Posted on 04/03/2013 8:03:23 AM PDT by jimbo123
J.C. Penney Co Inc said on Friday said it fully backs its partnership with chat show host Ellen DeGeneres after a conservative group urged the retailer to reconsider hiring DeGeneres as a spokeswoman because she is a lesbian.
-snip-
Penney's decision to hire DeGeneres spurred conservative group One Million Moms, a division of the American Family Association, to slam the company for not being "neutral in the culture war."
"Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families. More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly," the organization posted on their website, urging supporters to call their local J.C. Penney store manager to lodge complaints against hiring DeGeneres.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Hard for employees right now...moral is so very low..even with management.
The deciding factor ahead will be how the opening of the Home Departments go.....and this rests on how the Martha Stewart lawsuit pans out.
Unfortunately some vendors have pulled out who were going to be part of the new changes....it’s pretty much a risk for most now.
I am so sorry for the employees... and I do apologize to all of you. I’m afraid I vented my displeasure to a saleswoman too. I guess she was just a face to face target. It is upsetting to all of us who loved the store. Sad to see.
There's also been inside trading going on.....it's rating is in “Hold” but some are now encouraging “sell” in the stock arena.
As for Degenerate...well I can say there was certainly an uproar where I work....customers were livid. But when they issued the catalog that pretty much caused a grand exodus......however, the new products are not going over either for those who remain customers. Much of which the focus is on young folk.
Then JC Penny will follow K-Mart into oblivion.
My gosh...I’ve had customers throw their garmets at me...yell at me...argue when you’re tryiing to help them....it’s been truly awful. Even when you agree with them, the anger is so overwhelming for them.
So when I say they are truly angry....I mean just that, and many more than people realize. Nothing said can deter it....I think i’ve tried pretty much everything, including saying nothing at all.
Might be.... But they do have more options than K-Mart had....in fact Sears is the one that went down...K-Mart bought Sears...just so you know. Which really shocked many!
They have a ways to go yet before they go completely down......understanding that already there is the option to sell and or lease selling areas, which some companies are interested in doing....time will tell.
Do the employees report these incidences to management? I would think they’d want to know what the customers are saying.
I feel bad for you guys.
love Kohls--i don't care who their spokesperson is... recently i have had good experiences shopping at JCP... prices are very good... but i agree--it seems very generic... Sears is awful... i have never liked Sears... even when i was growing up in the 70s, my family never shopped at Sears... everything in that stores looks cheap... the only reason we would go to Sears back in the day was to buy candy or popcorn... or an ICEE... remember when Sears sold candy? so did Montgomery Ward... another store we didn't shop at...
The issue was never whether DeGeneres is a lesbian, it was that she is an obnoxious, obscene, aggressive and deliberately offensive lesbian activist making verbal war on a large proportion of JC Penneys’ customer base. Countering that by bleating “Well, you’re just a homophobe if you don’t shop here” isn’t going to pay the rent. As is now obvious.
Oh my yes. But management too is overwhelmed with the complaints...there is nothing they can do but report to those above them..and they do. Unfortunately I think the guy at the top has closed ears ...he’s on a mission he intends to carry out regardless.
I think i’ve tried pretty much everything, including saying nothing at all.
You would not be the only JCP employee to have that issue- it does not do any good to lash out at the employee, but unfortunately that is what people do. I try to kill the message, not the messenger.
That’s terrible for you and not at all fair. It’s too bad there isn’t somewhere customers can voice concerns and actually have those get to the people who should see what’s going on! I’ve even closed my charge account, but I know no one hears what I have to say. You are the face of the store and unfortunately the only connection.
It’s pretty widespread for most employees....it does wear you down and you have no enthusiasm for going into work....you are on the defensive because the complaints continue and you never know when the next ones going to “hit”.
I liked her a lot when she was a professional comedian who happened to be a lesbian. I don’t like since she’s become a professional lesbian who happens to work as a comedian.
Well they are surely listening now, problem is it’s too late...the store really cannot undo the changes ...they have to go forward. They can hike the prices, as they’re doing, and offer coupons again....but it’s the product line and whole manner of changes that are affecting customers.
You cannot cash out a customer on an I-pod and when done tell them they have to go to a register anyway , because they’re paying in cash. You’ve just taken their time all over again. Same if they want a hard copy receipt...they have to go to a register to get it.
The board is already looking for Johnson’s replacement. They are looking for a real turnaround person which means more cuts, but a different approach to marketing and merchandising. Bad news is bankruptcy filing is likely early next year unless there is a Christmas Miracle.
AMF JCP
Who’s going to want the challege if Johnson’s out?....
And I cannot see how many more employees they can cut....I’ve watched part-time hours go to 4 and 8 hrs for the entire week for some. Not to mention the staff is already a skeleton.
You have to look closer than Christmas, in this respect. Vendors prepare ahead for the season..and are now lining up their wares for the store buyers...many are very timid now concerning the state of affairs, and some have pulled out already...( The coffee company earmarked for the stores backed out a week or so ago).....there’s allot of work to do even in sustaining the status quo, let alone another taking over....which could in itself crash the business altogether.
IMO Johnson has them over a barrel....danged if they do or don’t keep him.
Right now, Johnson isn’t calling the shots any more. The board is. The Christmas situation is really tough for the vendors. They’re the ones that are going to get screwed bigtime in bankruptcy. As well as the stockholders, of course.
I stopped buying there too. Maybe their business can operate with purchases from 3 % of the buying public but from a business decision standpoint it was a very stupid thing to do.
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