Retail manager gets put on blast for passive-aggressive note to "new" employees: 'I am no longer accepting the bare minimum... do the job you're paid for, or you will be promoted to customer!'

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 1, 2025 11:00 AM EST

This retail manager penned a strongly worded note to her staffers, but perhaps she didn't think through the implications of telling them they could be "promoted to customer." 

It's no secret that the holiday season is a stressful one for retail workers at stores of all sizes. I know what you're thinking: of course it's stressful when everyone is piled in to get their gifts before the holidays. Yes, customers are a huge part of why working retail is the worst. But in these modern days, and for the last few decades, there's been an outsized interest in getting customers to sign up for email programs. This is what the manager in this story is upset about, and the pressure that bosses like her place on employees is enormous. 

This manager seems to be under pressure from her boss, but the way she's insisting that her employees follow suit is rather off-putting! Commenters agreed that this style of communication wouldn't help anyone. Instead of threatening to promote their workers to customers, maybe they could make some kind of incentive program instead. Like, maybe you still need to get 5 sign-ups per shift, but if you get 50 sign-ups in a month, you get a gift card or something. That would probably never happen, knowing how stingy many owners are, but I just think it would work to raise morale and give the workers something to look forward to… rather than just daydreaming about the day they finally promote themselves to customer. 

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  • 01

    'Notes that my boss leaves for the seasonal employees'

    You All HAVE BEEN HERE Long Enough, Youre No longer "NEW" Employees & HAVE HAD Plenty of time to improve! I AM NO longer Accepting the bAre MINIMUM, you will Do the Job you're PAID for #'S ARE PART OF that, OR you will Be promoted to Customer!
    via u/ZatVandal
  • 02
    She's really nice in person and never tells anyone anything like she does in a note. But damn, the notes are rough.
    via u/ZatVandal
  • 03

    Commenters felt that this boss was acting ridiculous

    StormerSage The way some managers can crash out over whiteboard or email, but still do anything but address the issue directly with those involved, should be studied.
    via u/StormerSage
  • 04
    ZatVandal OP Idk what you mean, but the employees are actually pretty awful at getting sign ups. It sucks that corporations can't just sell merchandise and be satisfied. There's like 4 levels of managers who get yelled at for not getting every customers' email, address, phone number, and body count.
    via u/ZatVandal
  • 05

    This person has a good point --- if the manager is already taking things this seriously, she's going to be uber-stressed during the holiday season

    IguanaSkinnedSlides She's in deep with her boss. Holiday is gonna put her down.
    via u/IguanaSkinnedSlides
  • 06
    sugarcatgrl Passive-aggressive notes like this are beyond cowardly, and can be demeaning. Boss needs to verbally address problems/procedures with each employee, individually. What a cop out.
    via u/sugarcatgrl
  • 07
    Kookaburra_Hotpa... If I was left a note like that, I'd promote myself then and there, on the spot. I'd also keep the note, sending a photo to the managers up the chain.
    via u/Kookaburra_Hotpants
  • 08
    PrincessB Rips I wrote a note almost exactly like this... 11 years ago when I was 18 and a stand-in manager (our manager was fired for stealing money). I did NOT know what I was doing nor how to handle my team. 100% on me, it was a dick move, and I've learnt from it.
    via u/PrincessB***Rips
  • 09
    itsjustanotherday4 Then do exactly as your job entails. Dont go above and beyond bc that is a shitty thing to say. If someone isn't pulling their weight they need to tell that person specifically; doing the general notes like this doesn't help anything and the ppl not pulling their weight will keep doing what they do
    via u/itsjustanotherday4
  • 10
    N2tZ Horrible note to leave but "promoted to customer" is kinda funny tho
    via u/N2tZ
  • 11
    Unquestionable Had a former boss who used to do passive aggressive notes like this every so often and try to convince us that the we were always a moment away from all getting fired. Given we're a
    via u/Unquestionable
  • 12
    small company, about a dozen locations with less than a 100 staff between them all, along with the extremely low turn over rate and pretty approachable owners it was perhaps the least believable bluff she could have made. In general she was someone who was
    via u/Unquestionable
  • 13
    overly paranoid and generally overly fearful of any sort of authority to the point we would practically have to wipe a customer's ass if they asked because "well they might know the owners and get upset if we
    via u/Unquestionable
  • 14
    refuse." It's been over five years since I worked with her and still have to deal with some of the crap she normalized (random customers going in the storage area/employee bathroom, people demanding returns or discounts on things that aren't eligible).
    via u/Unquestionable
  • 15
    Veliticus The manager can't choose between a upper and lowercase in the middle of a sentence. Divorce her.
    via u/Veliticus

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boss workplace-stories jobs job retail bosses retail worker work workplace entitled entitled people
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