LA Mattress review: "Interview with Larry Legend"

Here's an interesting experience I have to share about applying for LA Mattress. I used to work for Ortho Mattress and that did not sit well with Larry Legend who is the boss on the Wilshire store in Santa Monica. He called and invited me for an interview and provided directions. Called right back a 2nd time around 15 seconds later and stated he "forgot to gave me the zip code of his store." Which I thought was strange cause I knew the address and location of store as confirmed from our initial call. Not to mention, something was off in his tone and I quickly understood why.

He revealed that he called back because he just saw Ortho Mattress on my resume and that was a major problem for him. Larry said he knew exactly how Ortho operates and how they close people aggressively in sales so that's something he heavily frowns upon. He goes, "Hey look man, just be frank with me. How do you deal with customers? I mean, what is your approach? Be honest." I replied, "My approach is always 5 stars service like any other job. Treat customers as you would like to be treated and that also goes for co workers as well." I also expressed why I was no longer with Ortho. Ortho Mattress of Southern California has hostile managers and policies which did not sit well with employees including myself. I reassured Larry not to worry because I'm no longer affiliated with Ortho and for good reasons.

Mainly because Ortho has unreasonable quotes to hit in sales and stores are infested with cockroaches and dead rats at the Pico/Overland location in West LA. Owner of Ortho also denies staff the right to make direct employee discount purchases from the vendors which we are entitled to. Plus, all prices are jacked up higher than competition. On Glassdoor.com which is a review site of employees rating their own companies and policies, Ortho has a history of negative reviews.

These are some of the things I related to Larry and expressed why Ortho and I never got along. He continued to explain that LA Mattress thrives on customer service alone and sales isn't as important to them unlike my previous employer. He adds if service alone is great, sales comes naturally which I totally agreed. I responded you are 100% correct and I understand completely. He replies, "No I don't think you do. Look, we do things differently here. I know exactly how you guys are and that's a big concern to me." I restated that my employment with Ortho didn't last because I never got along with management for precisely the reasons you're mentioning. They've been sued by their own employees on numerous occasions and the last one involved Gloria Allred regarding sexual harassment that the company admitted wrong and settled for!

Long story short, he basically called back to cancel the interview the following day. Each time I reassured Larry not to worry about me and Ortho, he got more agitated and basically a fight broke out over the phone. I hear Larry sighing and arguing over every single statement I've made. Last thing I recall was saying, "Larry, I completely agree with you on every level and know exactly what you mean. What you say makes perfect sense regarding customer service and I'm with you all the way. Trust me cause I know precisely what you're talking about." He goes, "No I don't think you do but whatever. I'll see you tomorrow." Naturally I never showed up because what's the point?

So doing everyone a big favor here. Larry Legend of LA Mattress apparently hates Ortho as much as I do if not more. It would seem he has beef with their employees as well. Come on bro. Conduct yourself a bit wisely next time cause these reviews aren't difficult to go viral. You didn't want any potential drama from Ortho inside your stores but got this online instead. How smart is that?