If you’re ever curious about how some (not all) pampered, protected kids that are given everything, made to believe the entire universe revolves around them and receive trophies for simply agreeing to participate turn out, start a business, interview and hire them and then watch your business fail in 30 days or less. Of course there have always been adults in the workplace that grew up this way but never, in all of my 34 years working retail, have I ever seen so many people that cannot tolerate feedback, handle a multitude of tasks and work efficiently. Today I literally witnessed a tantrum, swearing and eyes filling with tears simply because they were asked to do something in a different area of the store than what they expected. A few weeks ago someone called to tell me their uncle was ill and they needed to be with him. They had just been trained for their job and appeared to be liking what they were doing. After the uncle phone call they never returned. One day a young man went to lunch and never returned. We feared that he had been in a car accident. Nope. Apparently he was asked to fill a power panel or stock the pop cooler and it offended him and he quit. One guy could never remember what time he was supposed to work and almost always required a reminder phone call. One day I said, “Some people take a picture of their schedule with their phone so they have it with them and they’ve said it works great.” He said, “Yeah, I do that too.” We never saw him again after that conversation. I’m learning it isn’t helpful to be helpful. If they aren’t 100% over the top excited about being at work they will vanish into thin air! Retail is aging me. I keep telling myself God is preparing me for something much greater and more fulfilling than comforting entitled adult children when they don’t get their way once they clock in.

Deep breath….

I did need to vent but I also need to give a huge shout out to all the amazing people that do get hired, that do handle feedback very well. They accept challenges and celebrate victories and make us look forward to going to work even on a Monday. We have several high school kids, 20 somethings and some that are closer to my age that are willing to work like crazy and always have smiles on their faces. I’m not sure they’re reminded enough just how much we appreciate them but they’re wonderful and they rock our world!