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My Co-Worker and I were RM's for Hallmark, which is a vendor for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is the biggest account that HallMark has. I had been employed for a year and a half and my co-work 10+ years. Never in any of our employment have either of us every been disciplined, written up, reprimanded or warned for any reason. If anything we received positive outstanding reports on our work. Recently while still employed, my co-worker and I were servicing our store when a Wal-Mart Co-Manager and a Night Manager walked through our department. My co-worker said "good morning" to the Co-Manager. He did not acknowledge us in any way. Even the night manager looked at us and rolled, his eyes and shrugged his shoulders at us, like "oh well that's the co-manager for ya." My co-worker made a comment to me then next thing you know the Co-Manager was in our face, demeaning us and accusing us of calling him names. We tried to talk to THE Manager but were denied.
We immediately tried to contact our New Supervisor by phone, the number off her business card, no response. My co-worker and I emailed her a personal statement as to what happened with this incident. Her response: I am waiting to hear back from The Manager. Four days go by, no word then she calls us (first time ever speaking to her) and tells us "Wal-Mart Management did not want us back in the store". HallMark HR tells us the same reason. We even asked us what The Manager actually said about the incident, but got nothing on "their" version.
The District Manager of Wal-Mart was contacted and told me and my co-worker The Manager never said we were not allowed back in the store. We emailed this to our Supervisor to no avail. Now I find out from the Department of Labor that the Supervisor told them that my co-worker and I WERE the rude, loud, disruptive and disrespectful ones in this incident based on the Co-Managers statement. Wow two different versions.
HallMark Supervisor went on Wal-Mart Co-Managers word, never investigated the conflicts of statements nor interviewed the witnesses we listed in our statement and according to HallMark policy (fully investigate, talking to employees, accuser, witnesses)did not fully investigate as the policy states. Just took his statement and terminated us.Really sad HallMark a large corporation does not value it's employees enough or stand up for them, but are scared to stand up to Wal-Mart.
I recorded the Counting Kisses storybook for my granddaughter, but when playing it back, none of the left hand pages recorded, except the last page.
I changed batteries but it still didn’t work right.
When recording, each page was repeated back to me, so we heard the way it was supposed to sound. When “reading” the book, it skipped over pages 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2.zs
I had called these folks after the first winter after the product was installed to complain about a small hole in the floor of my porch. They did not return and now I have a second spot that has lifted up
I lasted with Hallmark 3 days because the supervisor demanded I respected her even though she demeaning and condescending I ended up quitting .
I completely agree. The supervisor I worked with was a total nightmare. She had 40+ accounts and was only focused on my stores. None of the others. She was rude, obnoxious, very annoying and thought she was better than everyone. I know people with better jobs making more money that are nicer. The HR people are even worse they male up lies about the employees they want to get rid of. But people are better of working somewhere else than that disgraceful place. Worst job ever. Worse company too. If they don't like you or you get someone mad. They terminate you just like that. Advice don't waste your time in this horrendous company.
Hallmark does not "care enough to send the very best" which was their former slogan since 1944. It seems to have been changed in recent years. In fact, when it comes to employees, especially Retail Merchandisers, who work part time, they do not care at all!
I really liked my job with Hallmark when I worked for them as a Retail Merchandiser several years ago for two years. What I liked about the job was flexibility, interaction with store employees and At the time I moved and was told that was o.k. by the Assistant Territory Manager, my immediate supervisor. However, after my move, I was told that I was living more than 10 miles outside my territory and that was the required number of miles. Why the change in heart I don't understand. I told her I was willing to drive the extra miles at my own expense. (explanation: Hallmark does pay a mileage differential after a certain number of miles driven during a day of work) I had no choice but to make the move due to changes in my personal life. As my mother had recently moved into a retirement home facility that was also located within the territory I was working, it was perfect for me. I would've been able to see to her in the morning before going to my stores for the day, and after, before making the drive to my new home.
Hallmark did not care about my personal issues or the situation regarding the driving. My opinion is that they want to hire retail merchandisers who are looking for something to do, a little pocket money, and act like they are doing you a favor by giving you a job. Then, if you have any issues at all, you are no longer needed. Bottom line, Hallmark is out for the bucks, and they are a greedy company who does not care about people, much less their own employees.
