Respect The Bottom Line

Retail | Right | May 10, 2013

(I supervise over the electronics area. I like to get to know the people that are working for me. It is the first day on the sales floor for a coworker just out of high school. I have just gotten the initiative to sign up for classes to get certified in Windows and perhaps improve my work situation. I am telling him about it.)

Me: “How about you? Any plans to go to college or work in a trade?”

Coworker: “I respect hard work to move up, more than what college fails to follow through on. I’d rather start at the bottom and work my way—”

Customer: “WHERE THE F*** IS THE G** D*** BATHROOM?”

(My coworker points roughly ten feet to the customer’s left, waits a second, and turns to me.)

Coworker: “Is this what I can expect without college?”

Me: “Higher education helps, but it isn’t a guarantee. You have to show the work and initiative to get into a position in a place where things like that don’t happen. If there is one person that no one respects, it’s the guy working at the bottom.”

(He finished his shift, but only returned again for his paycheck. On the way out, he stopped to thank me and inform me he’s applying for scholarships.)

This story is part of the Crazy-First-Day roundup!