[WARNING! VERY LONG] Help

[Blastoderm]

This weekend, I'm very pissed off with my job for the first time since I started working with them. It all started yesterday.

I get to work, on time as ususal, and listen to a briefing. I'm being told the commission structure's changed, the way the shop will be earning money changed and two new staff who are now sales controllers. That last bit is where the nightmare comes from.

These two guys seem young, probably in their early 20s and been promoted to the sales controller position after a year and a few months. They were both from different branches with one of them from a branch next to Bond Street. To be honest, I have a massive utmost respect for them to get to that stage. Unfortunately, the favour was not returned. Instead, they adopt this cocky attitude to show off their position. And I think I'm the only victim of it.

Yesterday, I was handing out leaflets/flyers outside my shop and I went to have a look at the time on my mobile shop (unfortunately, I can't afford a wrist watch) and one of them, Pasha, came outside the shop, looked at me and saw the mobile phone on my hand. He asked "What's your phone doing on your hands?" I replied, "Looking at the time". He then said "You shouldn't have your phone on your hands let alone while you're working" in which I responded "Is it a crime to know the time?" At that moment, he walked away and the noise level on the street got louder so I don't think he heard it.

Around 3pm-ish, I was standing on the sales floor, having only sold a few pay as you go phones the other new sales controller, Hitesh, came up to me and asked me "Have you sold any contracts yet?" I replied "No, not yet". He proceeded with "Then why haven't you?" in which I came back with "Because it's unbelievably quiet and no one else apart from two have sold a contract". He just said "You sell contracts, not shitty pay as you go phones. And why is your hands in you pockets?" At that point I removed my hands (apparently, it's not professional to have your hands in your pocket or your arms crossed on your chest... something to do with body language etc).

While I was with a customer I got a missed call from my dad so when it turned out that the customer did not have the proofs required to get a contract and walked away, I went outside where some of the staff have their fags and called my dad. About 2-4 mins on the phone, Pasha comes out of the shop and asks from some distance "Who you're on the phone to?" I replied "My dad" quite quickly. He nodded his head and went back inside. My sales controller comes out for a fag like 2 minutes later and started smoking away. When I got off the phone finally, my sales controller asks me who was I on the phone to in which I told him my dad. He said that's ok coz Pasha thinks you were "taking the piss". Which is quite bizarre for me really. Went back inside and told Pasha that the phone call was important and I firmly told him I never take the piss in this job. I ended the day with one contract and that few pay as you go phones sold.


Today, only one of them was in and it was Hitesh. Oh, in today's briefing my sales controller highlighted having mobile phones while working or handing out leaflets/flyers in which he pointed to me and said "You know what I'm talking about". I wanted to say "So to look at what the time is is not allowed" but something in my head held me back.

Sometime around 12:30-ish I sold like a couple of accessories to a customer and when I was done, Hitesh called me over. Next to him was my sales controller. Came up to him and he asked me "Have you sold any contracts yet?" I said, "Do you see a customer around?" in which he said I quote "I don't ****ing care whether there are people or not. I want you to get a ****ing contract. Even if it means that you have to get outside and bring in customers but I want to see a ****ing contract done by you." From what he said there, I honestly felt like I was being bullied. I've not have this sort of confrontation since when I was 16 doing my GCSEs back in secondary school. That was the point when I got pissed off but I quietly walked away from him. My sales controller did nothing. I believed he laughed behind my back.

Every now & then throughout the day, whenever Hitesh is around I sense he's watching me looks at me as if he's preparing to come out with a load of verbal garbage. Day ended with nothing apart from the couple of accessories (5 contracts credit checks were declined).


From today (and I think yesterday) I didn't see neither Pasha no Hitesh pick on other members of staff. It seems I'm the only one. They didn't even pick on this bloke called Leonard who does **** all in the job, some guy called Alex who makes personal phone calls from the store's phone and other people who just keep on checking the standings of who sold how much on the system. Pasha and this sales consultant like me seem to be mates from way back and doesn't give him a hard time.



If this goes on next weekend, I'll be taking it the manager. If nothing get's sorted by the weekend after, I'm thinking of taking some sort of legal action or whatever is the word. You know for harassment. What are the steps towards it apart from getting a lawyer? Do you think I should tell them about something before going to the lawyer stage and if so, what is it / are they?

[meaple]

Only girly men sue for harassment. Personally I wouldn't wait to tell the manager, and if nothing was done, I'd start searching for a different job.

