First Post

This is my first entry on this blog. I've been told by others that I should create a blog many times. I always immediately dismiss the idea as being too trendy or too time consuming. But, I've decided to give it a shot. After several days of trying to decide what I would write about (and how quickly I would run out of ideas or material) I decided to write about what I do everyday. Not for any one person or group, but more for me. This way I can get the thoughts, feelings, and ideas that each day produces poured out without drowning my wife and family.

So, since I was off today and didn't really have any retail management experiences to write about, I guess I will just enter a few blurbs here and satisfy myself for today.

There is always competition between stores of the same retailer within the same market. Who has the most sales, most profit, best initiatives, etc.? But I kind of prefer a different way of determining the winner. Who has the best stories? That seems like a much more interesting way to decide which manager has overcome the most or endured the most. Although my store leads in some categories off and on and lags way behind in others, I tend to have the best stories of all the managers. Some have said it is my "negative aura" that pulls bad/unusual people and events to me. I can't say I agree with this, because even when I am amazingly optimistic and cheerful it seems like a disaster is waiting with the next phone call or page. I like a good challenge occasionally to spice up the work day, but when calamity strikes constantly it turns into a battle of wills. I'm not going to go into a story now, but I can confidently say that I have faced almost every situation conceivable in my retail career except a shooting and a robbery. However, since I wrote that last sentence I have no choice but to look forward to those happening tomorrow.