- Joined
- Aug 31, 2015
- Messages
- 3
In addition to working for target, I also, on occasion, do maintenance for apartment managers, in my area, there are two that call me most often.
The first I have worked for many years, his policy is maximum profit. I am expected to alert him to any situation that will enable him to evict and keep security deposits, he re-rents fast, fakes background checks and re-evicts ASAP. I don't generally report tenants, I do not care if they have a couple joints on their table or their apartment is a bit of a mess, I only mention something if they seem abusive or things are really out of control, this happens on occasion, due to his policy of no background checks, much more than average, I suspect. Additionally, when fixing things I am expected to take the fast cheap route, slam down cheap sticky tile right over multiple layers of floor, throw away screens instead of replacing them, replace fixtures with the cheapest possible plastic option. His apartments are a mess of 40 years of patchwork repairs and his tenants are not happy but they don't stand up for their rights, this confuses me, people allow themselves to be used out of a combination of fear of reprisals and laziness.
The second is an old friend, his family have been landlords as long as I can remember, he and his brothers inherited multiple buildings and sold off a fair portion. They did however keep a few, twelve, larger ones 12 to 15 unit multiple story buildings. He has a regular maintenance man who has been with their family for years but he calls me on occasion when things are busy or his regular guy is not working. His building are in a much rougher area, the first time he called I almost said I couldn't help, my experience with others in better areas made me cautious. I was surprised, his tenants were polite, long term and seemed to really care about their homes. We replaced a water heater, poor lady had been days without hot water and his guy had been ill and not able to get it replaced. We went to the local store and to my surprise he bought one of the better models, very efficient and much sturdier at nearly twice the price.
When I was finished he asked me to call him he had a ceiling fan issue in anther apartment and he wanted my advice. the fan had broken it's mounts and nearly fallen off crashing into the dining room table, he thought we may need to remove drywall and build a better, more stable mount, he was worried about the hassle to his tenant. Luckily we found another way the screws had vibrated loose and friction had wore them out over the years. While we were there the lady brought out a printout from a retail store and pointed out the fan she liked, I was amazed, he was buying a rather expensive model purely because she liked it. I didn't replace the fan, by the time that model came in, his guy was back and took care of it as well as alerting all the other tenants that they should check fans for vibration and call him if they had concerns.
Later I asked him about the pricey water heater and the ceiling fan, his answer was simple, if that water heater lasts a little longer and saves money that then saves money for his tenants, they are happier and care about their homes. Same with the fan, she had a fan she really liked. He was trying to forge a bond with his tenants, they would stay longer and take better care of his property. He had people who had lived in these buildings his whole life he had cut their grass when he was a kid they were friends of his fathers almost like extended family. He felt he had a responsibility to provide people a decent place to live, a home, it wasn't a money generator to him it was a holistic occupation.
Retail, target in my case but not solely target, has got caught up in the profit margin focus. They wrongly justify action using flawed logic.
Starting flow team at 6am instead of 4am on the twisted belief that there would be more people on the floor to help customers ( again "guest" really! corporate labels supplanting actual effort). The reason flow teams were moved to 6 was so they could cut sales-floor hours. If you disagree then watch customers trying to navigate through aisles full of boxes and skipping aisles full of product on the floor.
Cutting back room hours 30% then expecting back room to work pulls instead of back-stocking product, I have seen fresh meat and freezer item sit in limbo for a week and a half before it got taken care of. Lets not talk about fulfillment and timing pulls that only have one guy pulling them.
Most stores have 1 or 2 managers who actually make good pay, a handful of supervisors who make survivable pay all ruling over a group of "part-time" workers who barely survive and are controlled out of fear of hours being cut even more if they don't pull the party line. Managers bonus structure is designed to squeeze as many pennies out of the workers as possible then squeeze more next year. Meanwhile we have hired a new 19 mil a year CEO, that adds up to $800 an hour at 60 hrs a week btw, and sold off pharmacy to CVS to provide a cash influx designed to offset a poorly managed failure in Canada.
We, the workers, are the scared tenants worried about losing what little we get and falling into the abyss. While poor management and greed slowly erode the structure and weaken it.
It is the responsibility of businesses to provide jobs, good jobs, for their employees.
It is the responsibility of businesses to provide quality products and a positive experience to their customers
Retail has become a pyramid scam funneling money to the cronies at the top regardless of their abilities or knowledge of how the system "retail" actually works. We need to stand up for ourselves. Will we? I dunno. I would support an effort but we may all be too fearful and lazy to organize. Corporate holds the upper hand, labor laws can be circumvented. Historically, the masses don't motivate until they suffer. Have we suffered enough? Or do enough of us yet suffer? My time is not long, a few years I can retire and I am actively pursuing other options. What will happen to those of you with more time on your cards? Trust me without actual pressure those with the power will continue to take more and more. Power is like mass the more you have the more gravity brings into your grasp. All the power is now held by sociopaths and the corrupted.
