My first management position was with “West Coast Video” back in 1997, right after I graduated High School. That year I began my freshman year at Temple University for Film and Media arts…obviously my management experience was more of an asset than my college education. I will honestly say that this store had its share of drama. I guess I will start off by talking about how I obtained my management position…the short version- everyone hated the store manager. Mary* hated the fact that all of her employees had something else going on in their lives.
- Susan* (her assistant when I was hired) was going to nursing school and had fiance’ she loved dearly.
- Will* the key holder had another job as well and only worked 3 days a week to relieve the two managers.
- Mike* was also a college student, but he attended Community College and had a mother that taught at a prestigious college the he could attend any time he wanted to.
- Ted* an employee that just rolled with the punches, had a side gig that no one ever learned about.
Mary has said on more than one occasion “these students think they are going to do so well”, showing her disdain towards all of us. Mary wanted to get rid of Susan because they got into an argument over Mary’s abuse of the schedule. After firing Susan for being late three times (mind you she was a minute late the three times), she promoted Mike. When Mary promoted Mike, she promised him his raise within 60 days. 120 days later Mike had not received his raise and started actively looking for a new job. Will was unavailable to take on the extra hours due to his full time job (and I don’t think Mary would appreciate more porn being played during business hours). I reluctantly took the position.
Shortly after my promotion, I received a phone call from Mary on my day off. Mary was stuck in the store because someone broke a key off in the lock of the store. I came in and relieved her so that she could catch the last train home to New Jersey. I found out a few months later that Susan broke the key off in the lock, knowing that Mary was on duty that day.
To Susan’s defense, Mary was a douche…and Susan was drunk.
Occasionally, we had to rely on the security guard that monitored the offices upstairs (our store was located in the basement). Luckily I never had to call them, but poor Mary did.
In the back of the video store we had the “adult films” and we lovingly referred to that section of the store as the “boom boom” room.
One day Mary walked to the back to put some boxes away, and walked in on a man pleasuring himself while viewing the boxes (I guess he just couldn’t wait).
Security was called and the may was kindly asked to leave.
Part of my job was to select the adult videos that our store purchased, most of the selecting was done by Will. Will was a dirty old man and was not afraid to admit it. I mentioned earlier that he played porn during business hours, but he would also have conversations with the creepy guys renting the adult videos.
I am not saying that all of the guys that rented the adult films were creepy…but we did have a lot of weird guys renting from there. The typical “creepy” guy would browse the front of the store upon entry, just to attempt to pass for a “regular” customer. After cruising the front, they would slip into the boom boom room, when they thought no one was looking. The amount of time they spent back there ranged from 1-5 minutes (because they obviously knew what they wanted). They often had long trench coats or suitcases, and would slide the adult tape boxes in one of the two and pull them out once they arrived at the check out counter. The majority of the time they would check out with one of the males in the store….and if they HAD to check out with me they would either put the tapes back, or not look at me as I wrung up the transaction.
Out of all the strange stories I left that company with, here is the strangest…
The previous store manager tied herself up and staged a robbery…unfortunately she was not very thorough and the cops decided to search her. We they patted her down, they found the money she reported stolen. She was also half naked and claimed she was sexually assaulted. Way to go there!
I walked away with a lot of odd memories, and experience that was more valuable than the degree I was going to school for. Moral of the story is, fully embrace all of the opportunities handed to you, you never know how much it will count in the long run.
I paid for my college education, I received payment for this experience.
I have been a few places, seen a lot of things. I have had my hands in many fields. I may have answers for you if you have questions...even if you don't.
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