A few years ago, I was an assistant manager for a very small retail store in the area. the store manager left and I was still running the store, scheduling employees, handling the recruiting and hiring process, and maintaining store productivity and sales, among other things. The ladies we had employed with us were very motivated, driven, and always went an extra mile with our clients. As a team we maintained the store very well in both sales and customer service.
Finally after a few months, our company hired a store manager. The new manager came in and was a bit of a shock to our current employees. She was very firm, strict, and was not very friendly at first, to name a few. I had a couple meetings with the manager and expressed my concern and the concern of our employees. Surprisingly enough she eventually eased up a little bit on us. I’m not sure if she just came in the way she did, wanting to make sure that we were going to play the game her way or what. But it is what it is. Soon enough, things soon began to get better in the store, and we were all adjusting to the new personalities in the store. We all began to get along better and didn’t have any problems.
However, after a few months had passed I got some devastating news. My uncle had passed away over night from a brain aneurism. He was only 41 and had 7 children between the ages of 4 and 16. I was pretty close to my family and was completely shocked and needed to get up to Pennsylvania as soon as possible. I discussed this with the manager and we agreed that the next day I would be able to leave and take a long weekend, so that I could be with my family. I was going to work until 1pm that day and the new manager would come in to relieve me so I could finally leave.
The manager never showed up for work. I called her cell phone and couldn’t find her. Her mother ended up calling the store looking for her. So I got really scared and concerned for her. Her boyfriend then came up to the store looking for her and said they had gotten in an argument the evening before. He was bringing her back her cell phone, only she wasn’t at the store. So after he left, I called her mother back and explained what had just happened and wanted to know if I should call the police. She said, no that she had spoken to her daughter and she was just having issues with a boyfriend (the guy who came into the store) and she was fine but wasn’t sure when she would return to work.
So after my anxiety had just escalated to the highest point possible I got extremely upset that she was apparently having “boyfriend problems.” This manager failed to call the store, me, her colleagues, the district manager, and her mother to let them know where she was. I contacted our district manager and told her my situation. She said to have another employee come in, she was sending down a manager from Georgetown and to get my “butt” in Pennsylvania. Thank goodness she was such a great and understanding DM.
To this day I’m not really sure what happened or what the manager was doing. But she never called the company after she failed to show up to work and without explanation. She did call me a few weeks later and said she didn’t want to talk about it, but she had to take some personal time and that she was sorry. I’m not a hateful person so of course I accepted her apology and hoped she was okay. But I still felt it was completely disrespectful and didn't understand why she couldn't just call me to explain. So many highs and so many lows in such a short period, really took a toll on me. Yeah, that was one hell of a trip. But I went to Pennsylvania late that evening. In reality, getting to my family was my main concern and I got there… eventually.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
i'm sorry to hear about the loss of your uncle. as far as your manager is concerned, i dont think she should be a manager if she is letting her personal life influence her work. Managers are supposed to be there to "manage" the company/store not go on vacations without informing anybody. another classic example of i like to call "who the hell hired you?" but im glad to hear that you still got to reunite with your family on such sad occasion.
Most importantly, I'm sorry to hear about the tragic loss of your uncle. Secondly, this "manager" sounds like a 15 girl who decided to skip class because her boyfriend broke up with her. I understand that there are circumstances in which someone doesn't show up to work and doesn't call...but not for having issues with her boyfriend. I also would have felt completed disrespected by her. Her actions displayed an attitude of "my boyfriend troubles are more important than the death of your family member", and that is beyond the scope of disrespect and heartlessness (if that's a word). I am truly sorry that you had to go through an experience with such a heartless, inconsiderate individual. The good news is there ARE individuals in this world who aren't worthless :)
First I want to say I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your uncle.
I know all to well about managers like this. I don't know if the title gives them a rush or makes them feel as though policies don't apply to them. I'm glad that you DM was more helpful and concerned than the manager, whom you work with on a day to day basis.
I'm terribly sorry to hear about your uncle. Though I must say, you handled this situation extremely well. It shows a lot about your character to be able to stand up to this and take it for what it is. Your focused remained the same to get to your family in Pennsylvania and because of that, you got there safely and everything worked out in the end. I admire your determination and it will certainly get you far.
Post a Comment