MEGATHREAD Hang Me (The Softlines Thread)

[RightArm]

So thanks to some hefty input and help from leadership (yes we had ETLs hanging, folding, and pushing reshop!) our fitting room is finally unburied. Not sure how long it will last but they've got us closing with two people and two people coming in at 4am. The TLs are tasked with starting their day with 2 hrs of zone and/or go backs depending on whether they are the 3rd morning person or the 2nd. If the 2nd then they help touch up the zone first. If the 3rd then they immediately push gobacks after walking the floor and directing the other two zoners as needed. After 2 hrs of zone/go backs they start their own workload. It was nice today to actually be far enough ahead of gobacks to have a midday zone. So nice. And to not have part of men's unshoppable because of the countless z-racks blocking the merchandise was nothing short of awesome. Today's crew were happy and upbeat, morale has improved. And instead of begging flow to help them they were actually helping flow.

We've discovered that part of our problem lay in the closing team. After spending a night of zoning they were leaving their carts at the fitting room unsorted (as if they were go back carts from guest services) and because the OP was leaving 30 minutes before them no one was the wiser... until now. [Funny story - our scheduler kept the FRO until the same time as the closing zoners one night and they thought she was gone when they parked their carts next to the desk and walked off >< ] Anyway, imagine 2 or 3 extra carts a night being shoved up against the desk and left for the OP to attend to along with the normal traffic from guest services and from the guests themselves? No wonder it got ridiculous. Now it's all about accountability and making everyone tow the line. Hopefully the TLs will mention this when they do the reviews. I'm doing my best to stay optimistic.

 

[Patty]

I always threaten to dust those carts for fingerprints. After all the hard work you have been putting in, I am so glad you gokt to the light at the end of the tunnel and now everyone knows how difficult it is. SOFTLINES IS HARD!! Hope this will be the norm from now on-

 

[sher]

Some people at my store do that when it's really busy. No one's ever had to hide it lol. I was actually trained to do that but, I don't. Ever since my first morning FR shift, I don't do it. Ours is almost never a full cart, though, so maybe that's why it doesn't get much opposition.

If I close and it seems crazy bad, I just give up early on putting reshop away. If I happen to finish tables early, I can always go back to putting away reshop.

Besides, much easier to put reshop away fast in the morning if you got a great zone at night, so stopping reshop early in order to make everything look nice and clean isn't a problem. Sometimes I like a clopen because of this... I know what I left myself.

 

[RightArm]

I always threaten to dust those carts for fingerprints. After all the hard work you have been putting in, I am so glad you gokt to the light at the end of the tunnel and now everyone knows how difficult it is. SOFTLINES IS HARD!! Hope this will be the norm from now on-

So far everything is staying under control. It seems no one wants to look the way we did before and people are thus far towing the line and doing their part. I think part of what helped us was that one of the ETLs who stepped in came from a softlines background (the new store model has one salesfloor ETL now instead of the HL/SL split it used to have and ours has a bigger background in HL). Anyway, she did a fabulous job of taking ownership of the situation and getting all the other ETLs on board to make things happen. Love it when leadership works this way. And thanks for the well wishes!

 

[Patty]

We have had a change in our store that sounds very similar. New SL tl really took charge, the ETL stepped in and got everyone on board, and things started falling in to place. Every tm in SL stepped up and we really worked like a team. I am so proud of all of our leads and tms. Incredible job, and the stl even gave us all a vibe card. I actually look forward to going in to work now and I am very happy that you all got a " new sheriff in town" too. I am a sucker for "befoe and after" stories.
Have a great week Right Arm !

 

[RightArm]

Some people at my store do that when it's really busy. No one's ever had to hide it lol. I was actually trained to do that but, I don't. Ever since my first morning FR shift, I don't do it. Ours is almost never a full cart, though, so maybe that's why it doesn't get much opposition.
If I close and it seems crazy bad, I just give up early on putting reshop away. If I happen to finish tables early, I can always go back to putting away reshop.
Besides, much easier to put reshop away fast in the morning if you got a great zone at night, so stopping reshop early in order to make everything look nice and clean isn't a problem. Sometimes I like a clopen because of this... I know what I left myself.

That is probably the integral difference between your closers and ours. They would put everything in their carts that didn't belong where it was including the items from the departments they were zoning. (Generally we only do this during Christmas season when the zones are obliterated every night - out of season they are not generally /that/ trashed.) They were putting a minimum of 2 full carts of reshop at the desk at the end of the night unsorted, even throwing items in the cart that were still perfectly hung. These carts had everything in them including empty hangers, repacks, and even the occasional HL items. Then GS would add their carts of returns and go backs from the floor. When the OP was coming in to four or five carts of reshop to deal with she/he was mentally saying "this isn't doable" and really it isn't but with that mindset they were allowing themselves to get deeper and deeper and deeper. Now, because we are making the team take the time to sort - meaning, if it's on a hangar you put it on the appropriate rack to be pushed and if it's baby world you put it in the babyworld cart, it it's accessories you put it in the accessories cart, etc. The only thing that should be left for the op is clothes that actually need folding and hanging.) The end result is that the op is only coming in to one or two carts in the morning (generally only one). If she/he can't get that done and keep up then they know they better have a pretty darn good reason.

