/backup very hard), quilters gonna have you cut 1/4th yard of 50 different bolts, high theft, completely vague crafters who get pissy when you can't help them with their totally clear project, and doing gobacks is an absolute bitch. See that beautiful, perfectly reset jewelry section? Learn to hate it.

If you're really personable, have a thick skin, and have generally good retail traits, you'll be fine there. Since you made this thread, I'm assuming first or so job, and holiday hire to boot. Stay strong, use that discount like a madman if you can, and try not to let the shitty customers phase you.

Honestly, if you can get opening shifts, go for them. Gobacks are a bitch, especially when that one customer everyone hates brings up half the jewelry department and leaves over half of that at your register.

[Anonymous No.7778524]

>>7778518
Oh, and one last thing. Don't rely on the handhelds for shit. They'll push it hard, but really learn how to identify where items are based on SKU and how the shelves are labeled. When I worked there, the handhelds worked maybe a fourth of the time. While you're new, snag the trims for gobacks. They're very plainly printed where they go, in an easy format. I believe its 012345, with 01 being the 4 foot size area, 23 being the shelf, and 45 being the number on that shelf. If you want your bosses to love you, reset areas when you have nothing to do.

They aren't going to shove you on register or the cut counter your first day. It'll be general orientation, and they might take you on a walk of the store, or they might throw some gobacks your way to get used to the handheld. Sort them by type to make it go much, much faster. Or don't, so you can drag it out. All depends on what you're working for, holiday money vs longevity.

If someone asks for your opinion on something, give it if you think you're informed. If you're not, you have two choices. Make up that you're informed, "In my crafting group, they seem to prefer X brand", or go get another team member. If you're running on skeleton crew, this ultimately ends up being more hassle than its worth. Get good at recognizing products at a glance, and if you can try and have a base knowledge in common things. What worsted means with yarn, how is the felt in the kids area different than the yards of felt, why that lass should probably at least get interfacing when making a quilting cotton dress, etc. Ask questions, and do your best to remember the answers so you can regurgitate it a million times to customers.

Also, learn how the coupons work and don't work. Learn a friendly way to say "that's not how this shit works" when people insist that is how they work. Get trigger happy with that manager call, because these ladies will take it to the extremes to get a 5$ off. (cont)

[Anonymous No.7778530]

>>7778524
I had more to say than I originally thought.

(cont) I witnessed a shouting match between a pair of women and my coworker because they wanted a dressform for nearly 70% off. A lady got extremely frustrated with me when I insisted only the yellow dotted buttons where on sale, and the rest were regular price. Wannabe extreme couponers and discount hunters flock like shitty vultures to Joann's because of all the discounts and coupons and get incredibly angry when they can't game the system even lower. Just call the manager and let them deal with it, as they're usually trained in descelation. You can keep the line moving, they can deal with the shit.

TL;DR for my three posts: you'll grow to hate it there, it's really not a fun work environment due to shitty management and skeleton crews alongside the most irritating bad customers, but the work discount is good and if you know your shit you'll get marginally less angry people. Ignore the handheld, and good luck reaching anyone with that walkie. Don't get attached to your coworkers.

[Anonymous No.7778537]

>>7778196
>need one fabric cut, pretty simple
>only one person cutting at counter
>woman in front of me has two full baskets of fleece
>keeps running back to the wall to get different ones because she can't decide on a matching color

[Anonymous No.7778543]

Could someone explain what a goback is?

[Anonymous No.7778560]

>>7778543
I assume they mean taking the bolts back to their original place after they've been cut from for customers.

[Anonymous No.7778562]

>>7778543
Goback's are basically stuff that needs to go back on the shelves. Like the stuff people change their mind on, leave at the cashier, and needs to be put back on display. Every store has them. Usually a basket or cart full of random stuff you see an employee putting back on the shelves.

[Anonymous No.7778575]

>>7778163
What city op?

[Anonymous No.7779666]

Each store is going to be different. I interviewed at the location closest to me but the manager was 45 minutes late, seemed frazzled and I had seen her running around the store on other occasions asking people for their handhelds. Not really someone I want to work under so I turned down the offer.

