In Blog #27 I talked about Do your own research ahead of time. In this blog I want to talk about Focus on your job and Avoid distractions.

Homer calls me after I get a chance to settle in and informs me the store has a shrinkage problem. Usually problems with shrinkage are caused by poor bookkeeping, customer theft or employee theft. With my back ground in customer theft from Koby’s, I took a look at the store to see what could possibly be stolen.

Shrinkage problem

We had some handbags and accessory items but we were a full service store so I didn’t think the issue was with the customers. We had a pretty good team with one exception, so I kept an eye on the employee I thought might be the culprit. This employee called out sick a lot. He also liked to party frequently, so it might be him. Fortunately when he did call in sick, I had an employee named Vanessa. She was very reliable and I could always count on her to fill in.

Financial problem arises

Aside from the problems at the store, corporate called me to tell me I had to pay the 401k loan back right away. Funny I didn’t remember them telling me that at the time. So now an additional 300 bucks were going to be taken out of an already small paycheck. It was brutal, just married, eating top ramen, mac and cheese a lot and hamburger helper on the good days. We saved our coins to buy beer on the weekends. I looked forward to the weekends lol.

Call for help

I had to make a few calls to relatives for financial help, at least for a few months. Diane’s dad stepped up and helped us out. Things were at least bearable now but I was stressed out on the store problems and couldn’t figure it out. I called my dad for advice, which I frequently did and he advised  “don’t assume people are doing what they are supposed to be doing”, watch everyone for a while to see what’s going on. Thank god for Vanessa, at least she was the bright spot in the store.

Focus on your Job and Avoid Distractions

When you have a lot going on all at the same time, take a step back or you might miss something right in front of you. Make a list and check things off, especially if you have a lot of distractions. This way you don’t miss anything.