Those of you who know me know David. This blog is mostly about David. And Le Shiteau. Most of you know Le Shiteau by its original name, Le CHAteau. After reading this blog, you will understand why I have bestowed upon this fine Canadian establishment a New Name.
I cannot tell a lie. I am not the bestower of the name. I wish I could take credit for the brilliance that is "Le Shiteau", seeing as I LIVE FOR clever titles and subject lines, but I can't. It is only appropriate that I give a "shout out" (oh my GAWWWD I HATE THAT EXPRESSION SO MUCH) to my buddy Steph, the creative genius behind Le Chateau's new and improved name. I bow to your hilarity.
Ok. So. Two years and four months ago, our son was born. Then, two years and TWO months ago, David was hired at Le Chateau. It had not been the easiest pregnancy (that is quite possibly the largest understatement ever) and since I am self-employed, seasonally (8 months a year), have no benefits or mat leave, and am a musician (refer to my August Toenails blog if you haven't already on my thoughts about this subject), people- we needed the money. So in September 2008, David started working at Le Chateau.
Within a couple of weeks, Another Company approached David. They had seen what a good employee he was, and recruited him to join their company as assistant manager. It would be full-time, and would give him security and benefits. Talk about a boost of confidence. But- what do you do!? He'd been looking for work for weeks, and had been very happy to be hired at Le Chateau. It was only part-time though, and as I said? Needed the dough.
After much deliberation between the two of us, taking into consideration MY work schedule (commitment for 8 months to students, kind of irreplaceable... haHA, I laugh... no really though, kind of unprofessional and selfish to ditch people when it's already September and all the studios are organized), he finally decided to leave Le Chateau and start training in his new role as assistant manager in the OC (Other Company).
In just 3 weeks, the man sold 12,000 dollars worth of footwear. Because it's a great company, not only was he making full time wages, he was also making commission on all this selling he was doing. It was good times.
Except it wasn't good times. Since the end of July, I'd been sick every single day. I was constantly at the doctor, either for myself or our son. I had swollen lumps in my throat and penicillin wasn't doing a darn thing. Between working full time, being extremely sick, taking care of a sick baby, and adding hours of practice time on top of all that, it was NOT good. David working full-time was better financially, but almost undoable physically.
Re-enter Le Chateau. On David's last night of work at the store, the manager approached him and told him how much they value him, and how they really did not want to lose him. She asked him what it would take to get him to stay. Since they knew all the reasons why he was leaving slash had left, she had to make it a good offer, one that would be more valuable to him than what he already had. And the only thing more valuable at the time was having a schedule where he only worked days. So the counter-offer was:
4) Benefits to kick in sooner (basically they'd put a rush on them)
5) They would create a full time position for him called "Inventory Specialist".
NOW what to do?!! He was working at two places he really enjoyed, and now had to choose between them. Basically, my health and my schedule were the deciding factors, so he had to go, tail between his legs, to the OC and tell them the situation. Obviously, they weren't too happy. The manager, who I love, understood, but the DM, not so much. Anyway, with a week's notice (eep), he left and returned to Le Chateau at the beginning of November. He asked for more time, so he could give more notice, but since they had kept him on at Le Chateau while he was training at the OTHER store (um, hi, kind of not s'posta do that?), there was pressure to get him back at Le Chateau ASAP. So he went.
Within a matter of weeks (8-9?), David's hours were cut down to 25-28 hours a week. To add to this, he was not only responsible for all that's involved in being head of inventory (shipping, receiving, unpacking, etc etc), but had to work the sales floor in the men's section. If any of you have seen the men's section at this location, it is not exactly bustling with activity. Anyway, so he was responsible for sales too. BUT because he was divided between the two areas (sales floor and inventory/backroom), his sales weren't as high as others who worked ONLY in sales, and this was counted against him. To ADD to this, the manager who had given him the "Please Don't Leave Us" counter-offer was on sick leave. The worst part of THAT is she was replaced indefinitely by what I can only describe as a mental case of a DM. Half the time, David wasn't allowed in the stock room because she spent most of her time there. She got her hair done during work hours. She did basically nothing, and blamed everyone else for it (it being EVERYTHING). To call her unreasonable is the second hugest understatement ever made. It was almost unbearable working with her. It came to the point where he called HR to see what could be done to improve the work environment. She heard about the call, took him out of the store, and went on about how this store was her "baby" and how he'd basically better watch his back.
Anyway within a few months she was let go. Bye Bye Birdie. But, the hours were still getting cut. It was February and I was STILL sick. When I would start to feel better, it was like David's system would go "Ok... I can relax a bit" and then HE would get raging sick for a week at a time.
