CancelMyService
05-16-2008, 03:40 AM
I found out that my department manager from back in my Circuit City days passed away on Tuesday. I worked there for about 2 years and since it was commission back then there were many a 10-12 hour shifts full of SCs (especially at holiday/back to school times) so it ended up creating an almost barracks-like camaraderie between the people in my department since we spent so much time together.
Ironically, my manager was kind of the retail equivalent of the stereotypical shell shocked Vietnam veteran, he'd spent over 30 years in the business so you know he's seen things, man. It also made him age prematurely, as it said he was 59 in his obituary and I would have said that was how old he was when I worked for him 7-8 years ago.
It was always a running joke how he was more than a little on the scatterbrained side, he had a binder that he carried with him that he would invariably leave on a shelf or behind a computer and go around asking everyone if they've seen it.
Another trademark was his habit of just leaving in the middle of a conversation.You'd be talking to him and all of a sudden he'd just disappear in mid sentence. Never in a rude way, more in a "I'm just going to walk over here now" way.
I never told him, but one of the things that sealed my choice to leave the store was the crap they pulled on him. He was training to be Store Manager, and for months he was basically the outgoing Store Manager's bitch at his beck and call. He was supposed to be showing him the ropes but was just using him as a glorified gopher. I asked him why he was putting up with that BS, and he figured it was just their way of seeing if he could handle the job. If he got pissed over being a lackey, how can he handle the stress of running a store? I guess that made some sort of twisted sense, but then they went and hired some clueless-ass kid from outside the company to run the store. The outgoing store manager went out with a bang to say the least (he ended up defecting to the competing Best Buy across the street) and as such corporate decided they'd fix our wagon by not promoting from within. Needless to say I was pissed. My manager would have walked in front of a speeding train for the company and they just f'd him like that. I was already leaning towards leaving for a myriad of other reasons, and that was just the icing on the cake.
In a retail world full of idiots and assholes, he was a solid dude who deserved better in life than a career in retail. He was training to work for the IRS when he passed away so it seemed like he was on his way to what surely would have been a perfect fit for a second career.
Judging by the memories of the folks who signed his guestbook on the local paper's website, it seems like he was that kind of solid dude in all aspects of life. I knew from my time working with him he was a hockey nut and was a coach for his son's team. He also helped out with the youth groups in his town, and from all the notes from people thanking him it seems like they got as much from him as I did.
Looking back, I just now realized how much of a role he had in my current career goal of becoming a supervisor at my job. His way of dealing with both customers and employees shaped the way I handle myself to this day. He used to joke that being a department manager just meant he got it from both sides (ie: he'd have us in one ear and his boss in the other), and he was the best at dealing with all of us. If I end up even a fraction as good as he was, I'd consider myself a success.
From all of us ex-computer department goofs, :salute: to you B.
Ironically, my manager was kind of the retail equivalent of the stereotypical shell shocked Vietnam veteran, he'd spent over 30 years in the business so you know he's seen things, man. It also made him age prematurely, as it said he was 59 in his obituary and I would have said that was how old he was when I worked for him 7-8 years ago.
It was always a running joke how he was more than a little on the scatterbrained side, he had a binder that he carried with him that he would invariably leave on a shelf or behind a computer and go around asking everyone if they've seen it.
Another trademark was his habit of just leaving in the middle of a conversation.You'd be talking to him and all of a sudden he'd just disappear in mid sentence. Never in a rude way, more in a "I'm just going to walk over here now" way.
I never told him, but one of the things that sealed my choice to leave the store was the crap they pulled on him. He was training to be Store Manager, and for months he was basically the outgoing Store Manager's bitch at his beck and call. He was supposed to be showing him the ropes but was just using him as a glorified gopher. I asked him why he was putting up with that BS, and he figured it was just their way of seeing if he could handle the job. If he got pissed over being a lackey, how can he handle the stress of running a store? I guess that made some sort of twisted sense, but then they went and hired some clueless-ass kid from outside the company to run the store. The outgoing store manager went out with a bang to say the least (he ended up defecting to the competing Best Buy across the street) and as such corporate decided they'd fix our wagon by not promoting from within. Needless to say I was pissed. My manager would have walked in front of a speeding train for the company and they just f'd him like that. I was already leaning towards leaving for a myriad of other reasons, and that was just the icing on the cake.
In a retail world full of idiots and assholes, he was a solid dude who deserved better in life than a career in retail. He was training to work for the IRS when he passed away so it seemed like he was on his way to what surely would have been a perfect fit for a second career.
Judging by the memories of the folks who signed his guestbook on the local paper's website, it seems like he was that kind of solid dude in all aspects of life. I knew from my time working with him he was a hockey nut and was a coach for his son's team. He also helped out with the youth groups in his town, and from all the notes from people thanking him it seems like they got as much from him as I did.
Looking back, I just now realized how much of a role he had in my current career goal of becoming a supervisor at my job. His way of dealing with both customers and employees shaped the way I handle myself to this day. He used to joke that being a department manager just meant he got it from both sides (ie: he'd have us in one ear and his boss in the other), and he was the best at dealing with all of us. If I end up even a fraction as good as he was, I'd consider myself a success.
From all of us ex-computer department goofs, :salute: to you B.