A young meatcutter said hello to me today. I wonder if he still thinks that was a good idea
I'VE been a union grocery worker for 29 years or so and its safe to say that I've passed the peak of my abilities, but I make up for those failings of mine with the knowledge I've gained from the rookie days; through the advancements and the voluntary demotions; and from my perseverance during cutbacks and reassignments.
Anyway, this friendly, African-American fellow came into my frozen food department where I was putting the finishing touches on the display in anticipation of a rare visit from our company's CEO. The store has been full of painters, floor tile specialists, carpenters, plumbers, and an assortment of other maintenance workers fixing and papering over every visible flaw. My hours have been cut in half since the beginning of the year, but the company can apparently afford to spend like mad to paper over their visible flaws in order to make a good impression on the president. There's even a trailer that costs money to park in the dock in which the managers have loaded with the excess merchandise they don't want the CEO to see; merchandise which, logically, wouldn't be there if they had just kept the hours constant. Envision the scenario. The store managers from the very top are spending the company's money to hide their ineptitude and mismanagement from the man who has entrusted them with the responsibility for sound and effective business practice. But, I digress . . .
This nice young man said hello and I responded. We talked a bit about the impending visit from our company's leader and the conversation shifted to the upcoming contract due in March or April.
He wanted to know why the company doesn't promote their workers into full time positions. Our meat room associates have faced severe cutbacks; from a wave of layoffs over the past two years, to a demotion in classification and pay for most of those folks who managed to hold onto their jobs.
This fellow was questioning the attitude of the company, but he had triggered the soft spot in my brain where all of my empathetic, mentoring factoids are stored. He wasn't going to get off with an easy answer. I immediately went in for the kill.
They'll give you full-time if you take a management position, I told him. They're always looking to fill management spots, I said. Remembering, at once, that the field he had entered the company with was faltering, I steered him to the position of seafood manager. That's a job that most folks shy away from because of the challenge with the mess and the odor, but it's, nonetheless, opportunity for a youth hungry for a rise in income.
I told this fellow about my own entry into the company right off of my job as a treeworker. I had gotten a referral and was procrastinating because the job back then involved a severe haircut and new clothes, including a white shirt and tie. All it took to make the call was yet another day with sawdust and gnats up my nose and I was locked-in to a part-time job in the flower shop. It was a cut in pay, but it was more dependable than the weather-affected work I was in at the time. I parlayed that part-time job in the flower shop into a part-time job in the higher-paying produce department. After a year or so, the older guys I worked with pushed me to accept a full-time position as second-man. I was terrified because I knew next to nothing, but I took the job anyway. They tried to send me to the city, but I insisted that I'd grown up in the county and I openly questioned my supervisors why they only had a smattering of black managers. Man, they were PISSED to get such a question, but, you know, they didn't send me to the city. The supervisor says, 'I'm offended.'
I said to him, 'I can appreciate that.'
After a few years, I parlayed that second-man position into a nomination for the retail training program for upper management. I worked that front end job until it got of the best of me, but even though I stepped back a step, I kept the advanced pay and benefits, so . . . it was still progress.
I told this fellow this story as quickly as I'd practiced it over the years on countless young folks entering our workplace and looking to advance. I told him that it would be hard at first, but that I was certain that he'd find it as easy over time as I did, even if it would be challenging. I leveled with him that he'd have to want it. That he'd have to be committed to the effort; many days coming early and leaving late, but that it is something which is going to be a necessary part of any worthwhile employment endeavor.
I had the poor fellow trapped by now. There was no way he was going to get past my parental insistence that he SHOULD seek out a management position. That it was his best course. That he would be perfect for the position. That it would be rewarding in the challenge as well as the monetary benefit of steady hours and elevated pay.
I was going to let him go now. I had just one more piece of advice. I told him that WHEN he asked the supervisors who were gathered at the store today in this rare moment where they're scrambling together in one place to appease the leader of the company -- that he should be sure to present his appeal in a way that reflected his concern for the business, rather than his own aggrandizement. I told him that he should first decide that if there was a position, that it is his to achieve on his own initiative.
I told this fellow to tell his supervisor that he heard they need management help and that he's available and ready to work and learn. Leave out whatever personal need you have in your appeal and focus on what that supervisor must certainly wish for in his management workforce.
Oh, yeah, and we talked a little about Black History Month and a bit about our own origins and spoke a few truths between us about the challenges of that history. It had to have been all of 15 minutes of talk (mostly my incessant own) between our fast-paced work. It was another in a long line of efforts to pass on what I've learned. It's been my experience that it's mostly the obsessions of insistent people which make our individual and collective worlds go round.
= new reply since forum marked as read
. . . that you never really know for sure. You just go for it and hope for the best. 
And I'll bet that was some of the best advice that young man has ever received. I hope he took it to heart. I know I would have.
You never know whether anyone has taken the time to share their experiences or advice with folks. . . or if you're able to reinforce something they've learned or been told. It's always worth the effort, even if you feel kinda annoying.
