Former CTM

I am a former 4s manager (I know, boo hiss etc) and I left good old JS about 3 years ago.

I read posts on this r/ often and in most cases it leaves me a bit ashamed to have been part of the overall culture.

I wouldn’t say I was a ‘bad’ manager to work with, I generally got ok talkback (or whatever it’s called now) scores but I know for sure I contributed to some people having a day where they’d want to vent about me on here. So I’m very aware, now at least, that CTM’s are at best ill-equipped to manage people.

One recurring theme I see is just the lack of support colleagues seem to get, whether it be on the shop floor or in private matters.

I’ve been tempted to comment before where I’ve seen people respond on how to best deal with things, maybe I should in future because there’s language and dialogue you can use which will diffuse the issue and probably completely disarm the manager in the situation.

You’ve got to find out who your regional People/ER advocate is, these people are solely interested in protecting the business. This seems like they would be the arch enemy BUT this means that they protect the company from EVERYONE, including poor management decisions. The last thing they want is a tribunal and negative press, so while they may bleed orange, it can be to your benefit.

Anyway, feel free to ask anything, hurl abuse, whatever. Given the hell you’re in at the moment in stores, you deserve medals.