The Boss, Part II
Always fight the good fight.
This really happened to me. My (former) shop owner came into the shop one day to tell me he was going to close it down, lamenting the fact that he had no idea how to do it as he’d never had to shutter a business before (because he sold them all before they had to be flushed). Anyway, it was the first time I really remember standing up for myself. I had to go through all of these (and more) basic business practices and explain them to a BUSINESS OWNER. At the end of the conversation, he had the nerve to ask me why I hadn’t told him anything like this before. The answer was because I considered him to be a competent businessman. My god, was I wrong.
He had me submit a proposal for revenue generation, all of which was very basic stuff, backed up with statistics and cost estimates. I even created a mockup of a print ad we could run. He ended going with none of my options. It was the last time I would ever allow myself to feel devalued by him.
A couple of months later, he called me to tell me he’d decided to shut it down at the end of the month. This was the same day I was planning to put in my two weeks notice. I’d never felt so good to leave something I’d worked so hard on. But I was tired, I was burnt, I was done. I’ve gotten over it, but I will never forget it.
WHO THE HELL DOESN’T THINK SIGNAGE IS IMPORTANT?! I MEAN, REALLY?!
Okay, maybe I’ll never fully get over it.
-The Retail Explorer
KEYHOLDERS 
How frustrating! How could a business not have signage of some sort?! Even a hand drawn poster would have helped. My grandad turned in his grave while I read that – he was a signwriter ! Seriously though, in order for a business to successfully survive, it needs recognition and a bit of monetary imput at the start!
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We had a small sign I printed out and taped to the door with our hours. For the two years we were in a temporary building while they renovated our main building, we had two decent vinyl signs on the side of the building. I had to try to put them up by myself and fell off ladder. Other than that, we had no signs. We had a tall marquee by the street that we could’ve put a sign on, but they wanted (wait for it) $100 per month for the spot. That was apparently too much. The man is an idiot. Afterward, I moved over to a flight school nearby who rented facilities from him, and my boss commented more than a few times, “I can’t believe he never utilized your intellect.” It’s because he’s an idiot.
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I remember when the manager of DEB entered my shop screaming, “THEY ARE SHUTTING US DOWN!” She was in shock, crying. This was her career, she was good at it. Was actually one of those managers they use to travel and help other managers. She wasn’t warned or notified. Just received the “store closing” signs in the mail.
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Man, that’s cold. The heartlessness of corporate blows me away sometimes
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The DM wasn’t even told
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Wow 😳
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It’s so frustrating when the ‘Boss’ is out of touch. So often we employees do think the owners are competent, and so often we are wrong!!
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Yeah, it was incredibly eye opening experience for me. Honestly, the best thing I can say about him is he has money.
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Extremely shortsighted of your boss. You often have to spend a little money to make some!
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What makes it even dumber is the fact that he owned the shop for three and a half years and his only thought in that time was to come and squawk at me that we need more business, like that was something I could magically control.
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my new word for these people is “clueless “
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It’s an excellent term for them, much more socially acceptable than “dumbass”
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Obviously, this guy was not in the business of running stores for profit.
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Yeah, he’s not the most astute owner in the world.
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