Need a Crisis Manager? Hire a Retail Leader.
For real.
If you’ve ever been shopping on Black Friday, you may have seen how the environment can get out of hand in a hurry.
If you’ve ever worked on Black Friday, you’ve seen chaos firsthand. Hopefully, you’ve had good leaders to help you navigate it.
A little-known fact about this infamous shopping day: sometimes there is only one leader in the building.
In my last store, we opened at midnight on Black Friday and closed at 10 pm. There were only four managers on staff. I would typically work the midnight shift, 11 pm-3 am, and then come back and work a full eight after 11 am-8 pm.
From 11 pm-3 am, I was the only manager in the building.
The only one with keys to the door.
The only one with access to the safe.
The only one to handle any customer service issues.
I would schedule a lead sales associate with me (they had access to manager functions on the register) and a handful of my best associates, but still - if anything went wrong, it was all. on. me.
Even with tons of preparation, things went wrong.
I’m the Worst Manager to Ever Live (I Guess)
One year, the company had an excellent midnight giveaway. The first hundred people in line got this thing - I can’t remember exactly what it was - an Adidas blanket or something.
I had to walk the line and put wristbands on people who had been waiting. We opened the doors at midnight, cut the wristband off, and gave them their gift.
*Reminder - I’m the only manager here for this.*
Midnight arrives. The staff is in place. Everyone is ready to go.
I open one side of our double doors and head to my folding cart to begin the giveaway. There is a neat single file line. I have associates on either side of me helping with handing out gifts.
I got through about five people when a customer stormed up to the front of the line. She interrupts the whole process.
“Am I going to get a gift?” She asked me.
I look around. “If you have a wristband, you’ll get one but if not, then no.”
She tells me about how she was in line but had to leave to go to the bathroom. She lost her place, and she says that’s my fault. I’m listening intently. I’m looking her in the eyes. But then I look past her, and over one hundred people are in line, waiting to get in.
Two hundred eyeballs are all on me.
I apologize and tell her she must have a wristband to get the gift.
She then interrogates me about my work history, my name, my position - on and on.
Finally, I cut her off - because two hundred eyeballs.
I give her my name, which, for some reason, she thinks I made up, and let her know that she’ll need to move out of the way because she’s holding up this extensive line of people.
“No!” She yells. “You wasted my time. Now, I’m going to waste yours.” She also tells me that I’m the worst manager ever to live.
Sigh.
At this point, I take a glance around. Is my team seeing this? Is this really happening?
It is really happening.
Somehow, I convince her to stop blocking the line, and she leaves.
The rest of the event went smoothly, and I emailed my boss to let her know that corporate may be getting a call about me being the worst manager in the world.
My boss didn’t care about that possible complaint. I don’t know for sure, but I think they took any complaints they got on Black Friday with a grain of salt.
Technical Failures
During another Black Friday event, our giveaway was store gift cards.
Guess what didn’t work that night? Yep, the gift card server.
And yes, I was the only manager on duty during that very early morning to manage hundreds of transactions where the gift cards didn’t work.
Crisis Management is a Regular Occurrence
These are only two stories of countless times I had to manage a crisis. Here are more.
The store next to us had an electrical fire, and we had to evacuate the store.
The entire city went black - massive power outage. We had no power for hours, so we had to close.
My co-manager fainted as I was chatting her in for her shift.
A sales associate fainted at the cash wrap.
Another sales associate was hit in the face with a fitting room door. Her eye was bleeding, so I provided medical attention, and then her mom picked her up.
Oh yeah, COVID for two years.
There are no limits to what we’ve seen, managed, and remained cool through.
Almost nothing phases me anymore.
This crisis management skill is also largely invisible. Most people don’t see it happen, so they don’t understand how capable we are.
A grandmother once had a stroke at my cash wrap. I called 911 and closed half my registers in the middle of a back-to-school rush until the medics arrived. The was a line to the back of the store. The other leader in the building had no idea because she was in the office on lunch.
(That incident was one of the most traumatic, and I never found out if she was okay. I often think about that family, and I still hope they’re all okay.)
We do this kind of thing all the time. We hold it down in the face of sometimes life-threatening emergencies. We make sure everyone is okay, and we don’t fall apart. We are extra cool. We don’t bawl our faces off. We step up, and we see it through.
(We bawl our faces off later at home. Well, that’s the way I roll, anyway.)
So, if you’re a hiring manager and you’re lucky enough to see a retail manager apply for a position you have, give them an interview. Seriously. Right now. They’re so capable, you have no idea.
K, thanks.
MAILBOX
Someone who DMs me regularly sent me a message to apologize for a previous message where they were venting about work.
Listen, I get it. You’ll get no judgment from me. Sometimes, we need to dump all our thoughts out in an email, a DM, or a text with someone we can trust.
I told this person, “No apology necessary.”
Work can get messy. Humans are messy. It can be frustrating, exhilarating, and make you cry. Sometimes, all in the same day.
We’re all just people trying to do our best.
Have grace when you are able.
LEVEL UP
One thing you can do today to be a better leader.
Roll with the changes.
Early in my retail career, I learned that getting upset over small, new company directives was futile.
“OHMYGOD. WUT? They want us to get more customer surveys this month! I can’t believe it!”
Listen. Retail moves swiftly, and there will be another hot topic next month. Don’t get your trousers in a twist over one change. The focus will likely change in a few weeks.
Getting angry or upset over this stuff is usually a waste of energy. Conserve that energy. You’re going to need it next month.
Get in on This
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Get Your Guide
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You're the absolute best.
What a crazy, funny, and well written story!!!! Retail workers get to see humanity up close and insane. Thanks for always supporting them in their efforts.