In every entry I have mentioned specific things that have to be said or done at Abercrombie & Fitch. The way the employees dress, act, and how the store is prepped is all looked at very closely by Abercrombie Corporate.
Every once in a while "Secret shoppers" come in to the store and ask employees specific questions about the store, the clothing, and amount of theft in the store. Generally the managers know when a secret shopper might be coming and the employees are warned to read the cork boards in the back room and memorize the percentage of sales made last year, percentage of reported theft and the tag lines.
The store is graded on how the employees do on these topics, and on the look of the store. This includes the size order of all of the tables of clothes, whether or not there are stickers on the items and how all of the displays look overall.
Even knowing prior that someone from Abercrombie Corporate may show up, its still difficult to prepare completely.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tag lines
At abercrombie there are specific phrases that the employees are supposed to say at certain points during a customers shopping experience.
"Hey, what's going on?" should be said as customers walk through the door. ( During orientation I was told that this phrase is meant to spark conversation between the employee and the customer, making the customer more motivated to engage with the employee or just feel more welcome in the store.)
While the customer is shopping there are the standard lines: " can I help you find anything" "Are you doing ok?" "Is there a size I can get for you?"
At the register there is another tag line. This line changes occasionally but as far as I can tell it always centers around Abercrombie's latest fragrence. " Have you tried fierce or Perfume 41?" was the old cashier tag line. This line was logical and very clear as to what the employee was referring to. The new tag line: " Have you met Colden and Wakley?" ( These are our new fragrences for the winter season.)
If the theft alarm goes off there is another script that we are supposed to repeat.
Always engage the customer. If you suspect a customer is stealing never accuse the customer but suggest another item or that one of the employees forgot to take the sensors off ( if the person is on his/her way out).
"excuse me can I put that shirt you just put in your bag in a dressing room for you?"
"Im sorry, someone at the register must have forgotten to take a sensor off of one of your items, do you mind if I check your bag for you?"
Next time on Clothing store crisises: secret shoppers
"Hey, what's going on?" should be said as customers walk through the door. ( During orientation I was told that this phrase is meant to spark conversation between the employee and the customer, making the customer more motivated to engage with the employee or just feel more welcome in the store.)
While the customer is shopping there are the standard lines: " can I help you find anything" "Are you doing ok?" "Is there a size I can get for you?"
At the register there is another tag line. This line changes occasionally but as far as I can tell it always centers around Abercrombie's latest fragrence. " Have you tried fierce or Perfume 41?" was the old cashier tag line. This line was logical and very clear as to what the employee was referring to. The new tag line: " Have you met Colden and Wakley?" ( These are our new fragrences for the winter season.)
If the theft alarm goes off there is another script that we are supposed to repeat.
Always engage the customer. If you suspect a customer is stealing never accuse the customer but suggest another item or that one of the employees forgot to take the sensors off ( if the person is on his/her way out).
"excuse me can I put that shirt you just put in your bag in a dressing room for you?"
"Im sorry, someone at the register must have forgotten to take a sensor off of one of your items, do you mind if I check your bag for you?"
Next time on Clothing store crisises: secret shoppers
Monday, November 17, 2008
Greeter
At Abercrombie there is always supposed to be someone standing near the door of the store greeting people as they walk in. If you are assigned this job you cannot leave the entrance to the store. You must greet every customer with the appropriate tag line (this will be described in more detail in the next entry).
Although the greeter can-- and in most cases should straighten the clothes while they are acting as greeter, usually that person's job is to stand there and look Abercrombie.
On special occasions, such as black friday, it is tradition for an abercrombie model ( or just a good looking employee, I'm not really sure) to stand outside of the store and take pictures with potential customers.
This is Abercrombie.
Next time on clothing store crisises: tag lines
Firece
Firece is Abercrombie's Signature cologne. It is the cologne that is on every other fragrence table in the stores and the one that is sprayed all over the store every 15 mintutes.
Throughout the back of the store and behind the cash registers are big bottles of room spray with directions on it. "Spray 6 inches from froms and tables." when there are little to no customers, and before the store opens employees are instructed to spray the store. each form display, table, and stand is sprayed 3-5 times each with the Firece room spray. Extra spray is spritzed in the entrance way.
