I worked retail off and on for years. I had one store that begged me to get into management. I always told them no. Finally, I gave in but I had certain conditions. One, I don't work the register I didn't care how long the lines were. Two, no bank runs. And so forth. They were fine with all of it. What they were after was a unique skill that I had and no one else there did.

The ability to quickly assess a situation and then execute a plan to face the challenge. Specifically, I could move freight like no one else, not even any of the 3 managers on the payroll at the time.

I could walk the stockroom, then walk the sales floor and know what would go out and where. They wanted me as an asst mgr so I could work 40 hrs a week instead of 15. I'd make more money and they would have a nearly empty stockroom.

Prior to the promotion, I heard the DM and HIS boss yelling at the rest of the crew from across the store. He said that if she (me) could move 1200 pieces a week then why couldn't the rest of them combined keep up? And never mind I was the oldest person working there.

Here comes the hiring part…

Another condition was that I hired my own staff. They were cool with that too. The store manager would do the first interview and then pass them off to me if they thought the applicant was any good. Wanna know how I interviewed people?

First, I'd size them up in a glance. Then I'd review their application. Then I may or may not ask a question or two. My final word would be, "It's like this. I'm 45. You look to be half my age. If I can outwork you then I don't need you."

That was the whole interview.

I only had to write one person up one time. I never had any disciplinary issues with any of them. They all, for the most part, worked their asses off. The girl assigned to HBA asked me once why I never came by her dept to talk to her. I told her that it meant she was doing her job and I didn't feel the need to babysit her. If she saw me talking to others that meant there was an issue I was addressing. I ended it by telling her I gave her the space she needed to do what was expected but that didn't mean she couldn't come to me if she needed me.

And that's why people like working for me.

The PS to this is the one person I didn't hire ended up robbing the store at gun point.