HT: Foma*

It’s important to know that if I’d done a little more research on the Bookstore before I applied and was hired (almost a year ago), I may have gone looking elsewhere. But I didn’t. It’s also important to know that the Bookstore was on rocky financial turf well before the economy tanked, and that what it’s doing now, as much as it sucks, is akin to a sinking ship jettisoning everything to keep itself afloat.

Wednesday, my phone rang at the Office, and it was the training supervisor at the Bookstore, asking if I wanted to work Friday night. I said “Sure!” and walked into the store last night and found out the woman who’d called me to work, someone my age, someone who was at that store for about half a year (and at others prior), was laid off Thursday.

Company wide, the Bookstore’s parent slashed almost seven hundred front-line retail management positions this week. It works out to one manager and two supervisors per store, with the multimedia manager and supervisor, and the training supervisor, taking the brunt of the cuts. They’ve got one week severance, and have the option to return to work as non-exempt (hourly) booksellers. “Why would they want to do that?” one of the staff asked last night, in the break room. “Because it’s a job,” I said.

The decision was apparently made strategically: the company’s sales plans were lowered, based on each store’s performance to date, and projected sales. With a lower sales plan, the store’s operating budget is reduced, and a very easy way to cut some of that is to get rid of salaried positions. In addition, by eliminated salaried positions, you’re able to staff more hourly (read: far cheaper) employees, who are able to provide more coverage on the sales floor, and the registers, which leads to more sales.

Everyone was glum at the Bookstore Friday night. It’s one thing to deal with having your hours cut, but coming in to find that three well-liked and respected members of the management team have been kicked to the curb just doesn’t sit well with anyone.

I’ve worked in restaurant and retail environments long enough to know the difference between a good manager and a bad one, and I’ve been fortunate enough in my time at the Bookstore to only work with one bad manager, and she’s long since gone. It would probably be easier if Yvonne, Brian, and Jenny had been horrible at their jobs, and were widely detested by the staff — they weren’t.

It really sucks in Yvonne’s case — she wasn’t out multi media manager. But she — this week! — went to another store on a temporary assignment and was, you guess it, assigned as the multimedia manager there. She worked one day, and was then laid off. Sucks.

On the flip side — because of these cuts, more hours are now available to booksellers. Next week, I’m almost back to my pre-holiday working schedule, and in addition, a few full-timers seem to have found promising leads for more secure employment, which will probably result in as many hours as I can shake my first at — which is a good thing.

So I’m conflicted. Because I’m going to miss working with Yvonne, Brian, and Jenny. But because with their departure, the financial ground under my feet is solidifying. “It’s a dog eat dog world out there,” that same staffer said.