How do employees feel about their professional development opportunities at Orchard Supply Hardware?

Pros

I enjoy helping people, sharing my knowledge and being around tools. I also enjoy having a legit reason to talk to people - it brings me out of my shell... (what do strangers talk about anyway? I loathe pointless, hollow conversation and feigned interest) Because of my skill set, and aided by the lack thereof of many of the other employees, I soared like an Eagle at Orchard. I know my way around the products we sold, I know what a hard day's work looks like, and I grew up in the neighborhood so I knew how to talk to all the customers. It wasn't that the job was so great, but rather that I enjoy that type of work where I'm always busy doing something new and unexpected, playing with forklifts, baling machines and power tools all the while pasting a satisfied smile on the face of every customer.

Cons

The company ran itself out of business and its no wonder... Upper Management was TERRIBLE. There were a few good department managers at first, but they bounced to ACE Hardware after only a few months because their Manager was such a useless, cowardly, insecure moron. I opened the San Ramon, CA location. There was an initial Powerpoint orientation when I was hired and that was it - NO TRAINING WHATSOEVER. Orchard was SUPER CORPORATE. Orchard would do everything not because it was prudent, logical or fiscally prudent but because it came from CORPORATE. i.e. It was policy created by out of touch idiots with too much money, too much power, too little common sense, and too few brains, I proposed a logistical, organizational system to create order from the chaos that was Receiving/Stock. Back product was stored three rows high, 12 columns across, and stacked three deep. It was a terrible design on its own because nobody knew or could see what was behind the first piece of product. In order to know what was behind box #1 you had to get on the forklift, pull down box #1, climb out of the forklift, and inspect the now-uncovered mystery box.... TOTAL WASTE OF TIME AND MANPOWER. I proposed a simple dry-erase board that was columnized, rowed, and stacked to mirror the layout of the backroom and product in stock. I offered to go through the entire stock room and note on the erase-board what we had in stock and exactly where it could be found. I was shot down because, "Corporate wouldn't go for it". OF COURSE THEY WOULDNT that's why Orchard Supply and Hardware is out of business!

Advice to Management

They didn't and wouldn't listen anyway... Why bother? They're probably busy mismanaging another business into the red

Pros

Easy-going work environment, friendly people

Cons

Nothing to do, bad management, really boring, little training