Archived Softlines

[salesfloor10]

It's funny when a softlines team lead doesn't understand shelf schematics and how to pull from the back room (coming from a hard lines team lead).

 

[RightArm]

I honestly do not believe it is an SL versus HL scenario. It's about the management in charge of the store and what their focus is and whether or not they have any sense of logistics, the TLs and whether or not they can do their jobs correctly or even get the hours to do those jobs, and the TMs and whether or not they put forth the effort and actually give a full day's work for a full day's wage (or whatever portion of the day they're given). Store by store the highs and lows can swing one way or the other based on the people. In our store SL is understaffed. We keep being told they're hiring but we've yet to see new people on our side. A lot of times the new hires end up in HL or at the front lanes. Our focus has shifted a little bit over the years I've been there but let me tell you, there was a time when SL was the ugly stepchild in every way. If HL was short we got pulled to help them but never did the reverse scenario happen until the last STL change we experienced. With that change the focus seemed to shift a little and we're starting to see people cross trained from HL to SL and there's a little more balance. Thing is, in our store (and I don't know how it is in yours) SL has always been able to do both sides of the store from the first day of training due to the fact that we are required to zone infant HL. The same cannot be said of HL trainees because even in the areas where they do have product that is a bit like SL (such as towels or sporting good apparel) it is still set to a HL standard, not an SL one. And really that's probably why things were so imbalanced before - because no one was bothering to cross train any HL TMs to be able to do SL. The answer was always "I don't know how."

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Certain areas in SL are rough and certain areas are a joke.
Certain areas in HL are rough and certain areas are a joke.
SLTMs hang out at the fitting room and talk.
HLTMs hang out at the boat and talk.
HL helps SL in the warmer months.
SL helps HL in the colder months.
Notice a pattern?

Not at my store.

 

[Softlines Owns My Soul]

Certain areas in SL are rough and certain areas are a joke.
Certain areas in HL are rough and certain areas are a joke.
SLTMs hang out at the fitting room and talk.
HLTMs hang out at the boat and talk.
HL helps SL in the warmer months.
SL helps HL in the colder months.
Notice a pattern?

Nope, it's not all in black and white, it's a store by store thing. Maybe that's how it is where you are, but it's of no use discussing it with you.

 

[stupid rules]

I love your smartass comment when I was simply saying that both teams do the same crap so there's no need to bash the other team, but it's of no use discussing it with you.

 

[sher]

Hmm, maybe we rarely help each other in my store because no one's ever done. I think if you guys weren't helping sl, they'd get more done on their own. People know what they can accomplish. They'll talk less if they know they aren't gonna be helped.

Everyone in my store has social time on the floor... except a few more reserved people. It's not a softlines or a hardlines thing. It's more noticeable in SL though. Sometimes the TLs just watch us in the fitting room, apparently. My etl made a note on my review about how I'm not in there chit-chatting often. So, clearly, she watches it.

 

[ElechronicsTM]

Lol to all the Softlines team members that say I need a shift over there...I closed ready-to-wear one night...Had the zone and all my abandoned done by 9:00, an hour before we close. And it was a friday night. I carried the whole team while everyone else was in the fitting room talking all night. SOFTLINES IS NOT HARD...If you just stay on task instead of being a lazy ***** you'll get done

 

[sher]

Finishing rtw an hour before closing is great if you don't have to close any other sections. The days we have enough people to only have to close one section, or two smaller ones, are fab. I think that probably only happens on weekdays. I don't close on weekdays (until this week because they don't care about my availability anymore).

I'm not offended. I definitely don't work in the store you work in and I'm not the lazy asterisk you're speaking of, but I feel like there was probably a more constructive way to say that.

 

[RightArm]

Lol to all the Softlines team members that say I need a shift over there...I closed ready-to-wear one night...Had the zone and all my abandoned done by 9:00, an hour before we close. And it was a friday night. I carried the whole team while everyone else was in the fitting room talking all night. SOFTLINES IS NOT HARD...If you just stay on task instead of being a lazy ***** you'll get done

I believe the people saying that come from stores that may have heavier traffic and higher volume than yours. RTW in our store takes a minimum of 3 hrs when the store is closed to zone through without skipping anything and putting everything away, folding all tables and back walls properly, and finger spacing all racks. It's an entirely different monster when the store is open. It can at times be like working in a war zone. You get two racks ahead and everything you've done behind you has been blown apart by guests. Takes me 4 hrs of dedicated work to get all the way across when we are open AND when I finish it looks like I haven't really done anything for all the guests messing everything up behind me. At that point it's almost like starting over again and there is NO way in heck you are going to be done an hour before closing and have everything looking like no one touched it (unless possibly you are a low volume store that hasn't been shopped very hard?). As for the TMs in the fitting room? That sucks. They should be out there doing their assigned tasks instead of spending the evening chit chatting and the TLOD or LOD ought to put a stop to that. I understand your disdain for them completely. They deserve it entirely. I just think the manner in which you are communicating that disdain is hitting SL TMs who work their butts off the wrong way.

