Thank God for the therapeutic healing powers of the a session at the gym and a yoga class, because i had a muy dodgy day. I had three - count them, three - head office management type people visiting my branch today. From here on in they shall be referred to as Mac, Yogi and The Bell. Its a pain in the arse having one come to visit, but three at the same time? Nightmare. First of all, it means i have to fake smile my way through the entire day, even when i'm hearing things i dont necessarily want to hear, and secondly i have to continually find something to do so i look busy. Anyhoo, i dont particularly like Yogi or The Bell ( Mac is pretty cool ) so it really was an ordeal to keep up the " happy, cheery, i totally want to be here! " facade for my entire shift. Especially when one of them was pretty much telling me how shitty a job i happen to be doing with my branch.
For those of you who dont know i'm a qualified dispensing optician and i manage an optometry practice. I've only been manager for a year and though i'm trained as a dispenser, i've had no formal training in how to manage a business. So when when Yogi comes in and start radically changing my frame displays, telling me i have far too much stock and need to implement better stock management and basically treating me like, for lack of a more politically correct term, a retard, well, its pisses me off a little. On the inside. I'm not giving them the satisfaction of letting them see how much they're annoying me. Score one to me!
The Bell is a little different - she's one of these people who is really good at giving back handed compliments or smiling encouragingly as she's giving you negative criticism. That annoys me - BIG TIME. She also drums into you how important certain aspects of the job are, but then gives you no help whatsoever in achieving the targets and cuts you down if you try and do anything proactive towards making the goal. I dont know whats more annoying really - Yogi treating me like an idiot, or The Bell treating me as intelligent, but inferior.
But screw all that. I've put up with them and now they're out of my hair. I can go in tomorrow and put my displays back the way I like them ( and the way they work in my store, not how they assume will be best ) and focus on my targets without feeling like im doing the crappiest job ever. And i know that might sound like i'm just really bad at taking direction and that i have no respect for authority, but thats not it either. Mainly its that they're coming from another city, another market, and assuming that works best for their clientele is going to work best in my branch too. Thats not the case. I just think its best to cater to the market you're servicing - give the people what they want, you know ?
Really, is any wonder i'm secretly applying for new positions in other companys left, right and centre ?
Mp3Juice
5 months ago
Gah. Nothing worse than being micro-managed by the powers that be. Good luck with the applications for a change. It's as good as a holiday! x
ReplyDeleteActually, no. But instead of just smileing briliantly, why not just go for broke. Remind them that since they failed to train you for management, failed to give you a raise, they should accept your gut instinct as a salesperson as to what Your market demands. What You see is what the people in Your customers want. That is your Purpose. CUSTOMER SERVICE. They are the ones who fork out the money to keep said store in buisness. It is them you cater to. It may very well get you canned, but you might just get that training too. Remember, Managment NEEDS a back bone, no matter how flexible the back of that particular person is!
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