Is There ALWAYS One?

[Bier Meister]

good luck rov. could a better paying gig at one of those mom and pop stores give you more of what you are looking for?

[tazinib1]

Yeah, this is my Taz post.... I'm drunk!

 

 

 

Hey bro..anybody that can apply themselves and succeed is a winner in my book. I also set my goals on something many thought was unachievable, but I did it and with room to spare on the 5 year projected/standard mark. Keep on truck'n brother!!

[Bier Meister]

 

Hey bro..anybody that can apply themselves and succeed is a winner in my book. I also set my goals on something many thought was unachievable, but I did it and with room to spare on the 5 year projected/standard mark. Keep on truck'n brother!!

 

 

yeah! if taz can get teeth, anything can happen.

[tazinib1]

yeah! if taz can get teeth, anything can happen.

 

 

Ya damned skippy!!!!

[buddahj]

Best of luck Rovers

[Footballjoe]

 

Keep hitting the holes and look for the end zone.

[whomper]

Good Luck Rovers !

[Caveman_Nick]

G'luck Rovs!

[nuke'em ttg]

don't forget us little guys when ya own the joint, will you have more places to stash bottles

[HowboutthemCowboys]

good luck Rovers

[rocknrobn26]

Good Luck, my friend!

[Hugh B Tool]

Good luck Rovs. Yet I know personally two different times when well qualified people were offered Dept. Managers jobs off the street(or from their current jobs). Myself being one of them, in the departmnet you seek. Having been offered this by the District/Regional Manager, I asked what that would do to the current workers and comanagers attitudes and egos. He said it is their policy to effort in employing the best so to speak in their fields and get them right on line with HD terminology and practices. He told me there is about a 30% failure rate in this practice as new outside manager hires can be difficult to conform to HD's policies and practices. He also said the ones that do make it this way rise faster than all the others combined. Long story, short, I didn't consider the offer. Is this true at the HD your're at?

 

Also any Defensive player with more than a couple years under their belts only look at the RB's belt buckle. Eye fake? C'mon man

 

Again though, good luck. Once you're in I heard you have to quit or commit murder to lose your gig. And believe me there have been more than a few times while freezing my ass off outside, working my hands raw, that I thought that I should have taken that offer.

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Perhaps you are "The One".

[TitansFan]

I'm drunk!

So how is that different from normal?

 

Good luck Rovers!

[cliaz]

You’ve come to the right person. The key thing here is that you want this guy to hang himself and without any inkling of you leaking out. The first thing you want to do is learn how to use your enemies (or to be more to the point, this guy you are talking about). Remember, “an enemy spared the guillotine will be more grateful than a friend” and that is your goal here. The second thing I want you to remember is that an enemy expects nothing at all from you so they will be surprised when you are generous. These two points are what we are going to use. Regardless of how long the guy has worked there and how the company views him, you should be able to position yourself for a permanent positions in the company while making the guy looks weak and therefore not the go-to-guy anymore for them.

 

First, keep your intentions to yourself. Do not speak ill of this guy at all anymore. In fact, you want to make comments to others that paint this guy as a gruff person but one who is fluent in his job and therefore critical to the operations of your group. You want the other co-workers around you to buy into that. They need to believe that is how you feel now. Eventually, he is going to either hear you or another co-working talking about you. When he confronts you and asks if you are indeed saying these positive things, you say as little as possible. Just acknowledge the fact you have said these things and when he asks why, keep it very short.

 

Example:

 

Jerk: “Hey, I heard Jones saying that you told him not to question me when XYZ need to be done. What are you up to?”

You: “Questioning is useless and a waste of time. You know what you are talking about, we don’t.”

 

Keeping it short and cryptic makes people reveal more about themselves and this is information you can use against them later on. After a while this guy should believe that you are focused on carrying out his preferred methods for getting a job done. This lays the ground works for distracting him from what you are really doing. Remember, if someone suspects you are manipulating them or going around them it will be much harder to control them. You need to give him and the others the illusion that this guy is at the top of the food chain in your group. This moves you into an area I find is the most profitable and that is to keep people dependent on you. If he buys what you are selling then he will be coming to you when something comes down the pipe so that you can get the others on board to begin working. They will begin seeing you are the person to go to instead of him. Because this guy gets so annoyed all the time with everyone else he will prefer this new dynamic. What you have done at this point is to drive a wedge between everyone else and this guy. This will begin the isolation phase. Based on the limited information you have provided, this guy sounds like he doesn’t like to be bothered by people. What you have made this guy do is build a fortress with you as the walls from everyone else in the group.

 

This brings us to striking this guy down. At this points (which may takes weeks or even months) you have a dick that is relying on you to speak for him to the group. Granted, you have cut off his power to your peers but the people upstream from you still only see this guy as the senior guy. What you need to do at this point is make him look like he is completed unreliable. In order to do this you need good timing. So the next time there is something critical that is being worked on and that this dude is responsible for you need to strike.

