Meeting
In my retail days, I had to endure many a “store meeting.” There was one just before the Christmas season, one before B2S (Back to School) and usually another one thrown in there for good measure. It’s totally necessary and yet can prove to be the total snooze fest. Thank goodness for the munchies…
Urgh. At Staples (USA), they held them every month… on a Sunday, at about 7.30am. Since it was mandatory, and the buses on Sunday don’t start until 10am, I had to walk about 2½ miles to get there. Hated it – but at least on weekends when I wasn’t working, I could go back home afterwards (still walking, though) and go back to bed. If I was working, I was in a bad mood all day… Thankfully, Target doesn’t have any of that nonsense. Not yet, anyway…
lol, randie.
my mom works at a used book store, and they have the meetings at 9 in the morning or 10 at night. and my mom almost always brings the munchies. last time, she made scones and tea for everyone.
My son has store meetings at the Home Depot he works at. But they open EARLY, so his meeting is at 6:00am. At least they provide good coffee and good donuts.
The last company meeting we had here were I work (about 30 of us in the company) was at the “Christmas” party – Christmas in italics because the owner and upper management are all Jewish – which was a BBQ Ribs/Chicken lunch. The owner gave us a “State of the Company” address and a “Christmas” bonus of four weeks pay.
I LIKE our company meetings! 😀
Flo & Pete, you both sound like you have great meetings… *looking particularly enviously at Pete*
At Target, we do have “huddles”, which are the twice-daily meetings (sounds like I’m giving away sensitive information, but these things are held on the sales floor – “on-stage” – and so anyone with powers of observation could work it out for themselves). Given my scheduling, I’m not around to attend either. But one evening, I was in the vicinity of the evening huddle, and the Hardlines Team Leader of the Day got the team members to give me a round of applause – just because 😀 I laughed, called him “mental”, and moved on 😉
Flo… Bookstore tea & munchies sounds pretty good… so does BBQ and bonuses!
I have worked for large corporate stores and smaller Mom & Pops… I like the Mom & Pops store meetings better as they were not “forced” and “okay team, corporate says this and that…” and you know everything hinges on numbers and the bottom line.” I never felt the love at corporate places.
Me again…
Funnily enough, I have “felt the love” in Target huddles; there also doesn’t seem to be much corporate BS, either – though there is the usual “we made $X yesterday, which is Y% of budget”. And I’ve given out recognition, too, particularly with regards to co-workers’ tolerance and help in response to my anxiety attacks. Side note: After that particular speech from me, I was complimented that I sounded as if I was a team leader or executive, rather than just a minion (my term, not theirs!). I know I do do a better job of projecting my voice than the executives do… 🙂
Astragali, I am glad you don’t feel like there’s excessive corporate BS going on. I have worked for a few large corporation-type retail establishments (one with mouse ears) and found that the bottom line is king… and THAT dictates how they set up their work environment and how they treat their workers. Cute cartoon characters doth not a happy work environment make.