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Sounds like quite a lot of people are having a really crappy time over at HMV. However, management obviously didn’t think about the corporate Twitter stream. Mass execution? Live twitter coverage of firings? Nasty stuff.
Of course, someone’s realised, as all the incriminating tweets have gone, but thanks to the sharp screenshotting ways of some fine folks in the office, we’ve been able to piece together the social media carnage.
It sounds like the administrators have basically canned the whole HR department, and while you have to believe they know what they’re doing in the long run, whoever had the keys to Twitter obviously doesn’t think they’ve got the chops to save the company. Savage.
Anyway, one thing we can take away from this. Don’t fire the guy who runs your twitter account, OK?
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
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So a bunch of people are in denial that they ran a company into the ground. Why do they think they are fucking losing their jobs? Tossers. Post it to someone that gives a flying fuck.
I doubt the ones on the Twitter account are accountable for the business failing as a whole.
Probably not at all, and more likely the young and eager ones trying to propose a more progressive business style…
The fact that the business failed and they worked there makes them accountable. These people, no matter how big or small, should be saying to the boss daily, things need to change or I’m offski, and leave when they don’t change.
That is one of my pet hates with workers today, don’t have a go at me I only work here – I’m having a fucking go at you precisely because you work here and you can pass the information on to your direct boss, and so on. And if they don’t pass the info on, who does, then they can’t complain when it all goes tits up.
But, like I said, post it to someone that gives a shit – they collectively failed, what do they want a leaving medal of incompetence? Dicks.
If you pass information on or complain then you get fired and get a shit reference for your x years working there.
So you go to your boss and say 10 people have complained about this service today then you think he will sack you? If you ain’t doing that shit then you can’t complain when it goes tits up, as you were the weak link in causing it to fail, it was you, it was always you.
And references, I’ve never used a real one in my life.
Have you ever worked in retail Mark? If so, you should know the answers to all you have posted above.
No, I when the education, better job route – but my parents ran a few stores and I’ve ran a few outlets myself. But I assume those tweets are’t from people working in retail, they are from the head office, and I assume they never worked in a store in their useless lives.
So did I, but not having rich family or qualifying for grants or loans I had to work my way through university. Working in a Virgin Megastore for 4 years paid for my fees.
As for those tweeting, you’re probably right about them not working in a store, but not definitely.
What an idiot, really. I do not know what you do but it certainly is not critical thinking.
For example when I worked at Sainsbury’s as a student, in the bakery, they discontinued single bakewell tarts. The reasoning being you can buy a box of 6 pre packaged ones. Well the number of customers, usually old people, who exploded at me, with your attitude, was quite astonishing.
You see there are idiots out there, like Mark, who seem to think anyone in a company has a responsibility for the actions of the company as a whole. As a student working in the bakery I had 0% control over what was stocked and ordered etc… If I were to just open and split a pack of 6 I would be fired and the customer would have had no way to pay for it as the single item was not in the tills anymore.
The workers at HMV have been abused by customers, like Mark, who felt it was the assistant’s fault the company went bust and they stopped accepting vouchers.
Later, like Mark, im going to go down to the petrol station and shout at the assistant over the price of petrol and then go into my local bank branch and shout at a teller for the financial crisis as obviously they were somehow involved, no mind how little.
HMV failed in part because it did not have a digital strategy and lost a lot of ground to other online retailers. At the same time they invested in arenas and other live venues. Obviously these decisions were taken by the shop floor staff and not the board.
Man you a fool.
How much input do you think a student working at Blockbuster would have on their digital strategy?
Is that employee to blame for the fact the management, many years previously, signed long rental agreements based on their current projections which did not consider a future where broadband was cheap and fast?
Im not sure the student would have a direct line to head office to offer solutions, but im sure the store manager, probably an older ex student, has the ear of the CEO and understands digital strategies and the shift from brick and mortar to online rentals.
The way you talk shows you have little understanding of business, how corporations work and that you are quite small minded. I would suspect you have work in small retail shops, maybe privately owned and one where you can see the boss is at least is in the same building.
