Last week I intended to provide you an update on several topics, but my discussion on how I came to use the terms “Cats & Dogs” for miscellaneous topics took a detour and I ran out of room. So here, without further embellishment, is my first blog edition of Cats & Dogs!

UBER

I stopped driving for UBER once I started working at IKEA back in September. During the last few weeks of that period I also signed up for LYFT, whose communications were more whimsical and “friendlier” than UBER’s.   I really didn’t drive all that often and when I did, I drove during the day as I was running my own errands. I never drove at night or weekends, so never really picked up the ‘more interesting’ riders. Problem was that the ones I did pick up were kind of boring: Moms dropping off or picking up their kids at school, or driving people to and from the shopping malls or to work. A few notables:

I picked up a woman who wanted to go to a local grocery store then be dropped off at a neighborhood swimming pool. She was the kind of person who gives New Yorkers a bad name. She was visiting a friend who was at work and immediately started complaining about how backward the Midwest and Midwesterners were. I shared my perspective as a native New Yorker and transplanted Midwesterner, but she would have nothing of it. So I brought her to Kroger as requested and waited for her to come out. After longer than I expected, she came out fuming, with a loaf of bread, condiments and some cold cuts. She expected that the grocery deli department would be able to make her a great sandwich. In NY it is true that most grocery stores have full delicatessen departments that take pride in preparing food, as well as making sandwiches and heros (what we call a sub). But not here in the Midwest. So she was not a happy camper (and honestly, she could have missed a few meals.) She was not a pleasant woman, extremely New York centric, and worst of all, she was from ROCHESTER, not NYC!

A more enjoyable ride happened when I picked up 3 friends at an indoor go-kart racing track. They had great Cajun-inspired accents and were extremely polite. Turns out that 2 of them were preachers (brothers) and the other was a car salesman. I told them this sounds like the beginning of a joke: “Two preachers and a car salesman get into an UBER car.”  We laughed and tried to come up with a full joke but failed miserably. The preachers told me that their father was not-so-secretly nicknamed the “Brimstone King” because his sermons were full of fire. They also said that if I googled ‘Evangelical Preachers Louisiana’ that their Dad would be the first hit and I could watch a few sermons. Sure enough, Jesse Duplantis pops up just before Jimmy Swaggert!  The guys had two stops to make and interestingly, while the NY girl above was suspicious of UBER OTB and declined, these guys were all over it.

Finally, as I hang up my UBER driving gloves, I’ll say that, while easy to qualify to drive; it’s not a good job. UBER takes about 66% of the typical fare, (LYFT takes a little less), leaving a paltry sum for the driver. Once gas, insurance and maintenance (and later, taxes) are figured in, I don’t believe that many drivers are actually making any money at all. And that doesn’t even consider the grey area of liability in case of an accident. Fun, but I’m done!

IKEA

I’m also done at IKEA! I quit at the turn of the year, which was my plan all along. I really just wanted to be involved in the setup and launch of this impressive store, so I ended up working about 20 hours a week for 4 months. It was great fun and great exercise: averaged 14,000 steps per shift!

I’ve already told you that this was a rare one-story IKEA so it was big and sprawling. My assigned area was toward the end of ‘the maze’ so many shoppers were tuckered out and ready to leave when they got to me. Especially the older people and mothers trailing toddlers. I felt sorry for some of the older folks who were simply not up to the long walk.  Many would voice their dissatisfaction with the size of the store but I would always think, “did you SEE the store when you pulled in!?”. I could tolerate the complaints from the elderly, but one time a guy in his thirties came thundering around a corner and yelled to me “Hey dude, how the f* do you get out of this store?”  Shocked by his rudeness, especially with children present, I said “What?” to give him a chance to regroup. Undeterred, he repeated his question, word for word. Again, I said “What?”  He still didn’t get it and yelled, “The exit! How do you get to the G* D* exit?”. By that point I had had it, so I asked him to watch his language around kids and gave him very clear directions deep into the middle of the store. I’m kind of hoping he’s still milling around.

I also recall one heavyset woman who was clearly struggling to the finish line. I caught her eyeing a display of stacked lamps, and backing up slowly toward them. (Cue audio: beep…beep…beep)

I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing. Sure enough, she starts to lower herself onto this pile of $100 lamps. I was not far from her so I yelled, “No. No. No!” and she stopped herself mid-squat and stood back up. I would not have believed she had that move in her. I said, “Ma’am, you will crush those lamps and besides there are two large ottomans right here for you sit on!”

