EATON'S During The 1960's Second French Revolution

Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

It was 8:45 A.M. The store would open in 15 minutes. The staff was busy primping displays, opening registers, and straightening sale tables.

Ricky scanned his domain, his heart beaming with pride.

"Marge, can you tell all the section heads and managers that I need the staff assembled by your register for a short meeting?"

"Sure, Ricky. Do you want the stock personnel, too?"

"No, just the sales staff."

He watched as his employees quickly gathered.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I just have a few words before we open for business. First, two of the University Street elevators will be closed for maintenance, so, direct customers to the front escalators, or the elevators on the Metcalfe Street side. Also, everyone needs to keep an eye out for customers approaching the escalators with strollers. We've had two accidents in the past week of strollers toppling over on the escalators. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but they could have been. Also, all section heads, please make sure that all your temporary staff are aware of the kill switch location for the escalators. I asked two of the weekenders last Saturday and neither of them knew what I was talking about."

"Now, as you are all aware, the FLQ have escalated their cause with increased vandalism, robberies, bombings and anti-English rhetoric, which we have all witnessed on the TV, radio news, and in the newspaper. This has resulted in increased animosity of the average French speaking people towards the English."

Ricky noted the embarrassment on faces of several of his French employees.

He continued, "And since our downtown Eaton's store symbolizes their complaints concerning English Federalist Canada, we have become the prime targets of the separatist movement. We have all been made a part of the increased bomb threats directed at our store over the past few months, and as such, we have to be much more cognizant of the feelings of our French Quebecers. With that in mind, we have been advised by our executive office to make special efforts to accommodate our French speaking customers. This means making sure that none of our actions will make them feel uncomfortable while shopping at Eaton's. Therefore, for those of you who have only a limited working knowledge of French, you are directed to turn over any French customers to a salesperson who is fluent in French. We don't want you trying to muddle through a conversation in broken French, which will irritate the customer. Just say to the customer, 'excuszee moi, Madame or Monsieur,' Excuse me, Madam, or Sir, and find a bilingual person to take over. Now, for those of you on commission, I'm sure that you are worried about your sales figures. To overcome any losses, the person that you hand off a customer to will, as they say, owe you one. That means that he, or she, will pass along the next available customer to you. Therefore, no one will lose any money and our French customers will be kept happy. These are trying times for all of us, and we need to make these concessions if we are going to weather the political storms in Quebec."

"Also, our 'eyes on' program to address the increased shoplifting is now in full effect. Make sure that everyone in your control area is up to speed, and that all weekend and reserve staff are totally familiar with the program."

"So, thank you all, and let's have a great selling day. Section heads please stick around for a minute."

As the regular staff dispersed to prepare for the store's opening, Ricky addressed the remaining section heads.

"I realize this commission thing is not going to go smoothly with the older sales staff. They are going to be reluctant to turn over any sales, and ultimately, they are going to overwhelm the younger ones. You are going to have to be more diligent and observant, to ensure this doesn't happen."

"Also, we are finding that many of the older sales personnel are running out of here at night without straightening up or putting the protective covers on the sales tables. They are leaving that chore to the younger staff. That has got to stop immediately. If you have problems with any of the older staff not toeing the line, let me know and I'll handle them. We are a team here.

"Finally, as you are all now very aware from our security meeting last week, the whole store is being plagued by a serious rash of thefts. It seems no department is safe from these thieves, which security believes to be an organized shoplifting ring. Now, organized doesn't necessarily mean the mob, but be careful anyway. Get your staff to always keep an eye on the customer, even when you go into the stock area. If they are going to be in there for any length time, be sure to have someone else keep an eye on the customer. I'm sorry for all these new procedures, but we can get through all of these issues if we do it together! Have a great selling day!" Ricky smiled and walked over to where Duane was talking to another section head.

"Duane, stick around for a minute"

As everyone else dispersed, Ricky pulled a paper from his inner jacket pocket, and handed it to Duane.

"This is an investigative report from security about a menswear weekend staffer by the name of Andre Benoit. Apparently, they suspect him of passing free clothing to his friends. They are going to insert an undercover operative into the menswear department this weekend to keep an eye on him. I want you to let Amed know that this security agent will be working with him. I also need you and Darzada to keep this information to yourselves."

"Got it Boss!"