Pop down your local Apple store and ask the staff how many of them have had meeting with Timothy Cook or his management team.
Unfortunately the real world does not work like your limited mind.
Mark clearly needs his happy pills..
I fucking do today, these stories and doing my noggin in – fuck em, move on, its calls progress – they are not the first or last to hit a wall, and who is to blame but themselves for hitting that wall.
If you seriously think interns and shop-floor employees can be responsible for the failure of a nationwide chain… I don’t even.
Furthermore, if you think that such people have the luxury of saying “If this business doesn’t change at the top level, I’m leaving” given the employment situation at the moment… again, just… wow.
“If you seriously think interns and shop-floor employees can be responsible for the failure of a nationwide chain… I don’t even.”
Everyone that takes part is responsible to various degrees. To be on board a sinking ship and to watch it sinking without taking action is foolish, if you be a captain or intern. And then to blame others when you could clearly see the ship sinking is shocking. And if they didn’t see the ship sinking then what the fuck were they doing? I could see it sinking and I don’t work their, nor have brought anything at HMV for about 4 years.
“Furthermore, if you think that such people have the luxury of saying “If this business doesn’t change at the top level, I’m leaving” given the employment situation at the moment… again, just… wow.”
I don’t think these people have that luxury, they don’t seem to be the type with honour or integrity to afford that. They seem to feel entitled to something they don’t deserve. Certainly not the sort of people to place honour above a pay check – would they starve to death for having a backbone? Nah. And they should have voiced these concerns way before the economic downturn.
Everyone would still have a job today if one person made themselves heard so time ago, that’s how much they care for the company and their fellow workers – fuck all.
A bunch of halfwitted suits that care about nothing but another pay check. Notice how they are vocal all of a sudden, now they don’t have a job or pay check, that’s how much they care – quite a lot actually, but they care for nothing but their sad selves. Pity them, they deserve your pity.
I’m not sure I know where to begin.
Honour vs cash? Really? Are you talking about real people or Klingons?
To say that “Everyone would still have a job today if one person made themselves heard” is an incomprehensibly misguided perspective. To suppose that a) no-one at HMV ever complained, and b) the only reason HMV went down is because of floor level procedure, is totally nuts.
Yes, everyone takes part in various degrees. The degree, in this case, is utterly, utterly negligible. Again, if you think everyone at floor level across a nationwide chain must have been so bad as to cause the death of a company, compared to top-level mismanagement, I don’t even. I mean, just look at the statistics. It takes just a handful of mediocre execs to kill a company. It takes an army of willfully awful shelf-stackers to do the same.
Are you the multi millionaire Mark C Grant or just some loser with the same name?
The reason I asked is because the Mark I heard of worked so hard and assumed all the responsibilities of every company he worked for, and those companies did so well that he quickly became rich with his constant stream of good ideas about said businesses.
Retail is very much ‘follow the ranks, shut up, don’t have an opinion’.
And we all go down together.
No thats another falsehood and one that seems to come from the mind of an ignoramus. Those at the bottom were not paid, will not receive any redundancy and are basically screwed. The gov will step in and pay a minimum redundancy.
The ones at the top have already left, some a few years ago, some more recent. They were on rather large wages to start with and people like that usually can afford insurance to cover against certain losses.
They will not be left with an empty bank account and wondering where their wages are because they were paid many times what they needed to live off.
Given CEO and other execs operate what is generally an old boys club they will be employed again and on high wages.
No need for the personal insults just because you deem your opinion more valid, as I don’t – I don’t actually care enough about this to take punch to the nose – why do you care so mu
ch? I just don’t give a fuck for a bunch of twats that stood around with their heads in the sand while a company was ran into the ground. The people running the company obviously are directly responsible, but so is every person working within that company. And we aren’t talking about the grunts on the shop floor here, we are talking about middle management in the head office.
He’s most likely getting annoyed with your stupidity, just because you at a company does not mean you have a chance to make changes to how a company is run.
