secret shoppers, make the grade

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Injured on the job

When you are as klutzy as I am accidents are bound to happen. I happen to hurt myself all the time. The most rediculous accidents happen at work. Even though there hasnt been anything too bad it was still a little rediculous.

One incredibly slow saturday I wore my jeans and blue Abercrombie tank top and my blue flip flops and set to work in the basement of Abercrombie finding clothes in the back stock shelves that needed to be stocked upstairs. I pulled a large pile of clothes out of the shelves and gathered them up and took them upstairs. When I got up the stairs and started to pull open the large heavy door, the door rolled over my foot breaking off half of my toe nail and scratching part of my foot.
At first it didnt seem that bad, and because of all of the clothes in my hand I couldnt really see the damage. I dropped the clothes off in the "prep room" and went back downstairs. Then I saw the damage.
my toe was gushing blood, and although it didnt tear all the way off the nail might as well have not been there.
after looking in both bathrooms for a bandaid I found one of the managers to ask him what I should do. He pulled a tiny bandage from a filing cabinent and ran out of the room at the sight of my bleeding toe. I attempted to bandaid my nail back onto the toe but because it wasnt actually attached it hurt a lot. and the amount of blood didnt make the little bandage I had very effective. I got home and told my mom what happened. of course her first reaction was to sue. My reaction was to pull the rest of my nail off. Which I did. Eventually my nail grew back and everything was fine.

Months later at another abercrombie, where the backstock bays are literally from floor to ceiling I was once again gathering clothes to put out on the floor. I had seen some of the other employees climb up on the bays to reach clothes on the top shelves. So as I glared up at the dark blue polo shirts that I needed to get down I grabbed the pole and bottom of the shelves and started climbing. When I got the shirt down I dropped it on to the floor and started climbing down. At this point about two shelves up I underestimated the height between the shelf I was standing on and the floor. So I jump down. unable to land on my feet I landed on my hands and knees some how. I stayed in that position when I was on the ground for a minute or two thinking about what had just happened and catching my breath. I was okay but I am terrorfied of those shelves now.


Next time on Clothing Store Crisises: Pretty enough for a model

Timeing

In Abercrombie every store is given a certain amount of hours for each week. These hours must be filled by the end of the stores week. In order to do this certain things have to be taken into account and or assumed. 1. employees scheduled wont call off at the last minute. 2. employees not scheduled will be available to fill the time. These last minute employees are "Call-ins" they are on call if someone calls off or if the managers need to divided hours wrong and need to fill the required time.
When someone is given a call in shift he/she is supposed to call no later than one hour before their scheduled time.
The amount of work needed to be completed has no factor what so ever in the number of employees working on any given day.
One sunday morning I checked my work schedule and saw that I had a call-in shift at noon. Since it was still fairly early in the morning my mom and I decided we would have enough time to go to breakfast before I found out if I would have to call to find out if I needed to work or not.
Regardless of the amount of time I had I called at 10:30 to find out if I had to work. Ususally this is enough time. This time it wasnt. the employee who answered the phone was unsure of whether or not the store would need me to come in or not and asked me to call back in an hour.
One hour later, half an hour before I was scheduled to work I called back. The employee was still unsure. He asked me to call again in another hour.
When I got home from breakfast I called again. This time a different employee answered the phone. This employee was sure. I needed to come in.
When I got to the store. everything was in perfect order. all of the shipment was done, Backstock was folded neatly on the shelves. There was very little that I could do for the next 5 hours. I was there to fill time.

On the opposite side of this there are other days when boxes and boxes of clothes come in, so many that it is impossible to get into the stock room. These boxes need to be stored and the clothes inside them need to be prepped. Then a few days to weeks later all of the clothes need to be put out on to the floor, the old clothes need to be moved and everything in the stock room needs to be reorganized. All of these are very big tasks. However if the store is going over on hours or if there is a possibility that it may go over on hours the 3-4 people working are stuck doing all of the work for that day themselves.

Next Time on Clothing store Crisises: Injured on the job

Learning to Fold

When you work on "the Impact team" its rare that you ever leave the back room which at the Abercrombie I was working at was the basement of the building. Theres no outdoor light obviously and when you walk down the stairs and over to where all of the back stock is stored it starts to feel a lot like walking into a cave.

