BrandsMart USA
Cautioned by professionals in the industry not to work for BrandsMart USA back in ’96.
Although working for BrandsMart USA was a challenge, it was fun helping selling toys to adults until ’12. (read on for beyond ’12)
Now agree, should have went down a different path. But that was then…
Coming from management positions, Assistant Manager at Consumer Electronics store HiFi Buys, before Hifi Buys was bought by Tweeter[1], then Department Manager and Service Manager for Furniture, Appliances and Consumer Electronics store Roberds,[2] both in Atlanta, Georgia, in the early to mid ‘90s, having three management rules for any staff:
- If an employee identifies an issue, that employee needs to have the resolution to that issue. It is very easy to bring up issues and upset staff morale. Having the resolution validates the employee understands the issue and the benefit of the resolution.
- If there is a personal problem, between staff members, take it outside or if supervision needed, come into the office and resolve the problem.
- Compensation conversation is a terminable offense.
Later finding the last could be a regulatory issue.
My business ethic is one of doing whatever it takes to insure the success of the company, from picking up a broom to climbing in the ceiling running wires, to empowering employees by monitoring results and insuring the company thrives!
If the company thrives, as a result, I thrive along with it.
Until my latter years with BrandsMart USA, I never asked for an increase in compensation, never had too, but should have! In retrospect, only thing I regret not doing during my entire tenure.
In violation of my last rule, the current CIO shared compensation of a specific new hire, which provoked a change in my morale way back in ’12.
Planned on staying with BrandsMart USA for one year and moving to a vendor position, with a manufacturer, Michael Perlman generously convinced to stay.
My career can be summed up in four words; I told you so… (ITYS#)
My career with the company was an anomaly. Not starting in sales and promoted to the corporate office, I was hired directly to the corporate office as the Corporate Trainer.
Working off-site designing, developing and conducting orientation and sales training, spearheading the BrandsMart USA University Training Department.
My interaction with Michael Perlman during the first six months of my employment was limited to passing in the old corporate office and distribution center in Miami.
In one instance, he put his arm around my shoulders and boasting that he put forty million dollars in the bank.
Another had him standing in his office door and called me over to him. With a cellophane wrapped, approximately, eight-inch square piece of cardboard with a stamp mounted in the center. Handing it to me to look at it and asking me what I thought it was worth. Telling him I had no idea, he volunteered it was worth fifty thousand dollars. Handing it directly back to him, he flung it about twenty feet hitting the top of his office chair and falling to the seat.
These were my first indications that the owner of the company was not a working, self-made, employer.
Back in ’97, computers were still limited in functionality, utilizing Notepad, created both the BrandsMart USA Cashier and BrandsMart USA Sales Point of Sale (POS) Windows and copying them to manuals in WordPerfect.
Utilizing the files created, manuals and workbooks, for both positions, with situational tests were used as a foundation for the BrandsMart USA Cashier and BrandsMart USA Product Specialists orientation training sessions.
Other than the above-mentioned interactions, Michael Perlman would not say a word to me.
While preparing the new Miami BrandsMart USA store training floor, Michael Perlman was visiting the Miami BrandsMart USA General Manager, prodding him to visit the training floor and office.
While in the training office, gave him the BrandsMart USA Cashier and BrandsMart USA Product Specialist manuals I created.
He wanted to know how much it cost him, responding just my salary, nothing more, he put a big smile on his face!
After seeing the progress, Michael Perlman said that for the first time in the history of the company they had training documentation of BrandsMart USA‘s proprietary Point of Sale system.
During this time, Michael Perlman conducted a monthly General Manager Meeting where procedure and policy were discussed and implemented.
He gave me copies of all the meetings he had and I reviewed them to document those procedures and policies.
Reviewing the notes, there were many references to previous trainers he had employed and to say the least, not one of the comments were positive. Comments ranged from “this trainer sucks” to “trainer does nothing.”
There was no formal training for BrandsMart USA Cashiers. BrandsMart USA Product Specialists (Sales Staff) were trained informally, unstructured in store locations.
From working at other retailers, ex-employee wanted to offer the staff an incentive in addition to a small stipend to attend structured training meetings.
Meeting with Michael Perlman, suggesting the industry practice of charging the vendors to participate with the BrandsMart USA University.
The charge would fund the ability to offer the staff that attend the training a small stipend and breakfast for the morning sessions and lunch for the afternoon sessions.
Michael Perlman told me that vendors would not pay for training. Volunteering that retailers I had worked for previously had charged for training sessions but Michael Perlman was adamant to not charging.