While I understand that a company of their size cannot take each individual into consideration, isn't that why they have Territory Managers? I listed above why I liked working for Hallmark. Here is what I didn't like. They don't care about you or your life. They expect you to work before and after holidays and even on some holidays but there is no extra pay for that. They also expect you to put all the product out that was shipped to the store since your last visit in a specific time frame, which is always impossible to do. They expect you to be professional with the store management and any customers you encounter, but they don't treat you well in return.
Of the 3 managers I worked for during my 2 year employment, all of them were inappropriate within the store many times. One of them critiqued my work negatively in a very loud voice to the point that a customer came up to me later and expressed her shock and stated "your boss was so rude, why would you work for this company?" To which I responded by taking up for her. (she was actually a nice person, but somewhat crude and loud) Another manager was known to all the other merchandisers I came across as a terrible manager. While working for her she would set up times to meet, then invariably not show up, then call later and said she got tied up somewhere. She also had her elderly mother on her merchandising team, as well as her husband. Sounds like nepotism to me. The third one, who was usually mild mannered and "nice" had a melt down in the middle of the store over a cardboard display that I didn't understand how to put together.
Regardless, I still liked my job since I didn't have to see these people very often. I also wonder how they trained management and if they were treated the same by their own managers? I knew I was doing a good job and in fact I felt that I took pride in making sure the card aisle looked excellent before I left. I don't think many other merchandisers cared. Did the minimum, clocked their hours and left. I had many managers express their frustration with former merchandisers.
During my employment the territories were divided and a new territory manager came in. This seemingly was a nationwide change. Maybe the stores weren't being serviced efficiently vs the drive time and as new stores were added the territories were out of balance. Everyone was supposed to get about 20 hrs a week. I ended up with about 18, but it varied of course based on work load. When I went to my new stores (I kept a couple of my old ones) What I saw of other merchandisers work was many poor excuses for employees. Half done work, messy storage areas, and disorganization. All of this caused delays and again, with Hallmark wanting efficient use of time its an oxymoron that a little time spent re-organizing the card department flippers (underneath storage bins) and backroom storage would have saved time in the long run. But, they were unwilling to provide any clean up time. One example of poor work: one of my new stores was a mess. The envelopes behind cards were aged, yellowed and brown edges, torn, etc. These should've been discarded (pun) and replaced! It took a few weeks but I got the department in good shape. The manager at this particular Walgreen's was impressed and told me so. She was very unhappy with Hallmark before I started, but she began to change her mind. She thought of the merchandisers who'd previously worked in her store as "lazy, sloppy, messy, unorganized!" Not only were the cards in disarray, with old envelopes, the storage used for Hallmark was a disaster. I got it all cleaned up and organized. Examples can be seen in the other stores I worked in as well.
Meanwhile, back to the reason for my post. After moving to a more rural area, there has recently been reason to move closer to family again. I'm very involved with my young grandchildren and need to live nearby. I set our move date and we found a temporary apartment while deciding on a permanent home. I applied for a job with Hallmark and had a phone interview. A few days later (on Sunday morning!) I got an email stating they had hired another candidate. The following day I got an email from the local Territory Manager telling me he had my application but did not have my current address. After several emails back and forth, I told him I'd reapply after my move was complete. That was about a month or so ago. This past week we settled and I found another opening on the Hallmark career site and it was perfect (in my mother's neighborhood where I am every day). However, the site would not let me apply, stating I needed to update my information (or something like that). I then emailed the Territory manager who had contacted me previously. Later in the day I received a cryptic note from him stating "It was discussed and you are no longer a candidate for employment with Hallmark. Good luck with your job search." Naturally I was surprised at the response, as it sounded like I've done something wrong. I surely like to know what it is and what let to his response when he seemed interested in hiring me before. Seems suspect.
Meanwhile, it won't deter me and I won't respond to his email with a negative response, but instead will thank him for his time. I do wonder now, however, if I will be given a bad reference for future employment, or marked "unhireable." I'm not happy, but again, I know I did nothing wrong, and followed what I thought were the expected steps by applying for the position.
Lastly, if Hallmark "cared enough" they would treat applicants, especially former employees who worked diligently and faithfully, with more respect. I like the job, but they aren't the only retail merchandiser positions. Meanwhile, I'm staying with my current job, in another field, even though I am now driving 45 miles each way. Go figure. Hallmark is done with me and the feeling is mutual.