Not what you expect at Ann Taylor - Store Manager Ann Taylor Employee Review

Not exactly what I signed up for when I got here. AT is supposed to be an "A Level" retailer, but sometimes its like I'm working at Forever21. We are as operationally challenged as any other retailer, maybe more so because we don't have 6 managers in the store to have DORS, there's 2 of us. We just have to get it done. And like any retailer, we are always reacting, so your planning/ prioritizing skills are more like "by the seat of your pants". Maybe it varies by market (and retail isn't what it used to be) but customers can be so rude/disrespectful toward associates and the product. It can be really draining to come in ready to help people and have them leave clothes on the floor, get their makeup on everything and as you're picking up the mess and i turning the pieces back to right side out they're literally...."Do you work here? Can someone ring me up??? I'm in a hurry! Can you steam this, it looks horrible. I need skirt hangers, put 6 in the bag. Can you put someone on that register, I have a return. Can you put this in a fitting room, I've been carrying it around forever and no one is helping me! Is anyone working here???" Are YOU KIDDING me? Associates were commissioned until 7(?) years ago, and some customers expect you to literally follow them around and staying in their fitting room to dress them, but we don't have payroll for that, we are usually trying to cover the store with 2-3 people! Corporate talks about wardrobing the clients and "connecting with her" and all this elevated interaction....its a challenge to greet them! And they expect pristine visual standards/ board folding, I'd love to see that too but get real...we're lucky to keep the sales floor sized with the payroll we have. And clients say service isn't what it used to be, well no kidding. Sorry Miss Perfect Customer but you've help create this world too, you want everything for nothing and loyal clients in retail? Read up on that, with few exceptions, retailers can't count on you either. Back in the day there were more full-time roles, now every store has 2 full time (mgr & asst), everyone else is part time & pay is around minimum wage, so its not like we can attract the best part time talent. Some associates are really good at being "generalists" (we don't have" stock/ cashier only" type positions) and will do whats needed, others act put out for having to sweep the floor or do go-backs, which is pretty much industry standard, but there's always a complainer. They also get pissed about being "understaffed" when your not...that's just the payroll, I'd love to add hours but the company wants us to do more with less, even on weekends (Do you like a 14k goal with 35 payroll hours for a 11 hour day/ and 40% off the entire store? Come join the team!) You have to really cheer the team on and be able to lead them through the chaos. Frankly, no one's even applying these days, and if they do most can't pass our Gallup test assessment. They recently added salary caps to all roles, which is in line with most retailers, but alot of stores still have associates on are their teams making more per hour than sales leads/ co-managers because it took them until 2015 to figure out you shouldn't pay someone who works only morning shifts $20+/ hr, when your keyholder gets $12. Or your co manager shouldn't make more than the manager just because she stuck it out for 15 years and refuses to move up. Maybe some of these people will move on now that the company stopped the madness...or maybe they will just punch the clock since there's no reason to do any more than the minimum? Omni channel is a blessing & a curse. Its nice to be able to fulfill online orders with product in your store & get credit for it/ get some of those markdowns out. Did you know your local AT just became a distribution center for online? Oh.. and a return processing kiosk. That takes up alot of your "client facing" time. 50%-60% return rate... yeah that's fun! Flash sales compete with in store, and I think our clients really enjoy gaming the system with their rewards points & returning/ rebuying. We finally are getting some credit back for those online returns so we no longer are negative sales all day, although you don't see it on your hourly reads, and you may actually make a month bonus (full time mgmt only) now. Customers don't understand why we have a 45 day return policy, it really should be less the way we turn merchandise now, but they think it should be longer because we're Ann Taylor. They expect higher quality (like they used to see), but expect 40% off every weekend? And unlimited returns? Do they know we are a business? We are not your mom's AT! We barely carry suiting... our older/more conservative clients complain about hemlines, necklines...we are trying to be more fashionable and attract a younger client, but its not like we are trying to compete with Express. We are challenged to attract the client we want when people think of us like we're Talbots or Chico's. This is the first "top tier" retailer that doesn't have contests/ incentives or annual company meetings or reward programs... so if that turns you on look elsewhere. The closest thing to a contest is maybe a $20 fill the the fridge, or a 20% coupon. YAY! DMs? I don't even see the need for them here, but maybe that's unique to my district. The company is cutting roles in stores (a bunch of salaried co mgrs just got let go or demoted to hourly across all brands "for the future health of the company") So 1.5 million & under stores now operate with the salaried manager & 1 FT hourly sales lead & 2 PT leads. I think that's pretty rough, and challenging for work/life balance as well as training the team & running a business. Then again, maybe that's the future of retail with all this online stuff. As an SM I used to manage 3-4 FT & 2PT leads, people had DORS, you rotated responsibilities, you could train and develop people and they had roles to move up into and they worked hard to earn their place. This is not that business.