 

[RightArm]

On a side note I am wondering if zone expectations are different in every store. In our store HL TMs zone through their sections from start to finish ONCE and then the LOD walks the main race track and calls them back to touch up whatever areas catch his/her eye from the racetrack before they clock out. (Obviously they're not having to fix everything guests have messed up, only what the LOD notices.) For SL TMs (in my store) it's different. They zone through their assigned areas the first time and then are expected to re-zone all assigned areas once the store is closed fixing everything that is messed up so that their areas look perfect when they are done. The LOD does walk the main race track but he/she does not single out areas of concern in SL. Instead the SL zoners are simply expected to fix everything in their assigned areas that has been messed up before they clock out for the night. That's my store. Now, possibly you're in a store where both HL and SL just zone through their areas from start to finish once, call the LOD, and only fix what the LOD wants fixing, and they're good for the night?

In ElectronicsTM's scenario I could probably zone through all of RTW one time before the store closes and on a good night finish an hour ahead like he did. The problem is that in my store it doesn't end there. I'm expected to go back and fix everything the guests have trashed after the store has closed before I can call myself done. No wonder our SL people struggle not to growl at the guests when they torch the table they just finished folding and ransack the clearance racks they just sorted and straightened. LOL

 

[redeye58]

We stopped asking for help from HL after the devastating panty war one Fri night....

 

[sher]

I think the expectations are different. They definitely don't seem to care about perfection in my store. My TL told me I'm too detail oriented. The proximity to perfection depends on how staffed we were that day... and we're not low volume but I don't remember the official name for the store's volume. We don't stay more than 5 mins past when we're scheduled, which is usually 11, 10 on Sundays. The ETLs that weren't formerly softlines TLs don't even recognize a bad softlines zone as long as nothing's on the floor and the tables look neat. So, I'm sure people take more shortcuts depending on which TLs/ETLs are closing.

I hate clearance with a fiery passion. I wish we could just put it in locked mystery boxes that don't open until you get home.

 

[RedDog]

The stores I shop in do not get zoned. At least they sure do not look like it. When I go to softlines during the day they have no one in softlines and the fitting room/operator covers it. She said at night they have one closer and help from the operator/fitting room person who leaves as soon as the store closes. In hardlines they have electronics person and TM in hardlines. The food person leaves before close like 8pm or so. It is no wonder the stores look like crap. I feel sorry for those guys but, on the plus side my wife buys a lot less because of it.

 

[Bullseyes]

Lol to all the Softlines team members that say I need a shift over there...I closed ready-to-wear one night...Had the zone and all my abandoned done by 9:00, an hour before we close. And it was a friday night. I carried the whole team while everyone else was in the fitting room talking all night. SOFTLINES IS NOT HARD...If you just stay on task instead of being a lazy ***** you'll get done

Actually, when I was a TM and they called me in for night shifts I wouldn't take soft lines shifts because it sucks. Hardlines is black and white and loads easier. Even with electronics. That's If your doing it right. And unless you're shift began at 3 or 4 you are not. Even if you did it takes one person to ruin all the tables in RTW. That's why many wont start their zones until later, to avoid having to rezone the same things. RTW isn't challenging though... It's infants that sucks. Ill take all your areas and you can have shoes and intimates... Just remember all the panty bins need to be perfect

 

[RightArm]

Actually, when I was a TM and they called me in for night shifts I wouldn't take soft lines shifts because it sucks. Hardlines is black and white and loads easier. Even with electronics. That's If your doing it right. And unless you're shift began at 3 or 4 you are not. Even if you did it takes one person to ruin all the tables in RTW. That's why many wont start their zones until later, to avoid having to rezone the same things. RTW isn't challenging though... It's infants that sucks. Ill take all your areas and you can have shoes and intimates... Just remember all the panty bins need to be perfect

LOL! Our RTW department tends to be just as bad as our NIT. Not really fond of either.

 

[jmoo2k13]

Softlines at my store they always have 5-6 people closing, and they're always done and leaving the store before hardlines. They work as a team and hardlines rarely has to come over and help them. They push a lot of clothing/swimwear and rank fairly high in the company for swim and womens sales. The ETL makes sure they have enough people to take care of they're needs. Hardlines at my store, there was one night where it was me and the electronics person. Somenights, its 3 and others nights its 6.

 

[Deli Ninja]

Softlines at my store they always have 5-6 people closing, and they're always done and leaving the store before hardlines. They work as a team and hardlines rarely has to come over and help them. They push a lot of clothing/swimwear and rank fairly high in the company for swim and womens sales. The ETL makes sure they have enough people to take care of they're needs. Hardlines at my store, there was one night where it was me and the electronics person. Some nights, its 3 and others nights its 6.

It used to be that way at my store, 4 years ago. Now we often only have 2 or 3 people on the floor and the operator is swamped with returns/zone baskets, guests, and the phones such that she can rarely step out of the fitting room to zone. When we do get help from other areas, they go to baby basics or they take tables... with 5+ people per table, all making conversation. They refuse to do racks even when I've tried to teach them how to do them. It's a nightmare.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I missed the old days.