You really need to understand business, rather than spouting lots of bull in which you no clue about…
Everyone plays a part to a degree. Scale it down. Imagine a small design business, they have just a boss and a fellow worker doing sales and marketing, and one designer.
Now if the boss doesn’t do his job right the business fails, at any point the other two workers can address that, leave their job or sit back and do zero. If the marketing fails then the boss and other worker can address that, wrap up business/leave or sit back and do zilch. If the designer fails then address it, wrap up business/leave or sit back. Obvious stuff, right?
Now the boss is responsible for the company, and therefore hiring and firing, the buck stops with him. But are you going to use that as an excuse to say the other two workers don’t have a responsibility to work effectively for that company? Like every person in the world today working for someone.
Now the business grows, do those dynamics stop existed? No – exactly the same, but talking departments, and sub-groups with the company and departments, more splintered but the same dynamic. We have degrees of blame, undoubtedly, but collectively the unit takes equal blame for failing.
I could actually put a case up for this stupid, modern, all inclusive, blameless culture of causing many things to fail – The fact someone says, it’s not my fault I just work here, directly makes it their fucking fault – anyone that ever says that should be sacked on the spot, fuck it, publicly flog them -blameless fucking cunts.
Bosses do not listen to the workers, they never do, it’s an them and us approach.
The managers, are in charge not the people on the floor, not the HR, not the marketing team, the managers your CEO’s, the board members etc are the ones who decide what happens, no one else.
Your whole rant is based on the fact that the people tweeting didn’t do a thing or never voiced their opinions to the top. I have no evidence that they did, you have no evidence that they did not.
Therefore the whole debate has no reason to be, and my guess would be that you are just enjoying the troll. You are just making yourself look stupid if I am being honest. Not an insult mind, just an observation.
Them and us*
There are time Mark when someone deserves insulting. You might not realise it but you were insulting all the staff at HMV who lost their jobs and more generally everyone who was ever made redundant from their employer going bust.
If you truly understood the corporate world / economy you would understand that the decisions that resulted in the fall of HMV were based many years ago and the financial crisis also played a part. We are in the largest recession / depression in living memory, the way people buy entertainment has changed, previous management at HMV failed to invest in online and offshore tax evasion is killing onshore businesses.
None of this is the fault of any minimum wage employee of HMV nor that of those in the Marketing department, who have a budget and do what they can with it.
There is an interview with a previous contracted advertising agency of HMV which goes into detail about how the CEO at the time would not even consider tackling online. Given HMV had pretty much killed the competition, controlled the supply chain to a certain point ( through being biggest customer ) an had bought Waterstones, they had every chance to being the UK version of Amazon and could have taken Europe much easier than a US company. They decided not to as current business was going so well they thought it would never end, CD, DVD then Blueray etc… In business this is a well known occurrence and you can see examples in any entrenched market. Take Microsoft, they decided to ignore mobile, the internet to a point and try to lock any seller of PC’s into Windows only. This worked for a while, until they were fined and IE had to be distributed separately. Since then we have seen the competition thrive, not because of the IE decision but because the lack of development in IE over the years of monopoly set Microsoft back and they found themselves on the back foot. The rest is history and now its Microsoft playing catchup.
Anyway, having worked for a company which whet bump, I find you lack of knowledge and attitude rather insulting. We fought hard to keep that company afloat and the directors / owners lost everything and still now years later have debts. Every month they ensured the staff got paid, even when they had not seen a penny for months. It ruined one directors health and nearly broke up a marriage. Why did the company fail, when our order book was full and we were worked off our feet?
Because a large customer when bump and didn’t settle a large debt. The bank then withdrew the overdraft facility and overnight the money dried up. As the company owed part of that debt to other supplier/s( that how business work, its one big chain full of markups ) they called in their debt and the company had no choice but to call in the liquidators. You have no other choice at that point, but obviously the staff no longer get paid and the company, not existing anymore ( like HMV ) will not pay redundancy. That then falls to the Gov but they only pay once the liquidation has gone through which takes many months.
