Charity does not begin at home . . .

. . . well, it would seem so if you work for Vinnies, going by what transpired today at the Vinnies center in Newtown.

I was minding my own business, having a look-see at the racks of clothing when intermittently I heard a masculine voice lamenting " . . . why are these things arranged in this manner . . . ", " . . . this is not the way . . . ", " . . . everything is in a shambles . . .", " . . . and you wonder why sales are down . . . " and a female voice, softly but firmly saying, " . . . I respect what you'd just said . . . but I strongly object to it . . ."

This sounds all too familiar. It has all the markings of a manager talking DOWN to his subordinate. And of course I put one and one together -

a. The female is likely a store manager or even a cluster manager and have applied some change to the store presentation.

b. The male is her superior (in rank, I mean, not necessarily in skill) and didn't seem to like nor appreciate what she had done and decided it was just this very initiative that had caused (recent) sales to go down.

c. So, he let rip into her, right on the selling floor. Quite uncharitably so, if you asked me.

Truly, store presentation may affect sales but to state that poor store presentation is the only reason why sales has gone down is bullshit. Poor sales numbers can also be due to many other factors, some or all occurring at the same time. I can name you one: displaying poor managerial behaviour on the selling floor.

Heavens know in my previous life as a Division Manager in the retail industry I have on more than one occasion felt like reaching out to wring the neck of a subordinate. Yes, felt like. And that was all there is to it, and also right where it stops. You may be the manager but believe you me, you DON'T get the luxury of executing that "felt like". Even if you want to make a point, angry gestures notwithstanding, the place to do it is so NOT on the sales floor. There is this thing call staff-room or stockroom; all retail stores have some kind of equivalent.

Sadly, this sort of "I am your manager so I can talk like that to you" scenario is not uncommon in retail. I witness these sort of drama every now and then, but it is a first for me in Vinnies and a definite eye-opener. And of course, driving home the point that Vinnies centers are run as profit-centers, hence all these bs sales KPIs.

How did the sorry episode ends? I didn't stick around to find out, I am not curious like that. However, I did overheard a staff relating the incident to an acquaintance-cum-customer, emphatically stating he (the staff) is "100% behind her".

" . . . everything is in a shambles . . . "

Or is it?