She looked at me and said, “I thought they were just for display.”

I was speechless.

I used to say that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their waiter or waitress. I now include retail workers in that group. But for every unpleasant shopper, there were 3 or 4 delightful people. I had one regret with a little woman in her 70s who told me that her macular degeneration was growing worse and she needed more light under her cabinets to cook. My own dear sweet mother had the same problem. I showed her the options and went through the components she would need, not confident that she was taking it all in. Then she told me that she had to learn to do more of this sort of thing since her husband died 6 months ago. Ugh. I went slower and opened packages to show her how things plugged together and how to route cables and where to drill the holes. She then told me her cabinets were old and made of metal! Finally, she said that if she couldn’t do it, her brother-in-law would be visiting over Christmas, and maybe he would do it. Good. I let her go and after thinking about her for the next 5 minutes, I took off to find her. What the heck, I would go to her house to do it if she would let me. Unfortunately, the store is truly a maze and I couldn’t find her. I still feel badly about that one.

On the whole, I provided great service to those I helped, but, admittedly, it did correlate with the pleasantness of the shopper. We were out of stock on many things for many weeks because sales forecasting was poor, the inventory process was flawed, and those charged to run it were new to their jobs. Although we were out of many items, the web site and app reported that we had plenty of stock. So many shoppers made long or multiple trips into this store to find their items. I empathized greatly with these people and developed a process where I would notify them by text when their desired product was back in stock. They were very appreciative. Others who reacted badly to not being able to fulfill their life’s dream of obtaining a certain household item, I simply had no time for. I think a few complained!

So this foray into the retail world was great fun. IKEA is a good company and they have a lot going for them. They have a unique product and generally make the shopping experience fun. They treat their people well. Still, I have the suspicion that if IKEA was a public company, instead of privately held, there would be a stronger management system, greater oversight, and more timely intercession when things are not going well.  As I’ve said before, Training was disjointed and subpar, their hiring practices were arbitrary, they do not have dedicated store launch teams, they under-staff, and they simply can’t seem to get their forecasting and inventory situation under control, which has meaningful ramifications for staff and customers.

Lastly, I’ll say that I was not sure what to expect in terms of the quality of managers in this retail setting. I guess I saw what we all see anywhere, great variety on leadership skill. Several managers were let go in the first three months, which seemed right. And there is probably more work to be done.  I was lucky to work for a woman named Janet who had previous experience running an athletic shoe store. She had a great way about her as she led her team, and although she never commiserated with those who complained, she was empathetic while she helped them to see the wisdom behind strange policies. She was always positive and a great supporter of her people and, unlike many retail managers, did not focus on the small transgressions so many retail workers make. Instead, she looked for ways to build confidence and express appreciation for her team. And this was an eclectic team of really nice people with varied experiences and backgrounds. I will miss my new friends. I was consistently humbled by the lengths they would go to help customers. So today, whether you are shopping or going out to eat; take the time to notice, appreciate and thank the people who are helping you. They work hard and deserve our respect.

BELLA

Last month I told you about my 8-year-old niece Bella, who is battling stage 4 neuroblastoma. In December, following Phase 1 of her treatment, which included 5 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy, Bella had what was left of her tumors surgically removed. A wonderful Christmas gift to her and her family: Follow up tests showed no new cancer and the tumors are all but GONE! She got to spend Christmas at home! Her bone marrow biopsy still showed some cancer (between 1-5 %); BUT, compared to her July numbers, this is simply phenomenal.

Bella went back to the hospital on January 2 to start Phase 2 of her treatment. It included a 3-day chemo round, followed by a difficult stem cell transplant. She came through the transplant like a trooper and is now confined to her hospital room until at least the end of this month.

Today is Day 17 in the hospital. With her white blood cell count MIA after the transplant, the full effects of the high doses of chemo are taking hold.  She has sores in her mouth, throat and stomach. According to her Mom, “her pain is being managed and she is resting. Minimal talking and lots of sleep, typical for this phase of treatment. Her first words the other morning – “Mom, I think I need a kiss”….so she is still in good spirits. The good news is her counts are slowly headed up!”  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and please continue to pray that her counts continue to grow, as this is key for healing.

Until next week…take care.

 

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