Quote:
Originally Posted by charlygal
Run, did you pay all of your workers $20/hr in your retail store?
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It was in the 90's. I closed it in 1999 because my mother had a disaster of a health situation and I couldn't do "her" AND my store.
I paid $3.00 over minimum or so I guess...$10.00 per hour plus sales commission and bonuses. So yes on some days they averaged that even back THEN. Hard to say since sometimes I threw cash at them.
A Pet Store (no dogs or cats) Very demanding skill wise, believe it or not. I had a deaf guy who was awesome but customers were rude about it.
IE one time I was out of a certain size of fish tank and my guy had a big sale. He told the guy "Wait a minute I have to run across to my warehouse to get that tank".
We had no warehouse, he ran across the street to BUY ONE from a competitor.
The sale was huge and I gave him the entire sale as a bonus less the wholesale cost. Probably $200 in his pocket for having that initiative.
NONE of the girls worked out on interview and "trial" test runs I had. They all thought they'd be sitting around petting animals and didn't want to get rid of their acrylic nails.
My best employees were hard workers who came from the restaurant industry.
Because operating a pet store is a combination of a restaurant and hospital. YOU HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT CLEANING AND HEALTH CODES. And enjoy doing it. And not KILL animals with a bunch of bleach etc.
NOW, after my mother went into a nursing home I was tired of living on savings and wanted some walk around money and took a local job in the Giant grocery.
I made great money for the job and era. $13.00 per hour and OT as offered. The only cashier and front worker the overnight shift.
ALL the guys were Americans and loved their job - there's a career path and full BENEFITS. We also had some of our local prison work-release people doing night crew stocking .
GREAT workers. So appreciative and LOVED throwing the heaviest aisles like water and dog food.
It was like being at the gym for them!
It was really fun working with them since they'd puff up their chests and cross their arms and stare at any guys who approached me who they thought looked sketchy LOL.
They also loved turning in the local cops who stole donuts by eating them in the store and reading newspapers they didn't pay for. Hilarious.
I learned SO MUCH about life in that job, even as an adult woman who spent most of my life in the Corporate world before buying my store.