Hi Everyone

Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 16

I am a plumbing specialist and have been with Lowes for about 6 months now. Just came across this board and like it very much. At least it's a great tool to vent since we can no longer go to the smoke shack to do such.
I was very optimistic when I started with Lowe's. Hoping that I found a company that truley cares about its people and making having good work conditions. Boy was I mistaken. Even though I have not been with the company that long, I have seen a definate decrease in loyalty and morale. I am one of 7 specialists in our store, making us short 8. When I started, I replaced a specialist in our department. We had a department manager that had been in the plumbing business for 30 years, another speicalist who had been with the company for 4 years, and a csa who was very knowledegable with the department.
Now I am the senior person in our department, the second specialist position has been vacant for 3 months. The department manager quit via no-call/no-show, and I ran the department for over a month, doing all cycle counts, scheduling, paperwork, etc. plus doing my duties as specialist.
Now we have a new department manager, who is a friend of mine, however is department manager of plumbing and electrical. We were given a new employee on Monday, who is very knowledegable about plumbing, and find out today (wednesday) that they are moving him to a freight crew. Through the months of asking for help, the excuse I have been given is that they can not find people with plumbing background. We get this guy and are now losing him. They hired a retired master plumber, who wanted to be put in plumbing, and got placed in appliances instead, and are now getting as many hours scheduled a week in our deprtment as tool world.
The irony is that we are comping 15% over budget in both fashion and rough plumbing. I have been busting my butt to keep things going, and keep getting shot down by management for help. I guess in part I am too blame, since I took the intiative to keep our deprtment exceeding expectations. Our district manager was in with his boss last week, and they both commented on how good our department was. As matter of fact they said it is by far one of the best plumbing departments around, in all areas including budget, appearance and inventory.
The real stress is that when I come in I am overwhelmed with customers that the other associates can not help (lack of knowledge, experience etc.) This shows you that Lowes is worried strictly about bottom line and not customer service. Our customer first focus groups and new name tags are nothing but a advertising ploy.
I have seen quite a few home improvment/hardware companies go in the last decade, and the sad part if that they made the same mistakes at the end that Lowes is making.
The American business mentality has become make all the money you can, and if you company goes..oh well. The workers will find other jobs and the ceo's/major share holders will still have there large sums.
I opted in the class action law suit today, figured I might as well get something out of the company instead of them taking from me constantly.
On another note, it was said in the managment meeting this week that any one getting a negative mystery shopper report will not recieve a write-up. Just wondering if any others have heard of this new policy. When I was hired we were told about the mystery shoppers, and that we could not be disciplined for their reports. Just another way for Lowes to get back at us.

Thanks
Tired and frustrated
SunkLowe

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 41 Location: out west

Welcome to the party sunklowe. It seems that every store has the same story to tell. I think the "Customer Focused" theme is actually mis-spelled there should be a "k" in there somewhere and a few of the other letters dropped! It is really sickening to hear that we need to watch labor dollars and yet they turn around and give that money to managers (store and district) as bonuses, who do very little to help customer service. The reason for their position escapes me. You could take any monkey and train it to say "no" to any logical request, such as more help, and "yes" to all kiss butt political bull pucky! I am glad to see that you joined the "variable salary" suit. I hope the boneheads in corporate sit up and take notice, but they won't. Most people don't realize how much time they are giving to the company when they do the variable salary dance. On average they (variable salaried) work over 50 standard 8hr days a year,at half pay no less. That is almost 2 months worth of 8 hr. days. I wish I could hire experienced help for 2 months and pay them a pittance. But the thing that really gets my goat is the fact that they actually think they are doing you a favor. Well enough for now except to say, welcome to the party!

Joined: 08 Jul 2003 Posts: 20 Location: anywhere , America

Welcome, Sunklowe. We're glad to have you join us. This is a good site to vent and see if your problems are unique to your store or corporate wide. You will also see good suggestions and encouragement. We're all in the same boat, and need to row in unison. Give it your best shot and good luck......

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