T EPISODE 88: STORE MANAGER? THE LONELIEST JOB (C-STORE TRAINING)
Hello everybody, my name is Mike Hernandez, and I spent 27 years in the convenience store industry, starting with the graveyard shift and working my way up to become a district manager. I am recording these videos and creating this training content because I think it is something that is desperately needed. At all the companies I worked for, it was always so hectic and chaotic that it was difficult for people to get the training and development they really needed without just being thrown into the position.
It took me two years to have an opportunity to become a store manager. I was about 26 and a half, going on 27. Looking back, that seems to be the age where most people mature, settle into their responsibilities, and get a better sense of life. In this industry specifically, that is the age where I saw people take on responsibility. I would venture to say the majority of people managing a store do not have college degrees. I didn't.
At the time, my sister-in-law finished her degree in San Marcos. She came home to San Antonio with a new Honda Accord and a new job as a teacher. She was excited to tell us she was getting paid $32,000 a year. I thought to myself, I make more than that right now as a store manager, and I didn't finish college. For a while, I didn't put much value into education. I knew it was important, but when you start running a store—especially back in the mid-90s without online classes—it is very difficult to do both.
I stayed in the industry because there was so much opportunity. I helped out at a lot of stores in the San Antonio market. Different district managers came to me and offered me whatever I wanted to come work for them. I ended up going with a district manager I already knew, Tony. He told me he had a tough store available. I just wanted to get out of the store I was currently in. I was working for a guy named Steve. Steve was smart and knew all the tips and tricks, but I had a lot of resentment working for him. I was doing all the work for the store, I was overdue for a raise, and he left all his responsibilities to me.
So when Tony offered me a 24-hour store in a bad part of town with only one employee, I told him I didn't care. I took it. My first day on the job, the only employee, Pat Bellinger, walked in. I knew Pat from helping out at other stores. He looked at me and said, "Before you get too excited, I have bad news. I've been having chest pains, and the doctor says I am going to be out for the next two weeks." That was my first day as a manager of a 24-hour store with zero employees.
I learned a lot of lessons very quickly. When you need a shift covered, other managers are going to come across like they are helping you, but they are not sending you their best employees. They are going to send you their worst performers. Instead of them taking the cash shortages and dealing with the people wasting time on the clock, they will gladly send those bad employees to your store. I would come in and find the store dirty, wrappers everywhere, and cash missing. I would talk to my district manager and tell him these borrowed employees were completely taking advantage of me and destroying my store's profitability, but nothing changed.
My first two audits were terrible because those borrowed employees were stealing. We had two auditors, Michelle and Peggy. They were the strictest enforcers you could imagine. Most people hated them, but they just did their job exactly by the book. My boss, Tony, came in and asked how the audit went. They told him it was bad, but they also told him, "Tony, this guy is going to be a great manager."
Once I stopped accepting help from other stores, my audits became great. I still had issues to handle, though. I had one employee sneaking items out the door. I caught him because when I got to work, I walked by his parked car and looked through the windows. I saw items we sold sitting in the back seat. I didn't say anything to him. I just went back, watched the security video, and saw exactly how he and his wife were sneaking the products out. Everything leaves a paper trail. There are always signs if you are looking for them.
It took me six months to get staffed. A different district manager, Nick Santos, finally came by and conducted some interviews for me. For a long time, it was just Pat and me splitting 12-hour shifts. It was so bad that I couldn't even attend the company training meetings on how to interview and hire people because I had no coverage for the register. One time, someone called in, and Tony actually offered to come work the overnight shift for me. I told him no. I told him he had already put in his years of hard work, and I would just figure it out myself.
Once I finally got staffed, it changed the way I treated people. I never understood how managers could work 80 hours a week, finally get a full staff, and then slack off. A week later, they are right back in the exact same mess because they didn't protect what they had built. You will see managers constantly surrounded by the exact problems they created. You hear them coming, always complaining, always unhappy, because they refuse to get a handle on their own operations.
Because of how I handled that store, before my first year was out, senior executives were touring my location first because it set the standard. Within a year, I was being groomed to be a district manager. I trained all of my employees to the point where they could all do the job of an assistant manager. Pat couldn't take the title because of his child's special needs. Pam was a single mom. Ed didn't have a vehicle to do deposits. Jay was in the Air Force. But they were all fully trained.
If you are a new manager, there is going to be pain. There are enough problems in this business; do not create your own. Do not take advantage of your employees. Do not be afraid to make a decision. I used to tell my managers, if you can live with the results, make the decision. You cannot wait for your boss to do it for you. You also cannot force people to do the work. You have to lead from the front, set the example, and have them follow you.
I am doing a lot of this using technology and AI because I am just one person, and this is a massive undertaking to make sure anyone in the world who wants training can get it. I can focus on creating these podcasts and my "Smoke Breaks" podcasts so you can listen on your drive to work or while you step outside for five minutes.
For the original, real-life experience version of this story, catch the full video version at C StoreCenter 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.