Tuesday, January 18, 2011
I have an interview for an Asst. Mgr position a nearby branch--we'll call it University Branch. There is much stress about it, though, for a few reasons:
- The commute is about an hour, and a very frustrating one. The distance is only about 38 miles, but it’s a two-lane highway that winds through some very hilly areas, so it’ll be a dangerous drive in the wintertime, and it’s also frequented by farmers (and their equipment), 18-wheelers shortcutting between highways, and little old ladies taking a scenic drive.
- MBA, the manager, has already made a bad first impression—he comes off as quite the jerk. Boss doesn’t have a high opinion of him, either, though I take that with a grain of salt. I do know that, as the name implies, he has an MBA, and it appears that he makes sure everyone knows it. E (former coworker) transferred there and so I chatted with him about it. He thinks I’d get along with MBA just fine, as he guesses that MBA would treat Asst. Managers with a little more respect than he does the entry level people. That sounds bad, doesn’t it?
- One of the things that makes me good at my job is that I know a) my customers; b) the area/population; and c) my manager ALL very well. I’d say at least half of the people that walk up to the counter don’t have to give me their name or account number for me to complete a transaction for them because I know them well enough to find their info without help. I have also been able to help hone Boss' marketing ideas to better suit the area population because I know what types of people we have and what may or may not appeal to them. The University Branch is the home of a very large state university, so the population is COMPLETELY different. E tells me that MBA is very big on marketing. Well, so is Boss, but I’m most effective for him because of my familiarity with the above mentioned things… in Univeristy, I’d be a fish out of water (a challenge, yes, but not a deal breaker).
- E also told me that MBA is only interviewing ONE OTHER PERSON. My competition is another teller in the same position as me, who's been with the company for about 10 months longer than me. E insists that he lacks leadership skills, and he thinks that it's my job to take if I want it. Those kinds of statements make me nervous--Lord knows if I set my sights on it and then don't get it, I will be crushed. Again. Anyway, MBA chatted with Boss about me--it is apparently an accepted practice to get a feel for the candidate from their superiors. MBA wanted to know if I could handle his "high volume" branch. Boss was a little chuffed at first, then smug: yes I can handle University's "high volume", we do more business than they do, even though our Retail Partner has less foot traffic than theirs does. MBA was surprised to learn that last year we outdid them on just about every measurable goal by an average of 5%. Between Boss and E, I've been hyped up so much to this guy, he's bound to be seriously disappointed when he meets me and I'm not a glowing Goddess with mind-control powers and the ability to communicate with animals...
- It has already occurred to me that I can use this opportunity to my advantage: the truth is I don't WANT to take on an hour-long commute--my current commute is 3 minutes!! We have just officially begun Tax Season. This is a very high volume of business--last year, we did 1/2 of our year's business in the first 3 months. Our branch is already "down a man", because we've still been unable to fill the spot B left. If I leave, it will mean certain disaster for Poor Boss. Tons of mandatory overtime, he and S-hole will have to cut back on their days off, oh the stress and worry!!! So I planted a seed... in a conversation with S-hole, I told him "Boss could always make a better offer." Yes, that's right: I'd give up a promotion if I could just get more money. I'll tell him to do the math: the lowest ABM pay scale and the highest teller pay scale are NOT that far apart. In fact, if you subtracted what the commute would cost me, they're just about the same. I'm JUST SAYIN'.
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