u/boolpies

They want all these things done in the store and for us cashier's to cover the registers why not a bell to page us? The system already exists for the service door in the back of the store for the store room.

It drives me crazy getting shouted at by other team members even when I'm checking on the front counter every few seconds and somehow miss a customer by a millisecond.

edit:I'm not asking for an actual bell, something that can be rate limited. Although on second thought thinking about how quickly and persistently the alarm rings for customers at the pharmacy drive through maybe I don't want an alert.

I called the HR number and they said they opened a ticket with them. But I'm very nervous, I've just lost my previous health insurance, and as a diabetic this is not an ideal situation to be in. Is there anything I can do to get this resolved faster?

I feel like a lot of our problems could be resolved by a union.

Like many people, I was pulled into product from other parts of the business years ago. On paper, it felt like the perfect fit given my background in design, development, and analytics. But over the past few years, it’s turned into something closer to a nightmare. I haven’t advanced in my role. No promotions, no major wins beyond the first company that brought me into product.

When I look back at the people who have progressed, I struggle to understand why. Some of them were objectively poor at their jobs. One person who was promoted to a director role at a fintech company regularly showed up late to his own meetings, couldn’t clearly define success, and didn’t seem to understand the purpose of the product he managed. He was often confused by basic concepts and relied heavily on his team to carry him.

At a large university, I saw a similar situation. This person lacked vision, was consistently late, and contributed very little to key deliverables like quarterly planning. As deadlines approached, his work was largely incomplete, yet leadership covered for him while he gave vague, incoherent explanations. Despite all of this, people seemed to like him, and that appeared to matter more than performance.

I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly. People who, if I were managing them, would be underperformers are instead propped up and even promoted. Stakeholders and leadership seem to hold them in high regard, even when their teams, especially engineering and design, are frustrated.

In one cybersecurity role, a former SOC analyst acting as a PM constantly overstepped into implementation details. His engineering team pushed back hard on his poorly thought-out designs, and tensions were high. He created friction, delivered sloppy work, and was difficult to work with. Within a year, he was promoted to director. Despite the issues within his team, he was clearly favored by executives.

At this point, I’m at a loss. I was recently passed over in a final interview round in favor of a software architect, and it’s forced me to confront something I’ve been struggling with for a while.

After all these years, I don’t understand what it actually takes to succeed as a PM. It doesn’t seem to align with what books or product thought leaders say. It often looks like favoritism and perception matter more than actual impact. In other roles, being a “good employee” was enough to build relationships and progress. In product, the criteria feel far more abstract and unclear.

I’m currently in a long stretch of unemployment, and it’s been weighing on me. I’m trying to make sense of it all, but right now it’s hard not to feel discouraged about where I am and where things are going.

Thanks for reading.