#davidstea

[moshintheteagaiwan]

T. Kettle Part 12: Time To Go

When I first applied for the managers position at T. Kettle, I was very nervous and kept wondering if it was a mistake. What if I left my job as an exterminator and things at T. Kettle didn’t work out? Could I get my old job back? Would I find myself unemployed for a while? Besides some encouraging words from friends, the big thing that pushed me over was that the company was so new at the time, having only been around for less then a year, and so as it grew they would need to hire for position such as regional manager.

During my initial interview with the company I had expressed great interest in moving up to regional manager should the job ever become available. I was told that when this position opened up that people within the company would be given the opportunity to apply. I was also told this frequently during my time with the company, as were other managers who were wanting to move up. Throughout the year the company had closed stores and opened more.

Maggie, whom you may remember was one of my seasonal staff, was able to get a managers position of her own at a new store that was roughly an hour from where she lived. It was a massive store and they gave her the same speech they gave me about how great the store looked and how the stock was there and everything was ready to go. She too was met with a dirty, partially set up store with no cleaning supplies, and even worse, because of the company no longer having a teaware supplier, she had only a little stock from a closed store to fill her shelves, but it was not nearly enough.

I congratulated her and wished her best, but I knew the best was never coming. About a week later while browsing in Indeed for jobs I saw a new posting from T. Kettle looking for a regional manager. I thought that was odd considering they had not told anyone that this position was now open. I felt so let down by this. My store had high numbers consistently. I had expressed my want to this position numerous time and was promised a chance to interview for it when the time came, and yet I never got a word. None of us did. I called the other managers and they too were shocked.

I decided to take shot and apply for the position on Indeed anyway to see what would happen. Days went by and nothing. I heard from no one. I was deflated and it was clearer now more then ever that not only was the company full of shit, but that it was gonna sink and I needed to abandon ship. As luck would have it my old employer had begun treating the mall food court and on several occasions I ran into my old boss who would always ask me if I was ready to come back.

I usually told no because in truth I didn’t want to go through the physicality of being an exterminator again, but on this particular occasion, he joked that an office position was open but figured I wouldn’t be interested. I told him I absolutely would be! Seeing that I was serious he said he would talk to the current office staff and get back to me, and a few days later he called me to offer me the job, and to let him know when I was ready to come back. At this time I decided to take one more shot at the regional managers position.

I emailed HR directly with my resume and explained that I had been promised an interview for the position and that if I was not given my fair shot that I would be turning in my 2 weeks notice. I never heard a word from and neither did any other manager. And so that was it, I was through. I put in my two weeks and shockingly the company got back to me within a couple hours to wish me luck and let me know who would be taking my position so I could train them.

I informed my team who were not happy but understood. I never kept them in the dark about the bullshit that was going on behind the scenes. Fast forward to three days before my time was up and I still had not heard back from the company on my replacement. I emailed that and they said they were still looking. I suggested having Maggie take my position as she lived close to the store and had already worked for me and with my team. They decided to take my recommendation and Maggie was transferred to take my position. It was a good thing too because her store never did get it stock and with only a couple months was shut down. And I returned to my old employer in a new position and never looked back.

I kept tabs on the store since leaving. For roughly another year my store remained open in the mall while more stores continued to close. My old stock was given the majority of the stock which helped keep the shelves full but there was still no new teaware supplier and still on going issues getting tea to stock the tea wall. Maggie’s partner also worked for T. Kettle behind the scenes and reported multiple people leaving or getting fired which created more delay.

A little over a year after I left my old store was shut down due to lease issues and transferred to another nearby mall, however it remained closed and employees unpaid until renovations were complete because in this case they had not moved to an old DavidsTea location but instead an old chocolate store, so the whole space had to be remodelled.

Finally after a long wait they reopened. I went to visit them and saw that they had been converted to also selling waffles and boba. I was also told that the company which at it’s highest had around 45 stores was now down to just 3. Upon this last visit I felt more confidant in my decision to leave then I ever had. I truly hoped to relive my Teavana days and create a new haven for tea lovers but it was not in the cards. This was truly a clear case of a company taking on too much and a subject which they new nothing about, and had no business being a part of.

But I am glad for the 10 months I had there. Yes, this was all within 10 months. I do miss my team and getting to hang with them and making new relationships with other mall employees. However, it wasn’t meant to be, but judging from where the company is at now, I have no regrets.

