As a result of the incident involving pushing the girl in Candy, I was "promoted" to be the Credit Manager for the Belk Columbia Mall store. They had one already at the downtown store. Instead of supervising 30 people, I had about 12 to deal with. Instead of having departments spread out in the store, this was a more confined space. Within the Credit Dept., there was the switchboard, gift wrap, the cash office, layaway, and credit. I had an office that was surrounded by glass, so I couldn't go in there and hide.
The switchboard was mainly run by two ladies at various shifts during the day, but at nights and on weekends, it was run by mostly high school and college folks. The cash office had one person assigned to it. If that person couldn't be there, then it was my responsibility to do it. Gift Wrap was run by one person, which was good, because I can't wrap presents to save my life. They always turn out messy. That would allow those receiving my gifts as knowing they came from me without having to read the cards. We had a back stock room for all of the layaways, and the shelves were organized by the letter of the last name of the person that put that item on layaway. There was one woman who put everything she wanted on layaway. So, there was one shelf devoted just for her stuff. The credit area was mostly to look up credit card numbers for those folks who had forgotten their cards. We had everyone's numbers on microfiche.
There would be days that made it hard to cope. I had a pretty bad temper, but I made sure that the customers wouldn't see it. So, I would go into a stockroom and kick a box to relieve that anger. It worked pretty well, but one day I couldn't find a box. I did find a file cabinet. Rather than hit it with my heel, I hit it with my toe. I broke my big toe on my right foot. One thing about breaking that toe, it can't really be fixed, so it basically has to heal on its own. I was hobbling for several days.
Of all the places I had to oversee, I mostly enjoyed working in the cash office. You had to count the money from the registers from the day before; make up a bank deposit; and put together the money for the registers for the next day. Since you worked by yourself, you could do the work at your own pace. The one problem with the cash room was that there was no ventilation, so you got hot if you were in there too long, so most people wanted to get in there and get out as quickly as you could. Normally, it would take about three hours to do the work in there. During Christmas, it took a lot longer.
I also enjoyed working on the switchboard. People would call into the store, and you would connect them with the department they wanted. It could get kind of hairy at times, especially during sales, but the time went by fast. I had one college guy working the switchboard one day. Someone had found a wallet on the ground and had brought it to us. I asked the guy to announce that a wallet had been found. He should have asked for that person's name to call the operator. Instead, he announced that whoever lost a wallet come to Credit. We had a bit of a stampede up the escalator to claim the wallet. Thankfully, we got it to the rightful owner.
I had some good people working for me and with me. Just as with my being a Buyer, I needed a couple of people to shadow me, so I could remember what I had done from the previous day. Those two were Debbie and Denise, who were both in college. Denise was a bit more serious of the two. Debbie was incredibly fun to be around. We went out at times. She was funny and very creative. She mainly worked nights, so when I came in the next morning, I had a long letter that she wrote about things that went on the night before. A lot of the letters would just be her rambling about her life. I still have so me of those letters. We would also go through the credit card files and pick out the strangest sounding names of real people. I really liked Debbie.
As I mentioned before, we had a woman who put everything on layaway. She tried to hide her buying stuff from her husband. She had a lot of money, as her husband was the head of a big company in Columbia. She really had an addiction to shopping. If one did not pay out the layaway by a certain time, the customer was sent a letter and the item was returned to the department in the store. We kept meticulous records of how something was paid and the balance owed. One day, I was called into the head of Operations for the store. He told me that this woman complained that I stole her money by not recording her payment and returning the item to the floor. I told the manager that I had not done any such thing. The woman was threatening to cut up her charge card and tell all of her society friends that I stole her money. Even though everyone knew this woman was a little off, it was decided to remove me as the Credit Manager, after working there a year. I was sent to the downtown store to work in Stationery and Luggage, where I had been back in the mid-1970's. I was pretty much sent into exile to get me away from that woman. So, for a few months, I worked downtown. I got to see Pope John Paul II drive down Assembly Street in his Pope Mobile. He waved to me.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Candy
One of my rules, as a supervisor, has been to not take the word of an employee. if they are complaining about another employee. After all, no one can get along with everyone, because there will always be some quirk that will not sit well with everyone. So, when I started getting complaints about a girl who worked in Candy, I felt I needed to see what was going on to make a judgement if something needed to be done.
