Dillards
Unfair management and horrible working conditions

I have had a 31/2 year relationship with Dillards. Every horrible thing that all others have reported here is all true. I was at least able to experience Dillards in two different stores.

I began my stint with Dillards in a very small store, Salina, Central Mall. This was not a bad store to work in. There was only about 20 total employees in the area that I worked in, cosmetics, I grew up in the area and knew so many people, I had no problem attaining my sales goals at that location. The tardy/late/absent policy was there though, as well. It is extremely ridiculous for a company to treat an adult like a five year old. It is all true what others say about if you clock in one second late, it results in a tardy. That is absurd.

I had never worked for any other retailer that instigated this policy. Also, the insurance coverage is horrible, like they say. My eyes were really open, however, when I transferred to the Dillards at Wichita, Towne East. First off, There were 15 of us stuffed behind the Clinique counter, which is all of a 20x20 area. Try working with 15 women between the ages of 19 and 60 to begin with, and being crammed in that tight of an area. They have the system down to a science.

They hire a ton of people at 8 or 9 bucks an hour, cram them all in, then write them up, lower their income and ultimately fire them, when they don't make their goal. I have seen it happen over and over. They hire way more people than needed to begin with, (in the cosmetic area anyway) then pay all these teenyboppers 9 bucks an hour, which they are thrilled with, to go out and prescribe skin care to women in their 20's, 30's, 40's and above. First off all, these rookies know not a damn thing about how to take care of skin, what works and what doesn't for different ages, races, types of skin, and color needs for different professions and what works best for the customer.

I had 10 yrs prior artistry and cosmetic sales experience, I also have a degree in Fashion Merchandising and have taken countless specialty makeup artistry classes. I felt I should be making about 18-20 bucks an hour. No, these people started me at 9bucks an hour, I left 3/12 yrs later making 11.45 an hour. Now, there were folks next door at the Chanel counter making 22 bucks an hour, that had half the knowledge and experience that I do. How much sense is that?

Now, I was very lucky that I did not ever take a pay cut, but I have several friends that have. Dillards has taken every iota of confidence out of them, that they no longer believe that they could ever function out side of Dillards, thus they are too afraid to even interview elsewhere. These are extremely intelligent people too. I feel the same way as the others here, you get barked at if you don't open so many charge accounts, if you don't call so many people in a day, you have to prospect so many people for your clientele book.

Do you know how hard it is to talk someone into a 90 dollar face cream when people around here can barely put food on their tables at home. It is totally ridiculous. They really have you at hello, too. They have you sign up for a Dillards charge, (as an employee) that you have to pay 21 percent interest on, that is the only way to get your 25 percent discount, (unless you have a pay in account, in which you have to "pay" to "purchase" first, that is not credit) The people that work in the clothing areas as they say, are required to dress very expensively, thus every dime you make goes on that card, most of us don't make enough money to pay it off, so you leave there, if you can "escape" oweing a ton of money.

I could go on for hours but there is not enough room here. Talk about trying to advance with the company? You can't. A year into this company, I was on the phone with some regional guru of marketing or something in Ft. Worth, I talked and wrote to him at length about wanting to work in a high capacity. I wanted to be a roving store trainer, and go from store to store and teach associates how to sell, be a makeup artist and how to project professionalism and great salesmanship ethics. I feel that there is a real need to teach young people these type of skills. People walk around chewing gum, leaning around or sitting, laughing, talking about inappropriate things at work, pierced tongues, eyebrows etc.

They certainly don't dress for success. I was pretty much poo pooed. Don't even get me started on our store manager at the Wichita location. I feel to strongly about certain issues to even report here. This company needs a total overhaul and revamp. They need new registers, equipment, they need an updated way to inventory, inventorys are a nightmare. They need to teach managers how to "manage" people, not "micromanage" as was taught in the 70's. They need to teach managers to not belittle others and how to build others up.

They need to basically start over. The buyers have old, used up, taste. They don't have anything edgy or progessive. They took all the good stuff away, you never see Carol Little designers anymore, they increase this Sag Harbor and Alfred Dunner crap. I could go on for days. Thank you ever so much rip off report for letting me vent here. I hope I never have to go back to work for them again.

Cynthia
Wichita, Kansas
U.S.A.

Company: Dillards
Country: USA
State: Kansas
City: Wichita
Address: 7700 East Kellog
Phone: 3166850341

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