The End.

[89mix]

[schizophelia]

New tea! Missing my advent calendar but it’ll come later as it’s preorder.

[teainspoons]

DAVIDsTEA’s Hazelnut Chocolate | Tea Review

[slipthroughmyfingers]

Vanilla Cappuccino 

[moonblossom]

A little something special for the month of December.. I'll be posting on social media every day and then a full summary on the blog when it's finished. #matcha #adventcalendar #tea #davidstea (at Montreal, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClmoPSlryIc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[relkefitness]

Guess who is back on Tumblr?!

I’m back where it all started in 2010. With the 9,000+ of you who supported me in university, as I entered the fitness industry, and all the crazy things in between.

I have some catching up to do; like what are the new “rules” around here? But I can’t wait to post more!

[rachellaurengray]

[foxgloveinspace]

i got my DAVIDsTEA order and I'm so freaking in love with it already. Links to the mug i got and then all four of the teas I got.

I want to do a nice little picture thing with the mug tomorrow and my journal, but I have a lot to do before company and the holiday so we'll see.

[limewatt]

i’ve been getting really into tea lately

[moshintheteagaiwan]

T.Kettle Part 5: Rebranding & The Lock

As time progressed and more and more people started to find our store, we got mixed reactions. Some customers were former Teavana fans who were still searching for Teavana replacement teas from years prior. I even remembered some of these customers and they remembered me which was pretty cool. The rest of the customers could be evenly split into two group.

Group one were customers who were big DavidsTea fans and were glad to see a new tea shop open up in their place. Many had heard about DavidsTea’s mass closures during the pandemic, and were searching for DavidsTea replacement teas. These clients were very easy going and we were able to help them bridge the gap between us and DavidsTea and set them up with familiar teas and products.

Group two was the worst. This group of customers were people who were convinced, beyond a doubt, that we were not a new tea shop, but instead we were DavidsTea rebranded. And no matter what I told these people, they would not believe otherwise. Some pointed out idiotic observations to prove their case. For example, DavidsTea had tea canisters behind the counter, and so do we, so we must be DavidsTea rebranded. My favourite was “well DavidsTea sold loose tea, just like you, so you must be DavidsTea.”

Really people? Every tea shop in existence has had tea canisters behind the counter. This is not an exclusive to DavidsTea idea. And on the subject of tea shops, DavidsTea was not the first to sell loose leaf teas. Teavana, Teaopia, Citizen Tea, all sold loose leaf teas, not to mentioned countless independent shops throughout the country. Some even tried to prove we were the same shop rebranded by using the article that had been published about T.Kettle.

They argued that the article said that T.Kettle would be opening up in former DavidsTea locations, but that DavidsTea had also left four locations open as flagship stores. “See it says right here! It’s just DavidsTea rebranded.”, they would argue.

I loved to point out the other parts of the article they missed while cherry picking their evidence. Like the article stating clearly that T.Kettle was owned by a totally different person, and this person had bought out the leases for closed DavidsTea locations. You think they would understand right? No. These customer still argued that that was just DavidsTea tea rebranding itself. And with these clients I had a simple policy of keep your ignorance to yourself and either buy or leave. While I never said to a client most did leave... and drive to DavidsTea!

Why on earth would you leave a drive to a DavidsTea while under the impression that the store your currently standing in is the same store, and same company with a different name???

Now on the other hand I can’t blame these customers too much, or at least not the ones who pointed out the most obvious similarities that could cause confusion. And believe me, all the T.Kettle managers reported these issues to the company as we were all facing this dilemma. You see besides T.Kettle switching the colour scheme from baby blue and white to navy blue and white, that is pretty much where they left any changes. The stores kept the same DavidsTea layout with the same counter tops, same display bays, same floor display stands, they even left the DavidsTea stickers of the hot water dispenser and told us to “scribble over the name with a sharpie”. They even took down the tea type decals above the tea wall, and replaced them with cheaper, but almost identical versions.

(A shot of a T.Kettle store. Notice how it looks almost exactly like a DavidsTea store, besides the name change and canister color change.)

On conference calls when almost every manager complained that these clear cut similarities were causing an issue, they company gave us a whole speech on how they understood and were working on it. While I’m sure to some extent they did understand, they were for sure not working on it, because to make changes would cost money and they whole reason no other changes were made to begin with was because that would cost money.

