T.J. Maxx — Local services in Jacksonville

This one is for you, "Store Manager Maria" , and your nightmarish work ethics and poor customer service skills. This was my first and shall be my only time stepping foot into this location.

Originally, I had came into this location seeking a, "Bathroom Mat Set". After arriving and waiting at the locked front door pass the opening time, "Maria", the store manager, came and opened the door only after the "Press for assistance" button was pressed . There was no, "Welcome, sorry for the wait.", I was basically ignored when I first walked in but reasonably, as someone who works retail, this wasn't an issue I thought needed correcting immediately. Courtesy, apparently it's a dying habit.

As I walked around, noticing quite a few employees. No one greeted me, asked me if I needed help finding anything. I did stop one female employee and asked her if they had what I needed to which I was told they didn't. At that point I figured, "Okay, lets look around." Surprisingly I did find something that I could use in place of a bathroom mat and felt good about my find. Looked around a little more and then headed to the front of the store to check out.

As I'm waiting inline, there is an older female cashier at register 3 doing a refund. She was having a little trouble with the system and called for back-up. She is being polite, she is handling the customer well, despite having issues with the system. Another employee walks up and after wiping down the counter starts offering help to get the line down. I don't have this cashiers name but she is a short younger woman, as she is helping another customer and I am next in line, I see that, "help", coming in the form of the "Store Manager Maria", had came for the other older cashier. And what I witnessed had my blood boiling.

Working retail isn't "easy". There are so many worries when dealing with "consumers". The motto, "The customer is ALWAYS right", is the worse thing you can imagine hearing from a customer, specifically when the customer really ISN'T right. BUT, when you take this to the next level and it's not the customers you are having to worry about, when it's "management". That's even scarier. So, "Maria" has come to save the day. In the form of belittling and openly getting frustrated with this cashier in front of not only another employee but multiple customers.

I'm sorry, if you wouldn't talk to a customer like they are as stupid as a sack of bricks, why would you do that to an employee, in public, in front of other people? If you are willing, if you are so COMFORTABLE, doing this in front of other people, "How are you talking to your employees in private?". What really did it for me, was when this older cashier is asking the "Store Manager", "Can you explain to me why isn't working?" and Maria frustratingly responded with, "I've already explained to you how to do this." Rushing to be done with "helping" this employee. So, I spoke up. "This is how to talk to your other employees?" and without missing a beat, "Yes I do". Well babe, shame on you.

The horrified look on the older cashiers face, said to me, "You've doomed me." But, let me tell you something darling, "NO ONE, for any reason, has the right to treat you like you are not worth the time and patience. The fact that you gave me excuses, to Maria's poor work ethics, "Everyone is just really stressed out over this bug going around" etc. Does not justify Maria's actions. A good manager would have made sure that you are well trained and comfortable doing your job. A good manager would take the time to make sure that you are knowledgeable with the system. Telling me, "I've been working here since we opened, I should know how to do this.", tells me EVERYTHING I needed to know about the Store Manager Maria and her training patience and work ethic."

Maria, I hope you read this, because not only am I going to follow up to make sure that you are, "retrained" but I'm going to make sure that this behavior you've so proudly shown to not only me, but to your employees, is...

I was very pleased with Cashiers Junet and Kerry. But the Manager on Duty Elena Zmetnaya did not offer the customer service that Tj Maxx prides themselves on. The cashier explained to me that my card was declined twice and that I would need another form of payment. After I checked my account balance I discovered that my bank account was actually charged twice for the amount of 34.21. At that point the cashier Junaet called the manager on duty Elena. I advised her of what took place and also showed her what my bank account was reflecting. Instead of apologizing and trying to come up with a resolution, her response was its showing canceled in our system call your bank or call customer service. I asked her why should I call customer service when the error is in your system. She proceeded to call customer service and advised me that she cant remember who she spoke with and that I would need to wait until Monday morning for a resolution. Of course im dissatisfied with the delivery of her response. When a person works in retail, its a manager's responsibility to resolve a conflict but still maintain professionalism and also customer service. Elena treated me as if this was my problem and not a problem that she was concerned with. It was a struggle to get the information that I asked for in regards to the customer service number, corporate office, and also her store manager's name. A transaction that was only 34.21 turned into 88.63 total, because my bank account is has 2 pending transactions of the 34.21 plus the amount of money I had to withdraw from the atm plus the fee. My point is delivery of information goes a long way in the customer service world. I am butying my father so her unpleasant handling of what could've been a minor issue. Has made me feel like I dont want to shop at Tj Maxx because of the caliber of mangers that are representing their brand. I didnt have the pleasure of dealing with the Store Manager Yvonne Ybanez because she was not available. To end on a positive note Juanet and Kerry were really a pleasure to deal with. ...

It has been several months since I was traumatized by the team at this location. Only recently have I stopped waking up in the night thinking about how the manager on duty, Michael H., berated me, accused me of pulling a switch, humiliated me in front of both customers and team, waved his hand in the air and sarcastically told me to: “Have a Blessed Day!” while walking away. All the while, spoiler alert, he was WRONG! I would love to tell my story to someone at the corporate office, should they care to listen. My story also involves the tenacity I mustered to have Erol (couldn’t care less security guard) look at the camera footage, and Ryan (not my job assistant mgr., but the nicest by far) who handed my receipt to Erol. The dates of the sale & return are: 2/20/25 & 2/25/25. I hope the camera footage is still available for the 25th, because it exposes what is most assuredly a critical flaw in the hiring and training processes of TJ Maxx, and the complete and utter absence of compassion from ANY employee as I stood there sobbing. And, you ask, what was done for me as an apology? Glad you asked. Michael didn’t apologize until I asked him to apologize. He called me “dear” several times (gross, right?), and tried to victim blame me for taking the tags off the bag. ??? The crowning insult though, was the- wait for it- $20 gift card as my consolation prize. I would like to write out the whole story, but I don’t have the energy today. I will be awaiting a reply. (Please ensure that no one deletes that footage from 2/25) Thanks for reading this rather long experience. Update it’s been a month since I wrote this review and it’s radio silence from the corporate folks...