January 25, 2005
The Spilling of the Guts
Now that I have the freedom to speak about it, let me just say, I don't really enjoy working in a grocery store. Being a wine buyer in an upscale chain isn't too bad. There are lots of perks: free lunches, lots of wine and beer to sample, dealing with lots of really cool vendors, selling wine to nice people. Even making displays and writing signs is at least interesting. I really loved my regulars who let me pick out interesting bottles of wine for them to try.
However, the stocking of the shelves is dull, dull, dull. Helping customers find things in the rest of the store and leading the customer to it* was sheer drudgery. But the worst, most hated part of my job was restocking the beer cooler. We carry a lot of beer and it is all jumbled together on 4-5 different pallets in the back. Monotonous, mind-numbing work. By the way, grocery stores are cold. All. The. Time.
*I HATE leading the customer to it! I hate being led to it when I am in a different store. I would prefer to be pointed in the right direction. It feels like you are really interupting someone when they take you to your destination. Although maybe that is better than stocking beer! Every meeting I ever attended focused on this idea. LEAD THE CUSTOMER TO IT! Apparently, that is good customer service. I wonder if they market tested it, if people would really much rather be left the hell alone?
Corporate big-wigs who change the store directives can be frustrating**, but what can you expect from a company where the owner would rather hide in a corner at an employee-appreciation party, than talk to anyone? Oh, and can I say, employee year-end parties? The booze should be free, at least the first two drinks!
**One month I am authorized to sign checks for wine deliveries, the next, just the Store Directors, the month after that, suddenly I am authorized again. People, get it STRAIGHT!
There were so many days when I would walk through the store and see department managers stocking shelves. Just when do you get high enough up to stop doing that? Hell, even the Store Directors have to build displays. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a beauty to the idea of, I won't ask anyone to do something I refuse to do, but puhhhuhlease!
And just WHAT is up with the grocery store-only lingo? Store Directors, internal customers, P.I.C.s (person in charge)????? Can't we all just call them General Managers, employees, and M.I.C. (or M.O.D. manager of the day)?
Until January 6, 2005, I was content to be quietly discontent about all of this ("How's your job?" "Great," I lied.). Remember back when I was so excited about my looming promotion? Each month when I asked, all the store directors would say, "Yes, you are the manager. We aren't looking for anyone else. We don't know why H.R. is being so slow." This was compounded by the fact that Store Directors were dropping like flies (hi, like 4 new ones in 5 months), so it would take awhile with a new one before I would ask about the promotion.
For four months, I hired and trained wine department staff, I made all the buying decisions, attended management-only seminars and HR meetings. I even ran two inventories! After all this, after taking us through the three biggest wine-buying holidays of the year, having the best gross margin in the company for December, turning in the best inventory of all the other stores at the end of the quarter, after working both New Year's Day and the day after for said inventory (and giving my staff those days off), after being the only store who was trending up in sales above last year, after all that I got a call.
The company finally wanted to let me know I was up for a "positive change" at the store. "We want you to keep doing what you are doing. You have such great customer service, you're so good at selling wine and your wine knowledge is incredible. You're just lacking some retail experience." My fomer Store Director turned Corporate flunky let me know that they were putting a different person into the Wine Manager position at my store. During a corporate downsizing they had this 20-year loyal employee whose position was eliminated and they wanted to keep him, and he had all this knowledge from running the wine departments in the past, and he was just SURE this guy had forgotten more about retail than most people ever know. This was the positive move they had in mind. To take away all the things I loved about my job, and leave me with stocking. After I got off this call, I cried for hours. By not giving me the supposed promotion, I actually received a demotion, because of the simple fact that I had been the manager the last four months. Not only that, I achieved miracles for them, with VERY little training. Just how did they expect me to take this well?
I still ponder this thought. Why color it pretty for me? Why not say it outright, "This is a sucky thing, and we don't have much choice, but we have a plan, and we think you are REALLY valuable and want to keep you. In 5 months time..........." No. They had to tell me how positive this move was for me. After crying, I then dusted off the resume and made a few calls. My whole family (inlaws too, of course!) were pissed for me and they all said, "This is happening for a reason." When you are in your darkest days it is very difficult to see this as true.
Before I looked for a job as a wine buyer in a grocery store, I was the manager and wine buyer in a restaurant. I decided to look for new work and instead of applying for any wine rep jobs, I felt I wasn't quite qualified and went looking for retail experience. So after January 6th, I decided to forget about retail and focus on my real desire, wine sales. Turns out that January is the perfect month to look for this particular type of job, as the slow month is when people jump around. I made four phone calls and landed four interviews. Now I have my dream job and I have to say it would have been a lot harder if I was searching any other month of the year.
So speaking of karma and things happening for a reason, I was thinking today about how, for me, karma isn't a slow process. It usually runs into mere minutes. I think negative thoughts about an employee and then burn myself at work, for instance.
So today I was moving a beer display and dropped a 12-pack of beer, which exploded everywhere. Watching was my new (as of January 7th) Store Director and new Grocery Manager (who was well loathed in his former position as head of checkers at his last store, and is BIGTIME buddies with the new Director). They saw what happened, and instead of going to get some floor signs, or a trash bag for the broken bottles, they hightailed out to the backroom to have a smoke out the door. Ass.holes. I was SO pissed! Fast forward an hour, new Grocery Manager is building a pasta and pasta sauce display. He drops a case of tomato sauce and it explodes. All. Over. Him. Do I turn away? Not a chance, why would I want to get something even worse back? Instead I head over with some floor signs as people come running to help. He says to me, "I guess that serves me right for laughing at you when you broke that beer earlier."
Posted by kerewin at January 25, 2005 08:58 PM