So, my love of jewelry started when I got my first credit card at a Rogers Jewelers at the ripe age of 18. I was so excited, I purchased a ring for my mom on her birthday. The pure excitement of watching her open that box was so intense. Then the expression on her face was complete elation.
That is all it took........
I applied at that store within the next week as a saleswoman and was turned down for the job.
It wasn't until 10 plus years later I applied for a job at Kay Jewelers and was hired~~! I was soooo excited, I told everyone in my family that I was going to make a career in this. What was I thinking???
Before I go on about the job, let me tell you a little about the company as whole. The company consists of multiple stores, with different names/chains, but are owned by one big corporation. It used to be call Sterling Jewelers. Sterling only cares about one thing and one thing ONLY. The mighty dollar. Of course aren't all companies like that? They need to make money so they can open more stores, and etc.... But there is a fine line between making the mighty dollar and completely raping a customer. In the years between 18 and 30 something, I started an online jewelry store and I did very well. But learning the trade of wholesale to retail was enlightening. I found out what the mark up on jewelry and diamonds were. But what I really learned was the quality in a piece of jewelry or a loose diamond was definitely different from a chain store, to a "mom and pop" store..... Which, I didn't know what the chain stores until I actually worked for one.
I learned from the get go, jewelry chain stores buy cheap and sell high.... When I say cheap, I mean, purchased in bulk, crappy pieces that are mass produced cheap and quickly and imported from countries like China, Singapore, Indonesia...etc.... Have you ever wondered why your $3000 ring fell apart so quick???
Their diamonds are bought in bulk also. The more you buy, the more you save... They are sold in groups/parcels, in lower grade quality and GLAMORIZED to the consumer how great this low grade quality is, they mark it up 300% and sell it to you. You just spent $4999 on a 1.00ct diamond solitaire that was low quality, with cheap gold from China, and they didn't have $700 in the whole piece.... You do the math on what they made off of you as a consumer. Not to mention if they get you to sign up for their "Interest Free Financing" credit cards.... And here is the catch on that one. They charge you $10 to use the interest free financing.... So, again, they are making money.
It was hard in the beginning for me to sell a crappy quality ring to a consumer when I knew for the money they were spending, they could buy something worth nearly twice as much in value if they were to go to a mom and pop store.... When I started working for Kays I thought it was going to be KILLER quality pieces, unique one of kind pieces, something that would WOW me.... Not even close... It wasn't even close...... But in the chain stores, it isn't about QUALITY.... it is about Quantity....... As a sales person, we were not to get to know the customer, we were to SELL SELL SELL.... Then kick them out and go to the next person. It was like working at an assembly line. Sell them, and move on. Not just the crap jewelry, but then the warranties, the credit cards, the matching piece, and etc....
They were relentless about selling MORE MORE MORE....
And this is where the retail HELL became evident..... First let me just say, retail hours are awful. It takes a certain special someone to want to do those hours. I did it for years...... The split shifts, the weekends, only one day off during the holidays if you were lucky and open every single day but Christmas.
Sterling had standards. If you didn't make your daily, weekly, and monthly standards, you were always told you would be "WROTE UP" and after three infractions, you were fired. So, you had to make your sales goals (attainable if you were ok with selling crappy jewelry), warranty goals (which the customer needs to constantly repair their crappy jewelry), credit card goals (to make you think using the card is free) and "add on's" (you need the matching crappy piece)..... But here a kicker on the selling.... You are buying from the salesperson who has NO jewelry experience at all. They don't train or teach the employees about jewelry. They teach and train them how to sell.... That is where I also had a little bit of an issue. No one I worked with including the manager knew NOTHING about diamonds and gold, but knew how to "Manage" people.... So they would burn it into your head to sell the piece, just not know anything about what they were selling. The less they knew about the crappy jewelry, the easier it was to lie to the consumer.
So, upper management and the DM;s were CONSTANTLY on our backs about selling and making our goals. With no regard to the employees, or the customers, you were to sell or you were FIRED.
Then there is the PAY...... They want you to think that the more you sell, the more YOU make..... Okay, with .005% commission on top of your hourly (just above minimum if you were lucky) was still an embarrassing amount of nothing on your paycheck. That is IF you make your standards, you get the commission. If you don't..... you get nothing.
So, after three long years of constant lying, selling basic shit jewelry, and hearing NON stop if you don't make your sales goals you were fired, I had enough...... I moved on to better things.
After a few years I was doing my research because of my love for jewelry, I was hoping to get back into the world of diamonds and gold. I told myself years before that, that I would NEVER work for Sterling as long as I live, and I meant it. Now the company was getting into trouble for sexual harassment cases (not a big surprise) wage discrimination class actions (another big surprise) and diamond switching (hello....not a surprise either), I figured they were possibly on there way of closing their stores. So, I went on the prowl and did some research on Zales the diamond stores. I learned that they were only three chains with them, they treated their employees wonderfully, commissions were outstanding and the pay was above the pay scales when it came to jewelry retail. So, I applied for a managers position and was hired. I immediately fell in love with the company and my district manager. He was amazing. An inspiration.... Within a few months of working there, I knew I found my home.... The job was exactly what I wanted, and the company was a company I was proud to say I worked for. Until...... Sterling partnered with them.... I nearly died when I found out. They joined companies, changed their corporation name to SIGNET ONE.... I knew it was only a matter of time before it was ruined. And I was right.
Within a few short months the commission structures changed. The commissions were lowered (big surprise), the hours changed.... My 42-44 hour salaried hours became 48 + with no extra incentives. They mandated special events where our days off were one day a week, worse for holidays. I had no family life, no personal life and the pay sucked for the amount of hours we had to work. During the holidays managers worked 60 - 70 hours.... New hires were paid crap wages (McDonalds paid more). They went on a new pay scale according to their wage generator.... It was a joke... So, if your planning on applying for a job there, don't expect nothing more than $9 an hour, because you won't get it. It was just a complete nightmare. And then the demands came with the goals and standards. They wanted managers to "write up" the ones who were not selling the mandated goals. It was a stressful environment all around for the newbies that struggled selling. They learned very quickly that we were selling cheap jewelry for high prices. People's credit isn't like it was in the past, so no one wanted to fill out credit card applications. No one believed in high priced warranties unless they knew the crap was going to fall apart. Signet was still buying the cheap, mass produced crap they always had in the past, and since the companies partnered, everything went to the old Sterling ways.
Whew........ I last just two years before I had to resign. It was a constant hostile working environment where if you didn't sell, you had to punish the employees. I just couldn't do it. My new District manager was satan. He only cared if he made his bonus, so harassing the general managers to threaten their employees was more than I could stand. It was EVERY single day. My employees would dread the phone ringing in fear that he was calling to get the store numbers for the day. When I resigned, a lot of the others did also. I felt bad for the one's who stayed.
So, when you are out and about wanting to buy a piece of crappy jewelry from the chain stores, think about what the employees go through on a day to day basis when the doors close at night. Be patient with them. They do NOT make the jewelry. They have to follow all company policies and procedures. So, before you go in there ranting at the sales associate that your $3000 piece fell apart, remember when he or she has to deal with every single day. Show some empathy. Or shop at a real jewelry store.....
Comments
Post a Comment