As I was saying...

So, the other employees are so happy that Mike isn't their boss anymore. Everytime I meet a new employee I feel like I just gave them an oversized check for a million dollars. This guy, apparently was a tyrant. I had no idea and apparently neither did Candi, my regional manager.

I called her last nite (yes her real name is Candi) to talk to her about it. I told her how everyone hated him and she had no idea. She knew 1 or 2 really didn't like him, but she hadn't realized it was so bad. She asked what they were saying and I did my best to put 6 hours of hate that I had heard into a 20 minute phone call. She wasn't surprised by any of it, but she was happy to know that the employees were so happy and happy about the change.

Now, the unfortunate part to all of this is that MIke is still working there. Before I had no issue with this, but now that I've talked with everyone, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to ask him to make a clean cut from the store completely. He drives for me on Sunday and has been trying to get me to commit to him every sunday as well as give him some more hours each week. He likes to play the "it's still my home store, I grew up here" sentimental card. But, why keep a cancer on the team? He was demoted for doing a poor job and others don't respect him at all. Another issue is that his wife works there as well. But, I'm hoping that if I tell mike to take a hike, then his wife will follow. Hopefully, he understands but even if he doesn't the worst thing that can happen is that he gets pissed off and leaves. Which is what i want him to do anyways. I don't like to make enemies by pissing people off, but i'd rather not subject my employees to him.

I was told yesterday that they have decided to switch some MITs around and was asked if I wanted my former boss, Syndi, to be my MIT. The only issue I have with that is the fact that she's been my boss this whole time and then all of a sudden I'll be hers. That's gonna be weird. As far as work and part of a team, she is great. I know she'll do whatever it takes and for the most part she does a good job. There are bad habits she has that bug me, but I'm in a position to have her fix those now. I just don't want her thinking that she can come in and treat me as her puppet. It'll definitely be something to monitor and hopefully that line is never crossed.

I've made a lot of changes to the store already and everyone seems to be on board with those changes, which is good. I was afraid before to make too many changes right away when I stepped in, but after seeing how desperate the staff is for some positive change, I decided I could start right away. I've been opening the last 2 days, so I've been able to get a lot done. I'm going to meet some employees for the first time tonite, so I'll be able to gauge things more hopefully. Fridays are generally pretty busy, even though I know last week they didn't do anything. The weather has been nice, so we've been pretty dead all week. I can see the store in action, hopefully.

I like my new boss a lot and things seem to get done now, when I ask her about them. She is very excited about me and in fact, shes the only one that read my essay that I submitted to them. I plan on getting my marketing plan together in a few weeks and putting that into action. Right now, I'm still feeling everything out and make drastic changes to the store, so it's not on the forefront. But I know soon enough they'll be on me about raising sales.

Good luck me.