So have a little respect. When you hear someone has lost their job, instead of gloating, think for a moment what sort of situation you would be in. When you are unemployed even the smallest things, like an iPhone contact at £40 a month, which you cant get out of, is a big problem. So try to think and recognise a good few people are going to have some very bad months ahead, through no fault of their own.
I think you replied to the wrong person.
Hang on, I’m sorry but what?
I’m not sure as why you say I’m being insulting to the staff at HMV, I agree it’s not good that they lost their jobs, but it happens.
Mark however was trying place the blame on the floor staff, the marketing etc, people who have no effect on business practices that where in place. Business from a structured level, the bigger the company the less likely the top will listen to the lower staff.
HMV, was behind times they didn’t cater to online, they where selling goods at a higher price when compared to other stores, that is the reason to it’s demise.
Oh and why are you comparing MS to HMV, MS have masses amount of money, I cannot see them going anytime soon, completely different business models.
Geoff900 I replied to both yourself and Mark as I replied to a comment which you wrote in regards to Marks comments. Thats why I began with “There are times Mark”.
I actually was agreeing with your comment “He’s most likely getting annoyed with your stupidity, just because you at a company does not mean you have a chance to make changes to how a company is run.
You really need to understand business, rather than spouting lots of bull in which you no clue about…”
Anyway calm down dude. I was not comparing HMV to Microsoft. I was describing a well know happening in business that when companies get too big, too successful or have a monopoly they tend to stop innovating and eventually may lose out to an up and comer. Its got nothing to do with money in the bank.
Microsoft made a lot of mistakes, did not invest in mobile or tablets. This is now hurting them and their future at the moment in not predictable. Desktop sales are falling, Windows 8 is not selling well, their current tablet offerings are over prices and lost a vast % of space to the OS. They sat back and thought desktop would dominate, Balmer mocked the iPhone and they did little to battle the rise of RIM.
Pretty much, but it’s not the Twitter account or marketing departments fault. All I’m saying is they have absolutely no blame in this situation, and you’re trying to lay blame on them.
So marketing has no effect on a company failing? It does.
We don’t live in a blameless world. Some play a big part in failing, some a minor role, but anyone involved plays a role. I’m tarring them with the same brush, but not to the same degree.
It is like war crimes. You don’t hold up the leader and say he told us what to do, it is all his fault – anyone who followed those orders and acted upon them is equally responsible. And it is only the people with honour and integrity that put themselves at risk for a greater good that get a free pass. Obviously a more serious subject then these dicks but the point is about talking responsibility and not blindly following, and self sacrifice for a greater good.
And look at HMV, who fell on that sword? Who did the right thing? Who stood up and made themselves counted? Who tried to force change? Who cared more for the company and their fellow workers than they did for a pay check? If someone did I commend them.
They are all fucking vocal now, too late and at no risk to themselves – how fucking brave of them. If one person did that 5 years ago then they may still just have a job. Who is to blame for that? Every last selfish twat that sat back thinking it will work out while they raked it in. Well done, I commend every one of those cowards – he’s your reward, no job and a big yellow streak down the back.
I meant the individual employees, you’re deliberately misinterpreting me.
You realise that only leaders are prosecuted in war crimes? Not the smaller men, because they were just doing their job.
How the fuck don’t you get it?!?!?! Retail doesn’t work like other companies. You don’t get the right to say anything.
You get paid to do what you’re told. Have you worked in retail? No.
They’re only vocal now, because they were fucked over by the management. It is not down to someone who is paid to sell CDs to fix a company. It is down to the person who is paid to FIX THE COMPANY.
Christ.
I think everyone need to calm down a tone or two!
Both of you have valid points.
Mark’s point in my words if i got it as much as i could:
If you cant grove a pair and speak the truth for the better (as everyone top/bottom eating from the same bowl), might as well sink with the ship!
Eddy’s point is you do what you are told to do.
