by Polylerus

I stopped in national chain store at the mall the other day, drawn in by the signs in by the many promotional signs in the window.

Standing near the front of the store, an employee was working with a customer as a smiling manager approached.  Without so much as an introduction, the manager asked the customer, “Did he mention the sales going on?”

“Not yet,” responded the somewhat bewildered customer.

Turning to the employee, the manager continued, “I can’t believe you haven’t mentioned the promotions even after our huddle this morning. Jesus!”

At this point, I didn’t want to see any more and left the store.  I think the customer was thinking the same thing.

Teachable Moment

The pupil here is the manager.  He did a number of things wrong.

• On the sales floor and in front of a customer is no place to coach
• A manager should not interrupt a salesperson while they are serving a customer
• The manager did not allow the salesperson to explain why they had not mentioned the promotions, likely they had not had a chance yet since they had just engaged a customer
• Coaching is not adversarial activity.
• Invoking the Lord’s name or cussing is never a good thing to do in the workplace.
• etc., etc. etc….

I know that this chain of stores is not doing well and I would bet that this store struggles with performance, morale, retention and customer service.