Tragic. Just Tragic. - Anonymous employee Von Maur Employee Review

Let me preface this that when I started working for this company, I was brainwashed into believing everything I was told by upper management. Nearly three years later, I was exposed to the truth. I had wonderful reviews and always made my goals, yet it meant nothing to me. After seeing so many fellow coworkers experience such horror this company brought into their lives, it weighted on my soul. I needed to wash my hands clean and leave before it was too late. I still get very upset when I reflect on my time with Von Maur, hence this review. They treat employees like children and not adults. Private companies, such as this one, can get away with the most unbelievable things. They are not being monitored and their actions may never be questioned until they are bought out (their quick expansion of stores in the past few years makes it fairly obvious this will happen in the next decade if not sooner-the company makes no profit from their newest locations but rather the old Midwest flagships that keep this decaying machine churning). Many fellow coworkers I have know, some in high roles, were hung out to dry and let go for no valid reason. One member was told by a Regional Director, after her six years of loyal service: "Its just not working out". That was that. Don't be surprised if you are approached with some sort of customer complaint form, to be placed into your file, and there is no proof of any event actually occurring. Get to know Loss Prevention, and if they notice the customer never existed in the first place, you now have a strong case on your hands. If management does not like you, for any reason, they will get you out. Quickly. Start looking for another job immediately if you have a written warning in your file. You have a huge red target painted on your back! Word got out I was looking for another job. I didn't care. The store manager pulled me into the office and said, "I hear you are leaving us". I was not asked: 1. How is your department? 2. How are your associates? 3. How are you? 4. Is their anything I can help you with? 5. What is selling in your department? What isn't? 6. How can we improve morale in the store? 7. Anything new with you? These would be questions asked by a normal and caring human being. Here is another hint about this company: They will take hearsay to the next level despite the fact there is an "open door policy". Trust no one. Management is trained to be robotic and devoid of any emotion. They, like everyone else, work under a looming entity of fear. During a store opening breakfast ceremony, a high ranked individual, bearing the company's name, openly admitted in his younger years he worked for another similar retail competitor (think Seattle, WA and not Davenport, IA) in order to take notes on how they ran business. He also said that he took that company's training tools and placed it into Von Maur's company training curriculum. Shameful and pathetic considering they need to go to the competitor to be inspired.