The Blog of Spencer Roach

Later today will be the last opportunity for the masses to bail out the store director as tomorrow, July 4, will bring in the market director (the store director’s boss AKA district manager) and the group vice president (the market director’s boss AKA regional manager). I’ve written plenty about his incompetence so I will not elaborate on that. However, I have to admit that while I was excited at the possibility of the store director getting fired, I am even more excited that the boss’s boss (the manager on my side of the store under the store director) could have the same fate.

Today shall bring new adventures. As desperation reaches a new high, perhaps the stupidity will as well. Management has already decided to break the planogram (put products where they are not supposed to go), and while this is not inherently a bad idea, the way they have went about doing this is hilarious. Putting different products in the same place on the planogram, turning items on its side to block product information, not replacing old price tags with new ones when necessary, and not pricing patio furniture in general are some of the sins that this group has made in the attempt to clear the backroom.

Because of the circumstances, I can show some sympathy and can tolerate a few broken rules of merchandising, but some of the crimes committed are simply outrageous. If no more product can come out, then do not put more product out. It’s not the store’s fault if the corporate offices order too much or too little of certain products. And if they are going to break some rules, at least ensure that the correct price tags are present. If this is a problem, then train team members (like me) to print out price tags. I’m sure it is not that difficult of a process, but nobody can read minds so don’t expect help from team members if training them is too difficult short-term.

Anyway, this is a longer post than I anticipated, so I will simply end it by saying that while I have trashed the store director and have called for his removal, he is a nice guy deep down, and the human part of me will feel sorry if he is fired tomorrow. However, I would not blame the corporate representatives if they decide to fire him, and in fact, the worker part of me would be ecstatic.