[I am Idler]

first of all, Im sure the UK laws, as the norwegian includes regulations for breaks during the worktime. If you are on the phone with someone at that time, not even God almighty himself has any reason to ask or know who it was you were talking to.

Secondly, your so called superiors would be wise to include solutions to the lack of custumers in the morning briefing.

Thirdly, You have a job contract, in there is the exact areas of responsibilities for your job position described in detail. Does these people have any power to fire you? If not, I suggest you tell them to make a bloody effort themselves instead of looking over your back all day, and then bringing the mather to your manager before they have a chance to whine to him.


And most important of all, If they have something to say to you, make sure you have something to say to them. It will either leave them speechless or it will learn them to not comment on you unless its actually a good reason to.

[Weeks]

Oh, Blastoderm and his zany mobile phone shop stories!

They're being arsey probably because they a) want you out of a job as they think your lazy / whatever b) have taken a dislike to you c) just like using their power to get at you.

Where I work, a bar, there's this woman who really dislikes me. My first semester there she used to pick on everything I did as she thought I was a rubbish bar tender. Fair enough I used to go out onto the floor to perv at the girls whilst collecting glasses, not that anyone else used to care too much, but she did and she picked on everything I did even the good things. After a while I took her point and stopped perving. But it still continued. After a while, 3 months, it stopped, as I guess she realised that there really were worse bar tenders than me. But the point is it really didn't bother me that much, as it's not my full time job or one I care for. If one day they sack me, or push me too far, I'll just get another, probably better, job. I just do a standard of work that gets me by, nothing more. If they sack me, I'll get another job. Apathy'll fix it.

[slick]

Mate, This is what you do.

I don;t actually know your hours, but from what you describe, you work at the weekends, am i correct? If so, then you are a Weekend Sales Assistant. A title which is humiliating in its own way. They are picking on youe because a) Your part-time b) They just got promoted, and so are picking on you MORE because you are part-time and c) because they are lazy baskets, and so order everyone else around because of these new powers

About your phone call, Its fine to make a phone call in any line of work as long as its short, and important. If you were on your break, tell them to shove it up their arse, because contractly, your not working for them at that time, until your break is over.

Theres no point getting a lawyer, its costly, and the court will throw you out as they CAN do that to you (unless you pull up racism, but i don't think thats the case here) Also, follow weeks book, and don't care, If you get fired, go on unemployment for a bit, until you find a better and more comfortable job. Unless the guys do it to you (harrass you that is) then you have no case, as it would just be an isolated incident.

Buck the system a lil, and shout back, or just give the odd arsey comment, they can't sack you for a while, unless you do something REALLY stupid, then they can under gross misconduct. And remember,

Its only a job.....

[demiGOD]

you have reasonable grounds for harassment, but since its just a part time job, do either of 2 things, look for a better-paying job then tell them:

"hey guys, let me show you something.. (look really happy and show them outside - when the 3 of you are outside, just starte yelling frantically) HEY EVERYBODY!!! THESE GUYS WILL RIP YOU OFF!!!!! DONT EVER BUY ANY PHONES FROM THIS PLACE!!!!!! THEY SOLD ME A SHITTY PHONE THAT STARTS ROAMING EVERYTIME I GET INSIDE MY CAR!!! DO NOT BUY PHONES FROM THESE GUYS!!!" - then with a smart leer, you tell them "now hows that for free advertising, you ****ing dick-breaths... good luck on your ****ing contracts.. i quit!!"

OR wait patiently for a good day where you get a lot of contracts - than just verbally abuse them back, tell the both of them:

-"hey.. i got x number of contracts today, i work hard for this kind of production everyday, so dont you ever ****ing treat me or talk to me like that ever again or i will crack your ****ing skull open and cook your goddamn brains for dinner, do you understand every ****ing word i said? because if not, i can demonstrate what i just ****ing told you to your goddamn boyfriend over here (point at the other guy)... or, we can just respect each other - you quit your power-tripping bullshit, and ill do my job like i always did before you dumb****s got promoted.. how bout that?"

-hehhe sounds like fun huh?

[Dante Hicks]

I doubt going down the legal route would get you anywhere.

I presume you don't have a union or anything so either a quiet word with the manager might be in order, but speaking personally I wouldn't. It would probably only lead to further animosity.