Paige, Vicki, Michele and Lynn were my best workers on the Stationery/Candy side of the floor. All four had told me that there was a girl up in Candy that refused to ring up anything except Candy on her register. The registers were programmed to ring up anything in the store at any register. The four girls were coming to me on a regular basis about this Candy associate. The story that was the worst was two elderly ladies walking up to the Candy Department to have their cards rung up, and the associate telling them she couldn't do it, and the ladies had to walk a pretty good distance to buy their cards.
So, I left my office and went out on the floor to watch this girl in Candy. I watched as an elderly woman with a cane walk up to Candy to buy a card. I saw the associate refuse to ring it up, and I watched the old woman walk slowly down the aisle to find another register. This made me mad. I went to that associate and asked her why she had done what I had seen. The girl denied doing it. I told her that other people had seen her do the same thing, and she told me that they just didn't like her because she was black, and the other girls on the floor were white. This made me more incensed, as I didn't care what color you were, as long as you did the work assigned to you to do. She continued to deny to my face that she was doing anything wrong. I know I shouldn't have done this, but I hit her shoulder and knocked her shoulder padding awry. I was just trying to get her attention, but I went way out of control. I had never pushed anyone before (or since). So, I told her that I was going to Personnel and have her fired.
I went to Personnel and told the head of that department what had happened. He told me that she would be fired, and I left. She then went into Personnel and told him that I had assaulted her. He didn't believe her, and she was fired. However, word got out how the situation had escalated, and to keep from having a lawsuit, I was asked to leave being a Buyer. The excuse was the children's dinnerware buy from the Chicago Market that had not sold. Everything was hushed up.
The manager didn't want to lose me, so I was made the Credit Manager for the store. They called it a promotion. I really didn't see it that way, but at least I still had a job. It turned out to be a lot of fun, which I will write about later. However, they brought in a woman to take my place as a Buyer. My former co-workers didn't like her and would constantly complain to me about her. I felt it wasn't fair for her to try and fill my shoes as a Buyer, but I told them to give her a chance. The problem was, too, that the woman had no clue how to buy for those departments, so I was basically doing her job and my new one for the first three months of her stay as the Home Store Buyer. It got to the point, where I just had to tell her that she needed to do it on her own, as I had another job to do. She stayed for about a year, until one day she was driving to the downtown store along Gervais Street. She had stopped at a light at the corner of Gervais and Sumter, when a man jumped from a tall building and landed on her car. She turned in her resignation that day.
Paige, Vicki, Michele and Lynn were my best workers on the Stationery/Candy side of the floor. All four had told me that there was a girl up in Candy that refused to ring up anything except Candy on her register. The registers were programmed to ring up anything in the store at any register. The four girls were coming to me on a regular basis about this Candy associate. The story that was the worst was two elderly ladies walking up to the Candy Department to have their cards rung up, and the associate telling them she couldn't do it, and the ladies had to walk a pretty good distance to buy their cards.
So, I left my office and went out on the floor to watch this girl in Candy. I watched as an elderly woman with a cane walk up to Candy to buy a card. I saw the associate refuse to ring it up, and I watched the old woman walk slowly down the aisle to find another register. This made me mad. I went to that associate and asked her why she had done what I had seen. The girl denied doing it. I told her that other people had seen her do the same thing, and she told me that they just didn't like her because she was black, and the other girls on the floor were white. This made me more incensed, as I didn't care what color you were, as long as you did the work assigned to you to do. She continued to deny to my face that she was doing anything wrong. I know I shouldn't have done this, but I hit her shoulder and knocked her shoulder padding awry. I was just trying to get her attention, but I went way out of control. I had never pushed anyone before (or since). So, I told her that I was going to Personnel and have her fired.