I assume that the thought is that if customers spell the scent than interest will be sparked about it, customers will ask about the sent and hopefully buy it. Unfortunately I hear more complaints about the scent than compliments. When many customers come in I usually hear things along the lines of: "wow, I cant breathe!" "that smell gives me a headache."
Employees on the otherhand seem to get addicted to the smell. One employee at an Abercrombie supposvily took a bottle from a store to spray in her own room.
Its a contraversial topic at Abercrombie, but its a part of Abercrombie nontheless.
next time on clothing store crisises: Greeters
Throughout the back of the store and behind the cash registers are big bottles of room spray with directions on it. "Spray 6 inches from froms and tables." when there are little to no customers, and before the store opens employees are instructed to spray the store. each form display, table, and stand is sprayed 3-5 times each with the Firece room spray. Extra spray is spritzed in the entrance way.
I assume that the thought is that if customers spell the scent than interest will be sparked about it, customers will ask about the sent and hopefully buy it. Unfortunately I hear more complaints about the scent than compliments. When many customers come in I usually hear things along the lines of: "wow, I cant breathe!" "that smell gives me a headache."
Employees on the otherhand seem to get addicted to the smell. One employee at an Abercrombie supposvily took a bottle from a store to spray in her own room.
Its a contraversial topic at Abercrombie, but its a part of Abercrombie nontheless.
next time on clothing store crisises: Greeters
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The good stuff
So far every entry has been what I hate about Abercrombie. So much so that someone may wonder why I even work there. Here's why:
I love being apart of the design. For some reason opening was my favorite shift. I love cleaning the store before everyone gets there, and arranging the clothes on the shelves so that they look so perfect that customers are scared to touch them, because they might mess up the display.
Here's my favorite part: I know this sounds like another annoying thing about Abercrombie, but every time the floor changes, and we have to change the clothes on the forms; the store was sent pages detailing the exact outfit that each form should wear right down to the undershirt that cant even be seen and the pair of jeans. These pages also show how the clothes should be worn on the form and because I am on impact I usually got scheduled to work for those shifts. I love it.
The first time I was scheduled to do this I had also been scheduled the night before to "prep all of the clothes." The night before I was scheduled to help change all of the forms and put new clothes out on the floor I left Abercrombie at 11 p.m. after spending the nine hours prior in classes. I barely made it home and at the time didn't realize what I was going to be doing the next morning.
The next morning I woke up at 7 a.m. when I was supposed to be at work. I sped to the store where ( as I mentioned in my last article) my manager was completely unphased by the fact that I was almost half an hour late.
she handed me sheets of paper and showed me the racks of clothes that I spent hours the night before organizing and steaming. "take the other clothes off the ones in Womens one, and put those on them," I looked around at the empty store at the forms I was going to be redoing. The ones that customers would look at for months, and admire and think about buying the same outfit because of the way the sweaters and T-shirts hung on each form.
Those 6 hours that morning makes all of the weird and negative things about Abercrombie worth it.
I love being apart of the design. For some reason opening was my favorite shift. I love cleaning the store before everyone gets there, and arranging the clothes on the shelves so that they look so perfect that customers are scared to touch them, because they might mess up the display.
Here's my favorite part: I know this sounds like another annoying thing about Abercrombie, but every time the floor changes, and we have to change the clothes on the forms; the store was sent pages detailing the exact outfit that each form should wear right down to the undershirt that cant even be seen and the pair of jeans. These pages also show how the clothes should be worn on the form and because I am on impact I usually got scheduled to work for those shifts. I love it.
The first time I was scheduled to do this I had also been scheduled the night before to "prep all of the clothes." The night before I was scheduled to help change all of the forms and put new clothes out on the floor I left Abercrombie at 11 p.m. after spending the nine hours prior in classes. I barely made it home and at the time didn't realize what I was going to be doing the next morning.
