In retail, the official rules rarely match the reality on the ground.

So when one supervisor was expected to make hourly announcements while running two departments on minimal training, he found a way to navigate the nonsense on his own terms. The best part is that corporate couldn’t do anything about it!

Read on for the full story!

“Do more announcements,” they said. “It will be fine,” they said.

Back when I worked in retail for a stupidly cheap localized chain, I was the fresh meat department supervisor once my boss got fired for inside job theft.

Part of the stupidly outdated training manual was that every half hour the person in charge of the department (myself or an assigned employee/manager/assistant manager/obnoxious corporate toadie) should make announcements for sale items and whatnot.

Now did I initially do everything according to the outdated training manual?

Training? What’s that?

No, given that I had only one day of formal training (pre-2020 pandemic) and was expected by corporate to know everything.

But when I was trained, the guy in charge said no one actually follows the training manual to the T except corporate.

Eventually corporate started ruining everything, as is often the case.

After adjusting to the position, and while I was also simultaneously the de facto warehouse manager for 3 years, corporate starched suits came in every now and then—eventually frequently, every week—and complained about me not doing announcements to pick up sales.

This, despite the fact that there were literally three markets around our location within walking distance of less than half a kilometer.

I didn’t care, of course, until they threatened to lower my hourly rate. Which, as you guessed, was an empty threat—because full-time supervisors can’t be docked pay.

Corporate theater can be so exhausting sometimes.

What did Reddit think?

When it comes to tedious tasks, sometimes the best you can do is to try and make it fun.

This commenter plays along with the story.

This user has another clever idea for an announcement.

He kept his title, his pay, and just enough sarcasm to get through the day.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.