I would much rather have TMs not finish their zone completely with the setup we've got going and instead make sure their carts were sorted before they left. As long as the leadership are willing to give us two 4am zoners (even if they only have 4 hrs each) we're not hurting in that dept. In fact, most mornings our 4am team finishes the missed zones and zone touch ups halfway through their shift and spend the other half pushing go backs. Then the TLs start their shift with go backs and the mid shift teams pick up what's left and start working on midday recovery. Midday recovery means the evening zones aren't as bad for the closers. See, if we keep up it helps everyone and it helps everywhere.

Now, if we can just stay on track we'll be fine and that's the key... getting everyone on the same page and pulling together. So far we've been clear since Wednesday and have been able to maintain.

 

[RightArm]

We have had a change in our store that sounds very similar. New SL tl really took charge, the ETL stepped in and got everyone on board, and things started falling in to place. Every tm in SL stepped up and we really worked like a team. I am so proud of all of our leads and tms. Incredible job, and the stl even gave us all a vibe card. I actually look forward to going in to work now and I am very happy that you all got a " new sheriff in town" too. I am a sucker for "befoe and after" stories.
Have a great week Right Arm !

Thanks Patty! Glad to hear things are working out in your store too. When processes are broken they eventually break everything (even people). And when you go to work every day and come home feeling defeated then work is no longer enjoyable. Instead it becomes stressful and you don't want to be there. It's nice to see smiling faces again and I really wish we could keep the ETL that affected such a wonderful change in our store but she was on loan to us by the DTL. But we've learned a lot from her leadership and so have the ETLs we actually have in our store so things are looking up.

 

[sher]

Ah yea. I consider fixing the stuff I pick up to be part of the zone, but if I don't finish the other stuff, I stillpick everything up and sort and fold before I go. I don't throw the stuff that needs to be folded in the cart in the fr, because I fold fast. And I hang whatever I have hangers for and have time for. I just closed tonight and left a dress and two shirts in the cart. That's it. And only because I found them at the last minute and my mom was waiting haha.

I wish we had 4am zoning! I'm jealous of that... And the fact that you have etls who help in softlines. My infant/toddler zone is so bad right now and they're not scheduling me long enough to fix it. And when I say "my I/t zone" I mean that I'm unofficially the infants person. No one else goes over there except when I'm not there and even then, no one zones. All the racks look like they were shuffled like cards, then dispersed around the area.

 

[RightArm]

Ah yea. I consider fixing the stuff I pick up to be part of the zone, but if I don't finish the other stuff, I stillpick everything up and sort and fold before I go. I don't throw the stuff that needs to be folded in the cart in the fr, because I fold fast. And I hang whatever I have hangers for and have time for. I just closed tonight and left a dress and two shirts in the cart. That's it. And only because I found them at the last minute and my mom was waiting haha.

I wish we had 4am zoning! I'm jealous of that... And the fact that you have etls who help in softlines. My infant/toddler zone is so bad right now and they're not scheduling me long enough to fix it. And when I say "my I/t zone" I mean that I'm unofficially the infants person. No one else goes over there except when I'm not there and even then, no one zones. All the racks look like they were shuffled like cards, then dispersed around the area.

See, now that's the way it ought to be done. If I had more zoners like you! Do the adjacencies get done in your departments on a regular basis? It almost sounds like you need a reset. That's something we're struggling with in our store. I am jealous of stores that have "adjency team members".... it's something I'd love to do but we are so short staffed that I find myself everywhere at once. (I have a feeling you know very well what that's like.) Our 4am zoners are more than likely in response to continuous visits by our DTL. The ETLs are feeling the pressure to perform and actually getting proactive in trying to figure out ways to fix our problems. This is a new thing for us but man am I loving it. I swear it's like a light bulb just turned on in their collective heads. I can tell they're sincere. I just hope they're able to maintain their support because we all know how stingy corporate gets with the hours.

When you zone NIT, how do you zone? Do you fold tables first, then pick up the floor, and work the perimeter to the inside? I was told by an ETL once to pick a different section every night to "perfect" and keep changing that section over the course of my week until I eventually got it all under control. Now I know guests figure into screwing everything up and so do TMs who aren't effective but sometimes you get lucky and you start seeing a change as time goes on. I also had those doing go backs fix everything they touched. Not the whole department but just the racks and tables they were putting clothes on. Yes, it slows them down a bit but it helps the floor and if the floor gets help and the zones get easier then the floor ends up helping with go backs. (If that makes sense). My success is their success and vice versa. Likewise my failure is theirs and vice versa. We are in it together sink or swim no matter what. Here's to more days of "swimming" and fewer of "sinking".

