My second job was not as fun as my first job at Saddleman. A friend of the family (Kevin Donyez) from church (he was our home teacher) offered me a job in his department at ShopKo. I needed a job since it was summer and it would be nice to work a couple days out of the week during when school started.
So I interviewed and was hired. I worked in the School and Candy and the Health and Beauty Departments. I would work both departments some nights and others I would only work just the one. I preferred to work in Health and Beauty and only because it was a lot calmer. But I felt more helpless in that department since I was asked a lot of makeup questions. But the advantage of that department was there were a lot of girls. And I learned rather quickly that my boss Kevin was a fine guy at church but at work he was not. He was one of the most hated manager at ShopKo and his boss was even worse. I used to volunteer to work Sundays so I wouldn't have to deal with either of them face to face. Kevin was still pretty nice to me but Tollefson was not nice to me. He was a tall fat man that liked to use intimidation to get his way. And you know by now how well that works with me. We got into many altercations about doing things that I will not bore you in telling. He hated me and I hated him. Luckily for me, I was well liked by other employees and everyone hated him.
That by far was the best part of my job. I really liked helping customers and I really liked helping other associates. Most of my time was helping the cashiers and the more I helped them out the more they would help my department when it was closing time. I flirted my best with them and it paid off. I know that the cashiers HATED to help my department straighten before closing. For those that don't know, every night you would have to clean up and straighten your department and it would have to pass an inspection from a manager. Tollefson always would inspect my department and make me do things over again. That was the worst part of my job, sometimes he would let everyone else go and keep me in late to straighten things. But because I made good friends with the cashiers they would stay late as well to help me and that irritated Tollefson so much. I don't know what I would do without those girls.
A huge ShopKo party was coming up at the park and the managers came up with an idea for a charity fundraiser. Up in the break room they had jars with a manager's photo on them. Employees could donate money and whoever had the most money would get a huge pie in the face. My boss had the most money in it, in fact one of my fellow department members donated $40 to make it happen. It was only the departmental managers that were eligible and not the Hard or Soft Line Managers. So Tollefson was not eligible. One night he was "fixing" my straightening mistakes and he pulled me aside and told me that I was horrible at cleaning up. So I told him that I would donate my whole check if only he took part in the pie event. He looked over at me and was NOT happy. I didn't look back at him, I just continued to do my job and then I muttered "Of course I think everyone would too, not just me." At this point I was so tired of him, Donyez and the job that I could care less if they fired me. Since I was so horrible at straightening and cleaning my department I decided to start doing it early. I was supposed to start around 8:00 at night and I started at 6:30 instead. I finished up early as expected and the girl that was working in the Baby Department needed a lot of help and she asked if I could help. I was happy to help, she always stayed to help me so I was happy to have the opportunity to help her. I went into her department and started to clean up. I noticed that a ton of product had fallen from one of the glass shelves. I picked it up and tried to place it back on the shelf but the shelf was not all there. It had split in half and when I tried to place a toy on the shelf I almost severed my right thumb right off. It hurt and I shook it and blood went everywhere! I ran to the bathroom holding my thumb and blood was spurting all over. I got to the bathroom and tried to clean the wound but it was much too deep. One of our customers followed me in since he saw so much blood and asked if I was alright. I wrapped my thumb up and went to the service desk for help. The security guy looked at my thumb and quickly grasped it as hard as he could and we marched into his car and he took me right up to the hospital. I needed stitches. He said that my thumb was hanging there and I had cut it right to the bone.
I don't know what hurt more. The cut or the amount of strength he was using to crush my thumb to keep it from bleeding! I got into the emergency room and they sewed me up. I about passed out when the spread open the wound to see if there was any major damage and then they suddenly stuck a needle in it. I called my mom but she was not home so I called my dad. Now this was way before caller ID. I told my dad that I was in the hospital and he didn't believe me. After a few minutes of trying to convince him otherwise, the nurse finally lost her patience and grabbed the phone from me. "Your son is at the hospital. Can you come up?" It seemed like right after she hung up dad arrived at the door. You can see the scar and I have lost some feeling in my thumb.
Working retail is much like working fast food. The less you know, the better at what goes on behind the scenes. I was young, I was only sixteen at the time and I did stuff that obviously looking back was not in my best judgement. I admit that I spent a lot of time with the cashiers. Some of them would call the School and Candy Extension and we would spend a ton of time just talking. Sometimes they would announce that School and Candy was needed in the stock room and I would meet some of the ladies there and waste time. But I couldn't help it, it was a lot of fun. One time in particular I noticed that I was a bit stinky, I must have forgotten to put on deodorant. One of the cashiers (I cannot remember the names but I think it was Katie) called and I told her of my stinky predicament. She told me to meet her back in the stock room and I did. She had took a stick of deodorant off the shelf and gave it to me to use. And then we put it back on the shelf.
I cannot believe I just admitted that!
But the pressure was just too much. And it was taking a toll on me and my mom. She had to drive me to work and pick me up. And that was not fun since it was usually well after 11:00 when I was let go. So I decided to quit my job.
I was not scheduled to work one night but I came in anyway to speak to Kevin. I told him thanks for the opportunity but I was not happy. He knew this was coming and I think he was relieved that I took that step. I told him that I was not a fan of him and Tollefson and how they treated me but I enjoyed helping people. He said thanks as well and we parted the same way as we started. We were still friends. After I filled out the paperwork, I went downstairs and visited with the cashiers and thanked them for supporting me. One of the older ladies that I really liked helping was so sad. Katie gave me her phone number and told me to call her if I needed anything. Being a stupid teenager, I never did.
I worked there for only a few months but I had some fun experiences. I got to bust people for stealing and had some funny moments. Working in Health and Beauty supplied them all. I remember one time I was called to help a customer and I found her in the "pink" aisle. I asked her what she needed and she started to ask about a brand of tampons and then turned and saw who she was talking to. She was just as red as I was. And then we both busted up laughing. Another time this rather large lady came running toward me (I was stocking some soap) and she asked where the Tucks were. I remembered and pointed them out and off she went! I saw her run to the cashier so I went to the phone and called the cashier and asked about the customer. The cashier tried to contain her laughter as she told me that she was running to the bathroom. Good times indeed. The only regret I have is that I never got to see Donyez take a pie to the face.
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