Ah the smell of a campfire! 🔥 Story time & this one was too funny not to share even after 17 years later it still gives me a smile & a laugh!
So to begin my tale, I should start at the beginning... Nah, let's just start at the beginning of that day in particular. �
So I had been promoted to a department manager earlier that year (maybe five to six months into it). We had literally just finished our whole store inventory the day prior to that day. Which by the way we were up 3.2 million dollars in inventory that year & my department carried 1.5 million dollars in recovered products. All because I found it interesting that we had 5 old metal 24 foot long sheds that weren't very close to the store & the locks looked like they hadn't been touched in years.
So I got permission from the store manager to break one of said locks. I opened the doors to find boxed up merchandise with my departments number on the tags. I open one box & there's more things in the boxes than what was labeled on the outside. It was stacked to the ceiling all of the way back on every single one of them. I took pictures, & recorded myself opening up a random box.
The store manager let me have 3 people designated to help me sort, lable & record everything in those metal sheds. I chose the people I trusted with most. He had me send him the evidence to his phone & he got me overtime approved through cooperate. They offered OT to the associates who were willing to help me with that task too. We had spent 4 months of me being a manager going through every single box & recording every piece of merchandise. On top of my manager duties & keeping my department stocked & looking good.
Long story short, the higher ups from cooperate had come in to visit the store. They weren't just a once over look & done nor did they come to give out extra tasks. They came because of the massive positive results on our whole store's inventory. After they did their usual stressing all of the managers (but me) out they stayed later than usual & came back three times that week.
I had gone into work irritated that morning because my zone manager was riding me about something that didn't have anything to do with me. The sassy & quick witted side of me comes out every time I'm irritated & get asked or told the most obvious thing. I was told to help out another department because they still hadn't completed their entire department for inventory that was past due 3 days ago. 🙄
Picture this, I have my work outfit on, my name tag on, I have a scan gun in one hand & a printer & a walkie talkie attached to my pants with the ear piece in my ear. I have a customer come up to me & have the audacity to ask me if I worked there!?!? Now mind you, I'm already irritated & already have been snapping back with sarcasm with everyone who irritated me that day.
"Nope, I sure don't! I was hanging on the wall for decoration! They let me off of the walls from time to time."
"Omfg, really?!?!? You poor thing! No human should ever EVER be forced to hang as a wall decoration! That's so inhumane!" She responds to me completely oblivious to my sarcasm & actually believing me.
"I agree! Now can I help you find something because I've got a limited amount of time & then I gotta go back."
This lady was beyond furious that they were going to "make me" hang on the wall for decoration. She pats my hand & reassures me that she doesn't need help & that she will get me the help that I need.
I was absent minded as to what she actually ment by that. I was too focused on trying to get done so I could go back to doing my job...
The next day I get called into the office once again. District manager & the store manager were at the desk on the computer & chatting in low tones. I approached the desk & was told to sit down. I wasn't paying attention in the slightest & drinking my red bull. Waiting on whatever they were taking their sweet time on.
"Can y'all tell me why I got called in here or can I go back to work? I have a lot of work to do because I couldn't get to it all yesterday." I stretched & yawned in the chair.
"Yes, finally! It's printed!" My store manager responded with a laugh & then cleared his throat. He held the freshly printed paper in his hands. "I'm going to read this out loud & then we'll discuss it afterwards."
He started & stopped multiple times because he couldn't stop laughing. The district manager tried to read off of the paper as well & struggled not to laugh himself. It was that lady who believed that I was actually a decoration. She had actually wrote cooperate about how inhumane it was to have human decorations. There was 750 words in total according to Microsoft Office in her complaint to cooperate not that I was rude but that I was used as a decoration.
I had completely forgotten about that whole encounter yesterday. I started laughing & shook my head in disbelief. It ended up being brushed off completely as a blonde moment. I was told not to let another letter like that reach them again.