I'll keep you all posted on how it works out.

 

[sher]

Usually a TL does the adjacency. Sometimes one of the "specialists" does it. TL has been being pulled in all the directions, lately, though, so it's not happening as regularly as it used to. I'm pretty sure she started on the reset.

When I zone, I do a chunk everyday. I did the boy's toddler side a couple days back, next day did swimwear and baby girl circo, then most of girl toddler Cherokee. Tomorrow, I'll do the PJs and girl gk, I think. I usually start with the most complicated area, but I've been so overwhelmed that I'm now doing easier parts first because it feels good to finish/accomplish something. I pick up the floor first. Tables last because lately the folding from the previous night is lasting much longer than usual. We usually fix things as we put things away but everyone is so convinced infants is the devil that they don't do any of that. If my name is on the schedule, infants gets passed over because everyone says "well, sher is coming..."

I was sick for a few weeks and the area still hasn't recovered from my absence. Every so often I try to stage a boycott of infants, but it never works. I say "I'm never working baby again" and then I come in to all the reshop carts being empty except for a mountain atop the infant/baby cart. So annoying.

 

[RightArm]

Thanks Patty! I like to see things come together and work out as well.

We've been continuously clear for a week now. The TMs are getting into the routines and the expectations and it's actually kind of fun to see them push to make it happen. Equally fun to listen to them grouch in the morning about how they finished touch ups for the Softlines zone but just as they were about to do go backs they got kidnapped to push milk in the U. They wanted to give the mid shift team a clear FR so bad. So I asked how bad it was and they proceed to tell me we only have half a z-rack of hanging and not even a full bin of folded and there's barely anything in the kids' cart. Apparently the closing OP did go backs the night before when she finished early and the closers pushed a full cart of shoes when they did the shoe zone and put away most of their gobacks.

From 22 carts of reshop around the FR to this...

 

[squirrely]

Does your store require you to zone the panty bins by laying them flat and sizing them? My TL had told me when I first started to do that if I had time, but now the STL wants us to make it a priority. With 3 closers in softlines, I don't see how this is possible. I had a 4 hour shift last night with RTW, C9, & lingerie. It takes me at least 1:30hrs to do the panty bins. Getting frustrated with more demands and less TMs to do it with.

 

[Deli Ninja]

Does your store require you to zone the panty bins by laying them flat and sizing them? My TL had told me when I first started to do that if I had time, but now the STL wants us to make it a priority. With 3 closers in softlines, I don't see how this is possible. I had a 4 hour shift last night with RTW, C9, & lingerie. It takes me at least 1:30hrs to do the panty bins. Getting frustrated with more demands and less TMs to do it with.

I remember a single side of the panty bin tables taking 30 minutes or more to lay flat. It doesn't help that overnight has always overstocked the panty bins at my store and they can't be bothered to put each of the slightly different styles of black panties in the right bins.

 

[RightArm]

At this point we'd be happy to have the right panties in the right bins. When we did stack them we weren't told to worry about sizing because it's not like they're going to leave the floor and come check if they're in size order. The idea is to make them look nice and move on. At this point we couldn't do that either (stack them by size all neatly in a single shift with so few TMs) if we tried. We used to have a "Jewelry/Hosiery/Intimates" specialist and when we did she made sure the panty bins were stacked daily on her shift. I miss her.

 

[RightArm]

So our Logistics ETL has been stealing our morning zoners to push with the flow team or help finish the zone in HL. Came in to a full z-rack and 2 halves this morning and a couple of shopping carts. Still manageable but a larger work load than the morning prior. Hours have gone back down so we only have one midday person on the floor with the operator to get the reshop out. Had a chat with the TL to let her know what's going on. It's like our processes are fixed now so we have to go help other people with theirs which I don't mind so long as helping them doesn't end up breaking our processes all over again. *sigh* Trying to decide if it's better or worse that we now have one salesfloor ETL rather than one for HL and one for SL. Hrmm...

 

[squirrely]

So our Logistics ETL has been stealing our morning zoners to push with the flow team or help finish the zone in HL. Came in to a full z-rack and 2 halves this morning and a couple of shopping carts. Still manageable but a larger work load than the morning prior. Hours have gone back down so we only have one midday person on the floor with the operator to get the reshop out. Had a chat with the TL to let her know what's going on. It's like our processes are fixed now so we have to go help other people with theirs which I don't mind so long as helping them doesn't end up breaking our processes all over again. *sigh* Trying to decide if it's better or worse that we now have one salesfloor ETL rather than one for HL and one for SL. Hrmm...

