Then Heather Reisman came along with her bizarre agenda and turned the place from a lovely, warm bookstore, into a high-sales pressure with no-commission environment. Banning books she disapproved of, and doing her rotten best to emulate Martha Stewart (right down to the stud earrings and trademark haircut). I consistently sold more than my store’s quota of iRewards Cards, but I will agree that for most people it wasn’t necessary. However I did recommend them always to people who would benefit from the card.

Such a shame to see what was once a wonderful place to be and to work was completely destroyed by some rich hag.

There have been moments – like when the sale stickers were changed from red to orange. I asked our GM why that happened, and he didn’t know, (actually, our GM is a pretty good manager, but he’s shit with customer service, and doesn’t read. In fact, he’s one of the least knowledgeable people on staff in our location, if not the worst). I then asked our Regional Manager. She said she’d find out. A month or more later, she returned to our store. She had no idea where the idea came from, (so she said), or why it had happened. She expressed surprise when I told her that with little research, I’d discovered that orange is North American’s least favourite colour, and it seemed odd that we’d go against decades of red = sale for our stickers. That’s just one example of weird moves made by HQ.

Yes, the Mein Kampf ban is odd and troubling. So is the fund set up for family-less Israeli soldiers.

My biggest beef is that ‘full-time’ hours have recently been dropped from 37.5 in a week, (40 hours minus a half for lunch every day), to 35 hours. Also, staff schedules are soon to be managed by computer – putting efficiency and profit before employee concerns regarding regular time off or specific weekends off. Finally, with Ontario’s minimum wage now at $10.25, you’d expect a seven year employee to be doing fairly well. Not true. The last three min. wage increases have garnered me a whopping 10 cents – oh, and a coffee. Can’t forget that.

So brand-new employees, most of whom do not live/breath and eat books – both fiction and non – like I do, are only making $1.30 less than I. That’s sad, for sure.

But I also regularly direct customers to our local independent bookstore. As I say to them, “I’ll still get my Kraft Dinner if you do.” So please, do support your local independent book retailer. They need your help! Indigo Books and Music, Inc. sells 70% of the books in Canada! Fight the monopoly! )

I still slave in Heather’s salt mines, where:

We’re yelled at if we talk to each other (“Break it up”) – even for a MINUTE and even when someone’s asking me how to do something because they had no training.

We’re treated like liars (“You were sick? – do you have a doctor’s note?”) for calling in sick once in 3 months.

We’re regarded as disposable – Knowledgeable staff, who are loved by customers and co-workers alike for their expertise and helpful demeanor, are fired for not brow-beating customers into buying the (useless, unless you buy hundreds of $ worth of books) iRewards card (iPod should sue over the name).

We’re confronted on a daily basis with the mind-numbing incompetence and arrogance of management. e.g. Ch!ndigo’s database lists Frances Burney’s novels as “Essays,” Virginia Woolf’s novels as “Women’s Studies,” Shakespeare’s Sonnets as “Plays,” [Japanese Martial Artist] Morihei Ueshiba’s books as “Western Philosophy” (Japan=Western?) etc. etc. Anytime anyone points out the grotesque and common mistakes (which anyone who had any clue about the products being sold in these stores – i.e. BOOKS – would be able to spot), they’re told (more or less) to shut up and not question the important people or waste their time with silly little details.

Bottom line: Heather R. considers the “little people” who work for her disposable garbage, and her upper management (consisting of sycophants, relatives, and idiots w/MBA’s but no relevant experience whatsoever and who have never set foot in a store or talked to a customer) don’t care IN THE SLIGHTEST what anyone “beneath them” has to say.

No one I know feels the slightest guilt about slacking off, doing a(n intentionally) lousy job, or even st*aling (in many cases), because we’re treated like idiots, thieves, liars and peasants anyway, why not act the part?

Ch!ndigo sells hundreds of books on how to boost employee morale, built teams and, as a direct result, make your business better for your staff and your customers and more profitable for you. Heather R. and her gang of thugs have read NONE of these books.

Of course, why would she need to? She already KNOWS everything.

Really.

Just ask her.

(“We get screwed out of breaks, have to clean shit off washroom walls and toilets [...]—that’s not fair, nor is it common; as a CER you don’t have to do that, and no one every approached anyone in my store to do that)

to absurd

(“I received postal mail from Chapters with a $5.00 coupon “on your next online purchase” if using their new feature Interac online. I had purchased in the past, so this was my “next” order, but the $5.00 was not deducted.”—so you received a coupon for $5 off your next purchase, and you wanted the next purchase to be the previous purchase? What?)

Happy employees are obviously not going to go online and rant about their employers; and I assume that no one here is lying when they talk about their bad experiences. However, these are outliers.

People should stop whining about “big corporations” and “filthy rich CEOs”. If you don’t want to buy from the store, don’t. If you don’t want an iRewards card, don’t get it. If you don’t like the owner for being a “JAP” or for having “OCD” (?), don’t go inside the store? Or does it just feel good to complain?

I have two complaints: one is the shipping rate. For orders under $39, $4.99 plus $2.50 for each additional item is charged. I understood that if I ordered 1 book under $39, I would be charged $4.99 only, as there were no additional items besides the 1 book. I was shocked to realize that I would have to pay both $4.99 and the $2.50 as the $4.99 is a flat fee that is added right off the top and then the $2.50 is added for each book. So for 2 books that did not add to $39.00, shipping is $10.00.
Next complaint: I received postal mail from Chapters with a $5.00 coupon “on your next online purchase” if using their new feature Interac online. I had purchased in the past, so this was my “next” order, but the $5.00 was not deducted. Upon phoning Customer Service, I was told I had to use Interac for one order, and then it was the next order I would receive $5 off. I don’t plan on making another order after these books at Chapters, so the coupon is useless.
I cannot justify purchasing from Chapters when I can order from Amazon in the US. I want to buy Damages, Season 1 – it is $59.95 and only $35 at Amazon. Double the price.
Also their search feature is horrible. When I type in Damages, Season 1, I am inudated with 148 results from Alfred Hitchcock to Three’s Company.
All in all, Chapters is a big rip-off. I am grateful I live close to the US border and can pick up my books and DVD’s at my US mailbox and bypass Chapters altogether.
I guess Dad will not be getting those books, as shipping and the Interac offer has turned me off.