MALL WARS: A Crazy Web of Promotions, Pettiness, Deceit and Betrayal!

2008-05-12T20:10:58Z

Sorry for the huge delay in updating, It seems like I haven't found time for livejournal in the last month or so.

First off, (since Bronwen will never get around to updating her own journal) I should mention that Bronwen has quit Quilts Etc, as she's been offered the position of Junior Assistant Manager for La Vie En Rose! Quilts was her first real job, and after only a year and a half, she's already a manager, which is pretty amazing for a person of her age. During her interview, Bev and Andrea started asking her about her college years, and were blown away by the fact that she's only 19, she's probably the youngest person in the company to have this job. She'll be in charge of 15 people, make a really great wage, and receive full benefits. Congratulations, Bronwen!

I mentioned Bev above, and there's some back story there. It's very confusing. See, she's the one who hired me for my job at Alia, (as she used to be the manager there) and Crystal, the new manager, reccomended Bronwen from seeing the way that I work. ("These girls are amazing!") Bronwen had been thinking about applying for a full-time sales associate position at La Vie since her hours had been cut at Quilts, but loyalty and friendship to Linda (Manager, Quilts) and Fran made her reluctant. Bev heard that Bronwen had thought about going to La Vie from me, and then when Linda went on holiday to Boston, Bev approached Bronwen with an offer she couldn't refuse. Bev is terrified of Linda, so I thought it was pretty crappy that she waited until Linda was gone to offer Bronwen the job. (three days before it needed to be filled, mind you. Bev had tons of time to offer it to her before then.)

She asked at about 4:30pm for Bronwen to send a resume to her email so that she could show her boss the next morning, and arranged and interview at noon the next day. Bronwen blew them away at the interview and was told that she would hear back in the next few days. Meanwhile, I was working with Fran at Quilts later that afternoon, and she got a call asking for Bronwen's reference. Fran almost started crying when she talked about how great Bronwen was, and that made a really good impression on the company. about an hour later, I get a call from Bronwen saying that she got the job two days earlier than she expected to hear back. Whew.

This is all great and everything, but after all of this, Fran and I are trying to figure out what to do about Linda. We both know that Linda has always thought of Bronwen as her protégé, and Linda has made her what she is, and developed her skills in management, and that Linda has always wanted Bronwen to climb the ladder. We know that she won't have a problem with Bronwen leaving, but that means hiring another person into our tight-knit group. I've always wanted more hours at Quilts, and so I volunteer to take up Bronwen's hours and cut down over at Alia, which will cause some problems.

Over at Alia, Crystal says she has no problem with me working more over there, but starts scheduling me with really odd shifts that I've told her before, I can't take. She's also recently hired one of her friends from her last job as the Assistant Manager. Seperately, Crystal and Aaron are alright to work with, but together they're awful. Crystal randomly decides to cut my hours to zero for two weeks (effectively taking me off the payroll and causing Head office some confusion) even though we've agreed that I will work the nine hour shift on Fridays. On Thursday of last week, I went in to double check that I was off on Friday, and then Crystal goes. "Uh, yeah, you're working. Of course you are." before going "I saw you over there ironing and changing beds. Seems boring, I bet you wish that you were working -here- 30 hours a week." I leave with "You're killing me, Crystal" (she can't even offer me 20 hours!) and then get a phone call from her at 8 in the morning on Friday.

"Umm... You were right, you're not working today, sorry."

Ugh.

Anyways, I laugh at her because she really can't be mad at me for working more at Quilts. I've been there for almost a year, they've offered me a substantial raise, and they treat me like a human being. Most of all, SHE WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD BEV TO TAKE BRONWEN AWAY. Didn't she consider that? I don't know.

Bronwen leaves Quilts on the 4th of May, and starts working on store setup on the 5th. Melissa is waiting for her own great new job to start (which I think is today! Congrats to you too!) and helps out with opening La Vie. The store is gorgeous, all white walls and chandeliers, along with some pretty cute product. I hear that Melissa and Bronwen worked incredibly hard, and within 3 days the store looks almost ready to open, aside from the fact that their glass hasn't arrived. The whole idea of La Vie En Rose is adorable, they have metal corset pins as their name tags (since for privacy reasons, they don't want to display their names) and the staff are given black baby tees that have the logo printed in rhinestones across the chest. (They don't have uniforms, but for the opening, they wanted shirts.) They're planning to give out roses that are completely made from feathers to everyone who walks in the door, along with a $10 off coupon on anything in the store. The store also does tons of charity work, which is always nice.

Linda has been back for a while by now, and has no problem with Bronwen leaving, aside from the fact that she thinks Bev is a complete snake. She's really happy that I'm staying, and gave me quite a few hugs for that. (She's going through a rough time right now, her mother is dying of cancer and work has been really stressful, I don't know what she would have done if I had left too) Her opinion of Crystal isn't much higher at the moment, because Crystal and Aaron seem to think that it's REALLY FUNNY that I'm allergic to bananas and buy me a strawberry banana gelato without telling me what was in it. (there was an incident when I first started when she bought me a mango banana smoothie, and I sipped from it in an effort to be polite. I'm not terribly allergic, my throat gets kind of fuzzy and sometimes my lips swell a bit.) They've told this story to about 15 customers are refuse to let me live it down.

Anyways.. Melissa tells me that while working, Bev half-jokingly went "Hey, is Cindy looking for a job?" after mentioning that they still needed a full timer. Thinking this was pretty funny, I pass this on to Linda randomly the other day. She slowly turned this awesome shade of pink and says "Don't go on your coffee break yet, some fur is gonna fly and I tell you... that fur is gonna be RED!!", ending with a shout. Bev's hair just so happens to be a lovely shade of red. I fell onto the bed I was dressing and I just couldn't stop laughing! Later on when Bronwen and Melissa came into the store on their break, Linda and I told them about how she burst into La Vie and went "WHERE'S BRONWEN?" after I convinced her not to go to Bev for Bronwen's sake. She scared the crap out of some part-timers, and earned herself the title of "That scary little manager from Quilts Etc". I love Linda, and I don't blame her for thinking that way about Bev. Not only did she take Bronwen away, but she hired ME for her friend, and a month later wants me to leave for La Vie? Right.

I do think I'm overworking myself though, as I got really sick last Sunday. It was pretty much one of those days where you don't dare put a cracker in your mouth, because you know it's not going to stay down for long. I went to work after ignoring the pain in my stomach, opened the store, and within an hour, I had to call Crystal in because I couldn't tear myself out of the bathroom long enough to watch the store. Bronwen covered for me until Crystal arrived and I spent the rest of the day in the bathroom. by midnight, I had lost FIVE POUNDS. It took me three days to recover, which is longer than usual for when I get sick like that (I used to call it "weekend sickness" when I lived with the Ebsworths, because almost every thursday, friday or saturday night I would take up shack in the bathroom and spend hours throwing up, only to be better by sunday) I woke up this morning feeling the same way, and needless to say, I'm glad I have the next two days off.

Anyways, sorry for this terribly long entry, I just had to share the hilarity of it all. I'd talk a bit more about my personal life, except for the fact that I don't seem to have one at the moment with all of this work!

Puricute

2008-02-24T08:28:48Z

I was messing around on puricute, trying to get used to it...

Don't ask.

Snow White

MALL WARS: A Crazy Web of Promotions, Pettiness, Deceit and Betrayal!

Puricute