The one other change T.Kettle did make was the creation of their mascot “Teddy”.

We actually really loved Teddy. He appeared on many stickers and labels we used and was on our tote bags. And because he was only depicted from the waist up, we spent much time entertaining ourselves with what he wore underneath. It being Covid times and many people worked virtually on a webcam, it was a known fact that many people who appeared to be in work or business attire were in their pajamas or boxers from the waist down since the camera couldn’t see this. So we decided to debate on what we thought he was wearing from the waist down.

The popular opinion was that he was in silk, polka dot boxer shorts, with long twig like legs, covered with stubble, argyle socks running up his ankles, but still wore really expensive, long pointed toe dress shoes. I decided to that he was never without a tea cup in his hand and if you were to knock it out of his hand, another would instantly appear. We had a lot of fun talking about Teddy.

The other issue we spent the summer dealing with was that we had a staff of three people, and only one key for the gates. Remember I said at the end of orientation I was only given one key? This was because the others had gone missing. Why is this an issue you ask? Because unless the same person is opening every day, other staff members also needed a key to open the gate in the morning. I reported this issue to the company and it took two months for them to send a locksmith.

In the meantime I had to make sure every end of day shift was scheduled so that the person who was to open the next day would be in store so they could take the key with them for the next morning, or if possible one staff member would drive to the opener after their shift. This was a major pain in the ass to say the least. What if the opener called in sick and no one else had a key? We’d be screwed.

I called the lock company who installed the locks and I learned that DavidsTea had purchased the rights to this particular lock and key set and that normally they could give new keys, however DavidsTea had stopped paying their fee to the lock company and therefore they were not going to do anything for us. I reported this to the company as well thinking maybe it would give them a push to get someone to us sooner, but no.

Finally the day came when the locksmith did arrive. Two months of waiting for a job that took him 20 minutes. But we finally had one key for each staff member plus and extra key for new hired. Crisis averted. Now the next task was preparing for the first store visit from... HEAD OFFICE!

To be continued....

[cator99]

Most of the fun of getting something you want is going out looking for it and discovering something about the world around you and yourself in the process. I will never be an Online Orders type of person. I've brought in 4 packages for my housemates today alone. Davidstea. Amazon. Petsmart. Amazon again. Once again I suspect spiritual ills are at play.

[schizophelia]

DavidsTea fucked up my order so I told them and they said they’ll send me the replacements for the tea that I didn’t get.

I’m a loyal customer and this is the first time I had any issue with my orders.

They were super helpful thankfully.

[teainspoons]

DAVIDsTEA’s Hojicha | Tea Review

[menchie]

simply nailogical x davidstea

[bleachbleachbleach]

Meme

Tagged by @r473n! Thank you! Check out their responses as well!

Rules: Answer and tag 6 people!

Favorite color: red; but to wear, purples/greens/blues Last Song: N/A Currently reading: I just finished Erasure by Percival Everett and A Bestiary by Lily Hoang (I prefer other books by both authors to these two, though...). No current book because I need to switch gears and care for my browser tabs! My current tabs are:

40 Acres and a Lie by Alexia Fernández Campbell, April Simpson, and Pratheek Rebala

Dr. Renji AU, part 1.5a+b by @recurring-polynya

Crow Jane Makes a Modest Proposal by Saidiya Hartman

<3333333333

Currently craving: I wanted a taquito so I already ate (...three). Coffee or tea: t e a! <3

from a shelf-organizing session. not all teas are pictured

Raspberry passionfruit black tea from Grandma's Cheesebarn in Ohio; hazelnut chocolate from DavidsTea (my favorite dessert tea but I don't think they make it anymore? :(((); a sencha from an omiyage brand that's everywhere but that bag is from Minamikyuushu; manoomin tea from Thunder Bay, ON; strawberry green tea from the Nikkei Museum in Vancouver, BC; Soba Cha from the Oakland Tea Company; lapsang souchang (my Matsumoto tea) from T2; and some very fancy Taiwanese oolongs sourced by a couple teashops in Seattle.

I no-pressure tag the 6 most recent people in our Activity! @cymraes99, @boredisme, @nightjarred, @terriblepuns-n-roses, @suprememysticalbeing, @adaneth