A work memory by Don Ford
As I sat here at my desk working on another article, an old memory popped into my head, so I decided to put it in a posting.
At the time of this happening I was manager at the Waco center. The staff at the Waco center were productive in their work and the supervisory staff were very capable of managing the operation without yours truly being on site.
I believe it had been pointed out to me by a VP (my boss), that the Waco center could operate without a manager. To some, that comment might be daunting, possibly causing the person to think they are not needed. Personally, I took this as a compliment. A manager has done their job when all staff can function without their direct involvement
Anytime a group has been educated (I think educated sounds better than trained) to function proficiently as a team, and to a point that they do not need an “overseer”, (I like that term, it means leader) that means the management team have done their job properly.
I had been asked to fill in as interim manager at the New York center. The previous manager had been transferred and I was to fill in while they found a replacement. This test or challenge, happen during my first time as interim manager at New York.
I arrived at the center midafternoon. I said hello to the office staff and supervisors. One of the supervisors was in charge of the alarm system and wanted to set me up with a pass code so I could activate and deactivate the alarms.
It seemed a little unusual to set the new person up with a pass code within the first hour of their arrival, but maybe they do things differently in New York.
I was given a partial guided tour of the center, again this seemed a little odd or rude but possibly the supervisors were busy finishing the day’s work.
I was told of a special order that had been filled, placed on pallets and staged at the drive in door. Someone from the store would be here at the center about 7:00pm to pick it up. I believe there had been some storms and the store needed these supplies.
The day was coming to a close and the hourly staff were leaving and that is when I began to understand why I was given a pass code. The first supervisor came to me saying he had arrived early and was leaving. Each of the other supervisors came to me saying they needed to leave and had reasons why they could not stay to load out the pallets at 7:00pm. I was shown how to turn off the lights in the building.
Everyone was out of the building including the supervisory staff. I did a check of the doors to be sure all were locked, the building was secure.
I went to the manager’s office and caught up on my emails.
The two hours passed quickly.
I had left the front door unlocked so the person picking up the order could get into the lobby. The manager’s office was next to the lobby which allowed me to hear when someone came in.
There was a knocking on the door, it was the store owner who had come to pick up the order. I greeted him and explained which door he should take his truck to. I went out into the warehouse and picked out a forklift which I drove to the door. The store owner had a flatbed truck which he backed inside the building.
I loaded the pallets on the truck. The pallets were secured to the truck and the store owner was out of the building before 8:00pm.
I did a final check of the building, put the forklift on the charger, turned out the lights and setup the alarm system and exited the building.
As I walked out of the building to my rental car, it was dark and I was not in familiar surroundings. I needed to get to the hotel and check in. As I thought about the afternoon occurrences I chuckled to myself, surely the supervisors didn’t think I would have problems driving a fork lift, loading a truck, securing a building or setting the alarm system, “this wasn’t my first rodeo”.
Don Ford 11/13/2014
