I was thinking, and getting pissed, at work tonight

[Tennessee Gal]

13. I understand exactly what you mean. Here is my story.

Without giving too much information, I work for a small locally owned company with several divisions and interests.

My responsibilities are in a retail design store and involve many different skills such as: promoting the store through any possible means including facebook, accounting work like purchase orders - receiving items - processing invoices - invoicing sales - monitoring financial reports - closing out the profit and loss statements at month end, helping stage the store, updating displays, meeting with sales reps to keep up with the latest products, estimating large installation jobs, design work on home remodel projects - colors - furniture, etc. and most importantly servicing customers with a smile on my face.

My hours are 8 to 5 week days. I arrive at work at about 7:30 every day and stay until 5:00. I never, ever leave the store for lunch, which means I am working more than 9 hours per day. I am only allowed to turn in 8 hours per day and no one has asked me to work more than the 8 hours, but it takes that and more to accomplish all those tasks. Occasionally I am allowed some overtime to meet with out of town clients on Saturdays. I am paid a reasonable hourly wage (although it is less than I asked for) and a small commission, which has been cut two times in the past 18 months.

I am very conscientious about the quality of my work. My parents taught me that if you work hard and do a good job, you will be rewarded. I am the top sales person in this store. Instead of being rewarded, my commission gets cut.

And on top of that about a year ago (right around the time my commission was first cut) an additional designer was hired - a very talented person who does nothing with the talent. This person arrives at about 8:30, proceeds to sit and drink coffee for a couple of hours, doodles and draws room layouts most of the rest of the day, gets mad if anything is moved around in the store, goes out on consultations for hours and only charges the client for one hour, travels for the store as an outside sales person about one day per month - but doesn't even leave until about 10:00 and returns at about 3:30, spending about 4 hours of that on the road. Sales? Almost nothing. Not producing at all.

The store has been in business for years and is doing okay - not great, but not horrible - about what could be expected considering this economy. Traditionally, January and February are slow months. But March has been a lot better. The other day the owner came in my office and asked about March sales. I pulled up the appropriate report and said that March was looking quite good. He said: "Well good because if it doesn't get better, some changes will have to be made." I am sitting there thinking that he should get rid of the dead weight sales person not producing, but who knows what will happen. I am trying not to worry because I think it would be quite silly of him to not keep his top sales person.

Hard work is no longer rewarded in today's society and that is a real problem.