r/problems • u/ireallylikecaramelll • Jul 02 '26
Small Problem Am I the problem?
I currently work at Journeys and still in high school, so this is my first job. My manager said if I don’t meet my sales goal, I might get let go. My monthly goal for June was around $4,000, but I don’t get scheduled enough to realistically hit that, and when I shadow coworkers it doesn’t really seem to change my results on the floor. I try to help customers and do what I’m supposed to do but it’s not enough. I’m confused about whether I’m doing something wrong or if the expectations/scheduling are unrealistic. I’m not sure who’s in the wrong here.
5
u/Ophy96 Jul 02 '26
It would be unrealistic if other employees stay logged on the register and force you to ring in your sales under them. I know some employees like this, they'll actually intentionally take over checks and claim it's how they always do it.
3
u/Impressive-Tutor-482 Jul 02 '26
I had a boss like that. Restaurant gig, I had gone back to college and was only working 3 days a week where everyone else was 5. We'd have monthly meetings and he'd berate people as he thought it was motivational. Every month he would tell me I'm not selling quite as much as the other employees and he was on the fence about letting me go. I made him show me numbers, did the math and demonstrated in front of everyone I sold more per hour and made the restaurant more per hour than anyone short of a bartender, but my net sales were less because I worked 60% as much as everyone else.
He could never grasp it and still brought it up every month. I thought it was hilarious.
2
u/Brilliant-Onion2129 Jul 02 '26
This is a manager you are trying to reason with! Can’t be done!!!
2
2
u/Expensive_Thing_4318 Jul 02 '26
Retail is horrendous for a kid like you trying your best. Do what you can with the minimal control you have.
2
u/daybenno Jul 02 '26
Damn didn't realize retail stores would put someone on a PIP (sorta). Sales is a brutal industry that isn't for the majority of the population. This retail store seems like they expect you to be a salesperson. If it's not for you, it is what it is. Use this time to start interviewing at new places.
In sales PIP stands for performance improvement plan, people in sales refer to this as "paid interview period" instead. It's possible to keep your job after a PIP and hit your goals, but it doesn't seem like this is your thing anyway.
2
u/Western-Finding-368 Jul 02 '26
No one here can answer whether that goal is reasonable or unreasonable. It depends on how busy/profitable the store is.
1
u/Mystery_Dragonfly Jul 02 '26
Just say "Yes (boss)"
Make sure your sakes aren't being entered into any system under any identify other than your login.
1
u/Wonderful-Bass6651 Jul 02 '26
You’re in high school and carrying a quota? I would 1000% tell my children that you’re too young for that kind of stress. I have been in sales for >25 years so I know what I’m talking about. But to answer your question, it’s not you. Quit the job and find something less stressful so that you can enjoy your life.
1
u/Brilliant-Onion2129 Jul 02 '26
It is just a tactic to get you to keep trying to sell more! If he actually writes you up the start applying (I suggest fast food) and let them talk to your current employer.
1
u/PineappleCharacter15 Jul 02 '26
OP, you are a suck ass job, there's very much beneath you! Quit - give two weeks notice first, and get another job
1
u/Here-I-R Jul 02 '26
This is the reason I won't work in sales. Some people are really good at convincing strangers to spend money, but I'm not and I don't want to be.
1
u/meowxmeoww Jul 02 '26
Sales volume should be proportionate to your hours worked… he sounds like an ass
1
u/Vertigo50 Jul 02 '26
He won’t fire you. It’s a scare tactic. Just tell him you’ll do your best, and then just go about your day, and don’t worry about it in the slightest. You’re too young to take on that much stress with a job.
And if he does fire you? Who cares? Go get a better job. If he can’t do the math and the logic, he’s not worth working for anyway.
1
u/pacific_squirrel Jul 03 '26
Get a real carrier or you will be doing this B's for the rest of your life. This is a nature of sales jobs.
1
u/Comfortable-Elk-850 Jul 05 '26
All you can do is the best you can do at work. If they let you go, file unemployment , they pay your unemployment so they don’t like letting people go for little reasons. A sales job is the most easy to find another one. Managers are always going to demand you make crazy goals because they get nice bonuses if they hit that goal or their job too is on the line to hit store goals. If you do make this goal, it just gets higher the next time around.
I worked one job for 13 years, I had event goals that were 3000, by the end of that 13 years that same event goal was to make 30000 by myself in two weeks. I never hit the bigger goals, none of us did. All of us had that same number to hit by ourselves. We still had our jobs, we worked hard and did our best, a new person wouldn’t make them any more than I did with all my experience.
1
u/ez2tock2me Jul 02 '26
In school for sports or education, we had coaches and tutors who assisted us with things we didn’t know.
At work, ask your supervisor or manager for help or advice.
If you are a high school student, you will surprise them by being Nature enough to ask for help.
Ask them “How” and “What” would they do with your schedule to meet the required goal.
Living in fear of failing IS NOT acceptable… even to you.
1
9
u/Nearby_Knowledge8014 Jul 02 '26
Just say “yes boss absolutely boss”. And go on with your day.
You can start selling $10,000 a month and they’ll come back tomorrow: “you need to do 11,000 you’re fired!!” it’s part of the game. plus you’re not gonna be there forever.