A Little Recognition
This is just a little blurb. a little ditty of the sunshine in my life that blossomed 10 minutes ago. My co-workers will still hate me for it but I DON'T CARE! I have the best visual execution my boss's boss and her boss have ever seen. Point. Blank. Period. BOOM!
In retail its not often the workers get the praise they deserve. Self serving managers and corporate entities only care about themselves and the bottom line and less about the development of their key people. I've been fortunate at my current stint of employment to have had 2 managers that do support my wishes and career aspirations, both in and out of retail. At this juncture in my life, I'm not abhorring the idea of a retail career but it has to be the right fit. And while I love the people I work with, the hours and pay don't always match my level of dedication. So I fell back. Because why bother right? Well, because my parents always told me to do things with integrity, and to the best of my ability because trust and believe- SOMEBODY is watching you.
My lovely boss (lets call her Jay) has been on my ass about corporate crap these last few months. Jay is still pretty new to our store and cares very much about making a good transition. All well and good, honey, but you're full time with benefits (not that it means much). Well to ease her in, I was working crazy hours, like full time crazy. Don't think I wasn't loving it- I was. Extra cash is beautiful. But with added hours came more customers and more people who were "just browsing" or "let me see if I like these items before signing up for anything". The latter KILLED me. I'd get 4 or 5 of these ladies, back to back, nevermind I just spent an hour fitting and wardrobing them and their aging boobs. Nope not at all. Cool. Well it wasn't cool to corporate either so that single thing alone effectively ruined my chance to nab a company internship and the chance to work at headquarters. I was upset. Jay knew that, and I could tell she was genuinely upset for me too. She vowed to help any way she could. Then corp told her she had to cut my hours- I was dangerously close to averaging full time status, which means they have to give me benefits and the lot. But they won't, so cut her they said. Lameee. I did manage to pull my numbers up in the last month, win #1. Then they said that Jay's bosses, our District and Regional managers, were coming to do a store visit. Now if you ever worked in retail, visits from the district manager are important but not earth shatteringly so. Regional and above- serious stuff. These are people you see once a year if you're lucky so its A BIG DEAL. Well Regional lady came this week, corporate comes next week. Is Jay stressed? Yes. Does Jay stressing make me stressed? Yes, why? Because I'm the visual lead for our store and like I said I had lost my drive and gave up the ghost. Holiday collections are rolling in everywhere and we were no exception. The store looked like shit (pardon.) I went full on standards Nazi general. Every garment sized. Every bra hung the same, every panty folded right (its still not right but I and I alone only know whats wrong). Backroom- a holy mess. Somehow we whipped everyone and everything to shape by last night. I just called to see how it went and the first thing she said:
end rant.
-xoxo
In retail its not often the workers get the praise they deserve. Self serving managers and corporate entities only care about themselves and the bottom line and less about the development of their key people. I've been fortunate at my current stint of employment to have had 2 managers that do support my wishes and career aspirations, both in and out of retail. At this juncture in my life, I'm not abhorring the idea of a retail career but it has to be the right fit. And while I love the people I work with, the hours and pay don't always match my level of dedication. So I fell back. Because why bother right? Well, because my parents always told me to do things with integrity, and to the best of my ability because trust and believe- SOMEBODY is watching you.
My lovely boss (lets call her Jay) has been on my ass about corporate crap these last few months. Jay is still pretty new to our store and cares very much about making a good transition. All well and good, honey, but you're full time with benefits (not that it means much). Well to ease her in, I was working crazy hours, like full time crazy. Don't think I wasn't loving it- I was. Extra cash is beautiful. But with added hours came more customers and more people who were "just browsing" or "let me see if I like these items before signing up for anything". The latter KILLED me. I'd get 4 or 5 of these ladies, back to back, nevermind I just spent an hour fitting and wardrobing them and their aging boobs. Nope not at all. Cool. Well it wasn't cool to corporate either so that single thing alone effectively ruined my chance to nab a company internship and the chance to work at headquarters. I was upset. Jay knew that, and I could tell she was genuinely upset for me too. She vowed to help any way she could. Then corp told her she had to cut my hours- I was dangerously close to averaging full time status, which means they have to give me benefits and the lot. But they won't, so cut her they said. Lameee. I did manage to pull my numbers up in the last month, win #1. Then they said that Jay's bosses, our District and Regional managers, were coming to do a store visit. Now if you ever worked in retail, visits from the district manager are important but not earth shatteringly so. Regional and above- serious stuff. These are people you see once a year if you're lucky so its A BIG DEAL. Well Regional lady came this week, corporate comes next week. Is Jay stressed? Yes. Does Jay stressing make me stressed? Yes, why? Because I'm the visual lead for our store and like I said I had lost my drive and gave up the ghost. Holiday collections are rolling in everywhere and we were no exception. The store looked like shit (pardon.) I went full on standards Nazi general. Every garment sized. Every bra hung the same, every panty folded right (its still not right but I and I alone only know whats wrong). Backroom- a holy mess. Somehow we whipped everyone and everything to shape by last night. I just called to see how it went and the first thing she said:
"The visuals in this store are perfect and she clearly has an understanding of the set and how it should look. We may need you to go to other stores to help get them in order"Now this was said to Jay but she made no mistake in saying she sending me if that happens because I did it. (we did it as a team but I have the final say and I agree I'm the hardest on people about it). Little ray of sunshine. I am Whitney I, Queen of the Bras (thats for you Leah :)).
end rant.
-xoxo
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