The saying is "it's always darkest before the dawn", but the catch is that you may not realize that you are not quite aware of how dark, dark can be.
I'm not going to tell you what retailer I am currently employed by for two reasons. First of all, all companies have their unique cultures and who am I to second guess the workings of the successful business and second of all I honestly don't think anyone has anything against me personally. But, with that said.... I am feeling so over my head in this job and I am not stupid, so something is amiss.
I have been working for the company for three weeks. Today was payday. The "training manager" did not take my direct deposit information until the Friday of the first week of training. Hence, my pay period was delayed. So I will have worked for the company for almost five weeks by the time I receive my first "biweekly" paycheck.
This is the type of success story that is only resonates the first time you hear it, so friends that have already heard the story please indulge me one more time. When my mom was visiting a few weeks ago we had gone to a Wednesday night church service, I had misunderstood and in fact the Wednesday night services were only being held for the Advent season. After months of job searching and being turned down for yet another job I really needed a Wednesday night service to re-energize. The fact that there was no service just added insult to injury.
On our way home we were waiting at a corner for the crosswalk light to change next to a store where my mom traditionally buys me a Christmas gift certificate. Jokingly I said to my mom, "Oh, look, it's my beloved ?????. I wonder if they are hiring?" The woman standing at the crosswalk next to us said, "What did you say?" I replied, "My beloved ?????." She said , "No, the other thing." I replied, "I wonder if they are hiring?" She responded, "Yes! We are". Due to a major plumbing issue flood the district manager was at her Broadway store late that night and had stepped out to get a Starbucks. I have no idea what she saw in me, but she urged me to stop by the store the next day to pick up an application. An application and two interviews later I was hired.
I was hired as a Sales Lead. Anyone who know me knows that I can talk to anyone, so retail sales in an upscale boutique and coaching a team of sales associates actually sounds like a nice fit. Unfortunately this particular store has been missing a manager for quite some time and as soon as I was hired one of the two assistant managers gave her two weeks notice. So they needed someone to hit the floor running. To say I was, and am not currently, up to speed is an understatement. Sales analysis and forecasting are completely foreign skills to me. The current acting manager (she is currently being borrowed from a New Jersey store) is over worked and under a lot of pressure to turn the store numbers around. To say she is underwhelmed by my lack of retail knowledgee is an understatement. But at this point they need a body who can open and close the store and I"m it. After two weeks I was (am) opening and closing the Upper West Side store without so much as a "nice job" and being critzized along the way for not knwoing what I simply have never been taught. And don't say that being shown something on that damned computer one time is something that I am actually suppossed to retain. Honestly, I don't know what the hiring manager was thinking hiring me, but since she did a kind word from the management team would be nice.
Commission sales and the lack of team spirit, complex cash registers, hobby shoppers, NEVER MIND. These subjects need a seperate blog.
After seven months of job searching I've finally found a job. It's part-time with no benefits and part-time hours. That means that I still have to keep my telecommuting job and balance the new retail job with all of it's demands. It's a stop gap. I will either flourish or.... (we won't go there). But this past week I worked 60 hours between the two jobs. I feel more like a jack of all trades and master of none. So, it's always darkest before the dawn, but at some point the sun has to rise. Right?
