IKEA is not my first experience with retail furniture sales. During high school I landed a job as a stock boy at a mid-level furniture store in a strip mall in Massapequa, NY. My job was to move furniture around and help customers secure their purchases to their vehicle. I was not a good hire. As a 140-pound weakling, I was no match for a coffee table, let alone a couch. I was not a whiz at tying knots so I’d often scratch my head as customers backed out of our docks with their precious new furniture tied to their cars with my wimpy knots made with ridiculously light-gauge twine. I was consistently amazed that they made it out of the parking lot. I’m sure we lost some things during the trip home.

Coming up on Thanksgiving my boss asked me if I knew anyone who would want a temporary job helping through the holiday season. I had the perfect guy. My best friend in high school is also named Frank and he is an amazing guy. He is very funny, gregarious, always positive, considerate and one of the most generous people I know. Even in high school, he worked out a lot so he was big and strong. When I introduced the furniture guys to him, they jumped to hire him. After school and on weekends during that holiday season, Frank and I had a lot of fun moving furniture around and playing random parkour games (we didn’t know it had a name back then) in the storage area.  We mistreated some very nice furniture. Frank used to say, “Why do you think they call it a break room?”

So the holiday season ended and it was time for Frank to leave; there simply was not enough business to keep both of us. My boss stopped me after work one day and said that they were keeping just one guy, as expected… but it would be ‘Big Frank’.  I was shocked and so naïve that I didn’t even think of that as a possibility. Although it actually did make business sense, it did not seem to me to be an honorable thing to do. I left with my head down, but right next door was a retail automotive parts store (like Advanced Auto) that I visited often because I had a very old car that needed work every week to keep running. There in the window was a sign that read: HELP WANTED. I’ll be damned. I walked in, talked to the manager Sy who became a great friend, and was hired on the spot.

FOR 50% MORE THAN I WAS MAKING NEXTDOOR!

On the way home, I stopped by Frank’s house to tell him what happened. He fumed that the furniture guys were out of line, but I told him that it all worked out well in the end, and we both kept jobs. The next day Frank went into work and when the furniture guys told him that he would keep the job, Frank said: “No thanks, I don’t want to work for anybody who would do that to an employee.” And he walked out.

Funny how those little life lessons informed my leadership approach as an adult: Do what’s right for the people and you will ultimately do what’s right for the business.

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