Don't say it

If you're having a bad day, never ever say any of the following. Don't even think it, or think about thinking it!
1- Well, it can't get any worse, can it?
2- At the least we got through the worst of it.
3- I can't think of anyone else who is having a worse day than me!

First, those statements are false. Second, by thinking, begining to think, or saying any of those phrases, their negativity is brought out twicefold. Am I exagerating? Maybe. Maybe not.

All I know is that I was nervous when I came into work today, because I knew I would have to face my manager, and try to explain what happened to about $1000 worth of stock. Surprising, that went over quite well. I answered all his questions the best I could, didn't go into a fit, and neither did he. Perhaps he was too jetlagged. I don't know. What I do know, is that less than an hour after we opened, someone got a five-finger discount on a $280 19" LCD computer monitor. All three of us, including my manager were on the floor at the time. NOT GOOD. The rest of the day was interupted at regular intervals by visits and phones calls from Mall Security and EPS. We were still able to sell a goodly amount by the end of the day, but I was still pretty shaken. Thankfully, I have tomorrow off.

Despite the missing stock, Jon was still impressed with the way I handled the store. He received a minimal amount of phone calls, and they weren't pressing matters. The big crisises I was able to handle between Liz and other managers and associates in the city. Reach out and find someone! That's what I did. It was still uber freaky being the manager for three days, especially when we had someone go home early for medical reasons, and I had less than an hour to find someone to cover the rest of the shift. I was faced with the possibility of closing early, but all it took was a couple of phone calls, and the problem was quelled. Management is hard! I can only imagine what it's going to be like raising a family now.

At least with the emergency scheduling, I knew that all the employees would be coming back next week. That wasn't the case at Northgate, where one of the employees put in their resignation. When the manager was gone. There was one employee left to fend for the entire store. He's a seasoned sales associate, so he could handle things, but it was nonetheless freaky to the extreme. Plus, once the manager comes back, there is still the problem of there being only two people on staff, and one of those associates is going to part-time in a couple weeks.

Ah yes, then there was the news that I received today for Caitlin. Her AM called with a bit of news that made my week seem like a cakewalk. Cailtin's manager quit. The AM was scheduled to have her last day on Friday, but she's going to stick around for at least another week until they have everything settled. Or the store shuts down. One or the other. I'm hoping the former. Caitlin might have to step into the shoes of management a little sooner than she thought, but I really hope that things will stablize downtown.

Why is it so hard to find people who will stay on with retail? Is it the sales? Interacting with people? Fear of rejection? Fear of sucess? Low wages? Not enough incentives? Or dream of something better?

Life is hard. Why? Because it takes work.