Where You Can Expect Great Things

Almost exactly eight years ago, in 2007, I needed to find a place to live.  But where?  I eliminated all the places I had previously lived for one reason or another.  So, it had to be a new place.  I narrowed the choices to the east coast of the United States because it would put me near my adult children and which was also in my comfort zone.  I preferred a small college town, similar to where I had grown up in central New York State, but farther south with milder weather. 

About fifteen years earlier, in 1992, I spent one day in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, trying to expose my daughter, Rachel, then in high school, to another possible place for her to attend college (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).  She wasn’t impressed, but I was.  I remembered a beautiful campus and an interesting commercial district (Franklin Street), filled with restaurants, bars, and quaint stores.  I did some research and found Chapel Hill had a low unemployment rate and was considered an ideal place to live.  So, let’s give it a try. 

My first day was auspicious.  I shook hands with a former president:  Of Brazil (Fernando Henrique Cardozo), not the United States.  He was at the University to give a lecture on the economy of South America.  Besides being a president, he is an economist.

My first job was to get an apartment so I could get out of the Days Inn where I was sleeping.  That didn’t take long.  I saw three apartments and chose the best (Pinegate).  It turned out to be a good choice.  I was happy there for six years.

My second job was to get a job.  After my retirement, I still wanted to work.  However, I was under the illusion from that famous Frank Sinatra song (New York, New York) that “if I can make it there (New York), I can make it anywhere.”  I had worked as an accountant in New York City for thirty-four years, mostly with Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., the US subsidiary of the Canadian beverage company and conglomerate.  It was a Fortune 500 company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  I had risen to the level of manager in an important department (Tax).  I had made it there.  Therefore, Chapel Hill, look out, here I come.

In Chapel Hill, there are a few major employers:  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC Hospital, Blue Cross Blue Shield (health insurance), and nearby Duke University.  The modern way to look for a job is to apply online.  You don’t walk into an Office of Human Resources as I did when I graduated from college back in the 1960s.  So I applied online to anything and everything that looked like an accounting position.  And there were a lot of them.  I assumed I would be receiving numerous responses in quick order.  Boy, was I wrong. 

There was something I hadn’t counted on.  See, I was 61 years-old.  The stereotype is that people that age are retiring, not looking for a job.  Under U.S. law, employers can’t ask your age, but they can ask when you went to school, which is the equivalent of asking for your age.  And when they knew my age, they weren’t interested.  It’s called age discrimination.  It’s illegal, but it exists and it’s hard to prove.  So, nobody wanted me as an accountant.

In the mean time, I needed a job.  I turned to plan B.  I looked for jobs everywhere: hotels, motels, different kinds of stores, supermarkets, small businesses, etc.  Almost anything!  I applied for jobs where I offered the employer no experience.  Finally, after a long wait, I got a call back for an interview, at Kohl’s, “where you can expect great things.” Kohl’s is a department store chain that sells clothes, womens, mens, and children, plus accessories, watches, jewelry, luggage, household goods, towels, sheets, toys, etc. 

The interview turned out to be a group interview.  There were about a dozen of us, sitting around a table, led in the questioning by the second in charge at the store, a woman named Sharon.  She wanted to draw us out, to see how we thought, how we reacted.  However, most of the applicants seemed afraid to express themselves.  I was the most outspoken.  I think it was because I had the most self-confidence.  Since the job was in Customer Service, Sharon thought, even though I had no past experience, I might be a good fit.  She hired me.  I will be forever grateful.  Thank you, Sharon.

I was trained in Customer Service by a very experienced and kind woman named Wendy.  She taught me everything I needed to know to succeed.  The biggest issue was customers returning items they had purchased.  Either they wanted their money back or to exchange the item for a different size or color, or just store credit.  As an accountant, I had never dealt with the public, only with others within the company or with government representatives.  Dealing with the public was new and a little unnerving for me.  But, I faced my new responsibility headon, with courage.  I was nervous, but it turned out okay.

The most important issue for me and for the rest of the staff at Kohl’s is to make the customer have a positive experience on their visit to the store.  Make them happy!  As much as possible!  They should leave the store happier than when then entered.  Then, they’ll be more likely to return the next time they are of a mind to shop.  This is the essence of customer service, not only for Kohl’s, but for any business. 

I worked at Kohl’s for more than three years.  It was a very interesting experience and  I learned a lot.  I especially remember one great lesson.  Once, my supervising manager (Rhonda) told me that she would be very busy that day and I could not bother her with any potential problems that I might encounter.  So, she said, “Just deal with it.” She meant that I had to use my brain and experience to deal by myself with any problem that arose, so she would be free to deal with her problems.  And deal with them, I did.  I’m still applying her lesson.

From my vantage point at one end of the store, I could easily see the customers walking about.  One thing I noticed was that, for many women, shopping is an avocation.  They enjoy the experience.  They don’t have to need anything or buy anything to have a good time at Kohl’s.  They just like to walk around the store and look at the items for sale.  It reminded me of my mother when I was a little boy.  She would take me along on her trips to Flah’s & Co. in Syracuse, look for clothes, try some on, but sometimes buy nothing.  Almost no man enjoys the shopping experience like a woman.  Men prefer to get in and get out of the store as fast as possible.  I understand.

Another lesson I learned at Kohl’s was humility.  Besides my experience in Customer Service, and occasionally as a cashier, I was also required to participate in a nightly ritual, when I worked the last shift of the day.  When the store closed and all the customers were finally gone, the remaining staff had to help clean up the store as much as possible in the last thirty minutes before the building was actually emptied.  I remember folding towels and straitening up jeans that rude customers had left on the floor or in a heap after they were no longer interested in buying them.  When I shop today, I am so aware of the hard work that store employees must endure and I don’t want to make it worse for them.

At Kohl’s, I was not a full-time employee as my hours were kept below thirty per week.  That way, I was not entitled to any benefits, such as health insurance.  Most of their employees were treated the same.  As such, I think we felt a connection with each other, a kind of common bond.  I was treated with so much new-found respect from all my colleagues as is the case in the South.  I was called “Mister Blair.”  This would not have happened in the North.  A majority of my fellow-employees (as well as some of the managers) were African-Americans.  In my previous work experiences, I had little contact with them.  As such, this became a positive experience for me.  I enjoyed getting to know so many new people at Kohl’s.  To one extent, I had an ulterior motive.  I was living without a car and I sometimes needed a ride home from work, which was not very far away.  However, it was difficult to walk to because of a lack of sidewalks in the area.  But, many of my colleagues were so generous to me by giving me rides home.  And on the way, I got to know them a little better.  I will always be grateful.  Thanks again to all of you, especially, Sharon, Wendy, and Rhonda.