There are three basic ways of dealing with this kind of bullying. First is some kind of confrontation. Either with them, or the manager - how you handle this confrontation is another question, ranging from a shouty response, to a written note or whatever.

Second (and my preferred response in a part-time job like this) would simply be to try and be as flexible as possible. It's actually difficult sometimes to keep being annoyed if someone is being reasonable / cooperative all the time. So if they give you shit for whatever (having your hands in your pocket, looking at your phone, etc) instead of responding back in an annoyed fashion (which is the natural reaction) just smile and say "OK". Obviously if they are asking you to do something particularly unpleasant / illegal / etc then tell them to **** off, but otherwise just go with the flow.

Responding with things like "Do you see any customers here?" is likely to lead to further arguments and them walking away thinking you're difficult. If you just said "Sure." it's a lot harder for them to get annoyed. Most examples of on-the-job strife I've seen are when ego's have clashed and neither side wanted to back down. It usually ends in tears.

The third response is to start looking for a new job, as has already been raised. I don't see why you should have to because two people on a power-trip, but it might be the easiest solution in the long-term.

[Nusselt]

Agree with dante more or less, the management is most likely just going to look at this as a clash of personalities and probably do nothing (well apart from the obligatory lets all sit down and talk), and to be fair it does sound just like that.

Try your best to agree with everything they want without being confrontational, in the contract example id have just said something along the lines of

'there haven't been many customers in and the ones that did come were time wasters, can you help me come up with any other ideas?'

to which of course he'd say 'go outside and try'. Junior and middle management love, absolutely love feeling genuinely useful, if they see that they've helped you in some way even if the entire thing was a set-up they'll love you. If you'd then got a contract from outside his penis would feel 12".

Your work place doesn't sound too bad tbh, when i first started out i had to deal with engineers who were 30+ years older than me and either equal in position or just above me, imagine hitesh and pascha after 30 years in the same job and you'll know the pain i once had to endure.

[MrL_JaKiri]

Go and work for Yahwe.

[roadrunner_0]

i would let it go for a couple of weeks, but keep a diray of all of the events when you get home on a night, that way, if you do have to take it further, you have evidence, also, are you friends with any of the other staff, as having someone to back you up is always good

if you really feel you have to take it further, do it properly, speak to your sales controller first, then your manager, point out how long you have been working for them, and that you have been a productive member of the team.

failing that, get a new job, tell the wankers to shove it up their arse, and put everything that has happened in writing to head office as see if you can screw the bastards over

[Ste]

Having worked in a mobile phone shop before I know the exact feeling.
What I did on quiet days (when the area manager was being a twat) - Write down every customer who comes into the shop. Count them. List what you go to say to them, what they want and why you couldn't sell them a contract.
If someone asks why you haven't done any contracts you can say "I've spoken to X customers, Done this this this and this. There have only been Y customers." It always sounds better if you've been dealing with customers problems, or had contracts rejected.
Regarding the phone thing, common sense should prevail. Turn it off and leave it in a bag or something somewhere. It's a security issue as much as anything in a phone shop, they don't like the idea of you having a phone in your pocket.

BTW - Phones4U are well known for being tossers. Treating the staff like shit and changing the commission structure constantly. As well as changing the staff structure and roles.

At one point I was mates with the managers of about 4 stores, and one became area managaer and tried to get me to work for him. All of them have moved elsewhere because the company is awful.
BTW - they are allowed to sack you if you don't sell enough contracts. Seeing as they have just brought in some new staff they are almost definately looking at where they can cut costs. Part-timers are the first to get the boot unless they are performing very well. I quit before I was pushed.

Get a job at another mobile phone shop, it's much better for you in the long run. If they want you to stay on, you can go to the manager, make it clear why you are handing your notice in and see if he tries to dissuade you.

Good luck!

[Nodrog]

You should have stood up for yourself the first time they gave you hassle, since its probably now going to become a routine thing. Maybe it's not too late now; try telling them to **** off (in a reasonably assertive, non-passive aggressive way - dont say things like "so looking at the time isnt allowed?", since it makes you sound 14 years old) tomorrow before it becomes a habit.

[Blastoderm]

Pasha has been nice lately (I've been working yesterday and today). Hitesh is still being a dick. I've told some of what Hitesh yesterday said to me to my manager today (Hitesh was off today). Also, one of my colleagues (Alex) has seen the treatment I'm getting from Hitesh and he thinks it's well out of order. So a back up is there if needed.

But thanks for the advice guys.