Lamps

 After the TV Department at Rich's closed up, I was moved to a full-time sales position in the Lamp Department.  We sold table and floor lamps, as well as mirrors.  I knew nothing about lamps, except how to turn them on and off and how to change a bulb.  There was a guy working part-time there named John, and he helped me out a lot.  I learned about finials and harps.  I learned about wattage and shades.  I also learned about resin and brass.  Just about everything in the world of Lamps.
 We did special orders for the wall mirrors, because they were way to big to store in our stock room, and very heavy.  I had been used to just picking up the phone and calling a corporate honcho to get things on special order.  It stemmed from my days as a buyer at Belk.  It carried over to my time in TV's.  I had a supervisor in Lamps who didn't like me going over her head to order mirrors.  In fact, she made it perfectly clear that there was a chain of command in that store.  I would sell the mirrors, but she would have to be the one making the call to the honchos.  I knew all the honchos, and I also knew that doing it myself would mean the customer getting their order quicker.  After all, my supervisor was over several departments, and her time was at a premium.  Our store manager joked that my supervisor had my footprint on her head.  I finally had to relent and do what she said.  She also wore shoes that clomped when she walked, so you could hear her coming a mile away.  She was always impressed that her associates were always working when she saw us.  We goofed off when we didn't hear the clomping heels.
 One day, I was going to move some floor lamps from one display fixture to another.  We used power strips to plug in the lamps.  One plug would not come out of the strip.  So, I turned off the lamp and turned off the strip.  I got a pair of scissors to dig the plug out of the strip.  I thought the electricity had been cut off from the strip, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!.  There was a boom, and I was blown across the aisle.  My hair stood up, and my heart was fluttering.  I blew a fuse out.  I still have the scissors.  There is a burned notch out of one side of the steel.  I never did that again.
 One thing I had learned in retail was to develop friendships with other stores that sold your product.  That way, if I didn't have something that a customer was looking for then I would refer them to another store.  And, those stores would do the same for me.  Along about six months into my working in our Lamp Department, I was told that I had received a sales award.  My department was the number one Lamp Department in the entire Rich's organization of 70 stores in sales.  I got $100 and  my choice of a free lamp.  I chose a Dale Tiffany lamp that had flowers and butterflies on it.  It was a big deal for me and the store.
 I was riding high, when I got a new supervisor.  When I met her, she was looking at my department and said, "This place looks like S**T!  I was shocked that she would say that.  Surely, she had heard about my success.  Apparently not.  During this time, our store formed a bowling league.  I signed up.  I wasn't very good, until I started imagining my new supervisor's face on the bowling pins.  I started rolling strikes.  She helped me game and our team immensely.
 Another six months passed, and it was announced that I once again had the best Lamp Department in the entire Rich's company.  I got another $100 and my choice of another lamp.  I chose a basic table lamp this time.  I ended up giving it away to my neighbor.  My success in selling really impressed my bosses.  So much that they moved me to another department.  The Lamp business died.