 

Next time you have access to this guys computer without it being locked (e.g. he gets up to use the restroom and forgets to ctrl+alt+del) and you are certain that no one else sees you I want you to hit the ‘Print Screen’ button. Then open up microsoft paint -> click on edit -> paste then save it to the ‘My documents’ folder. Next, select an empty part of his desktop -> right click -> properties -> select background. Click on browse to find the screen shot you just took -> click ok. Then you need to select all of the icons on the real desktop and delete them. When he comes back to his desk and tries to click on any of the icons they won’t work because you’ve deleted them and he is just trying to double click on images of the icons. He should begin freaking out (based on the description you gave us). The key is timing here. Ideally you want to pull this off when he is under the gun for a deadline. That way when he comes back he will have the additional pressure of the deadline which should be just enough for him to pop his cork. That is when you present whatever information is needed to go back up stream while indicating in an email that dude’s computer appears to have some type of virus on it that is preventing him from completing whatever it is you are working on .

[Scooby]

there's something fundamentally wrong with a person if they cant get along with Rovers. You are kind, warm-hearted, I would think you have never met a stranger....I hope and pray things will smooth over soon at your job....xoxoxoxoxo

[major-tom]

Good luck Rovers, I like your attitude!

[detlef]

How did you deal with the ONE guy?

I try to break him and, if unsuccessful at that, I fire him.

[Rovers]

Good luck Rovs. Yet I know personally two different times when well qualified people were offered Dept. Managers jobs off the street(or from their current jobs). Myself being one of them, in the departmnet you seek. Having been offered this by the District/Regional Manager, I asked what that would do to the current workers and comanagers attitudes and egos. He said it is their policy to effort in employing the best so to speak in their fields and get them right on line with HD terminology and practices. He told me there is about a 30% failure rate in this practice as new outside manager hires can be difficult to conform to HD's policies and practices. He also said the ones that do make it this way rise faster than all the others combined. Long story, short, I didn't consider the offer. Is this true at the HD your're at?

 

Also any Defensive player with more than a couple years under their belts only look at the RB's belt buckle. Eye fake? C'mon man

 

Again though, good luck. Once you're in I heard you have to quit or commit murder to lose your gig. And believe me there have been more than a few times while freezing my ass off outside, working my hands raw, that I thought that I should have taken that offer.

 

This particular store is one of the two biggest volume stores in the NE. In this store, all of the DH's are home growns. Not sure about the SM and ASM's. As far as product knowledge goes, while I have a couple of weak areas, I am the most knowledgable (overall) person they have in the store as far as the garden dept goes. One thing I've learned... expert leadership is the strongest form of leadership. Even the One Guy has noticed that, and hasn't been a ball buster for quite some time. Some level of mutual respect has been arrived at. I still have some campainging to do, not sure the SM is aware of my abilities just yet, so it's my job to make him more aware.

 

When I asked to be considered, I played the humility card and said "I know it's a long shot..." and they told me it wasn;t, my name had already been brought up. As far as getting canned.... it happens, but not often. They tend to force people out in a passive agressive way. Demotions, put them in a dog dept, that sort of thing. Truth is, the further away from the customers you get, the riskier your situation becomes. I'd never want to be a store manager.... asst SM, maybe. We have about 6 or 7 of those in this store.

 

Truth is, 90% of these people in management are pretty sharp knives. They are intelligent, driven, embrace the corp philosophy, basically high quality folks. It may be different in smaller stores, but not this one. This garden dept sold more holiday stuff this year than any store in the wolrd excepting one. It's a flagship store. I'm really not at all concerned about the One Guy anymore.

 

Hey, I'm talking HS football. A fake to the left, lock yer eyes onto the right sideline, take a long step that way, keep your eyes there even after you stick it and go left... oh yeah, I made a few look foolish. Of course it's less effective at a higher level, but even at the NFL level, you can still sucker a defender or two I believe. However, it won't work a second time. DB's don't like to get embarrassed. An analogy... every defenseman in the NHL knew to play the body, but Gretzky had an ability to make them play the puck, even though they knew better. It's about how well you sell it.

 

Cliaz, my style has always been this: Honesty, even with rivals, fairness, work harder than anyone else, lead by example, recognize superior performance, thank people, give credit where it is due, come down when the effort is lacking and keep my mouth shut. When gossip starts, I either walk away or say something positive about the target of the gossip. So Cliaz, I won't change my MO for this guy. Nor will I game plan for any possible subtrifuge. My work speaks for itself. I prefer directness and honesty, not innuendo and manipulation. Very few people who have reported to me were unhappy in previous managerial positions I've held. I don't carry a knife because I have never felt the need to put it in someone's back. I approach from the front. People know where I stand. I haven't spoken ill of this guy, I don't talk about anyone, frankly. I stay away from that nonsense. I vent here... but not at work. I have no desire to strike anyone down, nor will I. I don't feel the need to. I'll defend when attacked, but that's all.

 

Once, when I was a regional sales Mgr for an defense electronics instrumentation company, one of my reps said to the National sales mgr, right in front of me, "Rovers doesn't have a political bone in his body." The NSM said, "Yup, and that's a good thing. I never have to wonder about his motives." It's what you see is what you get. Straight shooting. I'm too old to change now. To operate in any other fashion would make me uncomfortable in my own skin. In a short period of time, I have respect from the people who have worked closely with me. Even with the One Guy. While he is the type to walk by without saying hello, that is just who he is, and is part of the reason he got passed over.

