D Ep 78: SALES ASSOCIATE? START HERE FIRST (C-STORE TRAINING)
Hello everybody. My name is Michael Hernandez, and I spent 27 years working in the convenience store industry. I am getting ready to launch my YouTube channel officially, @CStoreCenter, where I am actually going to be adding a lot of content.
This video is for sales associates. It is going to be on the Dive playlist. I named it Dive because you are diving into the business. You are learning about the industry and working in a convenience store. So, if you are a sales associate or a cashier, this is for you. It could be for any kind of entry-level retail store, really. But the bulk of my experience, and the whole purpose of this podcast and YouTube channel, is to speak to sales associates, recount my memories, and share the experiences I went through a long time ago. I know they are still applicable to somebody working today.
I never had any intentions of staying in the convenience store industry. It was the early 90s. I had moved to San Antonio, Texas, and I was working for a company called H. E. B. I had been there before. I started working when I was a sophomore in high school, so I had retail experience. I was probably better prepared than some people who are going into the sales associate position for their very first job.
I left H. E. B. because a friend of mine was working at a competitor across the street, and he offered to get me a job. The bump in pay was maybe 50 or 75 cents an hour. When you are starting out and living paycheck to paycheck, that is a big jump. It felt like hope. It is certainly nothing to scoff at.
But it didn't work out. The politics were bad. A lot of bad examples of management come to mind from my time there. The guy who was running the store was very cocky. I don't mind that, but he was really a jerk and very abusive in his practices. If you are good, you are good, but don't mistreat people. I'll give you an example. When it was slow, there were cashiers that might stand around. I would see him go up to the register, pull out the journal tape, roll it all the way across the floor, and say, "Okay, now you have something to do. Do something." I just think there are better ways to address that issue. Ask them to wipe down the check stand or straighten up the candy.
I remember another time I was getting trained to move into a front-end manager trainee position. There was a guy there—I am going to name his name, what the heck. His name was Sal. Sal had this tendency to snap his fingers at people or whistle at them. One time he asked me for my keys, and he started snapping his fingers. I told him, "Do not treat me that way, man. Do not snap your fingers at me, because if you disrespect me, I am going to push back." That stopped the behavior, at least with me. I think it made him aware that it wasn't cool. But one day, he came and asked me for my store keys because he had to take care of something on another register. I gave them to him in good faith. The first chance I got when it slowed down, I went and asked for my keys back. He looked at me and said, "I don't know where your keys are. That is your responsibility." Just little petty things like that.
I know as a sales associate, it can be difficult depending on who your manager is and how much training they have. Sometimes people get thrown into these positions out of desperation when a store needs help, and they are not prepared. I am not putting it all on them, but that is just the way the industry works. It is an industry where people get thrown in, and the company just waits to see if you are going to make it. Some people do, but then they resort to those types of abusive behaviors because they want to try to maintain control. It compounds the turnover problem.
You are going to get exposed to this. Your goal through all this, just like mine was, is to defend yourself, but also to make sure you do not do that when it is your turn. Remember that feeling. Remember how horrible it felt, how small it made you feel, and make sure you never do that to your own team.
I actually left that company. I applied at different places. I remember I couldn't even get hired at Pizza Hut. The friend who got me the other job had a cousin who worked for Stop-N-Go. This was an era where there were a lot of robberies going on. The industry was really unsafe. We didn't have security cameras or safety pendants. Because of the danger, people used to joke about the name of the company. I applied because I needed a job. The hiring manager called me back and said, "I really shouldn't hire you, but I'm going to give you a chance." I asked her why she wouldn't hire me. She said, "You are overly ambitious." We didn't have Google back then. I had developed this odd habit of opening up a dictionary to a random page, finding a word I didn't know, memorizing it, and figuring out how to use it. I took charge of my own learning. I told her I couldn't help it, my dad raised me with high expectations and I had goals. Maybe she thought I wouldn't last and would just contribute to the turnover. She was right about the ambition. I had plans to become someone, I just didn't think it would be in the convenience store business.
I got hired working overnight. My first store was on the corner of Fredericksburg and Medical in San Antonio. I was working with an assistant manager named Augie. The very first night, I told him, "Man, I want to be an assistant manager." He told me it wasn't worth it for the lousy quarter raise. I told him it would look good on my application when I went to apply for something else. I announced my desire on day one.
It took about 15 months. It's not that I wasn't good, it's that I was working overnight. I never saw anybody who could add value to my development. I wasn't getting any training. I didn't know a district manager. There were no computer-based training programs. But before I gave up, I became the go-to person. I created opportunities for myself to learn. If you can go help out in other stores, do it. That is where my learning really began.
I would work my regular second shift, and then go work the overnight shift at another manager's store because she was begging for help. I was supposed to get off at 7:00 in the morning, and she wouldn't show up until 8:00 or 9:00. Nobody wanted to work at her store because there was an apartment complex across the street, and a guy in a trench coat would come over and do completely inappropriate, crazy things right on the front counter. The only reason I agreed to work there was because I had a good relationship with some San Antonio PD officers, the Richie Brothers. They came and hung out at the store to make sure I was safe. I did those shifts because I wanted to prove I could do just as good a job at her store as I could at mine. That is how I started meeting other managers and networking.
My vision for what I am building is to provide you with those opportunities to network with people outside of your company. You can start creating opportunities for yourself and not be limited by what your company provides. I encourage you to take what you want out of this industry.
For the original, real-life experience version of this story, catch the full video version @CStoreCenter on YouTube. If you can relate to this journey and want to join the network, text your first name to 9 5 6 - 8 9 7 - 9 1 9 2.
I close every episode the same way — 'Happy Learning.' Those two words aren't filler. They represent everything I believe about development. Learning shouldn't be punishment. It should feel like possibility.