Isobel Asks The Internet

XXIV - The Sandwich Shop

I was verbally assaulted by a rude woman in a sandwich shop! Was my reaction understandable? 

Hey everyone! 

So, recently I was hiring for a new bakery manager in the supermarket that I am a part-time head manager of after I demoted Mylene (the former manager) to restroom associate for complimenting someone I HATE. The position had remained vacant for quite some time as I'd had other things on my mind, such as the upcoming launch of mine and Nigella's salad-bar concept, as well the continued success of my renegade Autumn fashion line; hiring a new manager had been put on hold until this moment of my timeline.

I'd narrowed the thousands of applications we had received from across the country to three potential candidates and had invited them to take part in an exclusive interview with me and Marceline (the deputy manager) to test their capabilities of the role. Speaking of the role, the day before the interviews, I had SUCH a good idea. 

I had been thinking about the bakery, and realised that it probably didn't need to be taken care of by its own separate manager when I could just use an existing one! Just before the end of the day, I called Nora (the pharmacy manager) into my office and told her that I was promoting her to pharmacy and bakery manager. She was clearly very excited, but wanted to very quickly clear up some concerns she had about the pharmacy being on the other side of the store to the bakery and also about her salary. I thought this was SO disrespectful as my shift had just ended and I had promised Heini and Katie that I'd go out for a meal with them at Mallory's restaurant; Nora was clearly gagging for an invite. 

Now that I didn't have to hire a manager for the bakery, I decided to transform the role into something that would be actually worthwhile and of tangible benefit to the store; the opportunities manager. Basically, they would be responsible for ensuring that all employees had the opportunity to do a good job while at work, and they would do this by promoting opportunistic behaviours such as staying hydrated, as well as drinking enough water. I emailed the candidates to notify them of the slight changes I was making to the position the night before the interview to ensure that they would have time to prepare. 

The first candidate was a woman called Jilly. She had YEARS of experience in the sector, and clearly had good managerial skills but I suspected that this would give her a rather conservative attitude when it came to the innovative potential of the role, so I knew that she would be a deeply inappropriate choice. Next up was Nico, who seemed really on board with taking a disruptive approach to the role and had so many creative ideas, however he wanted to work part-time which was completely unacceptable. The third and final candidate was Coral, who was still doing her GCSE's and had no experience but I admired her confidence in applying for a role she was hopelessly underqualified for so I hired her immediately. She said that she had meant to apply for the produce assistant role and had clicked the wrong button, but I told her that she needed to stop underselling herself if she was to be a successful manager. 

Coral came in on the next day and, in order to induct her into our ranks, I convened a meeting of the managers I trusted the most. This included me, Marceline, Nigella, Sandy and Britney. I organised for everyone to give a presentation about aspects of the job that would equip Coral to face the challenges of her new position in management. Nigella delivered a fascinating presentation about the ins-and-outs of premises security, and Marceline talked about the corporate structure of the company and the ways in which we can use it to our advantage. The last session was delivered by Sandy, who talked about how to efficiently deal with challenging customers. This involved many physical demonstrations, and we were all SO hungry by the end so I decided to call it lunchtime! 

I decided to go to a local sandwich shop to bring provisions back for everyone (I later asked Marceline to submit an expense claims form for this). As I entered the premises, I suddenly realised that I hadn't asked everyone what kind of sandwiches they wanted, but I wasn't worried; I knew that I could make it work.