Misconceptions About Working at Hollister
I am employed at Hollister Company, a clothing store that targets young adults, which is located in Colonial Mall Bel Air. When I tell people that I work there, they automatically assume that I fit the description of a dense, snobbish prep. Some people believe that I have a glamorous, easy job or that I am lucky to have a job that allows employees to dress very casually. However, these are a few of many misconceptions portrayed about this popular retail store.
It is true that a few of my coworkers carry the ‘holier than thou’ attitude, but for the most part, we are just an ordinary and down-to-earth group of people; in fact, a lot of us are downright dorky and are not the perfect models that we are portrayed as. Some people think that the employees at Hollister have no common sense or are slower-minded than the average person. I find this to be quite offensive, and I am sure that my coworkers agree because the opposite of this misconception is true. Most, if not all, of the employees are either in high school or college and are incredibly intelligent individuals.
Despite what some might think, this job involves more than just folding clothes. It takes skills and practice to learn how to fold the merchandise correctly while greeting every customer who enters the store. Many people think that we do not work hard and all we do is play and fool around. However, on a slow business day, like Monday, or a very busy day, like Saturday, we are folding constantly and if the managers catch us not working, they will find something for us to do or send us home. Some of the responsibilities that we have when working the dressing room make us feel like we are intruding on the customers’ privacy and make us very uncomfortable. For example, we are required to remove each item from the customer’s hands as they enter and leave thedressing room and shake each item for clues of hidden merchandise. Hollister also has what is called a jean goal, which means we are required to greet and ask all customers if they would be interested in trying on a pair of our jeans. The customers usually cannot hear us over the loud music, so we have to ask them a few times before they are able to understand.
Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories company owned by the corporation Gap Inc. As holiday season approaches, retail stores such as Old Navy hire thousands of seasonal workers to keep speed with the millions of shoppers who are expected to hit the stores during the holiday season. Nearly two days after applying, I got called for an interview then hired for the seasonal position, this not only made me realize that this opening will lead me to gain some experience in retail, but also made me realize that in a way I will be joining a new community and will be part of a team that strives to create an environment that is functional enough
The comparison of Victoria’s Secret and Fredericks of Hollywood is a conversation that I have had many times. May it be with my husband or with my friends we always seem to pick Victoria’s Secret as the classier establishment than Fredericks of Hollywood. I don’t know why I have always thought this but many girls feel the same way. I have only shopped at Fredericks of Hollywood once with a friend of mine and she convinced me to get something special for Valentine's Day. My husband and I had just started dating then and she suggested that I try something different than the normal items I have and this was where we ended up. I did not feel comfortable in Fredericks of Hollywood and I can still remember feeling very out of place. This was about
After reading the article, “Why 62,000 Abercrombie & Fitch Employees Are Suing The Company,” there were two different problems that were brought to attention regarding Abercrombie & Fitch’s business ethics. The two problems were the mistreatment of their employees, and how their business marketing strategy is not well developed throughout their company. Abercrombie & Fitch is a company that has always been concerned about their image, which leads us to their, “look policy.” A “look policy” is a policy that relates to a certain look every employee has to follow to be eligible to work there. The company is facing a high-profile lawsuit over its, “look policy” (Greenhouse, 2015). Each employee is forced to purchase the company’s clothes to wear to work, each time a new sales guide comes out (Greenhouse, 2015). This is known as compelled purchases, which is a violation of the state’s labor codes (Greenhouse, 2015). They force the “look policy,” way too strong upon their employees, which developed into a huge problem. The company is facing a high-profile lawsuit
27). By creating a personal experience for every customer, this is what Philz aims to do. The employee and customer develop a connection with one another, thus resulting in the customer coming back for this interaction. Also, the people Philz hires tend to be socially similar to their clientele and are not required to wear uniforms. This lack of conformity is something “hipsters” like and appreciate. Assuming the quality and service provided is always consistently good, one would be hard-pressed to find a better way to bring customers back to your store than by reaffirming and validating their
This past month I made my last visit to the popular teenage/college student retail store Abercrombie and Fitch. Finishing up some back to school shopping, I was on a quest for jeans, and I knew the place to get them. My last two favorite pairs were from Abercrombie and Fitch, and I was planning on buying the same kind once again. Happy and relieved that I would not spend the afternoon ransacking the mall for one pair of jeans, I entered the store to the pulsating beat of techno dance music. In front of me was the teenage Mecca of what is truly hip -- the first thing I noticed were the life-size pictured that covered the walls -- half-clad muscular and glistening young men, frolicking around with pouty faced but beautiful young women who were wearing either size 2 short shorts with bikini tops or 3 layered sweaters. The tables were covered with overpriced shorts, shirts, and sweaters, strewn about by desperate customers searching for the perfect outfit. The sales people who roamed the floors were definitions of cool themselves -- ranging from age 16-22, they modeled their employee discounts in a haughty way which encouraged the customers to strive for their ultra-hip look. And strive the customers did. What was the most noticeable upon entering the store (besides the blaringly loud music which made me wonder if I was at a clothing store or a dance club) were the herds of desperate young men and women, who seemed to range from age 12-25, strutting around the store and searching for anything that had the name A&F on it. I can only imaging how many nights of baby-sitting it would take some of these eager teenagers to buy one sweater. The young custome...