I went to Personnel and told the head of that department what had happened. He told me that she would be fired, and I left. She then went into Personnel and told him that I had assaulted her. He didn't believe her, and she was fired. However, word got out how the situation had escalated, and to keep from having a lawsuit, I was asked to leave being a Buyer. The excuse was the children's dinnerware buy from the Chicago Market that had not sold. Everything was hushed up.
The manager didn't want to lose me, so I was made the Credit Manager for the store. They called it a promotion. I really didn't see it that way, but at least I still had a job. It turned out to be a lot of fun, which I will write about later. However, they brought in a woman to take my place as a Buyer. My former co-workers didn't like her and would constantly complain to me about her. I felt it wasn't fair for her to try and fill my shoes as a Buyer, but I told them to give her a chance. The problem was, too, that the woman had no clue how to buy for those departments, so I was basically doing her job and my new one for the first three months of her stay as the Home Store Buyer. It got to the point, where I just had to tell her that she needed to do it on her own, as I had another job to do. She stayed for about a year, until one day she was driving to the downtown store along Gervais Street. She had stopped at a light at the corner of Gervais and Sumter, when a man jumped from a tall building and landed on her car. She turned in her resignation that day.
Friday, June 15, 2018
Stephen
I did a play at my church called "Let the Church Grow" in 1987. I played Stephen who was martyred. The play was written and directed by Kevin McAfee, who was on the staff of our church in creative ministries.
There is one thing I am very sensitive about when it comes to writing stuff. I don't like it, when someone alters what I have written. If you remember from my post called "Smyrna #2", you remember how mad I got about someone changing her part, after I had written it. So, Kevin had written this play surrounding the early church, and he had written a long monologue for "Stephen" to deliver. It was mostly taken from the Bible. Because of who I was (my ego was as big as all outdoors), I felt that the monologue was too long. I rewrote it and condensed it to half of its length. Kevin was not pleased. I really didn't blame him, but I did it my way anyway. One thing about a live performance: the actor can do anything and get away with it as long as it is in character, because the audience don't have the script. You can go back to my post on "Blithe Spirit" to see what I am talking about.
We were using mics for the play. I told the sound guy to cut my mic way down, because I was going to project to the back of the church, and I really didn't need a mic. He said he wasn't going to cut it down. His soundboard was about halfway back in the church's auditorium. When I started my monologue, I was shouting. I saw him rip his headphones off. It made me smile.
Another thing about the play was the makeup. Kevin wanted most of us to have beards. One of the actors grew his own. Everybody else had fake beards. Mine was black against my brown hair. I did have my hair covered, so the beard could be black, and no one would know the difference. I have the play on video, at least my part, and a close up shows my fake beard coming off from around my mouth. The fake hair got into my mouth, and I was spitting out the hair, which caused the spirit gum to start failing. There is a spot on the left side of my mouth where there is no beard.
So, I did my part. A lot of people thought I did great. I was just glad to get that beard taken off of my face.
There is one thing I am very sensitive about when it comes to writing stuff. I don't like it, when someone alters what I have written. If you remember from my post called "Smyrna #2", you remember how mad I got about someone changing her part, after I had written it. So, Kevin had written this play surrounding the early church, and he had written a long monologue for "Stephen" to deliver. It was mostly taken from the Bible. Because of who I was (my ego was as big as all outdoors), I felt that the monologue was too long. I rewrote it and condensed it to half of its length. Kevin was not pleased. I really didn't blame him, but I did it my way anyway. One thing about a live performance: the actor can do anything and get away with it as long as it is in character, because the audience don't have the script. You can go back to my post on "Blithe Spirit" to see what I am talking about.
We were using mics for the play. I told the sound guy to cut my mic way down, because I was going to project to the back of the church, and I really didn't need a mic. He said he wasn't going to cut it down. His soundboard was about halfway back in the church's auditorium. When I started my monologue, I was shouting. I saw him rip his headphones off. It made me smile.
