The Crown

As many of you already know, I got promoted. I am currently a supervisor. Not a high rank in the store but certainly not the lowest of lows. I started this job foldin' clothes around the holidays one year. A friend of mine worked for the company so I went up there to hang out and earn a few bucks. I was asked to stay on. They put me in customer service. I loved it.

I'm built for customer service. It's the area where people come to you with a problem and you make it all better. Lotta those people were pissed by the time they came to me and it's a great feelin' to get somebody that's ticked off and have 'em leave smilin'. I know the job inside and out. I've been doin' it a total of 4 years now. I've done things a supervisor or a manager would do. I'm sure I can handle the task.

The only thing I'm really concerned about is bein' a leader. Dad's a leader. I'm largely too passive for such things. I care if somebody's hurt or wronged but other than that I'm okay with everybody doin' their own thing. I was never a team captain. I was a boxer. Just me in that ring to take on a problem. I take what problems I see and deal with 'em. No delegatin', no pushin' anybody but me.

I suppose Dad was the same way at one time. He's not one to stay on your ass. But somehow he just leads as naturally as a fish swims. As far as I can tell it's the way he's always been. It'd be weird to think of him as say a 6 year old that was afraid of frogs and had trouble tying his shoes. I think of him and I see somebody more like John Wayne, George Patton, or King Leonidas. In a different world, he'd have been a king or a general. He speaks and people listen. He strikes fear when neccessary and is a loving father when that's needed. He is wise even beyond his 60 years. He isn't perfect. His plans aren't always the best, they change every 20 minutes according to the circumstances. That's part of being a good leader anyway though, I figure.

He's a good leader because he is confident and decisive and can adapt to change quickly. These are things I or any other bum can learn to be. I'll be damned if those are easy things to learn. And even if you can be these things it's also gotta be about who's willin' to follow you.

I have a brother that wants to be a leader and while he's confident and smart and good with customers, he's not very good with co-workers. He doesn't seem to respect them so they don't respect him. They will refuse to follow him when his time comes.

On the other hand, I find myself havin' problems with one particular employee. The others follow me farely well, so far. But one girl shows no initiative to get anything done and no talk or reminder or reprimand seems to help. She only seems interested in coming to work and collectin' a check. She's young, I suspect she'll grow out of it. Maybe not with us, but someday.

I ask my bosses for advice and the only thing I seem to hear is to lead by example. I say that's bullshit. I know, and have worked with, plenty of people that don't follow anybody's example no matter how hard they work. People that come to work to work are gonna work. Everybody else is just there to collect a check. I think the trick to convertin' those that just want a check into good workers is to make them believe not only that they can do the job but that you know it and want them to succeed. It's not showin' 'em what they're doin' wrong and how much better you can do it. It's showin' they can be just as good and havin' 'em believe it whole heartedly.

But really, I got no idea what I'm doin'. I just do what I can and make the calls the best I can. I'm already wearin' the crown, just gonna have to grow into it. Maybe one day I'll be thought of as a good leader by my kids. Maybe they'll wonder if there was ever anything I was afraid of. Was there anything I couldn't do? Hopefully, when I tell them yes and that I worked hard to be better and struggled to be a confident and competent leader they'll believe me and grow into confident and competent workers.