CompUSA Why you have problems at CompUSA. This is how employees are treated New York New York

This report is not to CompUSA. They have alreay received this complaint back in September and have chosen to do nothing about it. Since this complaint was made and since nothing was done about it, store managers, sales managers, operations managers and other levels of management have left CompUSA.

The CompUSA stores are being run by quite inexperienced managers who have received little to no training. Hopefully this will help you to understand why you have the problems you have when you walk into a CompUSA store. The mistreatment of employees is absolutely unbelievable and the fact that everyone right up to the CEO of the company has chose to let this continue to this day says something about CompUSA. Here is the letter that was written to the CEO of the company back in September:

"I am a General Manager in Region 8. Writing to you is out of character in our region and very uncomfortable for me in particular. But we are passionate on the subject of this note as are the majority of my peers in our region.

There is a problem in region 8 with our Regional Manager, Charlie Brasby

Team member productivity is determined by their relationship with their immediate supervisor. Of all the workplace stressors we have, a bad boss is possibly the worst, directly impacting the emotional health and productivity of the team members. It is the number one reason employees leave companies.

Employees find that public humiliation is the most intolerable. The first time, team members may not leave, but the thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, the individual starts looking for another job. When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression; by digging their heels in and slowing down, by doing what they are told to and no more. Our hearts and souls are no longer in our job. Charlie has taken that away by his actions since he has come to region 8.

Charlie is a nasty manager and he is creating a hostile work environment that is severe and pervassive throughout the region. He seems to take pleasure in making General Managers squirm. He has stated to each of us that "I don't fire General Managers, I make your life so miserable that you quit." We are in constant fear of losing our jobs by his actions and communications. He calls us names inappropriate for a workplace. He uses profanity at us. Not a day goes by where there is not a threat that we better perform "Or I will kill you."

Charlie is a political manager. He has an unerring ability to know what will make him look good. He will go to bat for you only on issues that serve his personal political agenda. He's sneaky. He won't think twice about using us as a sacrificail lamb to suport his own career goals. We've heard that on a recent Barry McCook visit Charlie got upset with the GM and told him "It's a good thing that Barry McCook is here or I'd tear you apart." He has re-stated that to the GM several more times in the following days.

The suggestion of physical violence is again inappropriate in the workplace and underscores the constant mental and emotional abuse this region is subjected to by Charlie.

Charlie is an obsessive micro-manager. He trusts us the way you would trust a five year old behind the wheel of the car. We are completely demotivated and have lost our sense of competence. We're drowning in work but he keeps heaping on more. His time lines are unachievable, setting us up for failure before we even start. I believe he is so pre-occupied or so focused on getting the work done that he's not aware of the impact of his behavior on the team members around him. I don't think he's aware of the workload that we have right now or that he should be providing focus and balance to insure we can manage to a successful conclusion. He's not providing coaching or direction only threats and intimidation.

Mr. Compton, it isn't the 100th blow that knocks a good man down. It's the 99 that went before. While it's true that people leave jobs for all kinds of reasons, for better opportuniteis or for circumstancial reasons, many who leave would have stayed had it not been one man telling them: "You are dispensable. I can find dozens like you."

While it seems like there are plenty of other fish, especially in today's waters, consider for a moment the cost of losing a talented team member: the cost of finding a replacement, the cost of training the replacement, the cost of not having someone do the job in the meantime, the loss of morale in co-workers, the loss of trade secrets this person may now share with others.

Plus, of course, there is also the loss of the company's reputation. Every person who leaves the company then becomes its ambassador, for better or for worse.

I've given you some very brief examples of Charlie's managment style. There are many more. Morale in our region is at an all time low. We talk about this every day. Charlie shows very little respect for our dedication and performance. He does not treat us with the respect and dignity we are entitled to in the work environment. We do not come to our stores everyday intentionally wanting to "screw up or not try hard enough." although that is the message we receive.

We work hard. Many of us love working at CompUSA. Many of us have been with the company a long time. We don't want to leave our jobs because of "bad boss syndrome." I have heard that most GM's and regional staff members have had several confrontations with Charlie. We have heard that he has berated GM's and staff members openly in front of their peers and subordinates. We have heard that many GM's in Charlie's old region have had major issues with his management style but were too afraid to voice it for fear of retribution. Charlie wants all issues to stay within the region. We believe he spreads that message to keep his poor management behaviors from getting back to corporate.

Becasue of the fear of retribution from him should he find out who sent this letter to you, we are unwilling to put our names on it. I know that letters sent anonymously don't hold the same credibility as one that is signed, but we still want to work here. We are positive that once Charlie hears of this, life in region 8 will become increasingly mmore difficult, but we all feel that his behavior must change immediately and are appealing to you to intercede.

Our suggestion to you is to anonymously solicit 360 feedback from the GM's currently in region 8 and region 16 so you have a complete picture of Charlie's management style and the resulting problems.

Charlie's job is to build our confidence and morale, not destroy it. We want common courtesy and respect from him as professionals and managers. We don't want to be berated, called names, threatened, and have profanity used against us any longer, Plus its against the law (1998 U.S. Supreme Court: Faragher v. City of Boca Raton was the first case to state that companies must PREVENT-not simply react to-ALL hostile acts at work. "Hostile acts" include employee violence, harrassment, intimidation, discrimination and other behaviors that prevent an employee from doing his or her job.)

We have had enough, This must stop.

Please help us

CompUSA General Managers, Region 8"

A couple of weeks after that letter was sent a vice president from our corporate office came to new york to "have lunch" with us. During that lunch it was made clear that we needed to shut up and not cause any problems. This thug and bully named Charlie was going to continue to do whatever he wanted to do.

And continue he has. Since then we have lost 3 good General Managers, two of them being the only african-american GM's we had. We have lost most of our Sales Managers and a great many of our Operations Managers. These are the top managers of each store. So the next time you go into one of the New York metro area stores and think to yourself that the manager you're dealing with is unprofessional, you know why. He or she has most likely been thrown into that postion with little or no training. The only thing they know is their natural instict to defend themselves.

To be fair to Charlie, he does have his good points. He employed a friend of his who lost his job, supposedly due to questionalbe practices. His friend needed employment to support himself and his family. He was given a pretty good salary and was put in charge of a store after being in the company for only a couple of weeks. Charlie really helped this guy out. Unfortunately this person stole from the company and gave away company product. Being the nice guy that he is though, Charlie didn't fire his friend. He took him out of the store he was in and moved him to the flagship store of the company so he could get some training. Maybe he though that this friend of his needed honesty and integrity training.........I wonder.

If you are thinking of answering one of the many Monster postings that CompUSA has in the New York area you now know exactly what you can expect and how you will be treated. Of course, if you are a friend of Charlie's then do yourself a favor and apply. You'll have it made.

Fed Up with CompUSA
New York, New York
U.S.A.

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