Persecution by Apathy Sunday, 04 May 2008 at 19:19:00

Dear Apathy,

Why is it that when your manager leaves on vacation the "covering" manager always feels the need to do YOUR manager's job and write everyone up even if your manager (who understands that people have real lives and problems) wouldn't have written you up? This has happened to many many people in the unnamed retail chain I work in.

- Hated and Unappreciated Somewhere in the world.

H&U, SitW,

There are lots of people out there that need to validate their lives by wielding what little power they have. Many retail mangers I've met fall into this category.

These are the people that "live their jobs." As in, what they do defines who they are. And these people sometimes think they're special, better than others, or just the best damn manager around. They tend to get on everyone's nerves, but that never stops them.

I'd say this covering manager felt that he/she could do a better job than your manager, and that meant stamping out "unreasonable" behavior through writing people up. They tend to be control freaks.

The best way to deal with these people? Suck up to them. However, I could never bring myself to do that, so I never got along with people like this. The sycophants did, though.

Don't worry. Eventually they'll realize that they're just small time managers at some chain store. At least, I hope they all do.

- Apathy

Snubbed by Apathy Monday, 24 March 2008 at 16:13:16

Dear Apathy,

I applied to work at a certain well-known retailer and was offered an interview. I arrived at the interview on time in nice clothes, and I think that it went rather well. As I was leaving, the interviewer told me that the company would call me within two weeks to tell me either way if I had gotten the job or not. That was two years ago. I still have received exactly zero calls from that company. What is the reason for this?

- Uncalled in TN

Uncalled,

Frankly, I'm surprised they said they'd call back at all. That's a very unusual response to get. I would assume that the person you spoke with was a filthy liar. That's not to say that it was intentional.

People in retail, especially people trying to hire new employees, tend to be overly busy. This is largely because it's more cost effective to be understaffed, so work piles up.

Perhaps your interviewer had the best of intentions and really meant to call you back, but we all know what they say about good intentions. He or she probably forgot about it, and never came across your paperwork again to be reminded.

What you can infer from this, is that you were likely not chosen to be hired. As for why that was the case, who knows? I was pretty constantly baffled by the people who were hired at my big-box store. Competence wasn't always, apparently, a requirement. I believe the people who did the hiring were overworked and sometimes made poor decisions.

- Apathy