Uline reviews

Oh where do I begin? I was a customer service representative from 2004 to 2012 in the Pennsylvania branch. Initially, I was excited about having a steady paycheck and finding my way in the working world. Then as time went on, I saw Uline for what it is really worth. I relate to an onion, the more layers you peel off, the more it stinks. Uline is all about pretending. They pretend to care about their employees when in reality every single employee there is expendable and is nothing but a piece of meat to the powers that be. The amount of fake caring there is astounding. Sure, they will give employees occasional catered lunches, pot lucks and dress down days but as I said, it is all a charade. They don't really care about you as a PERSON, you are just there to work and work and make money for the company all while being a robot and doing EVERYTHING the "Uline" way. If you have a problem, sure you can talk to management about it privately, but don't expect anything to happen, because it won't. I'm talking about little things such as getting a chair that is more ergonomically correct for your body to larger concerns such as asking to work part time to take care of a personal matter. If CSR's are to do a soulless and thankless job for hours on end at an uncomfortable desk then you think they would at least make you comfortable with a new chair, but no they won't do it because you don't have a legit medical reason and god forbid it doesn't go with the ugly green chair decor everyone else has. i asked for a new chair so I didn't end up with a medical issue but they still said no. Now, let me get to the job itself. As I said, it is a soulless and thankless job. You are a robot to them, you have to sit at your desk and take call after call after call for 8 hours a day. If your lucky enough you can break up that day by doing emails or instant chats. You only get 15 minutes of coffee time a day and if you go over that you WILL hear about it from management. Fact is you need more than 15 minutes to compose yourself and regain your sanity each day. Despite what they say you are truly micromanaged to an unfathomable degree. As a CSR you have multiple weekly metrics to make such as call time, error rate, COW rate (customer ordered wrong) etc. You get a weekly report and if any of those metrics were failed, you again will hear about it from management. When they do confront you about it, they speak down to you like you are a 2nd grader. It is insulting and in no way should any employee be treated like that. The absolute worst thing about working there was having to do everything the "Uline" way. This got me so irate on a nearly daily basis because the management there is unbelievably shortsighted in that they refuse to believe that there is more than one way to perform the functions of your job. Don't ever think about suggesting ways to improve the company or even your own job, you are just wasting your breath. No one there will listen to your ideas because sadly the company keeps doing well and they see no reason to change. The performance of the job was based on "speed, passion and operational excellence". I can give you a specific example of how ideas are not listened to. At one point, CSR's entered orders in the AS400 computer system. It mostly used the function keys on the keyboard to operate. I became very good at using this system. Then one day they developed and implemented a Java based order entry system that was graphically intensive and required use of the mouse. When operational, this system caused a majority of CSR's talk time to increase because the program was sluggish. I asked if I could use the old AS400 and was flat out told i could not, and if I did I would be penalized on my metrics. If they truly care about "speed and operational excellence" then they would let CSR's use the AS400 because they can service customer's faster, but no that logical and simple idea was rejected. Management also makes you turn into a cheerleader while on the phone. Seriously, they want you to sound bubbly and happy to every customer on the phone, even for the most extroverted person that is a near impossibility. The thing I can relate it to is the "corporate accounts payable" lady from the movie "Office Space" If you heard her then you know how ridiculous they wanted you to sound while on the phone. Personally If I were calling, I wouldn't care how the person was on the phone, as long as I got what I wanted then as a customer I'm happy. But again no, they want to control every aspect of your job and make your life truly unbearable while working. For many years, I simply hated working there. It turned me into a person that I hated. I looked around at my co-workers and wondered why they weren't seeing just how unethical this company really is, why they couldn't see it like I did. Overall, they treated employees like they were in kindergarten. Once a year, they would have a customer service week which included puzzles and sometimes arts and craft projects etc. Every year it was based on a "theme". I hated this week as it belittled me even further. The company has no concept of how to treat their employees like ADULTS. At one point, we had to stick party hats....yes party hats on top of our monitors to signal when we were at the bathroom, and if you had to go, you had to first stand up and look around to see how many hats were on monitors to see if you were allowed to go. Are you all catching my drift yet? Uline is privately owned and therefore does not have any stockholders to answer to. The dress code is business professional, which means guys have to wear ties. That in and of itself is not unheard of, what is unheard of is that women have to wear knee length skirts and panty hoes during the winter months and only around Memorial day can they stop wearing panty hoes. Hey Uline this is 2015 not 1950! This dress code is a directive from Liz the owner. Yes, women can wear pant suits but of course they have to match. I'm trying to drive home that this place is run like a cult and it will destroy you if you stay there long enough. For years, it ripped out my heart and soul and stepped on it. Sadly people will still buy from Uline and therefore the company won't ever learn from their litany of mistakes. Ex and current employees can hope that the company culture will change to reflect 2015 but in all likelihood the culture will never change because Liz's children are next in line to take over and when I was there I saw nothing that indicated the antiquated culture would ever change. People who wil succeed at Uline are people who have no self respect and like being "yes" people. It is for people who have no problem being told EXACTLY what to do at their job all while getting sucked into the brainwashing cult that is Uline. It is for people who just want to coast through life and never take any chances on doing something they really want to do! Let's face it, who actually has a goal to work in a call center? Lastly, there were a few instances where Liz the owner sent out an email to everyone essentially spreading her conservative views. I remember one email basically saying that although they didn't vote for Obama, we have to stand behind him....etc etc. In no way shape of form should ANYONE'S political views come out, ESPECIALLY those of the owner! I still to this day can not believe her views. If you think I'm kidding, just take a look at any catalog and Liz always has a small section on a page that contains her viewpoints. If you value your sanity and have even an ounce of self respect then you will not like Uline. After, I left I was immensely happy because I regained my sanity and took control back of my life! This review only covers a fraction of my experiences at Uline, but read the other negative reviews and you will see that I am not the only person to have such a negative experience while working at Uline.