Blog #162  I talked about how Joe came back to Nordstrom. In this blog I want to talk about how Sales continue to plummet and pressure increases.

The store was having really tough business. If we were having bad business but the store was making the numbers that would be one thing but everything was tough. There was a lot of excitement for the new store. Kristin was so great at being positive and cheerful. She truly was an amazing store manager. Construction work was breaking ground in the back now too so it was a lot of fun. We had to park away from it all to give the customers a chance to find parking.

Rmm Says no to my son’s Baseball award

Store visits by the RMM increased so he could see the progress of the remodel. He came in one day and I asked him if I could take a few hours in the afternoon to see my son play baseball. I normally just went if it was in the evening or a day off but his coach told me he was being awarded a trophy this time. “On a Saturday?” was the response. The floor will be covered , I said. With the remodel we need you on the floor all day… I was so pissed, seriously…To make matters worse he did the dust thing again…

After he left I had to take a walk. I was fuming. Sometimes I would work 12 hour days, gave my all to the company. Who denies a parent this? Especially since business was really slow. When I got back someone wanted to talk to the manager. “Is This Mike Normart?”

Target

She was a recruiter. Super friendly too. My response would typically be that I wasn’t looking and was happy where I was. But this time I was willing to listen. “Target is all about customer service.There is a need for a Store Manager Trainee position. It’s a 6 month training then you get placed in a store  as an Executive Team Leader or ETL. Then you would work all the different areas of the store then finally be promoted.” It sounded great.

I kept thinking retail is retail. Maybe I should consider it. Especially since I really didn’t know where I stood with my RMM, but it was getting old. Kristin was great, I loved my team and all my peers. Down deep I felt I was probably ok and wouldn’t lose my job but the big question was “Did I want my job?”

Pros & Cons

I started going through the Pro’s and Con’s checklist and I was in the middle. 11 years, didn’t want to take this lightly. Over this time I bled Nordstrom blue, it was a lifestyle for me at this point. Usually, I was proud to tell people where I worked. But…I wasn’t happy.

Sales continue to plummet and pressure increases

This was the bottom line though.As much as I tried. I couldn’t shake it. Trust me, I really tried but I was miserable, Kept  thinking over and over “Life is too short to be unhappy…” My dad strikes again…