Parks Place

When we last left off, I had just accepted the position of Specialist in Appliances. I was excited to get started but, at the same time, a little apprehensive. For one thing, I didn’t know much about appliances beyond the basics (I’m fairly certain you take the frozen pizza out of the freezer and put it in the oven to make it more delicious). On top of that, there was far more pressure on a Specialist to perform than on someone mixing paint or cutting blinds.

A good starting point is to explain exactly what was expected of a Specialist in Appliances. First, you were the face of the department. It was your job to seek out anyone who set foot in the aisle and provide exceptional customer service. Second, there was product knowledge. You needed to know the differences between brands, what options were available, and which products were in stock.

I won’t break down the differences between brands—this isn’t meant to be an appliance comparison blog. And customer service is pretty straightforward: greet people with a smile, listen, stay attentive, and try to meet their needs. The most important duty, however, was Follow-Up. Many of the products were special orders. When you sold something, you had to wait for it to arrive at the warehouse before arranging delivery to the customer.

This is where you either succeeded or failed as a Specialist. If you didn’t manage your orders and keep customers informed throughout the process, odds were they wouldn’t be happy. And when customers aren’t happy, they do the one thing they all seem to know how to do—almost as if they attended some secret class beforehand:

“I want to speak to the manager!”

No sentence in retail causes more frustration than that one. It doesn’t matter how good your day is—when those words reach your ears, it feels like a train suddenly jumping off the tracks. Thankfully, we had an awesome Department Supervisor who could charm the pants off anyone. We’ll call him Diamond.

Diamond had been with the company for over 15 years and had one of the most infectious laughs I’ve ever heard. There were two other Specialists in the department. The first was a 20-year veteran of appliance sales—extremely knowledgeable but possibly the slowest talker I’ve ever met. We’ll call her Sloth. And finally, there was Cincinnati, who had worked with Diamond for years.

There was a lot to learn in Appliances: everything I’ve already mentioned, the combined knowledge of nearly 50 years of sales experience, and even my first certification on power equipment—a stand-up forklift with a platform on the back used to pull large stock from the racking. Every day was a learning experience, and we shared plenty of laughs between customers.

And then they pulled the rug out from under me—because of course they did. Management wanted me to move to Flooring and become a Specialist there. Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled. I was just getting comfortable in Appliances. But I’ve never been one to say no when asked to take on new responsibility.

So that marked the end of my time in Appliances (for now) and the beginning of my time in Flooring.

We’ll cover that in Part Four. Thank you for reading!