A few weeks later a BrandsMart USA Merchant/Buyer at the time had a vendor who wanted to schedule training and had asked about the costs associated. He went to Michael Perlman about charging the vendor for the training sessions and Michael Perlman then mandated charging vendors. (ITYS01)
During my tenure in the BrandsMart USA Training Department, all revenue went to the stipend and meals for participants.
When I left the training department, breakfast and lunches turned into snacks and the small stipend going to compensate the sales staff for attending training sessions turned into a revenue stream going to the company.
Over a three-year period, the training department received many vendor positive comments and invitations to participate in national level training programs including the Monster Cable National Training Program with first class travel to the west coast and five star accommodations!
Invitation to join Toshiba Electronics National Training Advisory Board, again, with first class travel and five star accommodations in Nashville, Tennessee.
With the expansion from the three locations on the horizon, I had to find a more efficient way of disseminating the training schedule. Purchasing Microsoft FrontPage ‘98[3], at my own expense, created a website specifically to achieve the goal to have a platform that was accessible to both management and staff.
This was before broadband,[4] Dial-up[5] 56k modems[6] were the hi-tech ticket. Doing a presentation of the training website I had created for Michael Perlman, his response was for me to come back to show the site to the executive staff during the Executive Meeting held monthly.
Unknowing to me, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Advertising Manager back then, had contracted with BellSouth to build and host the BrandsMart USA Website and had a meeting with Michael Perlman to review it. He did not like it and next thing I knew my position changed out of the training department and tasked with creating and maintaining the online presence of BrandsMart USA.
Only assuming, like all of his personnel decisions, I was the only one Michael Perlman knew that showed any competence in the field.
A few months later my counter-part, who took over my position, and I crossed paths. He was flush, sweating and he asked how I ever did what I did and had hired two others to cover the work I did myself.
[7]Insisting about sending me to Atlanta Georgia to attend training on programing languages[8] and, at the same time to, visit BellSouth Web Headquarters. BellSouth had been developing the website for over three months and needed to hear firsthand the terms of the contract BrandsMart USA entered into. Upon returning, I expressed the issues discovered to Michael Perlman and he determined that the contract was unacceptable.
In November 1999, had a branded BrandsMart USA Under Construction page displayed at the company URL. Within a couple of weeks, a complete multi-page business card site was ready for review.
The Perlman’s have a work ethic of their own when it comes to their employees. If you are newly hired, you are the expert and the experienced current employees are incompetent. Although, one could argue, as a result of their nepotism and cronyism hiring practices it is a learned behavior.
Michael Perlman had met a salesperson with a long defunct Internet Service Provider[9] (ISP), Go-Net, and called a meeting. Michael Perlman requested me to provide the design and content I had been working on. Reviewing the design the ISP recommended and objecting to the design, they recommended creating the site in “Frames”[10] a long depreciated type of design that was on its way out at the time, I was threatened with my job, but prevailed. The finished product that Michael Perlman approved from this ISP and paid over $12K for was my exact design with color changes and folder hierarchy. In April of 2000, the first informational site went live.
Negotiating with Go-Net about their hosting fees, I was able to reduce the fee in half from the amount Michael Perlman agreed to. Shortly thereafter Go-Net was going out of business and was bought by Host.Net and retained the same fees. Host.Net then was bought by 365 Data Centers.
During the next six years working off site doing all graphic, code, content and site maintenance. In June of 2000 both English and Spanish BrandsMart USA sites were posted. Every advertisement BrandsMart USA produced, in both English and Spanish, as well as, every vendor rebate offered in every category of products BrandsMart USA authorized.
The Perlman’s increase the workload of experienced long term employees without ANY additional compensation. They constantly joke about the BrandsMart USA ethic of no compensation for the increased workload.
In addition to my responsibilities, BrandsMart USA was in the planning stages to construct additional BrandsMart USA locations in West Palm Beach and South Dade. Tasked to create a presentation to introduce BrandsMart USA to city officials. With no direction from executives other than providing data, working with the Palm Beach Post, aggregating economic and employment impact data. As well as, BrandsMart USA accomplishments, financial growth and awards.
Completing the presentation the evening before the scheduled meeting before West Palm Beach city officials, printing enough copies on my own printer, again at my own expense, and arriving at Kinko’s, now FedEx Office Print & Ship Services Inc. at 11:00 PM to have the presentations bound. Left Kinko’s at 2:00AM and had to meet the Vice President of Operations,[11] at the time, at 7:30 AM to go to West Palm Beach and conduct the introduction.