****************************************************
The next morning I woke up at 7 a.m. when I was supposed to be at work. I sped to the store where ( as I mentioned in my last article) my manager was completely unphased by the fact that I was almost half an hour late.
she handed me sheets of paper and showed me the racks of clothes that I spent hours the night before organizing and steaming. "take the other clothes off the ones in Womens one, and put those on them," I looked around at the empty store at the forms I was going to be redoing. The ones that customers would look at for months, and admire and think about buying the same outfit because of the way the sweaters and T-shirts hung on each form.
Those 6 hours that morning makes all of the weird and negative things about Abercrombie worth it.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Tardiness
When an employee is late or does not show up for work supposedly it gets marked down and 3 will cause the employee to get fired. Supposedly. When a manager is late, he/she does not experience the same demerits.
At the Abercrombie I worked at over the summer one of my managers was late for almost every shift she had. Well... not every shift, but it did happen often enough for it to be noticeable.
Because I am an "impacter" it is my job to restock the shelves when new items arrive, and update closets and tables when more items come in. These jobs are done early in the morning, so my shifts on the days that these things needed to be done were usually 7 a.m. I spent an hour and a half on about 3 of the 5 early shifts that I had sitting outside of the store waiting for her to get there to open the door. The first time this happened, I was so confused. I didnt understand why a manager would be late. I sat outside of the store watching people walk by and look at me. half an hour went by. 45 minutes. . . then other employees joined me. no one that could open the door, but people who explained to me that this isnt anything new.
We were instructed through a text message to go to Starbucks and hangout for about half an hour until she got there. At this point there were about 4 of us walking across the street to get coffee while we waited.
This happened for a few more morning shifts, then one afternoon I was half an hour late to Abercrombie. I called one of my managers repeatedly to let her know and was almost hyperventilating the entire way. I got there an appologized perfusly only to hear that this same manager who is late every morning showed up two hours after she was supposed to. Not because she was also running late because of the same construction that I was stuck in, but because she forgot she was working that day.
Luckily the few tims I was late for work I never got in trouble. It still bothers me though that someone in the position of manager can be late to that degree and that many times but not get in trouble in any way.
Next time on Clothing store crisises: The good stuff
At the Abercrombie I worked at over the summer one of my managers was late for almost every shift she had. Well... not every shift, but it did happen often enough for it to be noticeable.
Because I am an "impacter" it is my job to restock the shelves when new items arrive, and update closets and tables when more items come in. These jobs are done early in the morning, so my shifts on the days that these things needed to be done were usually 7 a.m. I spent an hour and a half on about 3 of the 5 early shifts that I had sitting outside of the store waiting for her to get there to open the door. The first time this happened, I was so confused. I didnt understand why a manager would be late. I sat outside of the store watching people walk by and look at me. half an hour went by. 45 minutes. . . then other employees joined me. no one that could open the door, but people who explained to me that this isnt anything new.
We were instructed through a text message to go to Starbucks and hangout for about half an hour until she got there. At this point there were about 4 of us walking across the street to get coffee while we waited.
This happened for a few more morning shifts, then one afternoon I was half an hour late to Abercrombie. I called one of my managers repeatedly to let her know and was almost hyperventilating the entire way. I got there an appologized perfusly only to hear that this same manager who is late every morning showed up two hours after she was supposed to. Not because she was also running late because of the same construction that I was stuck in, but because she forgot she was working that day.
Luckily the few tims I was late for work I never got in trouble. It still bothers me though that someone in the position of manager can be late to that degree and that many times but not get in trouble in any way.
Next time on Clothing store crisises: The good stuff
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Pretty enough to be a model
In Abercrombie world a model is almost equivalent to a sales associate. It is someone who is on the floor selling merchandise and assisting customers. These people need to represent Abercrombie to a T.
When I told my friend I was applying for a job at Abercrombie the first thing she told me was about her friend from school who worked on the Impact side of Abercrombie and when she asked if she could switch to a model the managers told her she wasn't pretty enough. I had decided going into Abercrombie that the story I had heard must have just been a few jerks at one store, but I soon found out that those opinions came from a much higher authority.
