Mall Locations

[David Saulque]

Is everyone having problems with mall managmemts, regarding night access? One of my crews were denied access because "water and chemicals are not allowed to be used on the roof". Each of the malls that we service becoming more and more a problem. Two week ago one of the malls wanted us to start cleaning at 7 AM.

I just handle each issue as it comes up-it is just taking more and more time to book mall locations. The malls say that this all stems from 9-11 and security issues.

David

 

[MR ALAN]

David,

I was a Security Supervisor on graveyard shift at a major mall for 3 years. We were the ones to allow access to the interior, so the cleaners could get to the store and also to the roof access.
Mall management did not care about the stores or their service needs, as long as the rent was paid and if not, they would evict you. Management did not want anyone on the roof after dark, or before they were in the office. This changed a lot, as one month we were told to allow any cleaner that needed access and the next month that it was restricted access. It seemed to vary as to who you were talking to in the office.
A crazy example of their thinking is after our elevator kept breaking down, they said that some contractor who had regular access was tampering with the computer brain, and to not let anyone up on the roof without an escort. Well, our elevator was only for two floors and did not reach the roof and the control room was locked up and not even on the roof. Their was no way that anybody on the roof could tamper with anything related to it, but that was their story aand they stuck to it.
I believe that some bad contractors did some damage to the locations that you work in, and now you are being punished for their mistakes. They may use 9-11 as a reason, but that is only a cover.
After much debate with the General Manager of the mall, we adopted this procedure. All contractors must check in with the Management office during office hours on the day that they are scheduled to work and then management would let Security know you would be there that night. When you arrived that night, Security would have you sign a waiver for being on the roof after dark and this would serve as a logged in status for the property.
Since you have an account at the mall, their should not be a Security issue, since you come their for more than a one time cleaning, and they know who your company is. And as far as the chem/water issue, share the NFPA 96 with them and the danger that can happen to their mall without your services.

 

[David Saulque]

If I serviced one mall it wouldn't be a problem-I service multi restaurants in multi mall locations and ea. mall is getting worse and worse as to access. The problem is that the mall has no idea how to do what has to be done. They are like a little government with no single person in charge. You would think with all the levels of stupidity that one person would surface and get the job done.

 

[MR ALAN]

David,
After three years, I know how back and forth the managers can be. Maybe you can schedule a meeting with the Managers,
( one at a time of course) and fully explain your position to them.
You may be surprised, some will listen. When I went to argue for the cleaners of Cheesecake Factory, the manager said no way, on the night access come in at 8:00 am. I told her that with three people, they were here for 3 hours plus and that Cheesecake came in at 09:30 to fire up their ovens etc.
The manager was blown away and said she felt stupid, because she had no idea they were working for that long or even what the process was. This was the first exception to the rule and others were to follow. It may take some time, but I am sure these accounts are worth it, once you straighten them out.

 

[Richard]

malls

David
we do a quite a lot of stores inside of (Simons) malls, and the biggest problem is the security people, they think their God's gift to security,they dont get the word from the mall biggies in the office and when we arrive we get " You need to fill out this form and this form and we need I.D.'s , certificates of ins., did you call in advance to schedule with security, did you get verification with and from the customer, and most of the time upon arrival we wait 45 mins to 1 hr before we could even make contact with the gaurd (who was older than dirt) who had no idea we were even scheduled to work, then we'd have to be escorted to and from the roof hatch (which is usually 5 miles from where we need to be) than security would stay on the roof with us and tell us how to do our work. Yes in the past year they have started to ask us to come in at 7am to start, I agree with Mr Alan explain the situation to the mall management, we've had good and bad results with trying to make them see the light
the 9-11 is just an excuse they have been a problem long before 9-11
but we just take it all with a grain of salt

 

[kmjt1021]

Yes we have had that problem too. Can't get to the roof till 7:00am, the first time I had that problem it was with a store that had to be open by 8:00am, hell it takes an hour to get to the roof and ready to go, and of course the roof hatch is located on the other side of the mall from the resturant. Why can't they put an access close to the food court? It took me a month and a half to straighten that out. The mall people told me and the store manager they didn't care what the problem was they would not bend the rules. The store had to get permission from corporate to open two hours late so we could service the store, the kicker is we got a call from corporate wanting a discount for opening late. I told them I was thinking about charging more for the trouble, we finally got paid after three months.
Mall locations are almost always a huge pain, I charge 25% more for mall locations. I would rather stay away all together. Maybe we should collectively boycott mall locations till we get better working conditions, all hell that won't work some newbie will just go do it for $200 anyway.