Apparently, I Rock Too Hard

Today was indeed an interesting one for at least 15 minutes. I went to work as usual and the recording of the news my boss mentioned to me kept cycling in my head, pressuring me to keep the good work up and up. "You're number one in Image 7 sales! That's incredible! Keep up the good work" he said. Ok cool, no pressure then. So in an effort to keep my numbers on the up and up I lit that little fire under my butt to keep me chasing after customers.

Let's rewind, I was hired as seasonal. Cool, works for me as I have plans to attend college after the holidays and really just need a job until I get my class schedule. At my interview he stated that I could be made permanent if I do a good job and listen, lets be frank, I excel in customer service and am apparently pretty good at selling too. A little bit of part time work throughout the school year could help with the bills so I have vested interest in keeping my numbers as high as possible. So voila, carrot from string has been dangled in front of face.

I understand this company has "expert" salespeople who know pretty much everything about the items that make them money. That's cool, I have not had any problem giving them those sales when they're free. I do have a problem when they're not anywhere to be found until I've gotten to the end of a spiel and am packing up the goods for purchase. That was my baby I helped nurture, I reserve full rights to the benefits. Unfortunately, it seems we have some whiners in the house.

After completing a sale today a coworker comes up and says "Don't hate me but [manager] says Image people have to stay near the image stuff." I just sort of looked at him, maybe I blinked, I don't remember. Luckily the district manager strolled up and wanted a piece of the pie. We took a walk and had a talk. There's cause for concern that I'm selling too much and his worry is I'm not doing it correctly. As luck would have it though he stepped out onto the floor as I was ringing items up and asked the customers billions of questions on things we should offer them to make a better sale. I nailed every single point, I had all the paperwork filled out correctly, the customer was properly informed of everything, I hadn't missed a beat. That was my firepower.

How can a manager tell an employee not to sell? He can't, and he didn't much to the distaste of my fellow whiny, insecure coworkers. So what could have possibly been a scolding turned into an conversation empowering me to continue hitting those numbers. Take that whiners! If you wanted that sale you should have been there when I scoped the room for you.