This text originally appeared on Business Insider.
Beauty chain Sephora hit a giant sales milestone in 2023, but the employees who helped to make it occur say all they got was a “stale” cookie as thanks.
The corporate celebrated hitting $10 billion in revenue in North America last week, and a few of its stores got cookies in the mail as a present.
But, the sprinkled treats and an attached thanks note — which demanded confidentiality — didn’t go over well with Sephora’s employees, in line with a slew of comments online and two employees who asked to stay anonymous.
“They’re at all times coaching us to fulfill our goals and expectations, and, after all, everyone goes above and beyond for the corporate and all they provide us is a stale cookie and a letter thanking us,” said one former worker whose last day coincided with the cookie delivery.
One other worker told Business Insider: “Once we got the cookies, we were like, ‘Wait what?’
“It’s obvious they don’t seem to be listening to us,” he said. “These are individuals who don’t know the way this actually works and the way necessary we’re to the operation.”
In a press release to BI, Sephora said it “had a fantastic yr due to our extraordinary team members who help create and construct our incredible beauty community.
“We’re happy with all our employees across our stores, distribution centers, and company offices who contributed to this shared success in North America,” the corporate said in the statement. “Because the leading prestige beauty retailer, it’s success like this that enables us to proceed to supply highly competitive advantages and pay, performance bonuses, education, brand perks, training product, gratis, and substantial product discounts to our employees.”
It’s unclear if Sephora gave employees any additional compensation for hitting the milestone.
Anonymous via Business Insider
Sephora staff got the treats over the past week, employees said. The cookies got here wrapped with a label saying “We did it! $10 billion” to have fun the corporate raking in record-setting hauls.
Sephora’s card — which BI has seen — said the corporate set records for Black Friday in stores, in addition to latest bests for its online traffic and warehouse achievement.
“Inside this box, you can see a sweet treat to enjoy together with your team,” the cardboard continued. “We thanks for making it our best yr ever. Cheers.”
At the underside of the cardboard was a warning: “The content of this card is confidential and shouldn’t be shared externally because it is a violation of our company policies.”
But that did not keep a subreddit dedicated to Sephora employees from trashing the presents.
Let the unionization begin!
byu/AdUnlucky9116 inSephoraWorkers
Reddit users called it the “infamous cookie.” Some poked fun with reviews of how the pre-packaged goods tasted (one user gave it a 4 out of 10), but others said it made them feel like “dirt on the underside of their shoes.”
One other user turned the cookie right into a call to motion: “Let the unionization begin!” they wrote.
The worker who got the cookie on her last day said it was “totally normal” to see a confidentiality notice attached to gifts from Sephora.
She said the gift left her disenchanted, but not surprised.
“They really don’t reward us for the work and mental energy it takes to be a Sephora worker,” she told BI. “There’s just so far more they might do they usually selected to send stale cookies.”