It’s funny how the things you do have a ripple effect. I was reluctant to return to work after being away from the work force for almost seven years. Several people encouraged me to go back to work and I’ll always owe them a debt of gratitude. They believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. That was a powerful motivator and I learned something from them. I learned that I can be an encouraging motivator in the lives of others. In the past I used to joke that what I really wanted to do was work with teenage boys. After my family joined the local YMCA I took my children to various classes and lessons. My oldest daughter likes to climb the rock wall, the guys who worked there were patient and they taught all of us more about rock climbing. As a parent on the sidelines I sat and watched my daughter’s progress. I listened to what the belayers were telling her. I introduced myself to the people who worked there and talked to them when we were waiting for our time to climb.
At that time there wasn’t a manager for the rock wall. One of my good friends taught swim lessons and basketball. She’s naturally very athletic but it’s the way that she teaches other people that makes her a valuable employee. We hung out together and I had to laugh when someone stopped me in the hall because they thought I worked at the Y. Pretty soon I knew all of the guys at the rock wall. I was there, I like to chat, they were interesting and they had problems they wanted to talk about. I didn’t know what to expect when I went back to work. Currently I manage an ice cream and smoothie shop. It’s not glamorous, a lot of the time I’m lonely and that’s why I’m looking for a new job. Right now I’m the general manager which sounds more impressive than it actually is. I have four assistant managers. All four of them are nineteen year old boys who go to school together. They're every bit as cool as the guys at the rock wall and one of the things I think I should get credit for is how I’ve trained my staff to handle things.
My mother-in-law was down two weekends ago. We went shopping and we went to the mall I work at. I introduced her to some of my friends. On the way back I was telling her some of their stories. We were almost halfway home when I got a call from one of my employees. She was calling to tell me that she was taking her mother into urgent care and wouldn’t be able to work. I told her to take care of her mother and not to worry about work. I didn’t want to go to work but if that’s what I had to do then that was what I as the manager was going to have to do. I called the guys who were working that day. The phone rang four times before I hung up so I knew they were busy. A couple minutes later I called started calling cell phones. I asked the first guy who answered if he could stay late. He had plans to take his girlfriend out. It was one of the reasons I had scheduled him to work in the middle of the day. I fully expected that I would have to go in to work that day. I was annoyed at the inconvenience but the girl who called in is a good employee who has never called in before.
One of the things I do is delegate things to other people. When I’m gone my assistants are in charge. They leave me notes and I tell them to call me if they need something. One of the coolest things about my staff is the way they react to difficult situations. Saturday is one of the busiest days we have. By the time I got off the phone with the girl who had called in sick the two guys who were working had put together a plan for how to run the rest of the day. I ended up not having to go into work at all. I thanked the guys who had covered for the girl who had called in and I let them know she was willing to take a shift for them.
I have an awesome group of people that work for me. They’re clean cut, reliable, hard working and they are a ton of fun to work with. My standards are high. I expect a lot out of those kids and I have given them raises as they have taken on more responsibility. I know what’s going on in their personal lives, we communicate well, they know what they can expect from me and I try to make the journey to the next level as pleasant as I possibly can. I don’t worry about work when I’m not there because I can trust the people I work with to handle whatever situation arises. It is time for me to find something new because the boss I had is going to take over a different store and I don’t get along with her brother the way I did with her. She taught me a lot about being a good boss. I have a box for time off requests. The last time I opened that box there were notes from two of the guys I work with. One of the notes had a smiley face at the bottom and the other one was a detailed explanation of how one of my employees had handled a difficult problem he had encountered.
During my last job interview I was able to tell the woman interviewing me about my staff and the way I ran things. Two of my employees won’t be with me for the summer. They’re two of my best crew members and I already know about their plans to leave. These are nineteen year old boys and I am going to give them credit for being fabulous people that I will miss working with. When I leave I’m going to keep the good people I worked with in mind and I’m going to try and take as many of them with me as I can. I haven’t gotten a new job but my last interview went well. I met with the woman in charge of Human Resources. At the end of the interview she had a two page list of notes and I had a much better idea of what she was looking for. Before the big group interview I was talking with a friend of mine. He knows I want a new job. I told him I was nervous about the interview and he told me that they would meet me and know that I was the perfect person for the job they were trying to fill.
I was interviewing for a position in inventory which wasn’t ideal but I was willing to take it if it meant getting my foot in the door. We were sitting by the coffee shop when I saw a girl who works at the bank walk past. Several people walking past were people I recognized. The woman interviewing me told me she was on the fence about hiring me for the inventory position. She mentioned that they had a new position that hadn’t been implemented due to the economy and budget constraints. At the end of the interview she told me she would like to have me in that position if and when it becomes available. Right now I don’t want to be working where I’m at. It’s hard to motivate myself to go in to work but once I’m there I put a lot of time and effort into making sure things are the best that I can make them. I couldn’t do my job if the people who worked for me weren’t of the caliber that they are. This is my salute to them because people in the mall know who we are, they come and see us even when they’re not working. They bring their friends in to meet us and we’ve even had employees from some of the other ice cream places at the mall ask me for a job.
I don’t want to forget the lessons I’ve learned from working where I do. When the time comes to part ways I will be sad to go. The people I work with are my friends and I’d like to think that I’ve helped them become better people. I’ve watched them grow and I’ve seen them respond positively to changes in the power structure at work. They were on my side when I got a new boss and it was pretty cool to hear some of the things they said about the way I ran things. I don’t know what the future holds for any of the people who are in my life right now but I don’t want to lose touch with any of them. They’ve helped me, they’ve taught me things I didn’t know before and my definition of node for the ages is writing about people who have touched my life for the better. This node is for those people. I love you guys and I couldn’t imagine life without you. You guys rock. Keep up the great work no matter where you go and I know it’ll be far because I know you. I believe in you and some day the dreams you have will become a reality for you.
This is for all the people I work with who will probably never read this. Here’s looking at you kids.