Because sometimes your owners are lame..
Alright, recap: I manage a very small, remainder bookstore in the Southeast US. I'm in the nothern part of the state where as the remainder warehouse that owns us is in a very, very backwater, southern part of the state. They're wonderful people, seriously. They'll go out of their way for you in a heartbeat.
The problem is, that despite selling to random teachers and other stores, they have no concept of regular retail At All. I was told this by the old store manager when I first started working for the company, but pretty much let it slide. If they're doing both regular and commercial business with the books out of their warehouse, they've got to know some of the aspects of running a small place. The business itself has been running for something like 25 years and was passed down from the father to three of his kids. Yeah, the next 6 months are spent with the sounds of me being so very wrong.
Now, the relevance of this notion today is that I called the warehouse to find out what kind of sale we're going to run on Black Friday (ie. The day after Thanksgiving which tends to one of, if not the, most massive retail days in the country. Unfortunately, I have no clue how works elsewhere). The first response I get is: What's so special about Black Friday? Insert the silent sound of my confused and shocked blinking here. I explain and mention that since everything we sell is already 50% off or more from the list price,we really only need to knock another 5 or 10 percent off to keep the customers happy and turn over good business for the day. My employer responds with: Dead. Silence. Then, 'I'll call you back.'. Gee willikers, Batman, that does not bode well.
Okay, I'm a pretty laid back and understanding guy, but not being aware of such a crucial day in US retail when you own a store, kind of makes me ill. And, this is the second Black Friday the store will have been open through and I can guarantee the manager here before me ran some sort of sale; between the two of us we've got over 20 years of experience in retail and almost all of her has been management. There's no way she didn't accomodate the usual behavior of stores on this day. This shouldn't have been a surprise to them.
Oh well. I suppose I'll be logging it away in the 'Oh Good Gods' bin along with their insistence that the store should be turning over a much larger profit despite being a year and a half old business that does very little advertising. It's actually their owner speak for, 'Make more money so we can open a second store on the other side of town and make you manage them both.' Bah, humbug.
The problem is, that despite selling to random teachers and other stores, they have no concept of regular retail At All. I was told this by the old store manager when I first started working for the company, but pretty much let it slide. If they're doing both regular and commercial business with the books out of their warehouse, they've got to know some of the aspects of running a small place. The business itself has been running for something like 25 years and was passed down from the father to three of his kids. Yeah, the next 6 months are spent with the sounds of me being so very wrong.
Now, the relevance of this notion today is that I called the warehouse to find out what kind of sale we're going to run on Black Friday (ie. The day after Thanksgiving which tends to one of, if not the, most massive retail days in the country. Unfortunately, I have no clue how works elsewhere). The first response I get is: What's so special about Black Friday? Insert the silent sound of my confused and shocked blinking here. I explain and mention that since everything we sell is already 50% off or more from the list price,we really only need to knock another 5 or 10 percent off to keep the customers happy and turn over good business for the day. My employer responds with: Dead. Silence. Then, 'I'll call you back.'. Gee willikers, Batman, that does not bode well.
Okay, I'm a pretty laid back and understanding guy, but not being aware of such a crucial day in US retail when you own a store, kind of makes me ill. And, this is the second Black Friday the store will have been open through and I can guarantee the manager here before me ran some sort of sale; between the two of us we've got over 20 years of experience in retail and almost all of her has been management. There's no way she didn't accomodate the usual behavior of stores on this day. This shouldn't have been a surprise to them.
Oh well. I suppose I'll be logging it away in the 'Oh Good Gods' bin along with their insistence that the store should be turning over a much larger profit despite being a year and a half old business that does very little advertising. It's actually their owner speak for, 'Make more money so we can open a second store on the other side of town and make you manage them both.' Bah, humbug.