The first I have worked for many years, his policy is maximum profit. I am expected to alert him to any situation that will enable him to evict and keep security deposits, he re-rents fast, fakes background checks and re-evicts ASAP. I don't generally report tenants, I do not care if they have a couple joints on their table or their apartment is a bit of a mess, I only mention something if they seem abusive or things are really out of control, this happens on occasion, due to his policy of no background checks, much more than average, I suspect. Additionally, when fixing things I am expected to take the fast cheap route, slam down cheap sticky tile right over multiple layers of floor, throw away screens instead of replacing them, replace fixtures with the cheapest possible plastic option. His apartments are a mess of 40 years of patchwork repairs and his tenants are not happy but they don't stand up for their rights, this confuses me, people allow themselves to be used out of a combination of fear of reprisals and laziness.
The second is an old friend, his family have been landlords as long as I can remember, he and his brothers inherited multiple buildings and sold off a fair portion. They did however keep a few, twelve, larger ones 12 to 15 unit multiple story buildings. He has a regular maintenance man who has been with their family for years but he calls me on occasion when things are busy or his regular guy is not working. His building are in a much rougher area, the first time he called I almost said I couldn't help, my experience with others in better areas made me cautious. I was surprised, his tenants were polite, long term and seemed to really care about their homes. We replaced a water heater, poor lady had been days without hot water and his guy had been ill and not able to get it replaced. We went to the local store and to my surprise he bought one of the better models, very efficient and much sturdier at nearly twice the price.
When I was finished he asked me to call him he had a ceiling fan issue in anther apartment and he wanted my advice. the fan had broken it's mounts and nearly fallen off crashing into the dining room table, he thought we may need to remove drywall and build a better, more stable mount, he was worried about the hassle to his tenant. Luckily we found another way the screws had vibrated loose and friction had wore them out over the years. While we were there the lady brought out a printout from a retail store and pointed out the fan she liked, I was amazed, he was buying a rather expensive model purely because she liked it. I didn't replace the fan, by the time that model came in, his guy was back and took care of it as well as alerting all the other tenants that they should check fans for vibration and call him if they had concerns.
Later I asked him about the pricey water heater and the ceiling fan, his answer was simple, if that water heater lasts a little longer and saves money that then saves money for his tenants, they are happier and care about their homes. Same with the fan, she had a fan she really liked. He was trying to forge a bond with his tenants, they would stay longer and take better care of his property. He had people who had lived in these buildings his whole life he had cut their grass when he was a kid they were friends of his fathers almost like extended family. He felt he had a responsibility to provide people a decent place to live, a home, it wasn't a money generator to him it was a holistic occupation.
Retail, target in my case but not solely target, has got caught up in the profit margin focus. They wrongly justify action using flawed logic.
Starting flow team at 6am instead of 4am on the twisted belief that there would be more people on the floor to help customers ( again "guest" really! corporate labels supplanting actual effort). The reason flow teams were moved to 6 was so they could cut sales-floor hours. If you disagree then watch customers trying to navigate through aisles full of boxes and skipping aisles full of product on the floor.
Cutting back room hours 30% then expecting back room to work pulls instead of back-stocking product, I have seen fresh meat and freezer item sit in limbo for a week and a half before it got taken care of. Lets not talk about fulfillment and timing pulls that only have one guy pulling them.
Most stores have 1 or 2 managers who actually make good pay, a handful of supervisors who make survivable pay all ruling over a group of "part-time" workers who barely survive and are controlled out of fear of hours being cut even more if they don't pull the party line. Managers bonus structure is designed to squeeze as many pennies out of the workers as possible then squeeze more next year. Meanwhile we have hired a new 19 mil a year CEO, that adds up to $800 an hour at 60 hrs a week btw, and sold off pharmacy to CVS to provide a cash influx designed to offset a poorly managed failure in Canada.
We, the workers, are the scared tenants worried about losing what little we get and falling into the abyss. While poor management and greed slowly erode the structure and weaken it.
It is the responsibility of businesses to provide jobs, good jobs, for their employees.
It is the responsibility of businesses to provide quality products and a positive experience to their customers
Retail has become a pyramid scam funneling money to the cronies at the top regardless of their abilities or knowledge of how the system "retail" actually works. We need to stand up for ourselves. Will we? I dunno. I would support an effort but we may all be too fearful and lazy to organize. Corporate holds the upper hand, labor laws can be circumvented. Historically, the masses don't motivate until they suffer. Have we suffered enough? Or do enough of us yet suffer? My time is not long, a few years I can retire and I am actively pursuing other options. What will happen to those of you with more time on your cards? Trust me without actual pressure those with the power will continue to take more and more. Power is like mass the more you have the more gravity brings into your grasp. All the power is now held by sociopaths and the corrupted.