Distributing the presentation to the attendees, the officials complimented the presentation by conveying that both Walmart and AutoNation solicited for approval for the same site, the BrandsMart USA presentation was the best they had seen. BrandsMart USA got all zoning changes and variances needed to proceed and construct the West Palm Beach location.
BrandsMart USA used the presentation foundation to introduce BrandsMart USA to officials of each city expansion over the years up until the latest location in Dania, Florida expected to open before the fall season of 2018.
Back when BrandsMart USA was not selling Apple, modifying the presentation for expansion purpose to use to get Apple to allow BrandsMart USA to sell their products as well.
Working offsite, early in my tenure, required to go to the corporate office every Friday to get the weekly modifications to the BrandsMart USA website. In the early years of the Internet, bandwidth was a valuable asset to developers. To minimize bandwidth, developers would use procedure called hot linking, where the web developer would display an image on a website from another website.
Reporting Vice President of Merchandising Tom Freeman, at the time, who is still with the company in another position, this individual had no knowledge of the Internet. BrandsMart USA hired a developer to create an Intranet site. Reviewing the Intranet site the developer was hot linking images from other websites. Bring it to the Tom Freeman’s attention, the developer tried to explain it as a common practice. To say the least, it did not go well.
The following week, called into the office and directed to the Human Resources Department. The Tom Freeman was already there in the Vice President of Human Resources office. Asked to sit down, being told that I was being written up for yelling at Tom Freeman.
The Vice President of Human Resources referred to the “linebacker” issue that had happen years prior, inferring to a history of issues and I immediately became irritated and explained to her that first I was never the aggressor in the altercation and was vindicated of the issue and BrandsMart USA continued to employ me. Secondly, how dare she even bring that up in a completely different issue?(!)
Asked to sign the reprimand, refused, got up, walked out of the office and went home. A few hours later Michael Perlman called asking what happen. He asked me to just sign the paper and get back to work. I did it and the following week the Tom Freemen ended up sent to rehabilitation for drug and alcohol dependencies.
As a result and a form of punishment, I was brought into the BrandsMart USA corporate office, no longer working offsite. At the time, this was a good form of punishment because I would no longer be 24/7 on call. I was at first put in a cubicle adjacent to Dick Wallace. With no computer access or office, paid to sit there for a few weeks before a computer with Internet access was setup in the BrandsMart USA Merchant/Buyer conference room. During some of the BrandsMart USA Merchant/Buyer meetings, I worked through them but for the most part went home when a BrandsMart USA Merchant/Buyer needed the conference room for a meeting.
A BrandsMart USA Merchant/Buyer left to go to a competitor and I went into Michael Perlman’s office and told him I was moving into that office. Michael Perlman let me know I could use the office until he needed it and used the office until my departure years later. Continuing to report to V.P. Tom Freeman, was now subjected to micro-management and superiority games, as trivial as, the key to the office.
In a matter of months, losing extraordinary amount of weight, being ill and visiting doctors, they could not find anything wrong with me. The doctors recommended finding alternative employment. The following day I went into the Executive Vice President Lary Sinewitz office first, since he was the one who hired me in ‘96. Explained that I was going into Michael Perlman’s office to give notice and explaining by doctors’ orders. He asked me to wait until after lunch. He would not elaborate and I agreed.
After lunch, walking in the executive hallway of the corporate office, Michael Perlman expediently walked up to my face and asked whom I wanted to be supervised by? There is no reason to have my health effected by a supervisor, we can work this out, and he did not want me to leave.
In 1997 and again in 2010 Ex-Employee was awarded Employee of the Month.
In 1997, when someone was voted Employee of the Month the employee received not only a certificate to be framed and also a $500 bonus to your compensation.
In 2010, no certificate, but you did receive a “World of Difference” pin and compensation was reduced to a $100 BrandsMart USA Gift Card!
Corporate Address:
3200 SW 42nd Street
Hollywood, FL 33312
Corporate Phone Number:
954-797-4000
Toll Free:
800-432-8579
Once, if a business, business owner did something an employee or member of the public didn’t like or disagreed with, they had little recourse besides protesting in person or to their local Better Business Bureau. Now, with the avenue of the Internet, the average person can easily voice their concerns and open a dialog to come to a compromise and/or lead to a resolution. If that opportunity by the business or business owner neglects to respond, it is up to any of those individuals to voice their response.
The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech. The Supreme Court requires substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech. Generally, a person cannot be held liable, either criminally or civilly for anything written or spoken about a person or topic, so long as it is truthful or based on an honest opinion, and such statements.
