Catchphrase
It’s sad to say that I can’t even write the first name of who sent me an email about abusive managers. This email I received is seriously a nightmare. A store manager taking away employee’s breaks, a racist manager following customers with dark skin around the store to make sure they didn’t steal anything, manager’s who would either ridicule you for your taste in books or not allow you to talk with customers about your favorite titles (there goes up-selling), and stupid, condescending interjections meant to boost team morale such as “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAWESOOOOOOOMMMMMMME!” or “ROCK ON!” Worst of all, the management at the store is aware of my comic but they don’t read it for laughs and there’s a threat of closed door meetings if Mike: Bookseller is even mentioned within earshot of these managers.
Those idiotic phrases, the “Awesomes” and the “Sa-weets” really struck a nerve with me and has brought about the first of (hopefully) many comics from this email. See, Lark had a stupid catchphrase that he tried to force down our throats. He even bought a cake and had it decorated with the phrase. BLAM! Book Lovers Are Members. There was a photo album of people pretending to be excited about it and Lark thumbs-upping and mugging the camera. “Blam!” he’d say any time something he thought was cool, or when he thought we did something good. Blam. Really?
This email details some crazy awful goings on at a bookstore, but it’s a gem for material. I just gotta publicly thank, you, the one who sent the email. You know who you are. I also gotta say, please look into labor laws for required breaks and the like. Lawsuits could be in the future of this ordeal if the law favors the employees. It did in my state when a law changed that required employees take their lunch before the fifth hour. I got a years worth of back-pay from some settlement thing due to that law changing. Who knows what could happen in your state?
