your
knowledge of the subject is impressive. So impressive, in fact, that I feel
unable to provide you with any more useful instruction. May I recommend that you take a day this week to visit the Advisory on the fourth floor
and inquire about transferring into an adjacent section, one better able to
accommodate your unique skills. This, of course, is simply a suggestion.
You should do only what you feel is best. Good luck, Daniel Kind, Ph.D.
Sheesh
1998
It was just a case of too many things going on at once, and I kind of blew my top. Not proud of it, but that’s what I did. I can only be pulled in so many directions. First there’s Lydia. She always calls when she knows she’s going to get me on the sales floor. That’s part of the game, the game we all play. I say, look, I have an office, why not call me there? Wouldn’t that be a lot simpler? Right in the middle of talking to Jim Carroll, she gets me. He’s bopping around, stinking up the joint. Steve, he says. Store’s looking pretty good. This is from the guy who changes my quantities every month without telling me. Ooh, he’s a treat. I tell him okay. Matter of fact, I say, it looks
dang
good, and we’re going to keep it that way. So he goes, gets a clipboard, says he’s got some display tips he wants to show me. I say fine, I’d like to hear ’em. He says okay, go grab a clipboard. So I go grab a clipboard! What the heck else am I supposed to do? That’s when the phone rings. Sometimes I think, when she calls, she doesn’t understand there’s actually some sort of activity going on, and it’s called work, and it’s a little bit important. Aah, I don’t know. Women. You can plug ’em in but you can’t get ’em to go.
Oh, and the other thing. This girl. Let me back up. This girl. She’s a cashier. Colored girl, by the way. Which is okay. She’s not really obvious about it or anything. You just gotta be careful. All right. So she puts some candy on the counter. A little dish, puts it out—take one. Now, this is with Jim Carroll, who’s the Visual Merchandiser for the entire zone, not to mention the guy who’s probably going to make Senior Veep soon as we go worldwide, standing right there, looking at this dish, thinking I don’t know how to manage my own store. So I go up to her. Tal-Ahnka, I say. That’s her name. Your guess is as good as mine. Tal-Ahnka, let’s work this out here. We don’t sell candy, we don’t even sell this dish, what am I supposed to do when someone wants to buy the dish? She says it’s her dish. Someone wants to buy the dish, they can talk to her. So now that’s where we’ve got to go, down that lovely primrose path. Now I’ve got to be the bad guy because I happen to care about my customers’ well-being, their safety for God’s sake. What happens when a little kid comes in—mommy look at the candy—takes a bite and bam, he’s on the ground, my god he’s choking, how could you do such a horrible thing, I go to prison for the rest of my life and that’s the end of that. See, that’s where your managerial jurisprudence comes in. The blacks, they don’t appreciate this sort of thing, and I mean that with all total respect. But I’m trying to be pleasant and I’m trying to be professional, so I just say now Tal-Ahnka, I’ve asked once nicely and I’ve given you a chance to respond—see, with some people, you gotta go through all the rigmarole or else it’s lawsuit time. So I tell her look, that candy is gonna go, and that’s all there is to it, and I’m not messing around with it anymore! Enough of this noise, man! That’s what I said, word for word. A real good, slick kind of an answer, I thought.
So you’re starting to get the idea, I think, why I darn near blew my top.
Came dang close.
And it doesn’t help when my customers start getting in on the act. That really ticks me off. Some dumb broad butts in while I’m having a private conversation with my cashier, just walks right up and says
knowledge of the subject is impressive. So impressive, in fact, that I feel
unable to provide you with any more useful instruction. May I recommend that you take a day this week to visit the Advisory on the fourth floor
and inquire about transferring into an adjacent section, one better able to
accommodate your unique skills. This, of course, is simply a suggestion.
You should do only what you feel is best. Good luck, Daniel Kind, Ph.D.
Sheesh
1998
It was just a case of too many things going on at once, and I kind of blew my top. Not proud of it, but that’s what I did. I can only be pulled in so many directions. First there’s Lydia. She always calls when she knows she’s going to get me on the sales floor. That’s part of the game, the game we all play. I say, look, I have an office, why not call me there? Wouldn’t that be a lot simpler? Right in the middle of talking to Jim Carroll, she gets me. He’s bopping around, stinking up the joint. Steve, he says. Store’s looking pretty good. This is from the guy who changes my quantities every month without telling me. Ooh, he’s a treat. I tell him okay. Matter of fact, I say, it looks
dang
good, and we’re going to keep it that way. So he goes, gets a clipboard, says he’s got some display tips he wants to show me. I say fine, I’d like to hear ’em. He says okay, go grab a clipboard. So I go grab a clipboard! What the heck else am I supposed to do? That’s when the phone rings. Sometimes I think, when she calls, she doesn’t understand there’s actually some sort of activity going on, and it’s called work, and it’s a little bit important. Aah, I don’t know. Women. You can plug ’em in but you can’t get ’em to go.
Oh, and the other thing. This girl. Let me back up. This girl. She’s a cashier. Colored girl, by the way. Which is okay. She’s not really obvious about it or anything. You just gotta be careful. All right. So she puts some candy on the counter. A little dish, puts it out—take one. Now, this is with Jim Carroll, who’s the Visual Merchandiser for the entire zone, not to mention the guy who’s probably going to make Senior Veep soon as we go worldwide, standing right there, looking at this dish, thinking I don’t know how to manage my own store. So I go up to her. Tal-Ahnka, I say. That’s her name. Your guess is as good as mine. Tal-Ahnka, let’s work this out here. We don’t sell candy, we don’t even sell this dish, what am I supposed to do when someone wants to buy the dish? She says it’s her dish. Someone wants to buy the dish, they can talk to her. So now that’s where we’ve got to go, down that lovely primrose path. Now I’ve got to be the bad guy because I happen to care about my customers’ well-being, their safety for God’s sake. What happens when a little kid comes in—mommy look at the candy—takes a bite and bam, he’s on the ground, my god he’s choking, how could you do such a horrible thing, I go to prison for the rest of my life and that’s the end of that. See, that’s where your managerial jurisprudence comes in. The blacks, they don’t appreciate this sort of thing, and I mean that with all total respect. But I’m trying to be pleasant and I’m trying to be professional, so I just say now Tal-Ahnka, I’ve asked once nicely and I’ve given you a chance to respond—see, with some people, you gotta go through all the rigmarole or else it’s lawsuit time. So I tell her look, that candy is gonna go, and that’s all there is to it, and I’m not messing around with it anymore! Enough of this noise, man! That’s what I said, word for word. A real good, slick kind of an answer, I thought.
So you’re starting to get the idea, I think, why I darn near blew my top.
Came dang close.
And it doesn’t help when my customers start getting in on the act. That really ticks me off. Some dumb broad butts in while I’m having a private conversation with my cashier, just walks right up and says
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