My first job was for a small grocery store which is no longer in business. My second job was for an industrial supply company which is no longer in business. My next job was for a drug store that was the third largest in the nation at that time. It is no longer in business. In high school I worked for a box making company that in now defunct as well as two different newspapers which are no longer in business.
I once got a job for a department store and was filling out my paperwork when the announcement was made that the company had been sold and the store where I was to begin work was to be closed. I then took a job in a car dealership which no longer exist. I worked for one grocery chain that doesn't exist anymore as well as another big pharmacy which went out of business also. My last employer, while still operating under the name it used when I worked for them has been sold to another company.
Another company I once worked for is now listed as companies that may soon cease to exist. I was shocked when I read that it was because they were so deeply into debt and the amount of interest they paid on that debt was staggering. The reason I was shocked was because when I worked for them they had no debt and didn't believe in debt. They could buy a hundred or more competitors at a time and pay cash and be turning a profit within a year, recouping all their remodeling costs, even while cutting sales in half because they operated so efficiently. I have no idea why or when they started borrowing money. I suppose it was when the company ridded itself of the founders and original management team that made the company so successful.
Sometimes it just isn't profitable to mess with success.
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Crazy Days at Work
Sorry, but I haven't worked in eight years and I am enjoying retirement very much, thank you. But I still do remember things that happened while I was working and an article I recently looked at recounting moments when customers were mistaken for employees reminded me of one particular incident.
I had temporarily been assigned to cover another department and it was during the slowest part of the day on the slowest day of the week when a fellow I knew came into the store. He stopped to chat with me and I had the luxury of time this day so we were standing on the sales floor chatting away when a man walked up to my friend and started yelling at him for being a bigot and accusing him of watching him as if he was a thief. One could tell from the look on my friends face that he was shocked and left speechless. Seeing that he wasn't sure how to handle this situation I calmly informed the customer that my friend had no interest in watching his movements as he was a customer and not an employee.
When the man realized his mistaken the look on his face was priceless.
As an employee I have been accused of watching people's movements and usually they are correct. The first time this happened to me it was a women and she took me to task for my constant observation of her. She claimed she was an honest shopper and I had no right to be following her with my eyes. I just told her I was curious if she intended to pay for the two pairs of sunglasses she had stuffed in her socks.
The funniest thing that ever happened was in that same store. A tall, skinny women was in the cosmetic section and Mavis Taylor, a small little old lady who had been employed there like forever was watching her. Since the women was so thin and had short hair and Mavis was old, or maybe it was just a Freudian slip, but Mavis asked the women "may I help you Sir? " The women turned to look at Mavis, grabbed the bottom of her shirt and yanked it over her head exposing her breasts for all to see, exclaiming "Do I look like a Sir to you?"
I had temporarily been assigned to cover another department and it was during the slowest part of the day on the slowest day of the week when a fellow I knew came into the store. He stopped to chat with me and I had the luxury of time this day so we were standing on the sales floor chatting away when a man walked up to my friend and started yelling at him for being a bigot and accusing him of watching him as if he was a thief. One could tell from the look on my friends face that he was shocked and left speechless. Seeing that he wasn't sure how to handle this situation I calmly informed the customer that my friend had no interest in watching his movements as he was a customer and not an employee.
When the man realized his mistaken the look on his face was priceless.
As an employee I have been accused of watching people's movements and usually they are correct. The first time this happened to me it was a women and she took me to task for my constant observation of her. She claimed she was an honest shopper and I had no right to be following her with my eyes. I just told her I was curious if she intended to pay for the two pairs of sunglasses she had stuffed in her socks.
The funniest thing that ever happened was in that same store. A tall, skinny women was in the cosmetic section and Mavis Taylor, a small little old lady who had been employed there like forever was watching her. Since the women was so thin and had short hair and Mavis was old, or maybe it was just a Freudian slip, but Mavis asked the women "may I help you Sir? " The women turned to look at Mavis, grabbed the bottom of her shirt and yanked it over her head exposing her breasts for all to see, exclaiming "Do I look like a Sir to you?"
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