There's a really nice Joann 40 minutes south that's a superstore, has super nice staff and always seems relatively clean. I'd work there in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous No.7779681]

They make a point of employees not making "definite" recommendations. Meaning if someone asks you have much fabric it would take to make a little girl's dress you don't say they should get specifically 1.5 but instead say something like "let's take a look at what this similar pattern recommends." Reason being is they don't want people coming and complaining that the employee told them to buy too much or too little.

I don't know if "penny sales" are a thing, but be mindful of them. If an item was left on the shelves after it was supposed to be taken out of inventory it won't ring up properly in the system properly so it will just be listed as costing $0.01. Some jerks run blogs telling people of some penny items that might be on shelves if they look hard and are told to bully cashiers into letting them get the items even though it's against the rules.

[Anonymous No.7779844]

I'm so glad this thread is back.

>>7779681
I know our JoAnn doesn't do penny sales. We can do similar items sometimes, but only with manager approval.

The rudest people you will ever meet at those who insist that a certain item IS on sale, or else, it will be the ladies who want to use the same coupon in multiple transactions which is not allowed.

I've been there for a couple of months now and even though there's a lot of annoyance with the job, I love having co-workers who actually care about the store and know how to laugh.

[Anonymous No.7779911]

>>7778173
>>7778186
what even are they? are they just fleece blankets? couldn't you just y'know, buy a fleece blanket?

[Anonymous No.7779931]

>>7779911
Not the above anons but you can sometimes get the fleece cheaper than what's premade in stores. They have sales where you can get the fleece for a $1 a yard but what people do is they knot the edges of the blanket. Honestly, i know you can get some of these cheap at say, walmart, but people have been flocking to these because "It's homemade! I made something!." It's also something you can 'personalize' to a degree like making one side your favorite sports team and the other side having trucks or w/e the fuck else you want. I've never made one but i know alot of people who have. My sister in law has made countless blankets for her kid or others as well as some other family members have.

[Anonymous No.7780224]

>>7778518
>Skeleton crews seem to be the normal (bare minimum people to work, effectively making breaks/backup very hard)
This is pretty much the worst part. We have to constantly page for non-existent backup over the PA to keep the customers from lynching us, and the store gets fucking trashed every day since we don't have any people doing recovery (putting shit back where it belongs) during the day.

The store-level management is okay ( at least where I am), they know the situation is shitty, but the district level management has their heads lodged up their asses and thinks a huge store can run with only 4 employees and one manager present.

Oh and like a third of our handhelds are broken so it's a crapshoot as to whether you'll get one that works. I think I know what the "Mobile POS" thing stands for...

[Anonymous No.7780239]

>>7779931
I made one as a bonding experience with a roommate. It was a horrible failure. One side stretched out over time, while the other held its shape, so I ended up with a blanket with a saggy backside.

[Anonymous No.7780242]

>>7780224
This is every chain fabric store ever, I swear. I've posted in these threads before about my time at Hancock, and nearly every story I have falls into one of three categories:

>Shitty Customer
>Awesome Customer
>The many ways in which corporate fucked us up the ass

[Anonymous No.7780248]

>how much fabric do I need to cover my table/chairs/couch/grandmother, also I didn't measure anything, just tell me what I need, also I don't want to have any fabric leftover and I can't sew, so can I just glue this?

[Anonymous No.7780256]

>>7780239
should've done more squats

[Anonymous No.7780260]

>be the only person at the cutting counter
>take a number because I've learned my Joanns is anal about taking numbers even if you're the only customer
>I'm the number being served on the screen
>walk up to lady and hand her my number
>she gets on intercom and announces to whole fucking store "now serving guest ##" even though i'm the guest number she called and there's no one in front of me
>try not to laugh as she's cutting my fabric

i felt like pic related
i'm sure it's some weird new protocol they were asked to do because some bitch was too busy checking out the clearance fabric to hear her number being called but it was hilarious.

[Anonymous No.7780264]

>>7780260
>>she gets on intercom and announces to whole fucking store "now serving guest ##" even though i'm the guest number she called and there's no one in front of me
In her defense, the managers make us do this, because sometimes some customer comes out of nowhere going "YOU DIDN'T CALL MY NUMBER!!!!" so they just want us to announce it like morons regardless.
Also sometimes if customers don't hear pages from time to time they think that we're "not doing numbers" and don't pull tickets and then we end up with a line of people without tickets and shit gets all fucked up.

