October 6, 2004

• Ah hump day. There’s a billboard on the side of the 405 freeway on the way home (it’s an advertisement for an SUV) which declares “3days, 4hours, 41minutes to the Weekend.” The numbers are digital so they change by the minute, “counting down” to Friday at 5pm. This sign has been up for a few weeks now, and has become a “friend”, signalling to me when I get off work for my two day weekend. It’s actually a bit slow, because I get off at 3pm instead of 5pm, but it’s close enough. Having two days off a week is routine for me now, as it has been for over 17 years in the electrical industry.

  
  

  When I was in retail management it was a different story.

  
  

  As a retail manager, I either “opened” or “closed” the store. Opening a large “big box” department store, especially with a full market like FedMart had, occurs at around 5am. There is a transfer of power in the store at that time. The day manager takes over from the overnight manager, who oversees the stocking of the store. For those who have never worked in retail, the stores are stocked mainly at night by full crews, who litter the floor with pallets of merchandise delivered by trucks the day before. At 5 or 6am, the process is begun for “cleaning up” the floor, and the day manager makes sure that the store’s aisles are clean and fully stocked for the day. He has to maintain that all ad goods are presented, signs are in place, and the night’s mess is cleaned up.

  
  

  The bread vendors start coming in the back through the warehouse. Fresh foods are delivered on a daily basis and food past it’s freshness date is removed. There is a lot of activity going on in a large retail establishment during the wee hours of the morning. A day manager usually stays on the job till around 5pm. The night manager usually comes in at around noon, and “closes the store”.

  
  

  Closing a major retail establishment is just as hectic as opening. Two major tasks have to be accomplished prior to “locking the doors” which usually occurs past 11pm. The night crew has to “straighten the shelves” (At Target in the 80s we called this “zone management.) and the night manager has to count the day’s profits, and deposit the money in the night safe. Sometimes, on a busy Friday or Saturday night, the closing crew stays long enought to meet the overnight stocking crew, who comes in after midnight. The night manager makes “rounds” of the store, checking on all the “zones” to insure that no carts of “go-backs”, merchandise which has been returned to the store and needs to be restocked, are hidden in the many nooks and crannies of the warehouse, and that the store is picture perfect, ready for the next day’s business.

  
  

  Sometimes I would have to “close” the store on one night, and then “open” the next morning. I have strange sleeping habits even today because of my tenure in the retail industry. At Gemco, after FedMart went out of business, before I graduated up the ladder to management, (When a large retail center goes out of business, there are a lot of management “fish” in a rather large pond trying to find work, and some don’t get placement at the level to which they are accustomed.) I worked both the overnight crew and helped manage the hardlines department during some days, so sometimes I only had six or eight hours between shifts. I believe there is an employment law that dictates how slim the margin can be between “shifts” but in my early days at Gemco, I took any spot that was available in order to maintain a 40 hour week. Once I was in management proper, however, the weeks can be 80 hours or more.

  
  

  And days off were not grouped together on the weekend. The most important day in retail is Sunday, when the ads break. Saturday night is spent changing all the signs. (In the old days we needed to actually change the prices on the merchandise, but scanning changed that in the 80s) So in retail management, you get one day off at a time, and it can be in the middle of the week.

  
  

  As I finish this blog entry, and look around my office, knowing that in 2 days, 8 hours, and 30 minutes I will start my weekend, which will last two whole days, which is enough for a short vacation out of town if I have money, I feel blessed to be in the wholesale electrical industry. I get in early (before 6) so I can deal with East Coast clients on their own time, and I get to go home at 3pm. Of course I’m usually in bed by 7pm, but when the weekend comes, I’m on my own.

  
  

  I don’t miss retail management one bit!

  
  

  (Note: I’m splitting my usual “whenwordscollide” posts into paragraphs in response to a comment telling me it was “difficult to read” the pure text blocks without breaks.)

  • 9:30 am
  • 3 Comments