I would like to bring your attention to an experience we encountered with the Associate personnel at a J.C. Penney store. Back in March 2018, my daughter and I were shopping at the J.C. Penney store (#0439) at the Eastview Mall in Victor, NY. My daughter saw a sign indicating “help wanted” and became very excited, as she was looking for a part time job while in high school. She is 16 years old. She applied, had an interview, and received a job offer on March 13th, 2018. She went through training, filled out financial paperwork, and purchased some basic J.C. Penney appropriate working clothes. Bottom line, on July 9th, 2018, she had yet to be schedule for a single work hour and was notified that the position would not work out. Therefore, for 4 months, she was effectively out of the job market as she tried to negotiate with Paula P., the HR associate at J.C. Penney, for working hours. The primary complaint from Paula was that she had limited availability due to school and school sports, which is understandably a legitimate issue, however, my daughter stated outright on the application form, then in the interview, that this would be the case. If this was an issue with J.C. Penney personnel, then she should not have been offered the job, or she should have been told in a timely manner that this was not going to work out, not 4 months later! Throughout these 4 months, not once did Paula work with my daughter to discuss “specific” work times to see if she was available. Paula repeatedly stated that she would like more availability (remaining vague about specifics), and each time we gave her more options, as sports and then school ended, she upped the need. I fully understand the difficulties in creating schedules for personnel, however, this situation was handled in such an unprofessional way that I feel the need to speak out about it. Initially, Paula would call her during school hours and then not answer her phone when my daughter called back, thus, in an effort to improve communications between Paula and my daughter to facilitate scheduling work hours, I communicated directly with Paula. My phone messages and emails would go unanswered for a week at a time, which, as a person who works with many professionals, I find this absolutely unacceptable in a work environment. When I spoke with the Store Manager, Linda W., she essentially backed up Paula (also very understandable). However, she stated that she objected to the fact that I had intervened, and at a point in the conversation succinctly dismissed me and walked away. As a person, and a 25+ year customer of the J.C. Penney Stores, I found this behavior extremely rude, inappropriate, and unprofessional.

I write this note, not because I am looking for anything, but as a warning to others. Unfortunately, everyone lost here: the J.C. Penney Company lost a hard-working, A-student who regularly gets involved with volunteering and other activities as a potential employee, and my daughter endured a difficult and distasteful experience as her first “real” job, that effectively never happened!