I had supper on Friday with my friend who works at Dillard's. She was telling me that Dillard's is firing a lot of people in her store. They had hired extra help for the holidays & then told the new sales clerks that they wouldn't be needed until ALMOST Christmas. She thought that was terrible to do to the people who were counting on their Dillard paychecks to pay bills.

If you go to Snopes, you will see that Dillard's is going to be closing several stores.

She says that people are not buying things at Dillard's, JCP, or at Macy's (the 3 big stores at the mall in Newport News).

Both I and some family members have worked for Dillard's in the past 5 years. Even if a Dillard's sales associate is lucky enough to have a wonderful associate manager (who is the immediate supervisor), Dillard's is a rotten place to work. The pressure to make a certain number for sales is very strong, and causes a lot of anxiety for the sales associates. It also makes the competition between sales associates so fierce that sometimes customers leave because they get overwhelmed by the sales associates! The day I left I skipped out of the store. I also wore earrings shaped like wings because I was "flying" away.

Good for you for getting out of that stressful situation Joyous and wearing your angel wings to fly away! lol

I didn't know that about Dillard's. I do know that there is a lot of competion for customers at the cosmetic counters. I also know that I've learned the hard way that clerks will try to snake a regular customer to them instead of giving a message to the sales associate they ask to speak to.

I would do more business in the Haousewares dept. if they'd ever pick up the phone when I've called. That's one reason I shop at Williams-Sonoma once in a while.

Virginia Needlewoman:

clerks will try to snake a regular customer to them

A very familiar scenario to me! I can't tell you how working at a high-pressure place like Dillard's make ordinarily nice people turn suspicious and conniving. Because only high sales numbers and high number of credit card applications are recognized and rewarded (instead of in addition to other factors like helpfulness and reliability), necessary work like putting up stock, re-arranging the sales floor, cleaning up, and other duties are often pushed to the wayside. Only the numbers matter. I still remember when we would have between 7-10 sales associates on the floor. We were told that each of us was "required" to process 5 new credit card applications each day, but it was a slow season and we'd only have maybe 30 customers even walk through the department all day. Even if EVERY customer agreed to apply for a new Dillard's credit card, there just weren't enough customers for all that. My favorite was when  my department was pulled aside one at a time and told we'd "have to do better" in terms of credit card applications. Sure, no problem! Give me some blow-up dolls with driver's license numbers and I'll see what I can concoct!

I often judge a business by its former employees. If they are still willing to return and shop there, that tells me a little about how they think of the place. I think I've been inside Dillard's twice since I left several years ago.

Joyous:

Sure, no problem! Give me some blow-up dolls with driver's license numbers and I'll see what I can concoct!

LOL People in management don't mind asking for the moon, do they?

Joyous:

I often judge a business by its former employees. If they are still willing to return and shop there, that tells me a little about how they think of the place. I think I've been inside Dillard's twice since I left several years ago.

I couldn't agree more!

Joyous:

Because only high sales numbers and high number of credit card applications are recognized and rewarded (instead of in addition to other factors like helpfulness and reliability), necessary work like putting up stock, re-arranging the sales floor, cleaning up, and other duties are often pushed to the wayside. Only the numbers matter. I still remember when we would have between 7-10 sales associates on the floor. We were told that each of us was "required" to process 5 new credit card applications each day, but it was a slow season and we'd only have maybe 30 customers even walk through the department all day. Even if EVERY customer agreed to apply for a new Dillard's credit card, there just weren't enough customers for all that. My favorite was when  my department was pulled aside one at a time and told we'd "have to do better" in terms of credit card applications. Sure, no problem! Give me some blow-up dolls with driver's license numbers and I'll see what I can concoct!

Last year when dd&ds#1 came home from work  during the Christmas season (both had been working registers that day) dd asked ds how many cc applications he was able to get customers to apply for he said he never asked a customer if they wanted one. She asked why not you could get such great bonuses if you reached your goal. Ds looked at her and said "I just have a hard time asking someone if they would like to go into a lifetime of credit card debt for things that they wouldn't normally buy just so I can win some little trinket that will no doubt fall apart in a few months." She never asked him about it again.