In this cave on my very first day of work, I walked in with the impression that somehow I would make friends so quickly that everyone is so friendly in retail that all of the employees would automatically notice that I was new and introduce themselves and talk to me. That didn't happen.

Instead I was practically ignored no one talked to me unless they happened to notice that a shirt was folded the wrong way or a sensor was put on the wrong side. Then one of the guys (because where I worked only men worked on Impact) would pull the shirt or skirt out of the neatly layed out pile I had just made, tell me I did it wrong and say "it goes like this" and folded the item of clothing like it was origami --as if it was something they were taught when they were infants. Right after they learned to walk-- and then lay it back down on the counter. "the right stack" and my very "wrong stack."

My first day in retail and I couldnt fold clothes. Every item of clothing I folded was supposed to be folded a different way and I was just supposed to know. And my idea that I would make friends was very wrong. Infact, the only person that talked to me that day, that even attempted to start a conversation with me that day, told me he didn't get his job as a cop because "they found out he took speed by accident." I found out later that this person was a manager in training, but never found out-- or attempted to ask-- if this comment was a joke or not.

Needless to say my first official day in the retail world was terrifying and disarming on many levels. Although I learned how to fold clothes, which came as an amazing accomplishment, the lack of involvement with other employees and other strange events continued for many weeks.

Next time in Clothing Store Crisises: Keeping time down. Or up.

The ins and outs of Abercrombie

After my first retail interview, where its is aparently incredibly common to do interviews in a big group and let the applicants answer the questions in "conversation form." I was terrified to continue to apply. This process is a way of finding out who is the most outgoing in the group and in retail those are the people stores want. The ones who will approach customers and be helpful and friendly. Not that I am not that person, but I am not good at that kind of interview either.

When I got to my Abercrombie interview I was terrified, only to find out that it wasnt that way at all. It was in a group but the manager went around the circle asking each person to answer the question. The "models" had one set of questions and the "impacters" had another set. And because the day before I applied I looked up the descriptions of the two and didnt understand the difference between the two I applied to be on Impact which is basically stock room duties. The models are what is sounds, they are the sales associates who stand on the floor and model the Abercrombie clothes while assisting customers as well. They are not the people in the Abercrombie advertisment posters and on shopping bags-- although it seems that is a very common mis conception.

I got home from my interview that night only to receive a call from the manager I interviewed with. I was hired. Orientation was the next week.

The Rules

"abercrombie associates must look natural"

• Makeup should only be worn to accentuate natural features.
• No black. Anything. ( shoes, eye makeup, shirts, underwear etc.)
• No purple.
• Because Abercrombie does not do external marketing, associates should represent Abercrombie at all times
• Abercrombie dress code: No black or purple. Abercrombie does not sell these colors. They should not be worn in any form. Jeans, jean skirts jean shorts are acceptable. Anything Abercrombie.

When this was said, one of the new employees at my orientation asked if we were required to buy Abercrombie clothes. Following this question it was stressed several times that we are not required to wear Abercrombie clothes according to Abercrombie corporate policy. However, it is the only way to really be sure that we are dressed appropriately. But its not required.

As far as shoes, according to Abercrombie dress code flip flops or Converse shoes are acceptable. no tennis shoes should be worn, no dress shoes, boots, etc.

It should be noted that Abercrombie does not sell Converse shoes in their stores. Why this brand of shoes was chosen as the alternate shoe choice to flip flops is still a mystery to me.

In association with employees needing to look natural. our nails and toes could not be painted unless it was clear, for fingers or very light pink for toes.

(midway through the summer Abercrombie Corporate adjusted this rule to allow pinks and reds on toes. Finger nail polish is still unacceptable though).

Next time in Clothing store crisis: Learning to fold and working in the Dungeon.

I'll end the post with a link to the Abercrombie casting video that was sent to all of the Abercrombie stores over the summer. http://www.abercrombie.com/anf/lifestyles/html/casting.html

About this blog

Last year I decided to join the ranks of thousands all over the world and apply for a job in retail. after many applications, and a few interviews I was finally hired at Abercrombie n' Fitch near my hometown. Getting into retail was an experience on its own but once I was in I found out very quickly that there were many experiences to come.

From minor injuries, employee relations, company policies, and many other issues I will be discussing all of them for the next few weeks.