Procedures of Ayana's Job.

I am the Store Manager Intern for the Shoe Department, which is one of the highest sales manager positions in a store. My mentor, the manager of shoes, was promoted to shoes sales manager a week before I became an intern! She has been working so hard to get the shoe department back into shape and get it back to where it should be. There are so many daily tasks that take place in the shoe department that a regular department, like junior clothes. would not have to go through. Every morning, one or two associates completes the audit. This means they scan every shoe on the sales floor. After the audit, they should have a certain number of shoes accounted for. If not, they have to find those "missing" shoes throughout the day. Majority of the times, the shoe is not missing, it just didn't scan properly when audited. Then the associates go in the back stock room (shown in my flipgrid video), retrieve the missing shoe, place a new sticker on the shoe and place the shoe on the floor.

Another procedure of my job is called Fulfillment. When customers shop online, purchase items and request to pick them up in a store, associates and managers go through their departments and pick the items for the customer. We then prepare the item for pick up so the customer won't be waiting long. One last main procedure is selling the shoes on the sales floor. Each associate walks around with an iPod and assists customers with shoes. I am learning how to run a team while also being a part of a team. I don't want to just delegate tasks, I work right along side the associates when I have ample time. I am also learning the logistics of the shoe department.

In the majority of my fashion classes, I always learned of companies like Nordstrom having  excellent customer service. Macy's also has excellent customer service. Some of the employees in my department have said that Macy's will take back anything. While I have not seen a manager accept just anything, we want to keep the customers happy. That is the number one objective at Macy's. My experiences with customers and customer service has been great so far because Macy's has such a easy and smooth return policy even without a receipt. If a customer used their Macy's card, the money automatically goes back on the card after the return merchandise is scanned. This also goes with credit cards, our system keeps track of the cards customers used. Since consumers lose receipts a lot, Macy's has small stickers placed on EVERY merchandise in the store when purchased, called "customer return label (crl)".

I recently sat down and talked one-on-one with the Store Manager, Sheila. The best advice/lesson I've learned from her is to not skip any steps in your career, enjoy your career and don't rush anything. She was originally a buyer in Atlanta, but then the company went through some cuts. She either had to move to New York to continue her career as a buyer or stay in Atlanta and take a store management position. The reason she said not to skip any steps in your career is because all the steps will pay off and be useful in the long run. Sheila has had almost every position in Macy's except Merchandising Team Manager (MTM). So when she became a store manager, there were some blurry concepts about the MTM role so she went back and taught herself everything about being an MTM.

Note to Know: ENJOY your internship. Sometimes we get caught up and stress ourselves out like it's a real job, AND while you should treat it at such, build a strong foundation from now: Don't let your work life stress and take away from the enjoyment of your overall life :-)