Let us move on to May 2009. I was constantly on David's case to press the issue about his lack of hours, to find out why his benefits hadn't kicked in, to find out if this is how it was going to continue, to call HR, tell them how he'd left a dream job with Assistant Manager position, fulltime hours, and benefits AND commission, to go back to Le Chateau. He told me he felt if he pushed any harder, he'd likely lose his job. Gut feeling.
Third week of June 2009. David calls HR in the morning around 11:00 to discuss everything regarding his employment. Within two hours, he received his notice. Of course, it was a "layoff": they just didn't have the hours to give him. Of course, within a week or two, they had replaced him with someone else. Of course, they lay him off when I am not working. Of course when you apply for EI, they only count the past six months you worked, to determine how much EI you're eligible for. Of course, that means they calculated on him barely working 25 hours a week. Of course, I was beside myself. Of course, this also screwed his resume up BIG time. Now he had these short bursts of work, and can't even use the OC for his resume, which is REALLY a shame, since he really thrived there. Because of how he left Le Shiteau (we have now moved into using its New Name), it's difficult to use them as a reference with confidence. Oh, and also? His benefits kicked in JUST in time for him to be "laid off", so he paid Le Chateau $50 off his paycheck for that, and of course never had time to take advantage of having benefits.
That was 15 months ago. And still no job. It's driving me out of my mind. (Not to mention him). So, because I find it very hard to take no for an answer, and because I'm obsessing about all of this, I took action. The first thing I did a couple of weeks ago was send an email to the manager of the OC, explaining to her my role in David having to leave their store. It was honest and accurate, and I hoped that since they are once again hiring, that they may, after hearing my account of things, hire him back.
The second thing I did, last Tuesday, was to go to talk to the new manager of the Le Chateau he had worked at. I had seen they were hiring, so I went. It took a LOT out of me to go and do it, but I thought it was worth a shot. I knew he'd already given her a call so I figured he wouldn't mind if I went. I went into the store, told her I knew David had called her, and would she be willing to sit and talk with me for a few minutes. She was. She listened to the whole story and was quite lovely about it. She then asked me if I'd like to talk with the DM, who happened to be at the store that day. Yes, of course, great.
WHAT IS WITH DISTRICT MANAGERS OF COMPANIES? They are so COLD and seemingly heartless. As I repeated the story for her, it was like looking at a face of stone. Stone Angel. Minus the angel. Even though she said all the right words "Oh, David was laid off for lack of work, he's welcome to re-apply", I could tell by the shifty looks between them, and the icy eyes she had for me, that this is not at ALL the case. It is a completely closed book.
Well, good to know. It doesn't really make me sad, it just makes me angry. I don't understand how people can be so inhumane. Also- you know another thing that makes me disappointed? I have SO many memories of Le Chateau growing up. When I was a young n' chunky teenager, I longed to wear the slinky dresses and funky hats for which Le Chateau was so well-known. I even had a super embarrassing black shiny vest from there. I thought I was SO hot in that vest it was ridiculous. And all the fun shopping trips with friends, trying on clothes and looking at all their fabulous jewelry? Loved that! Then a few years ago when I finally lost all that weight, the first place I went was Le Chateau. I bought SO many new clothes there. It was dreamlike really, finally being able to fit into ANYTHING in the store. I have so many emotional connections with that store.
And this has just KILLED IT.
I know that might sound a bit sad, but hey, this is my blog so I guess I can feel and write whatever the heck I want. I'm tired of making everything ok for everyone else, always being the upbeat one. I hate what that piece of shit(eau) store did to David's confidence, and to our financial and emotional well-being. I hold them quite responsible. Not only did they screw him over for working at THEIR (overpriced cheaply-made merchandise) store, he lost the job he REALLY wanted to have at the Other Store. Because he didn't want to stress me out further at the time, with me being sick and having a 2 1/2 month old, he went with what made it easier for me and in doing so, he lost not one but two jobs, screwed his resume up, and here we are, with me teaching kids who can't (won't?) even count to three, and parents fighting over having to pay $2 more a week for lessons than they were used to. Don't EVEN.
(Just a note, to be completely fair: the majority of my students are awesome, as are pretty much all the parents. I don't want to break the flow, but it would be unfair to NOT say that.)
Oh- ohohohoh- and one more thing. After I sent that email to the manager of the OC, we had a chat. Despite how nice she is (truly), it is out of her hands to ever give him another job for any store owned by that company.
To those of you who grew up like I did, being clueless about anything outside of the Bubble of Me and My Music, giving little to no consideration to other careers, let alone Lowly Retail- LISTEN TO ME. There is no shame in not making your money from music. There is also no shame in working in retail. If David had kept his job (the 2nd one), she said he'd likely be a manager by now. I know a lot of Educated People look down on retail jobs (I know I unconsciously did), but if you're smart, have a good personality and are a hard worker, there is money to be made. I won't compare numbers, but I could be making double what I make now and actually have a life, all from selling shoes.
Oh my GAWD, shoes.