My store has one ETL for sales floor also, which seems like a big load to me. We haven't had anyone scheduled as Fitting Room/operator in probably a month, instead they are giving those hours to flow. So closers walk into a full fitting room and sometimes have to leave the fitting room fill since they spent a big part of their shift doing the mornings go backs. Ugh. We need more hours for softlines!

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

We will have only 1 closer in soft lines as operator & floor, all next week.

 

[RightArm]

Oye.... feel for both your stores. Part of what is helping us is the DTL has been riding the STL about softlines. We had a kickass reputation for several years and then this year due to hour cuts and broken processes it all went belly up. DTL wanted it fixed and is still harassing the store with visits to make sure it is getting fixed. This has largely necessitated the shift in how the hours we have are shared and I can't say all departments are happy with that. I'm also not entirely sure it will last in the long term if they can't keep giving us what we currently have to run on. Only time will tell.

 

[jenna]

I would much rather have TMs not finish their zone completely with the setup we've got going and instead make sure their carts were sorted before they left. As long as the leadership are willing to give us two 4am zoners (even if they only have 4 hrs each) we're not hurting in that dept. In fact, most mornings our 4am team finishes the missed zones and zone touch ups halfway through their shift and spend the other half pushing go backs. Then the TLs start their shift with go backs and the mid shift teams pick up what's left and start working on midday recovery. Midday recovery means the evening zones aren't as bad for the closers. See, if we keep up it helps everyone and it helps everywhere.

Now, if we can just stay on track we'll be fine and that's the key... getting everyone on the same page and pulling together. So far we've been clear since Wednesday and have been able to maintain.

4 am team in Softlines? That would be unheard of in our store. We'd love to have that kind of payroll.

 

[freshwh]

Does your store require you to zone the panty bins by laying them flat and sizing them? My TL had told me when I first started to do that if I had time, but now the STL wants us to make it a priority. With 3 closers in softlines, I don't see how this is possible. I had a 4 hour shift last night with RTW, C9, & lingerie. It takes me at least 1:30hrs to do the panty bins. Getting frustrated with more demands and less TMs to do it with.

Sorry to randomly jump in, but we're not supposed to have to lay the underwear flat in the bins like that anymore. I can't remember exactly when that communication was sent out, but it was at least a few major intimates transitions ago. I remember reading it in the transition packets. As long as those bins are zoned by style, you should be fine. There's no way to realistically accomplish stacking the underwear like that with three people in SL, even if you have the dreamiest dream team.

 

[sher]

Omg. I had to leave stuff behind tonight. Unhung. I did as much sorting as I could though and probably only added about a 3/4 cart. Fitting room closer called out, the store was nuts, we're generally understaffed... And just about everything that could go wrong went wrong.

We didn't have much floor coverage so the plan was to leave the fitting room empty and I would go tidy it periodically. Then sort a bit when I had to cover operator breaks (tsc/hr does phones in my store, but fr covers schedule gaps and breaks). Then after her breaks, hr had to do some little project so again I'm attached to that area around the fitting room. But she never called to say she was done with it! I wouldn't have known she finished if the phone didn't ring. It wouldn't have made a huge difference in how much I got done, but it was still annoying. Once, she got snippy about us calculating when their breaks should be over, but if you're not gonna tell us when you return, we have to know when we'll be free to roam out of earshot of that stupid phone. Sheesh

 

[sher]

Soo, our processes are unfixable. We don't have the people or the hours. But we keep getting praise heaped on because sales are up and we're now somewhere in the top 100 of rtw and performance sales (whatever that is) for the company. Sooo I don't think they're gonna make an effort to fix anything because we're so great on paper.

Also the past few weeks my TL isn't even keeping up a kool aid drinking facade lol. We have conversations about how terrible the company is. We talk about the execs we don't like. You can see her frustration. I feel bad for people who've seen the company go from something great (according to the stories I've heard) to whatever it is now.

 

[sher]

My stl ordered us those folding boards and flip n folds lolol. Like the daily team 4x4, he wants a daily softlines team flip n fold of an entire area... In an hour. 4 people spent 2 hours in one department today because they were flippin n foldin. Most days we don't have 4 people so I can imagine how that's gonna go on other days.

Also I don't understand how to use the baby board. How do I get the board out without messing up the t shirt!? Edit: thanks to YouTube, I figured it out

 

[Patty]

Sher that is funny b/c i looked up how to fold on you tube. Of course Marth Stewart had some complicated crazy way to do it that i never was able to figure out.
Someone threw away all our fbs but one, and all the baby boards. Why??? Lol

 

[sher]

^they were smart to throw them away! My t shirt stacks are near perfect and they'd be actual perfect more often if I wasn't rushing. I don't neeeed the boards