Another field trip!

The same manager and I went in a different direction than last time. We visited two stores from our chain; the stores were total opposites. We had heard things about both of the head managers, one good and one bad. Without knowing who managed which store, you would have known from the condition of their respective stores. One store was practically in shambles, with product scattered everywhere, dirty floors and shelves, NO customer service or acknowledgement by any of the staff. The other store was clean, neatly stocked, a warm greeting from the cashier as we entered, and offers to assist us. What a difference!

We met the store manager for the good store and spent quite a while talking with him and our old store manager, who was working in his store for the day as they worked on a joint project. We mentioned the other store and they weren't surprised at our report. That manager will lose her store if she doesn't improve.....soon. (Our old boss has connections HIGH up in the company, so she's heard things.)

After the shop talk we went out for dinner before returning to our respective cities. It was a fun day, and I learned quite a bit from the two long-term store managers. Actually, I learned a few things from just walking around the bad manager's store, too.

I'm confused.

Situation: a pretty normal day, but Boss's favorite (the nephew's friend) was on the phone most of the morning and then left early. She lets him (and only him) talk on the phone and arrive and leave as he pleases, so I couldn't do anything about it. A pipe busted and flooded part of the store, giving us quite a mess to clean up. Yet, customers were taken care of. The store was run. Money was made. Shelves were stocked. However, one routine task was not yet done when boss arrived. She was mildly angry, even after being told about the flood and employee issue. Why?

Trump makes it look easy.

I imagine that no matter how many times I do it, firing people will never get easier. This is the second time that I've been instructed to do it at the end of the shift. In the future, I'll do it when the employee gets to work, even if it leaves me short-handed. It's SO HARD to work with the person all day, knowing what I have to do later.

Another time I had to fire someone but without knowing ahead of time. He used profanity with a customer so I didn't have a choice. A quick phone consultation with the then store manager and he was gone. I've also acted as a witness several times (so if the person being fired tried to say anything against the manager then I could dispute it).

The first time that I was solo (with a manager from another store as my witness) I had seen lots of progress from the employee and didn't agree with the firing decision, but had to do it anyway. The high-school student let a few tears fall and as she left the store turned around to tell me, "I used to like you, but this is not right" What's that supposed to mean? The BOSS made the decision, not me. I was the bearer of the bad news because the (then) boss was too chicken to do it herself.

This time I TOTALLY agreed with the decision and wondered what took Boss so long to make it. She even offered to do it herself, but it would have been inconvenient for her to come in and I didn't mind doing it. Despite my agreeing with the decision, I got more and more nervous as the evening went by, and when it came time to fire the girl, my hands were actually shaking and I felt light-headed. I did what I had to do, she left, and I could relax. She had no idea it was coming, despite frequent informal disciplining and warnings. She didn't say much, only to ask what "not working up to our standards" meant.

Missing $50

LAG was main cashier. At a busy time of day I was forced to use her register for a few transactions, including one large one which the customer paid in cash. At the end of the shift the register was exactly $50 short. Refusing to accept any responsibility whatsoever, she blamed the shortage on me (despite her register being off frequently and mine rarely being even a cent off). Realizing it MAY have been my fault, I offered to split the amount with her, thinking that was more than fair. She left pissed off, refusing to talk to me.

Overnight I rethought my original offer. Seeing that I make more money than her, should I have covered the entire shortage? It was her register and she was away from the register without proper authorization (leaving a new, slower, employee instead)…..should I charge her for the entire amount? I came back to the original decision, that because it could have been either one of us who made the error, it should be split down the middle.

In my mind I went through the transactions I had done, looking for possible errors or short change artists or anything else weird. I always double-check both the amount I put into the register and the amount of change I give out, so there's little room for error. It made me mad that LAG automatically assumed it was my fault when both our records would suggest otherwise.

The next morning before officially reporting the shortage to the office, I decided to look around a little. You see, in addition to her register being short before, LAG has also lost checks, credit card slips, coupons, etc. through carelessness. What do you know, I reached far back into the drawer, and jammed up in it was the $50 bill. I was relieved, yet still angry about her assuming it was my error.

She was off that day so I told the MOD to inform her that we found the money so she wouldn't be charged. Did she ever apologize to me? No, no mention was made of the incident. You can bet I won't EVER run her register again, regardless of how busy the store is.

Double Charged

Our computer system is wonderful. Earlier this month there was a complete meltdown that caused lots of headaches but we got it taken care of.......we thought.

Today I got a phone call from a customer claiming her credit card had been charged twice. At first I thought she had misread her statement or something, but after hearing that the date was the same as the meltdown, I took down her account number and contact info and promised to look into it. I called the appropriate person in the office, explaining that the date coincided with the meltdown, and left her to investigate it.

A few hours later I received a fax with nearly FIFTY customer account numbers and expiration dates. They had ALL been overcharged on that date and I was to credit their accounts. Talk about a headache! By the time I was done I was cross-eyed from the small print and making sure I input the correct account numbers and return amounts.

I then called the customer who had brought it to our attention, apologizing for our error and informing her that her account had been credited but it might take a few days to show up on her statement. She was very understanding and polite the whole time. She also seemed surprised that we took care of it so quickly.

You see, in our initial conversation I told her it might take a few days to research the issue; by handling it the same day we surpassed what she expected of us. Had I promised it to her that day and it took two days then I would have fallen short of her expectations. Never promise anything that you can't deliver.

(LAG learned absolutely nothing from the situation I wrote about on Monday. She believes she did nothing wrong because the part COULD have arrived the next day. But the fact is, it DIDN'T and there was actually a very low probability of it coming that day and the customer was disappointed. Even though the customer has the part now, she may not shop at our store in the future, all because of a promise that was impossible to keep.)