Subsequent to a three person interview, I was hired as a window and door estimator on 9/11/23. The Indeed ad stated that the salary was $50,000 to $85,000. When asked during the interview I stated that with the wide salary window posted, and my 27 years of experience, I certainly felt that starting at least at $65,000 was a reasonable investment to expect from the company. I was called three days later and was offered $55,000. I needed to get back to work, so I accepted the position for the salary offered. The man who was training me on company policies and procedures was an easy-going guy that seemed a bit frustrated with day-to-day challenges as they pertained to the product knowledge of sales staff. It only took me a couple of hours to see exactly what he meant. I asked him if there had been any attempt to get the sales staff trained. His answer was, "it hasn't been for the lack of trying." Anyone in the Florida window business knows about SHGC and egress codes. Not only was the sales staff completely unfamiliar with these two "Windows 101" codes, but they didn't know anything about referring to Architectural windows. Architectural windows are full circles, half circles, octagons, eyebrows, fans, etc... basically shaped, fixed windows. Being proactive, I printed a basic chart that showed the different architectural shapes with their names. I also printed out the two codes for egress and SHGC. After I put these few items together, I spoke with Harry K., the window and door sales manager. When I asked if he thought it would be advantageous to assist the sales team in having a Product Knowledge tutorial with one of our suppliers, his initial facial reaction was that of obvious anger. He barked back at me and said, "I know what the sales team needs!!" Although he was visibly agitated, he asked me for some examples of what I was noticing. I showed him a Half Circle architectural transom. He called it an "Eyebrow". I could see now that this was just going to be a waste of time. Especially now that Harry had shown indignance with my suggestion to help the sales team as well as his own product knowledge shortcomings. Prior to coming onboard at Garabar, I was working as outside sales. Over my tenure in the business, I managed to aquire a lot of contacts. Now that I was no longer going to be in sales, I offered my book of business to Pam H., the Department Manager. She said that I should call all of my contacts and pave the way for the company to do business with Garabar. I responded that I'd be happy to make in person introductions. That seemed to annoy Pam and she reiterated that I should be the one making contact alone. She also said that Garabar was not really looking for builders to sell to. Garabar was much more interested in selling to homeowners because they could sell at a higher mark-up. The final straw of my 9 day employment was when I was told that I needed to unload two trucks of material. One truck had nine sliding glass door panels, weighing 300+ pounds each. The other delivery was six hollow metal door panels. The job description said nothing about carrying extremely heavy materials. It DID state that I would need to accurately "check in" material. Checking in material is a clipboard and pen, not carrying 300 pounds on my back. I went into the office, asked Pam H if there was a fofklift available. One of the other two girls in the office said, "It's your back that unloads, not a forklift". I was fired an hour later. It's sad when a manager isn't able to see the benefits of an experienced employee because he/she is so affected by inferiority issues. A week later I ran into an employee from Garabar in the grocery store. I told him about my experience. He replied that Harry is hardheaded and immature. Additionally, the window department was projected to sell $50 million last year. They only sold $20 million. I'm sure their roofing division must be better than the window division.
Garabar Roofing, Windows and Doors Reviews
Subsequent to a three person interview, I was hired as a window and door estimator on 9/11/23. The Indeed ad stated that the salary was $50,000 to $85,000. When asked during the interview I stated that with the wide salary window posted, and my 27 years of experience, I certainly felt that starting at least at $65,000 was a reasonable investment to expect from the company. I was called three days later and was offered $55,000. I needed to get back to work, so I accepted the position for the salary offered. The man who was training me on company policies and procedures was an easy-going guy that seemed a bit frustrated with day-to-day challenges as they pertained to the product knowledge of sales staff. It only took me a couple of hours to see exactly what he meant. I asked him if there had been any attempt to get the sales staff trained. His answer was, "it hasn't been for the lack of trying." Anyone in the Florida window business knows about SHGC and egress codes. Not only was the sales staff completely unfamiliar with these two "Windows 101" codes, but they didn't know anything about referring to Architectural windows. Architectural windows are full circles, half circles, octagons, eyebrows, fans, etc... basically shaped, fixed windows. Being proactive, I printed a basic chart that showed the different architectural shapes with their names. I also printed out the two codes for egress and SHGC. After I put these few items together, I spoke with Harry K., the window and door sales manager. When I asked if he thought it would be advantageous to assist the sales team in having a Product Knowledge tutorial with one of our suppliers, his initial facial reaction was that of obvious anger. He barked back at me and said, "I know what the sales team needs!!" Although he was visibly agitated, he asked me for some examples of what I was noticing. I showed him a Half Circle architectural transom. He called it an "Eyebrow". I could see now that this was just going to be a waste of time. Especially now that Harry had shown indignance with my suggestion to help the sales team as well as his own product knowledge shortcomings. Prior to coming onboard at Garabar, I was working as outside sales. Over my tenure in the business, I managed to aquire a lot of contacts. Now that I was no longer going to be in sales, I offered my book of business to Pam H., the Department Manager. She said that I should call all of my contacts and pave the way for the company to do business with Garabar. I responded that I'd be happy to make in person introductions. That seemed to annoy Pam and she reiterated that I should be the one making contact alone. She also said that Garabar was not really looking for builders to sell to. Garabar was much more interested in selling to homeowners because they could sell at a higher mark-up. The final straw of my 9 day employment was when I was told that I needed to unload two trucks of material. One truck had nine sliding glass door panels, weighing 300+ pounds each. The other delivery was six hollow metal door panels. The job description said nothing about carrying extremely heavy materials. It DID state that I would need to accurately "check in" material. Checking in material is a clipboard and pen, not carrying 300 pounds on my back. I went into the office, asked Pam H if there was a fofklift available. One of the other two girls in the office said, "It's your back that unloads, not a forklift". I was fired an hour later. It's sad when a manager isn't able to see the benefits of an experienced employee because he/she is so affected by inferiority issues. A week later I ran into an employee from Garabar in the grocery store. I told him about my experience. He replied that Harry is hardheaded and immature. Additionally, the window department was projected to sell $50 million last year. They only sold $20 million. I'm sure their roofing division must be better than the window division.