 

No matter what happens, like Frankie sang.... I did it my way.

Edited December 28, 2011 by Rovers

[Ursa Majoris]

No matter what happens, like Frankie sang.... I did it my way.

Sid Vicious did it better.

[Rovers]

there's something fundamentally wrong with a person if they cant get along with Rovers. You are kind, warm-hearted, I would think you have never met a stranger....I hope and pray things will smooth over soon at your job....xoxoxoxoxo

 

Scoob, you are often a bright light in my life when I need it most! Wanted you to know that. You are a jewel.

 

OK..... Christmas story. I had no intention of advertising this for a pat on the back or serving any other agenda... but Scooby does know who I am. I'm in the store, a guy walks up and asks to talk to the store manager. I ask him why. Seems he ran out of gas on a nearby highway, the LIE for you locals, walked through brush and then another half mile on the road. He went to the gas station across the street. They insisted he buy a gas can. He only had 19 bucks. He wanted to "borrow" a gas can.

 

So I walked him out to the rental center, and as policy demands, they would not "loan" him a gas can. OK, so I guess this guy has no debit card, no credit card, and I don't want to embarrass him by asking any questions along these lines. I just tell the guy at the rental center "How about you let me borrow a gas can. He can buy a couple gallons of gas, I drive him back to his car, and bring the gas can back.... it's about time for my lunch break anyway. So, that's what we do.

 

Guy was in a jam. Maybe this guy is a f.... up, maybe just down on his luck, but it's the day before Christmas eve. He told me a bunch of lies about being a mediacal supply salesman, etc, trash car... it didn't matter. He needed help and had no help. I helped him. It felt good.

 

Scooby knows who I am. So does RR. I'm Rovers. Deal with it.

 

Editted to add that last sentence for Wonderless Ditka. Happy new year!

Edited December 28, 2011 by Rovers

[Ditkaless Wonders]

Scoob, you are often a bright light in my life when I need it most! Wanted you to know that. You are a jewel.

 

OK..... Christmas story. I had no intention of advertising this for a pat on the back or serving any other agenda... but Scooby does know who I am. I'm in the store, a guy walks up and asks to talk to the store manager. I ask him why. Seems he ran out of gas on a nearby highway, the LIE for you locals, walked through brush and then another half mile on the road. He went to the gas station across the street. They insisted he buy a gas can. He only had 19 bucks. He wanted to "borrow" a gas can.

 

So I walked him out to the rental center, and as policy demands, they would not "loan" him a gas can. OK, so I guess this guy has no debit card, no credit card, and I don't want to embarrass him by asking any questions along these lines. I just tell the guy at the rental center "How about you let me borrow a gas can. He can buy a couple gallons of gas, I drive him back to his car, and bring the gas can back.... it's about time for my lunch break anyway. So, that's what we do.

 

Guy was in a jam. Maybe this guy is a f.... up, maybe just down on his luck, but it's the day before Christmas eve. He told me a bunch of lies about being a mediacal supply salesman, etc, trash car... it didn't matter. He needed help and had no help. I helped him. It felt good.

 

Scooby knows who I am. So does RR. I'm Rovers. Deal with it.

 

Editted to add that last sentence for Wonderless Ditka. Happy new year!

 

 

Happy New Year to you too Rovers. I hope you and yours have a healthy, happy, prosperous New Year leading always to better things.

[Rovers]

OK... so the dept mgr for garden has left for another store. They will have two new co- DM's in this store for the garden dept. After throwing my hat in the ring weeks ago, I heard nothing. This other guy, the subject of the thread starter had bowed out, but just put his name back in the hat. I started to wonder if I was setting myself up, and thought about removing my name from consideration. Could I manage this dept with him as a co-manager? Would I just be asking for a severe migraine?

 

Fork that. Why empower intimidators into letting them affect my life or career? Ultimately, I decided NO.

 

I went to the ASM. I said I hadn't heard anything, and didn't know if I was still under consideration for dept mgr. She said I was on the interview list. I told her I didn't think I was one of this guy's favorites, but feel I can work with anyone. Her response was "I don't think he has ANY favotites." I responded by saying "Oh, he has a few..."

 

So that was a very telling comment. They know his people skills are in the chitter. Conversley, they seem to know my people skills are good. This changes the playing field a bit. Interview should be within a few weeks. I think I have a good shot. Might have to partner up with this guy, but so be it if he gets promoted as well. If that happens, he'll have to decide if he wants to be a team member or not, but I won't empower him to scare me off either. I had a goal when I started this job, and it wasn't to be an associate forever. Less than 11 months here, I just might be running the biggest dept in one of the biggest volume stores in the NE.

 

I figure what's to lose? Roll dem bones, and see what happens. If I don't get this dept, I'll likely get another before too long. Bowing out for fear of this guy isn't in my best long term interest.... so I'm all in. Wish me luck.

[Square]

Good luck man.