The environment of the modern day grocery store can be quite stressful. It is here, that people truly show their disposition. Its almost like the act of standing behind people equally as frustrated is a form of torture, and only then does the truth come out. The truth is, most people live boring lives, and this chore puts an emphasis on boredom. Most people tend to forget about one thing during this grueling experience, and that is the employee. When a customer becomes frustrated, they take it out on the employee, but when the employee becomes frustrated with agitated customers the same outlet is not available. The Story of “A & P” by John Updike, and the Film of “Employee of the Month”
The general consensus among American citizens is that the retail industry as one of the worst jobs a person can take, just short of fast food and any job that is janitorial. There are many reasons behind this stigma that affects people both in and out of the retail industry. The perspective of the customer will always differ from that of the retail worker, with the exception of those who have worked or currently work in retail. However, just because the perspective is different, the level of respect has no reason to shift.
Yes there employee practices at A&F could be categorized as discriminatory. Discrimination is defined as the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. There was a very public case of discrimination. 17 year old Samantha Elauf applied to work at Abercrombie at a mall in Tulsa Oklahoma in 2008. The assistant manager who interviewed her deemed her qualified but worried that her hijab would violate the company’s “Look Policy,” (Talbot). The case was published in numerous news outlets one of them being an article from the New Yorker which brought up what is meant by discrimination in this case. “Any employer can have a dress code, of course, but it cannot use
However, despite their success, all the negative press and controversies has lead to Abercrombie coming under pressure from activist investors to shake up management, who this month said they want to see more dramatic changes at the company, saying the retailer needs a new strategy after four straight quarters of declining sales. Bloomberg News reported“As part of its turnaround effort, Abercrombie is repositioning its brands… aimed at shoppers with more money to spend, rather than teens. The Hollister brands… will use low prices and rapidly changing styles to recapture customers who’ve turned to chains like Forever 21.” (Bloomberg, 2014)
One of the largest factors in discrimination in our society today is everyone’s desire to conform to fit into the “cool” crowd, or those who are successful. Just like in the The Sneetches, people may be willing to go to great lengths, or spending outrageous amounts of money to be a part of the in-group. For example, the Sneetches kept dumping money into the pockets of an entrepreneur named Sylvester McMonkey McBean, (who calls himself the Fix-It-Up Chappie) in hopes of achieving social acceptance. In the world today, everyone seems to need the latest technological upgrade or style of clothing to fit in with his or
First, in relation to the organization’s most important asset, people, Sears has failed to recognize the distinctive competences that lie in the skills and abilities of their own employees. Sears once was a very successful organization in relation to how they treat their employees. Sears was one of the pioneers of measuring employee engagement in the retail industry by creating a set of measures known as Total Performance Indicators. People who enjoy going to work every day, as a result of a high-performing company culture, increases their productivity, giving them a higher return on salary. This model of employee engagement worked very well for Sears in the past, however, in recent years, Sears has strayed away from this core competency.
Our company allows customers to specify when and where to pick up their garments as well as how they should be handled. We partner with local laundromats and dry cleaners to perform wash and fold and dry cleaning services. We promise high-quality service with fast turnaround time. All laundry and dry cleaning
Dunnes Stores is an indigenous, family owned Irish Company. The Company is a retailer in both the food and textile market who work around the principle of providing competitive prices, high quality products and a vast variety of choices. The company’s motto of “Better Value” looks to draw in all these principles together.
The saying, “the customer is always right” isn’t always necessarily true. Most of the time, the sales associated is correct. However, it is still important to treat costumers with respect, even when they are wrong. Another important skill to have in order to survive retail is to remain patient with costumers. It can be frustrating when a customer messes up a display or leaves clothes on the dressing room floor. Dealing with grumpy customers can also be challenging. Nonetheless, a worker must remain calm and accept that the job entails sometimes dealing with difficult situations and
Corporate companies and stores are wheeling in huge amount of hard earned cash from a youth’s minimum wage salary because that adolescent believes that a purchasing a product is essential to become “cool”. While on the other hand, most of these subcultures are branched off from the mainstream culture because they are