Another thing about the play was the makeup. Kevin wanted most of us to have beards. One of the actors grew his own. Everybody else had fake beards. Mine was black against my brown hair. I did have my hair covered, so the beard could be black, and no one would know the difference. I have the play on video, at least my part, and a close up shows my fake beard coming off from around my mouth. The fake hair got into my mouth, and I was spitting out the hair, which caused the spirit gum to start failing. There is a spot on the left side of my mouth where there is no beard.
So, I did my part. A lot of people thought I did great. I was just glad to get that beard taken off of my face.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Chicago Market
In January 1987, I was invited to go to the Home Show market in Chicago. I went with Mr. Brusack, our merchandise manager, and Bill Belk, the executive vice president of Belk Stores in Columbia. We went up there to shop at an international market, mostly Housewares. It was a big deal. We flew to Chicago and landed at O'Hare. It was the dead of winter and had snowed the day before. The roads were slushy, and the wind cut right through us. To say Chicago is "The Windy City" is an understatement. They had strung rope in between parking meters on Michigan Avenue to keep pedestrians from blowing out into the street.
We stayed at the Ambassador Hotel. It was nice and right downtown. I wore four layers of clothes which didn't seem to matter. The cold was unbearable. We went into stores just to get warm. You couldn't walk more than a block without freezing to death. We took a cab two blocks. The driver drove like we were on a roller coaster. Mr. Brusack and I shared a hotel room. He smoked a lot, so I made him smoke in the bathroom with the window up to let the smoke out. I know he froze doing that, but it was the only concession I made. He was, after all, my boss.
The market was in the Merchandise Mart downtown. It was a huge facility. Mr. Belk joined us to look over what they had. He didn't allow us to have lunch, as we had to keep moving to see everything. Mr. Brusack and I snacked on candy at the vendors' booths. We came upon some old woman celebrating her birthday at a booth. We sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and they gave us a slice each of her birthday cake. It wasn't very filling, but it kept us from fainting from starvation. Mr. Belk wanted to suggest what I should buy for the stores back home. I couldn't say no to him, because he was the big boss. His name was on the side of the building. We came to a vendor of children's dinnerware. Mr. Belk had small children, and he really liked it. Mr. Brusack and I weren't as enthusiastic about it, but we listened. The plastic dinnerware had different pictures on them from balloons to Peanuts cartoons. He wanted us to buy a lot of them, and we would be the only store in our area to have children's dinnerware. (There was a reason for that). No one in Columbia wanted children's dinnerware. It was the worst buy I made while a buyer for Belk. We brought in a bunch of it. Thousands of dollars of it. It sat on the shelf for months. Even though Mr. Belk made me buy it, I was held accountable for it not selling. It turned out to be a giant fiasco, and other stores laughed at us. It went to clearance.
At one point during that day, I got lost in the large mart. I turned around and the other two were gone. Although I was a bit frantic to find them again, it did give me some time by myself to look around and get something to eat. I ran back into them later. Mr. Brusack was mad at me for getting lost. For me, it was kind of nice.
We got back to the hotel, and Mr. Belk wanted to show me some pictures. They were aerial views of some land in the northwest area of Columbia. He was also in Chicago to meet with some developers of a new mall they were planning, and he wanted my input. He said that we wanted my opinion, because I lived in Columbia. Mr. Belk lived in Charlotte. I saw pictures of two tracts of land, and he wanted me to pick which one would be a good place to put a mall. I picked the tract on the right side of a road. He told me that the other tract was bigger and could expand more with other buildings. I told him that if one comes off a road, they are more likely to turn right than left. It is just one of those psychological things about people. If you go into stores, the better merchandise is on the right side of the door. People just like to go right before they go left. Mr. Belk went to the developers that night and gave them my recommendation. They agreed with me. So, Columbiana Centre was built on the tract of land that I suggested. The mall has been a huge success for many years. Across the street on the left tract is Best Buy and Walmart. Neither one has been very successful. Both of them are harder to get to. Case closed. I think I should have a plaque on the wall of the mall thanking me for my suggestion.
