Thanks a whole lot.

[Blue-Hawk]

I've been in retail on and off for the past 20 years. Maybe 18 of it total. Not ONE time has someone approached me and given me the title of manager. Hell, even assistant manager. I show up EVERY day I'm schedualed to work. I never call out sick. I do my job without people having to tell me what to do. And what do the higher ups do? They fuck me over at every turn.

Here's an example. I've been with this job for 9 years now. My manager is finally quitting to move on to another venture. What does the company do? They don't even consider me as a replacement. My manager reccomended me to them for the job, too. They transfer someone from another store in to take his place. This has been the story of my career from day one. Even the job I had as a cashier at a super market, they passed me up on the training jobs to give them to people that's been there less time than me.

Well, I am fucking SICK of it. This is the last fucking straw. If this place doesn't want to give me a chance like everyone else didn;t then it's time to go somewhere else. Fuck them. And fuck all those other retail jobs.

I swear. I'm the ONLY unsuccesful one in my family. My brother is head of his department in AIG. My older cousin has a great desk job at a high ranking position. His girlfriend, that's basically a family member, is a buyer for her section in the big NY Macy's. My younger cousin has his own business. My father is a lawyer, about to retire. My other is a retired business owner as well. As is her brother, my uncle. My aunt is the head librarian at the school she works in.

So why did someone make me the one that has to be the failure?

Fuck retail and fuck all you that get everything you want handed to you.

[BIG OLAF]

Welcome to the working world. As for the whole "being the family failure" thing, I know the feeling. All of my aunts and uncles either own their own businesses, or have high-ranking positions within a large company. All my cousins are either college grads (from big-time Universities), or are going to be soon. My sister doesn't work, because my brother-in-law has been in the Navy for 20 years, and makes quite a bit of money.

And here I am, three years out of highschool, still scraping and scrounging for pocket cash and trying to find any piece-o'-shit job to hold me over, so I can have enough money to afford a cheap, community college myself (my parents would help out, but they don't have any money, either).

[Mike]

When I was in retail (part time, since I was in highschool at the time), that's the way they always brought in new managers when the old one was leaving. A lot of guys I worked with left to become managers at different stores.

[DreXxiN]

Please read this http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=154264

[Volcompat321]

Don't feel so bad.
I haven't tried, but I also haven't gotten any type of raises, or promotions other than when minimum wage went up from $5.15 an hour, to $6.15, to $7.25/hr. Or when I made full time at the mental health facility I used to work at.

Not to mention, I've never been to college, cant afford it myself, and my mom makes too much money for me to get grants.
And she definitely wont help me pay for it.
I don't have enough money to fund college, so I'm stuck with PoS jobs until I can.
My mom makes me pay for everything since I was 14.
My mother and sisters hate me.

I haven't gotten anything for my birthday or Christmas (other than a card or two from other relatives) since I was about 9.

Life isn't that bad man.
Gotta take what you want, when you want, or get nothing.

[Sayara]

9 years?
Then surely its your time to quit! Thats the mentality of big corp joints.

Why should i pay YOU the big bucks... when i can get you to quit and hire 4 newbs at dirt cheap?

save a penny; burn millions

[Powder Keg]

My job is like this. I have been passed over twice for a dept. head. The first guy they hired ended up being a drunk guy with poor attendance. He had a brain, at least, and the product knowledge, and he was cool to work with otherwise, but I was clearly better as I was telling everyone what to do most of the time.

Just recently, I was passed over again, this time, we get a total whack job who I think may be on drugs. Very strange mannerisms, really bad attitude at times, and already has poor attendance and he's only been there for about 3 weeks. There's just no thought process with our store manager, he's an idiot and everyone in the building knows it. It doesn't help morale when I'm trying to put people to work in my department.

It's a good thing I played the system....I quit and got re-hired in another location a week after (kinda like a transfer) and got higher pay...then just transferred back and kept that extra money. Sometimes, when people don't give things to you that you deserve you gotta reach out and take. Now I basically make as much money as a dept. head.