[Anonymous No.7780271]

>>7780264
that's what i figured, which is why i just laugh about it because i'm sure she felt dumb doing it.

i always try to be as easy going as possible for the poor workers because the job always seems like absolute hell. retail is hell in general but having to deal with old ladies and soccer moms is beyond hell.

[Anonymous No.7780279]

>>7780271
It's cool to laugh, we know we do silly things.
Also I always appreciate the chill customers. There's plenty of horror stories, but really most of the customers are nice people and I've had very enjoyable conversations with people while working there.

[Voxane !!aFbiQgnY8Ay No.7780297]

ive worked full time at joanns for awhile, looking at management now. ask me anaything.

[Anonymous No.7780320]

>>7780271
>retail is hell in general
Oh man seriously. I try to be as polite and courteous as I can when dealing with customer service. As long as they're not being rude or bitchy to me, I don't see the point of behaving rude to them.

I work in Food service, and thankfully I don't deal with near as many crappy people as a lot of retail workers do(even though I do get the occasional dicks and people trying to scam on meals)

[Anonymous No.7780411]

Wow this thread makes me glad I ended up scoring a job giving out free samples. I applied to a lot of retail places beforehand and fast food but didn't get them. The universe held out on me and now I have a nice job I wouldn't trade for fabric stores even with their tempting employee discounts.

[Anonymous No.7780764]

>>7780224
two weeks ago our store (large store model, just underneath superstore size) ran with 2 people working in the whole store for 2 hours. one was a manager, the other was me. backup is nonexistant at the cut table even without a skeleton crew. whenever i work I'm pretty much on my own. because I pretty much only get scheduled with newbies and the 2 lazy rude coworkers that should have gotten fired years ago. and because all of the managers refuse to work cut table and would rather relieve register people to back up cut table. most of our problems stem from the shitty corporate policies and management's incompetencies. literally the two top managers at my store literally know nothing about fabrics. or crafts. what the fuck are they doing here.

like sometimes i just stop and think. hot damn this company is fucked.

[Anonymous No.7780806]

>>7780260
>>7780264
Not Joanns but fuck I hated anything related to the intercom. I worked at Dollar Tree for a year and about 2 months into it the new manager started really pushing us to read these trash sales lines into the intercom every hour (i.e. "Did you know we have X item for only a dollar?" and prattle on about how its such a deal/spotlight/whatever). I hated it and outright refused to do it sometimes because it was bullshit. The store had no music so it would go from silence to HEY LISTEN TO DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE TRY TO PUSH YOU TO BUY SHIT YOU DON'T NEED. We also had to push items on people at the register, every week a different product and we HAD to ask "Would you like to add X to your purchase today?" And the responses would usually be "would I what?" and then you have to repeat yourself only to hear them say no while you look tiredly at your line of 20 more customers.

No one likes to be asked to buy things. Its a form of confrontation, really and puts people on the spot and in a way makes them look rude to say no. I fucking despise retail.

[Anonymous No.7780809]

>>7779931
Fleece blankets are $3 holy shit people are stupid, and those look retarded and can't be washed or they fall apart.

[Anonymous No.7780824]

>>7780809
I hate those faggots who want to make ultra cuddle tie blankets and then don't believe me when I tell them it won't work.
My job is to sell shit to them, there's no way I would talk them out of buying something unless I knew it was going to be a disaster.

Also tie blankets are the tackiest shit ever, lrn2blanket stitch you fucking plebs.

[Anonymous No.7780841]

>>7780824
This. It's stupidly bulky and looks like something that should never exist beyond the realm of a high school football game. I only bought a no-sew pack once because I liked the kinda-tetris pattern and I BLANKET STITCHED that shit together because, you know, IT'S A BLANKET.

[Anonymous No.7780891]

>>7780809
>>7780824
>>7780841
I hate no-skill crumby "crafts" marketed to adults, that don't teach people anything. We all started at the bottom, there's no reason to never learn any more skills beyond kiddie crafts. We can all learn almost any real craft these days.