On The Spot

Lily has been working at my store since it was opened, almost 6 years ago now; she started out as a cashier. It would only take her a few months to slip into the role of CSM when one of our CSM’s at the time was injured in a car accident. After a couple years with the store, she applied for department manager and after being passed over twice, she was finally given the chance to show her stuff. Since that moment, she’s been the department manager of the Infants department where I am most of the time.

If I ever had a problem or concern about something in Infants, she was always willing to listen and together we would find a solution. I respect Lily - we were pretty close while working, I would even call her a friend and I know she thinks of me as one of hers - so when I came in and she was still there, I was really worried that something bad was going to happened, or already did. I don’t think I’ve ever dropped my stuff in the staffroom as quickly in my life as I did that day.

Lily was standing in the horseshoe when I made my way to the floor, she was copying a customer order from the scrape piece of paper she wrote it on, to the ‘special order’ book we keep so everyone who works in Infants can know what we are waiting on, especially the overnight crew who are the first ones to see the product come onto the sales floor.

I was very nervous when I approached her, “Hey Lily.”

She glanced over her shoulder for a brief second, “Just a moment, I have to finish this before I forget.” She turned back to the book, continuing to fill out the form we use. I wasn’t sure what I should do, which was unusual for me, I always had a game plan when I started my shift but Lily’s presence threw me off. I didn’t want to stand around because I felt like a moron so I stepped to the side and started to ‘zone’ the bath products on the end cap next to the horseshoe.

“Ok,” Lily snapped the book, and binder that held the book, closed before turning to me. “I suppose you are wondering why I’m still here?”

I nodded, turning towards her. “Yeah, it’s not like you to be here this late, is everything ok?”

“Oh yes,” she said with a smile. “Everything is great! I just wanted to talk to you before I left today.” She glanced around, seeing there was no one around, she motioned for me to come into the horseshoe with her. Once we were both standing in the small space, leaning up against opposite shelves, she started to speak. “I wanted to tell you this before the rumor mill got hold of it,” she paused and then with a million dollar smile on her face, she exclaimed, “I’m moving on up!”

This statement confused me, I didn’t really know what she was talking about, my first thought was she was moving out of town but when I mentioned that, she shook her head. “No, I found out today that I got the Assistant Manager position I applied for!” She watched me, waiting for a reaction.

I felt my heart drop.

“What?” She frowned, “Anna what’s wrong?”

How do I tell her that I didn’t want her to leave? That working in Infants without her would suck more than anything I could even think of.

“Anna?”

I hated that I wasn’t reaction like she thought I would.

“Are you going to say anything?”

I shook my head to try and clear it, to hopefully shake something positive out of it. “That’s great…” I wasn’t really sure though.

“Come on Anna,” Lily laughed. “This is a great opportunity for me!” She pushed off the shelf she was leaning against and grabbed my arm. “Just think,” she said as she stood beside me, her arm linked through mine while she waved her hand through the air in front of us. “Me, out there, one of the Assistants, actually having more of a say in how things are run. Anna!” She spun around to face me, “Those ideas we talked about for so long, ways to improve the shopping experience for customers, we can probably do them now! We’ll have a voice of sorts.”

I laughed, “That’s great. I am happy for you Lily; I know that you’ve wanted to move up for a while now. I just…”

“You just what? Is something wrong?”

“No,” I shook my head, chuckling at how selfish I was being, I was just thinking about me, and how this change would affect me. “It’s silly,” I told her. “I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that you were leaving me.”

“I’m not leaving you Anna, I’m still going to be in this store, I’ll just be in a different role.”

“I know,” I smiled. “I guess I’m worried about who they’ll give this department too; you know how well I handle change and getting use to working with new people.”

“Yes, I know,” she chuckled. “But that’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What is? Who they are going to put in here?” She nodded, smiling. “You know who they are thinking about?”

Again she nodded, “Yes but it depends on if that person applies for the job when it’s posted.”

“No,” I groaned, “They aren’t seriously thinking about putting a newbie department manager in here?” I didn’t wait for her to reply. “That’s crazy Lily, this department is demanding, if you don’t have a handle on what you are doing in the beginning, all hell will break loose!”

“I know.”

I sighed.

“Do you want me to tell you who they want to be the new Infant Department Manager when I leave for my Assistant Manager training?”

Groaning, I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes, “Go ahead, tell me the bad news.”

Lily laughed, “You!” She exclaimed, grabbing my arm as she squealed like a school girl instead of the 34 year old woman that she was. “While I was in the meeting with Ian (store manager) about my upcoming training, he told me that he had been watching you for the last couple weeks and he wanted to know if I thought you would be able to handle the role of department manager.” She paused to take a breath, she was talking that fast. “I told him without a doubt! I had every reason to believe that you would excel as department manager.”

“So?” She stared at me. “What do you think? Will you apply for the job when it’s posted?”

I was so shocked, I opened my mouth to speak but all I did was squeak.

Did I want the stress and responsibility of being in charge?