Frustrations - Anonymous employee Fitlife Foods Employee Review

Life was pretty good at fitlife. I saw potential for growth in a company I believed in. Which was one of the biggest reasons I joined the Fitlife Family. I had a great CSL (community store leader/manager) and a wonderful group of coworkers who just made my job all the more fun and fulfilling. We all had strengths in certain areas and we truly worked as a team. The vibe at the store changed immediately when there was a transfer in management. I very much believe in respecting my manager and higher ups, I was raised to be polite, accommodating, “yes sir” “yes ma’am” but I also believe that respect needs to be earned and not the forced equivalent of someone shoving a giant boulder down my throat. In my opinion, the new CSL was trying to establish some type of power very early in the beginning, as if we were a group of misbehaved children. If he would have taken the time to know us, he would have learned how much fun we all had together and how we worked as a team. Instead, at first meeting he micromanaged every single little thing. If nothing was wrong, he’d find something wrong. Praise was little. “Thank you’s” were foreign. Lectures were frequent. Requests always came with some sort of passive aggressiveness. And unfortunately, I got the impression very early on that the CSL had favorites and I certainly wasn’t one of them. What is even more frustrating is before the transfer in management, my coworkers and I ran the store on our own for a couple weeks. We did a great job for a group that had no physical leadership. It’s infuriating that there was no thank you. Instead, when the new CSL arrived we get lectures on how to front the store, how to clean, how give store tours, and how to interact with customers. Because our interaction with customers aren’t similar to his “car salesman” tactics they’re automatically wrong. I’m an introvert by nature, my best customer service cause from gentle and authentic conversation. I don’t appreciate someone coming in and wanting to “force me out of my comfort zone” for sales. Appreciate the strengths your staff has and utilize that. The amount of arrogance that my coworkers and I dealt with was ridiculous. Especially coming from someone who was brand new to the company. It was upsetting how someone would criticize us on how to do things at Fitlife when we were all there longer and hand more collective knowledge. Again, I believe he came in trying to make sure we KNEW he was the boss. Interestingly though, the last CSL never was like that. He vocalized how we were a team and it felt exactly like that. Additionally, I have been asking for a few months for an additional delivery driver. And as time went by it was becoming apparent that I was going to struggle on my own with these. It seemed like no one cared and that frustrated me to no end. As the weeks went by, I watched our delivery orders increase to a point where they could barely fit in my car (at one point I had to split them up). I felt completely taken advantage of. It became draining. So many other locations have two drivers. Why didn’t we? I wanted to give Fitlife the benefit of the doubt because I agreed to bring the main driver, but when your orders are coming to 18+, you’re gonna need an extra hand. It just makes sense. I think what frustrated me most is the fact that CSLs are approved for delivery and my current one never offered to take just a few, even when I had vocalized it was a lot. I think it’s easy to assume that deliveries are just as simple as leaving them at the door. Trust me, it’s not. Sometimes, it’s complicated and can take up to 15-20 minutes just to find parking, go to security, get the clearance, walk through the garage, find the elevator, go to the apartment, drop it off, go back down, walk back through the garage, return to security, and then leave. Sometimes, security won’t let you in. Sometimes, customers give you horrible directions so your stuck wandering. Sometimes, it rains and you get soaking wet or it’s so humid that the heat makes you so uncomfortable. It is just shocking that a manager wouldn’t extend some sort of assistance. My coworkers were always the ones to step in and ask if I needed help. Almost every single one had asked at one point if they could take some deliveries to make things easier on me, since it was becoming overwhelming at times. Unfortunately, they couldn’t because they have to be approved for delivery and it’s also “a hassle to put them on payroll.” But still, it was the thought that counted. I hate that this ended up happening. I liked working at Fitlife. Unfortunately, I don’t really have “the juice” anymore. That was all taken away the minute I saw my coworkers being disrespected as well as myself.