At orientation our manager reminded the models to stay after orientation was over so each person could have his/her pictures taken to be sent to Corporate so they could approve of the manager's choices.
I desperately wanted to switch to a model when I got to Abercrombie since no one on impact, who at this store was all male, wanted to talk to the new girl. When I finally got up enough courage to mention it to one of my managers she said " we need you down here." I accepted that answer at the time, but it didn't occur to me until much later that these words that I took as a compliment may have been code for "corporate wont think you are good enough."
On one early morning, or a very slow afternoon, summer was winding down and the summer employees were asking the managers about transferring to other stores. One of the male models, who was a fairly large build with slightly chubby cheeks asked the manager about transferring to the NYC Abercrombie. Her response: "your not pretty enough to be a model there. Their models are..... actual models."
For some reason after all of these comments I still wasn't convinced that it was real until I caught a peek of a store evaluation buy one of Abercrombie Corporate secret shoppers. There was a checklist with questions about the look of the store, customer service and whether or not specific tag lines and questions were said buy the employees. Under a box regarding Abercrombie staff was a box to rate how good looking the store's staff was overall. ( I was told by a manager of the store I was working at later that when District Managers come in or when secret shoppers may come in the managers only put the best looking employees on the schedule).
Although I shouldn't have been surprised by all of this I was. There are days where I stayed up late doing homework or talking to friends, or where my face is not looking its best, where on most weekend afternoons the growth of the dark circles under my eyes, a new pimple, my jeans not fitting exactly right wouldn't bother me, on these weekend days I work at Abercrombie. So I may put on a little extra concealer or eye liner, or an extra layer or two only to get to the store and hope that I look pretty enough that day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3-WzqfbVHU
The link above is a skit from Mad TV making fun of Abercrombie. Even though some of it is a little rediculous there are so many parts of these skits that are so true.
Next time on Clothing store Crisises: Tardiness
When I told my friend I was applying for a job at Abercrombie the first thing she told me was about her friend from school who worked on the Impact side of Abercrombie and when she asked if she could switch to a model the managers told her she wasn't pretty enough. I had decided going into Abercrombie that the story I had heard must have just been a few jerks at one store, but I soon found out that those opinions came from a much higher authority.
At orientation our manager reminded the models to stay after orientation was over so each person could have his/her pictures taken to be sent to Corporate so they could approve of the manager's choices.
I desperately wanted to switch to a model when I got to Abercrombie since no one on impact, who at this store was all male, wanted to talk to the new girl. When I finally got up enough courage to mention it to one of my managers she said " we need you down here." I accepted that answer at the time, but it didn't occur to me until much later that these words that I took as a compliment may have been code for "corporate wont think you are good enough."
On one early morning, or a very slow afternoon, summer was winding down and the summer employees were asking the managers about transferring to other stores. One of the male models, who was a fairly large build with slightly chubby cheeks asked the manager about transferring to the NYC Abercrombie. Her response: "your not pretty enough to be a model there. Their models are..... actual models."
For some reason after all of these comments I still wasn't convinced that it was real until I caught a peek of a store evaluation buy one of Abercrombie Corporate secret shoppers. There was a checklist with questions about the look of the store, customer service and whether or not specific tag lines and questions were said buy the employees. Under a box regarding Abercrombie staff was a box to rate how good looking the store's staff was overall. ( I was told by a manager of the store I was working at later that when District Managers come in or when secret shoppers may come in the managers only put the best looking employees on the schedule).
Although I shouldn't have been surprised by all of this I was. There are days where I stayed up late doing homework or talking to friends, or where my face is not looking its best, where on most weekend afternoons the growth of the dark circles under my eyes, a new pimple, my jeans not fitting exactly right wouldn't bother me, on these weekend days I work at Abercrombie. So I may put on a little extra concealer or eye liner, or an extra layer or two only to get to the store and hope that I look pretty enough that day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3-WzqfbVHU
The link above is a skit from Mad TV making fun of Abercrombie. Even though some of it is a little rediculous there are so many parts of these skits that are so true.
Next time on Clothing store Crisises: Tardiness
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