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The lyrics from a great Pink Floyd song, Have a Cigar. Here’s the verse:
Everybody else is just green/ have you seen the chart?
It’s a hell of a start/ it could be made into a monster
If we all pull together as a team
A few days ago was wild at the store! This song kept playing in my inner-ear.
Here’s what happened. We were slammed for the coming holiday. And it was raining intermittently throughout the entire day. So the rush came in spurts as customers were trying to skip between the raindrops.
So, I’m scanning and jiving as fast as I can, engaging the customers, asking them about the rain and their day. And a new “supervisor” the lowest rank of manager, was standing with several other managers in the Customer Service area. My sharp glare did not have any effect. I needed a bagger. The lines were sporatically growing and with hard work from me and the other two cashiers we are staying just ahead of the pissed-off-curve, when customers begin complaining.
A bit later, this supervisor started helping out, bagging in the lane next to me. “Great,” I thought. Probably the thought bubble would’ve said, “Finally!”
As the customer lines shuffled between lanes, this supervisor stayed on the one lane. I don’t think they really wanted to be bagging at all. And I was drowning in the lane next to them. As that lane had a line of customers with small loads, I was stacking up my current customer’s groceries at the back of my lane.
Why wouldn’t this young manager look over and come to my lane? They kept their eyes forward, I was unable to cast another mean glare. But I was boiling inside. Where’s the team in “supervisor” if you don’t lead by example?
An hour or so later, same situation. I had just come back from a cart run in the humid heat of the steaming parking lot. A came to the Customer Service area for a bottle of iced water, provided to the cart runners. One of my favorite managers was there. Right as I was taking my first sip, a young worker arrived at the desk. “How about a floor sweep?” they asked the manager.
I was astounded. “What? We don’t need a floor sweep at this time. We need baggers and cashiers!” I said it under my breath. “I will open lane 4,” I said to both of them.
A few hours later I apologized to my friend. “I’m sorry I got heated.”
“It’s okay. Lots of issues. I don’t take any of that personally.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t mean to lash out at you.”
“I didn’t take it on. You’re fine.”
That’s how TEAM is done. We either pull together as a team or we struggle. Again, the real lesson for me was
My attitude and interactions are up to me. But the “every man for himself” strategy doesn’t work in retail. It begins to build resentment and cause frustration. I was even frustrated with the young person who wanted to do the floor sweep. They are constantly volunteering for “offline duties.” It’s understandable during normal operating times. But when the lines are growing it’s time to think about your TEAM rather than your desire to millabout on a floor sweep.
I’m open on lane 4!
[Listen to the Deep Dive explore the concepts of The Happy Cashier.]
The hope I see in others
becomes the hope I have for myself,
my life, and my own journey.
– The Happy Cashier
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