I took this job with the expectation that I could further my career and work my way up to a Regional Manager. Despite the negative reviews, I accepted the position. /i should have known from the start that it was a bad move.
When I was offered, I was given a salary number that I accepted. But when they sen me an offer letter, it was $5,000 less than talked about.....so I did not sign until I was given what was discussed.
On my SECOND DAY, I get a call from the VP (who has a history of micro managing and berating employees I later found out) stating that my market is terrible. Mind you, I've only been in the market for TWO days, and haven't even seen all of the stores.
As time went along, the market developed, got better, and I had to replace some people, as well as promote others. I was able to get sales numbers from the last three years for my market, and found out that we were outperforming all metrics, yet it was not enough. I then found out that the numbers that we we were hitting for Cricket were above target; Mobilelink deliberately inflated quotas and targets so they could bring in more money. Being an authorized retailer, I understand that.....what I didn't understand was how 100% to Corporate Cricket equated to 70% to Mobilelink.
I saw turnover at an enormous rate in the home office and my superiors, months to get OSHA and Safety issues fixed (a letter from the state threatening fines were the only way things actually got done), and I was told, and performed, tasks that were not in my skill set (changing a light is fine, but cleaning vents, replacing ceiling tiles 15 feet in the air, and putting covers on open fuse boxes are NOT things that I am supposed to do).
The company would never update inventory (on hands) for stores, claiming that we are missing accessories that are 3-4 years old, and the store doesn't even have them anymore. Even after multiple emails expressing this, it was still a constant problem. Employees would also have their checks deducted for missing phones, often without notice. I attempted to create a sheet that could be sent to HR as acknowledgement of money being taken, but I was told by HR that I could not use it because they didn't want it to seem like they were "forcing employees to pay for phones" (yet the random deductions never stopped, and probably still continue.)
The team, upon hire, had to sign a document and pay $45 out of their paycheck for used t shirts. Most times it took 2-3 months for the shirts to be delivered, and upper management would call me and berate me about employees not being in uniform, despite them knowing this. So I got with the few people I still knew in HR to send me about 50 shirts, washed them, and gave them to new employees on their first day to use until shirts actually came in......in my termination letter, despite the measures I took, Mobilelink had the audacity to say one of the reasons I was let go was due to employees not being in uniform.
From the time I woke up, I was on the clock. While I fully understood the role that I was in, I was never able to take a PTO day without scrutiny (only took two, because I had the flu, and still worked way before I should have), and for my employees, if it was a holiday, it was a good day to be able to close one hour early.
Upper management works on a fear and bully mentality, and they have favorites. What pushed me in the dog house, and eventually out, was the fact that we (Arkansas) was the 9th largest market, production wise, but all of my employees, managers and below, were under the pay guidelines that Mobilelink set. When I talked to HR and emailed the VP and area VP on this matter, I never got a response, and was terminated a month later.
This company could be great, but the VP and "his people" have to go......I wont put his name out there (if you really want to know, you're going to have to look it up) but he has a history of this, and his name was tied to some lawsuits involving Verizon, and I believe Radio Shack as well. if you are interested, find something else.....if you have no choice, work it until you find something else. Because until the owners change their mindset, nothing will change, and the turmoil will continue.