Mark’s point is a little more valid in my opinion as much as you do what you are told to do, you (you know who i mean) should have stood by the right and for better even if it may cause you to get fired for not polishing some apples. The standing for truth and right would have eventually paid off (unfortunately we will never know now)
Eddy: (in a bit harsh words) Is it better now that they sucked up and swallowed everything the management fed them? Look at it this way, company gone bust, and you are pointing fingers at eachother a bit late, and while publicly doing this, you will be mockeried dickeried (i dunno if it means anything
) What did it earn you for doing this? Pride ? new job ? isnt it a bit too late?
The problem with retail is that you are paid to NOT speak up. I completely agree with Mark that in an ideal world, they should have spoken up, and in literally any other industry, I would agree with him. It’s just because retail is so different, that’s all.
your ignorance is beyond belief.
Shadowmatt explains it perfectly as to why your an idiot.
@Eddy: Possibly harsh reality, but still principle is a principle mate, if one level management is deaf ears, feedback to one higher anonymously maybe? But if you dont speak up and the whole ship sinks, it drags you with it. It is a little late to complain, and unprofessional to bad mouth your company publicly using its accounts/resources. Ship sank already and if anyone buys back the company or rescues it in a way, do you think these guys are going to be hired back with this attitude?
I am fully aware of the fact that retail market has some kind of attitude problems in its hierarchy but good business always listens to its bottom line as well (not necessarily do what they ask but listen productive comments)…
And this analogy, ships sink from bottom up
You can see why the company went under. Interns running the companies Twitter account, HR taking it over and the “Marketing Director” not even having access to it.
Insightful. Exactly my point, incompetence from top to bottom.
Incompetence in top = incompetence in bottom, but that doesn’t mean those at the bottom are incompetent, if that makes sense?
Not an unusual practice in modern businesses, young people know about new social media outlets such as facebook, twitter….
BRA-FUCKING-VO
“We’re tweeting live from HR where we’re all being fired”
- I took that to mean “We’ve been called to HR, so that they can fire us”, not “We in HR are being fired”
Which would make more sense (i.e. it’s not HR tweeting, it’s 60 marketing guys/interns/etc being fired, who are tweeting)
Is HR a place or a people though? I considering it a people, not a place.
Definitely a place, This’ll be the marketing dept. who are being canned.
A place, as in I work IN HR.
Or for HR.
It’s a very good friend of mine that runs their Twitter page (female by the way, not a “guy” that went rogue) and understandably they have been under an immense amount of stress over the past couple of weeks in their department (as well as the rest of the staff of course). I know they were extremely loyal to the company and did put everything into it, especially this person. I think she’s probably regretting it a bit with the amount of media calls she’s receiving, and even breaking Twitter it seems, but I’m proud of her for speaking out at least.
Apologies, I used guy in a generic, non-gender biased term as I couldn’t tell.
I say give her a high five from me.
I also say she’ll probably get more job offers than ever before in her life if she handles the next few weeks properly.
I wouldn’t bet on it. At the minute there are a lot of unemployed people. Demonstrating that you’re willing to damage your employer’s reputation is one of the most stupid things you can do.
If she’ll do it for HMV, she’ll do it for somebody else. She’s a liability.
I think some of the more ‘out there’ brands or companies would appreciate the kind of passion and attitude she’s shown though.
Granted, they may not necessarily allow her access to their social media, but she certainly has a kind of brand dedication that i’d certainly consider an asset.
Everyone in our marketing department said, almost in unison, “Well, that’s their career gone…”
I doubt anyone would want them anywhere near their company.
I’d just like to confirm – it was not the HR department that was made redundant – it was about 60 employees from across Head Office who were taken to HR to be collectively told that we were no longer employed. While it didn’t come as a shock at all, my boss, who happened to have started the social feeds for the company back when she was an unpaid intern couldn’t believe they were doing the redundancies in such a callous unprofessional way. We had joked it would be like the x-factor bootcamp stage, but we didn’t actually expect it to happen.