I had wanted to visit the Second City improv club while up there, but I couldn't find it. After I got home, I found out that the club was a couple of blocks away from where we were. I was kind of mad about that. We flew back to Charlotte. At the end of the runway was a billboard with pictures of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker welcoming folks to Charlotte. That made me smile, because during the time we were in Chicago, the scandal between Jim Bakker and Jessica Hahn made the news. Kind of ironic.
We stayed at the Ambassador Hotel. It was nice and right downtown. I wore four layers of clothes which didn't seem to matter. The cold was unbearable. We went into stores just to get warm. You couldn't walk more than a block without freezing to death. We took a cab two blocks. The driver drove like we were on a roller coaster. Mr. Brusack and I shared a hotel room. He smoked a lot, so I made him smoke in the bathroom with the window up to let the smoke out. I know he froze doing that, but it was the only concession I made. He was, after all, my boss.
The market was in the Merchandise Mart downtown. It was a huge facility. Mr. Belk joined us to look over what they had. He didn't allow us to have lunch, as we had to keep moving to see everything. Mr. Brusack and I snacked on candy at the vendors' booths. We came upon some old woman celebrating her birthday at a booth. We sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and they gave us a slice each of her birthday cake. It wasn't very filling, but it kept us from fainting from starvation. Mr. Belk wanted to suggest what I should buy for the stores back home. I couldn't say no to him, because he was the big boss. His name was on the side of the building. We came to a vendor of children's dinnerware. Mr. Belk had small children, and he really liked it. Mr. Brusack and I weren't as enthusiastic about it, but we listened. The plastic dinnerware had different pictures on them from balloons to Peanuts cartoons. He wanted us to buy a lot of them, and we would be the only store in our area to have children's dinnerware. (There was a reason for that). No one in Columbia wanted children's dinnerware. It was the worst buy I made while a buyer for Belk. We brought in a bunch of it. Thousands of dollars of it. It sat on the shelf for months. Even though Mr. Belk made me buy it, I was held accountable for it not selling. It turned out to be a giant fiasco, and other stores laughed at us. It went to clearance.
At one point during that day, I got lost in the large mart. I turned around and the other two were gone. Although I was a bit frantic to find them again, it did give me some time by myself to look around and get something to eat. I ran back into them later. Mr. Brusack was mad at me for getting lost. For me, it was kind of nice.
We got back to the hotel, and Mr. Belk wanted to show me some pictures. They were aerial views of some land in the northwest area of Columbia. He was also in Chicago to meet with some developers of a new mall they were planning, and he wanted my input. He said that we wanted my opinion, because I lived in Columbia. Mr. Belk lived in Charlotte. I saw pictures of two tracts of land, and he wanted me to pick which one would be a good place to put a mall. I picked the tract on the right side of a road. He told me that the other tract was bigger and could expand more with other buildings. I told him that if one comes off a road, they are more likely to turn right than left. It is just one of those psychological things about people. If you go into stores, the better merchandise is on the right side of the door. People just like to go right before they go left. Mr. Belk went to the developers that night and gave them my recommendation. They agreed with me. So, Columbiana Centre was built on the tract of land that I suggested. The mall has been a huge success for many years. Across the street on the left tract is Best Buy and Walmart. Neither one has been very successful. Both of them are harder to get to. Case closed. I think I should have a plaque on the wall of the mall thanking me for my suggestion.
I had wanted to visit the Second City improv club while up there, but I couldn't find it. After I got home, I found out that the club was a couple of blocks away from where we were. I was kind of mad about that. We flew back to Charlotte. At the end of the runway was a billboard with pictures of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker welcoming folks to Charlotte. That made me smile, because during the time we were in Chicago, the scandal between Jim Bakker and Jessica Hahn made the news. Kind of ironic.
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