can't do right for wrong at work!

[nataliewoods88]

hi, right now im feeling the strain at work. Firsty today i got told my trial period is so be extended by 1 month. The reasons for this are:
1. my till errors, i made a few biggies (losing my company money) in the beggining and had to be re till trained which was upsetting and made me feel stupid. It did help beng refreshed though and one of my managers has just said ive improved loads. Doesn;t make sense now though.
2. They think my work pace has become slower. They said this is because I don't clear stock in time. I am only not clearing the stock as they have pounded it into us we don't just clear stock anywhere in the shop, it goes in its right place or back on the rail, if we're seen dumping stock, we get in series trouble. So this in mind i try to ages at a time trying to find the right home for these clothes and if i can't find it, ill pop it on the rail. I guess they got fed up or nothing being cleared. I know in my mind I thoroughly tried though. I do feel like im in a catch 22 situation, as i dont want to get in trouble to dumping stock yet im getting in trouble for being slow and not clearing it out on time.

Secondly today we had a comstumer who was paying for their clothes with cash and we got warned in our inductions we must pen test every note with one of them pens because if they find a fraudulant note, we're doomed basically, but this morning their wasn't a pen anywhere so as i was the only one on the shop floor i rang manager to come down with one. 5 or more mins passed and no one came so the costumer said she'd pop back in 10 mins. She did come back in ten mins and there was still no sigh of my manager. I rang her again asking her to come down. Again, 5 mins passed without her showing. Now i could of just accepted her money and taken the risk but the amount of trouble id be on if it was a bad note, well its not worth it! The comstumer just decided to go pay upstairs. When my manager finally came down she asked what was that about and I said 'i needed a pen for the money notes' and she was like wheres the costumer now and i said upstairs and she got peed off/mad that i had refused a costumer due to the no show pen. Even though i had my valid reasons it just made me look bad! i was trying not to get myself in trouble yet i ended up getting in trouble anyway!

Right now i just feel like deflated and useless!I have very low self esteem and its really a knock. I am sick of doing wrong all the time and feeling like a failure. I feel like i can;t do anything right!! Can anyone offer a light on this? How they dealt with it? Am i being treated unfairly?

[vicky23]

Hi, I also work in a shop and this sounds a lot like my work days! It can certainly get very frustrating but I've learned to 'roll with the punches' and just do the best I can. You will never keep everyone happy as much as the training manuals would have you believe you should 100% of the time.
I (along with many of my colleagues) have had till discrepancies and had to have disciplines and it's gutting but it's good to know you're not the only one who makes mistakes.
Hope it gets better for you!

[nataliewoods88]

cheers vicki!! its true, you can;t please everyone! just the other day i did what one manager said to do and then the other manager had a go at me for it! eeeesh! it hard work!How do you deal with managers talking to you badly? i mean i know they get stressed but i can be hurtful at times!

[suki300]

Been there - got the badge! The problem is you've got to juggle and try and weigh up the situation. There are times when you'll have to make exceptions to the rule. Perhaps bring it up and if the missing pen is a common issue, find out whose responsibility it is to make sure there's a uv pen at your till. Try and check you've got a pen just before the shift, etc. As a customer checking notes like that is a pain, there are other ways to do it. Try asking if there are other ways to see if a note is fake that are acceptable. A note won't show the UV line if it's been through the wash for example - so a genuine note could be classed as fake with a pen alone.

What do they do if the currency is Scottish? And so on. We were supposed to ask customers specific phrases, but you learn to read that some people just want to be left alone when they're shopping.

I used to struggle with some things - such as organisation, so I used to ask more experienced colleagues (and managers) how they did things. There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone has days like that - it's can make you feel like walking out, but you are certainly not alone.

[vicky23]

well for me it's just one manager in particularly who is nasty with her words and tone. She's one who you feel like whatever you do isn't right :mad:
I used to get upset about it I mean nobody likes to be talked down too and if you're a sensitive person it's even worse! What helped me was reminding myself that it wasn't personal, she gets at everyone! And also being thankful to the other managers who are lovely and realising that she is the one with the problem not us.
I learned not to try to explain myself when I made a mistake cos I'd just get flustered. Do you watch Hell's kitchen? if not try to watch one and see how they react when Gordon lays into them they're just like 'yes chef!'
If you have a problem understanding something which is why you make a mistake then ask for clarification later when you're both feeling more calm.
And of course they are just human, they've made mistakes in their time.

[Rennie1989]

I work in a betting shop and also get catch 22 situations, we either adhere to the rules and annoy the customers and lose their loyalty or we serve the customers and risk getting told off/disciplined/sacked for something.

Unfortunately, that's retail. My advice is that if you work to the company policies and adhere to the rules, even if it annoys the customers, they can't do anything. In time you'll get used to the policies and learn to work around them without thinking about it, but give yourself time and be patient.