[DreXxiN]

I'm going to copy paste this excerpt from my above link because I honestly believe it's very helpful.

[spoiler-box]
Getting Ahead:
Now that you've got the job, lets talk about getting where you want to be. If you're like me, you're ambitious and the job you get hired into is not typically the job you want to keep forever. Have you ever wondered why certain people get promoted? Have you ever thought it was due to ass-kissing or something like that? In my experience, people rarely get promoted for ass-kissing (I didn't say never!). Even though there are a lot of people who get promoted who aren't right for the job, it is due to other reasons entirely. Understanding these reasons will let you (the better employee) exploit these ideas to both you and the company's benefit. I could probably write a book about these ideas, and maybe I'll write more later, but right now I'm just going to focus on a couple of VERY KEY ones. These ideas obviously assume you actually ARE a good employee which I'm sure everyone on TL is

1. Assertiveness. I realize this again is something that is relatively obvious. You would be amazed at how many people aren't promoted because they don't ASK. Not everyone wants a promotion (really!) so while you stew about how you keep getting passed over for that great role, your boss may honestly have no idea that you're interested! Let management know what you want. Talk openly about your desired career path both in informal meetings and definitely in performance reviews. Ask your employer what they think about your desired path and ask for suggestions on how to achieve it. Ask for what you want and always be able to back it up with solid facts.

2. Self-promotion. People won't generally talk about how great you are. They won't bring up that cool project you just finished in management meetings and talk about how great you are. This is one of the most difficult things for a lot of people to do, because it feels like tooting your own horn. It's necessary. Did you implement a new process that saves money or time? Did you work an 80 hour week to improve a certain customer's perception of the company? Did you go above and beyond? A huge reason for people's low morale at work is when they don't feel they make a difference or that their work isn't noticed. Make it noticed. Send an email to your boss and CC some people who directly benefit from the work you've done. Tell them what you've done and ask for feedback. Keep records of everything like this and bring it up at every performance review. This is kind of abstract, so let me provide a short example:
I thought of, and implemented a process at work that saved another department probably 1 man-hour per day. It also saved the company about $50 dollars per day in supplies. That's $1000 dollars per month in supplies and 20 man-hours (Another $400 approximately). I expected the department I helped to tell management about how awesome I was! They never did. I created a report with details about how the new procedure worked compared to the old one. I forwarded it to my boss and the department (And the department's manager) and offered a 30 minute training session on the new procedure. Things like this get your name and accomplishments out there.

3. Learn to speak to groups. Take toastmasters, a public speaking course, or (luckily) just be born with great public speaking skills. This falls under the "confidence" umbrella as well. If you believe in yourself, others will too. Here's an interesting thought experiment: Try to picture all the high-level executives you've ever seen both at work and in the media (Apple, Microsoft, any other large corporation). How many of these high level executives seemed timid or afraid when speaking in public?

4. Aim to be 100% right until you're wrong, then admit it. Phrases like "I think" or "In my opinion" are weak phrases and don't inspire confidence in people. If you're proven wrong, thank the person and admit it immediately. Example:
Wrong: "I think profits may have been higher this year than last year"
Right: "Profits were up 20% this year over last year"

Otherdude: "Actually, that's incorrect, here's proof"
You: "Thank you, I stand corrected"

I realize this again "feels wrong", but try it and you'll quickly see which is the better way to approach this. Keep in mind that nothing here is dishonest or shady. Actually, honesty is another extremely important attribute that will get you where you want to be. Admit when you're wrong and be honest and people (coworkers as well as management) will respect you for it.

5. "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have"
This is so overused that I almost didn't include it but I cannot stress enough how important this is. People (Especially nerds like us) really think that our work will speak for itself and our appearance doesn't matter. This may be the single biggest mistake people make at work. Spend some money on professional work clothes. Subscribe to GQ or something similar. I GUARANTEE it will pay dividends.

[/spoiler-box]

-Courtesy of user babolott

[Shadowpawn]

save a penny; burn millions

Someone should make a T-shirt out of that.