Promoted

Well, I made another jump at wal-mart yesterday. With the restructuring of management they opened up 7 new positions. The position is between a dept. manager and an assistant manager. "Zone Supervisor" is the title. I really wasn't sure if I'd had enough time in for them to seriously think of me, but as it turns out, I was offered the dry grocery and consumables zone supervisor position! Wow! This is a HUGE area. Dry grocery is just that- all of grocery that is not meat, deli, cold, or frozen. Consumables is chemicals, paper goods (where I'm the DM right now), pets, and health and beauty. So, um, WOW! I'm excited (it's a $2.40 raise and after doing this job, becoming a (salary) assistant manager will just be a small step, rather than a big jump from being a DM. We have to go through training, which I'm thankful for, because I knew I still have a lot of system knowledge to learn. I've only been a DM since Feb. and only been in paper and chemicals a few months. When I was the candy DM, there was so much I never even had to learn because it never applied. The schedule is not bad, in some sense maybe a little better. As DM's we are supposed to work m-f 7-4, but for those of us in the consumable areas, that rarely happens. (tonight I'm going to work overnight to help in frozen and dairy because they are SO behind, last week I worked for 5.5 hours Saturday morning, etc...) It's supposed to be two different shifts. One is 8am-5pm. The other is 11am-8pm. Some weeks the 2 days off are together, some weeks they are split. I think it was like every 3rd week they were split. Honestly I like the 11-8 shift. The kids and Ben will have to fend for themselves on those nights, but I should be able to get dogs worked in the morning! Probably not during the winter, but surely next spring I'll even be able to work a few before working the 8-5 shift.

Honestly I'm a little scared because I truly am the new kid on the block and I know DM's of 5,7,10 years of being there applied.... The concept of me being their "boss".... I'm hoping I will be able to convince them all that I'm there to help "my" depts. be productive, not to just dish out things that need to be done... My "friend" Nina, who is the pets dept manager (pets is right next to me, both on the floor and in the backroom) applied and was pretty bitter yesterday. She's been there a long time. She congratulated me, but in the same breath said "but if you ever need an help, don't come to me." I have a feeling this will be the general reaction. :-( Hopefully that will fade with time.... I think choices were made for these positions based a lot on people skills, how you handle change/new ideas, leadership skills, and integrity. The new job can learned, but someone who has crappy leadership skills, baulks at the first signs of change, and/or has poor integrity isn't going to be much of an asset. I don't think those are "learned", I think those kind of skills you either have, or you don't.... I think this is why I was able to get the job over DM's with more experience with the system. I can learn the system, and have learned a LOT of the system considering how long I have been a DM. I've only been at the store since April '08. I started as basically an unloader. Now, 15 months later I'm one bump away from being a salaried member of management... :-) What's funny is that "going anywhere" with the company wasn't even a thought in my head when I started. I just wanted a "stupid little job" to help with some bills and maybe have a little more trial money. Funny where life leads you when you're not looking! I will probably stay in this position for quite some time, as it's pretty hard to becoming an assistant and remain at the same store- and I have zero interest in going to another store. Although with Kevin (store manager) leaving on Friday, that may change too... From what I understand he brought that store out of quite the pit. When he first got there they were not getting any bonuses at all (based on sales), our up coming my share is tracking at almost $400. Of course he wasn't loved by all, no store manager is I'm sure, but he has the respect of many of us. I've personally never had one bit of an issue with him. Some people have a really, really hard time being called out on something they could have done better. Some people are defensive and resistant to any kind of direction, and rather than have an open mind about how it could have gotten done better/faster they just go the bitch and wine route. I'm sure this new position will be a culture shock to me, as I'll now be managing several people who right now are my peers... (pit in my stomach) I think I'll be leaning on my husband a lot in the beginning, as he has gone thru this type of thing. He's been such a stellar 2nd and 1st class, that when he was a 2nd class he was doing what only a 1st class would do. Same now. He did several jobs at MEPS that only a Chief- sometimes even only a Senior Chief would do. So he's had to deal with attitudes and being in charge of people in the same rank, and usually with more time in... (speaking of all of that, keep your fingers crossed as Chief results should be out Friday....)

So that's that. This all goes "live" on the 29th of August- right after the dreaded inventory.