“It is retail,” the Store Manager said. Her words, tone, and look conveyed a distinct message.

The Store Manager was interviewing “Lady,” a 30-something looking for work. I sat very still at a neighboring table in the coffee shop attached to the store. I wanted to hear the interviewee’s response.

“No, I get that. All I was hoping for…” Lady’s pitch went higher as she tried to backpedal her wishlist. She was stressed. In the moments before, Lady was trying to delicately explain how she could juggle employment with the rest of her life. As somebody who has hired a bunch of people, what she wanted wasn’t that big of a deal.

The Store Manager’s three word comment, tone, and look shut her down, though. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since.

What did Store Manager do in three words? She created an adversarial tone for their future working relationship. And, she cooled the interview.

The thing is: Store Manager needs people. They have been aggressively marketing their opportunities. But Store Manager didn’t help herself, or the other team members. Store Manager has a certain way of doing things and her explanation is “this is retail.”

The time has come to retire our old chestnuts about how we work. Everything about the post-Covid workplace should be reexamined. The entire design of any position must be rethought from the ground up if we want to consistently attract superstar team members.

Yeah, it might be retail, but we have an opportunity to do something truly great. Only our beliefs stand in the way.