Creative Writing: The Case Of The Broken Hutch Essay, Research Paper

Creative Writing: The Case of the Broken Hutch

I would like to write a story about a conflict I had with a past boss.

It had to deal with the fact that he did not want to hear my side of the story,

and listen totally to the customer. This has affected my life and the way I

work with my co-workers to this present date.I work at a home rental store,

we rent furniture, electronics, household appliances, and computers. We rent

practically anything that you can put in your house. We are the largest rent to

own company in the United States and in the United Kingdom. We currently have

over 1,100 stores and we have about 30,000 employees. I starte’d to work for the

company because I was going to junior college and needed a job to pay the bills.

At the time I was hired I lived with my parents and had car payments and credit

card payments. So I needed enough money to pay for the car and the cards. Also

in about a year I would be moving out into an apartment of my own, and I also

would be started to attend Sacramento State. I pay for my own schooling either

out of my pocket or by getting student loans.

When I first started working for this company they were short handed and

all the employees at the store I started at were new to each other. That is

they had worked for the company at other stores but had not worked together. I

was hired when the manager went to his yearly manager meeting in Reno.

When I was hired I was hired on as a delivery driver. The delivery driver is

responsible for all of the deliveries and pick-ups of store merchandise. The

only training that I received were two videos. One video was on “Smith’s Safe

Driving Techniques”, and the other was “In-Home Deliveries and In-Store

Deliveries”. Through working with the company I learned many new things. We

got the newest and latest electronic equipment and computers, so I had to stay

on top of technology. All of this training I did by myself, no one helped me

out and no one looked over my shoulder. I have always been able to grasp new

concepts and run with them, so learning new items were fun and interesting.

Also through working with the company I learned that they had a big turn-over

ratio of employees. Employees were either get tired of working a 50 hour work

week, or they would have no chance for advancement. When I first was hired

there was no Market Manager of our area, so any comment that could not be

answered by our manager, we could not get from the next higher person.

About 6 months after I started to work we finally got a Market Manager

from Chicago. His name was Bob, he was a short, stocky build, Italian with an

attitude that he was the best. All the stores in the area went through

introducing periods, were he would come into the stores and introduce himself

and see where all the stores were performing.Bob had his position for about 6

months after he had moved to Sacramento. Like all other companies ours went

through a down-sizing. One of the first things that the company did were to

change our seven markets down to six markets, that meant that one of the market

managers had to lose there job. So the one that just received his job had to

give up his job, that was Bob.The same time that this down-sizing was

happening, they had just opened up a new store in the Sacramento area, and our

manager was the one to open it up. So instead of firing Bob they gave him the

management of my store. Since they had moved him over here and did not give him

much time on the job, they let him keeps the salary of a market manager.

The hardest thing in accepting Bob was that he was our market manager,

and now we have to accept him as our manager. Even though we try not to hate

our bosses, we tend not to like them that much and that works double for an even

higher boss. It is not that Bob was a bad guy, it just that he was our boss and

most co-workers do not like their bosses.Once Bob got to the store we had

to go through some major changes, for Bob it was, “My way or the highway”. He

never actually said it, but actions speak louder than words. He was determined

to run the store his way, in my opinion, he wanted to run the store perfectly in

his own mind, that is he ran the store the way he thought it should be run.

Unfortunately what he thought was perfect was not perfect in the mind of the new

market manager for our region.The new market manager Mike and my boss Bob did

not like each other much. Bob was angry at Mike because Mike had his job, and

Bob thought that he could do a better job at the market manager position. Mike

did not like Bob because Bob was making more money than Mike and that there will

always be a manager looking over your shoulder saying, “I could have done that

better.”. After getting used to Bob’s habits we started to work like a

machine, everyone has his/her separate job and together we had the store running

smoothly. We even had a time were if we met our goals for the week, Bob would

buy us pizza lunch on Friday’s. After a while, we started to hit our goals

every week and soon he stopped buy pizza altogether. Now it is not that I had a

problem with no free lunch on Friday, it was that if you achieve a goal you

should be rewarded. I guess in Bob’s mind, he thought that if we hit our goals

every week then they are no longer goals they are a way of life. And now if had

missed our goals he would be upset because we were functioning below standards.

Not only we were missing his high standard’s, he were making him look bad.

He thought that if the store looks good than he would look good. the problem

with this is that Bob’s idea of the running of the store was, “If the store does

good- it is all because of me, if the store does bad- it is because of my

employees.”. He never really looked at us as equals or people that know what we

are doing, he looked at us as grunts that did all the dirty work and did not get

any credit. When he left messages for us to read on the message board, he would

refer to us as “crew” or “employees”, we were never people, we were an item that

was used to one purpose and one purpose only and that was to make Bob look good.

As all of this was going on I would remain quiet about what I thought

because I was just a delivery driver, and did not want everyone to say that I

did not know what I was talking about. At this time, I had worked for the

company for about one and a half years. I was still a delivery driver because

once you became a Customer Service Representative or and Account Representative

you had a mandatory 50 hour work week. Well, I was a full time student at

Sacramento State and was already working 30+ hours every week, so I was burning

the candle at both ends.Even though I decided not to take the next step

in advancement, I knew most everything that was necessary to run the store. Over

the time I was at the store I learned how the store computer works, by myself.

I also made it my responsibility to learn anything else that was easy for me to

do, so as my co-workers load would be lightened. Everyone at the store knew

that I could do all the functions necessary to run the store, but Bob would go

out of his way to make sure that I did not have the accessibility to the

computer and to other functions that were not delegated to me.I can understand

why he did this, because he is responsible for the running of the store, and

those people who were above me had to pass training in order to get the status

and title that they have now. I did not try to go out of my way to take

payments or to do deposits, it is that I saw my co-workers have a great deal of

work to do, and I would like to help them get all there jobs done. The worst

thing I could see myself doing, is I would be just sitting there and a customer

comes up for some help and all I can saw is, “Sorry I can not help you, I just

work here.”. So I started to get more and more jobs that I did on a daily basis

taken away from me, which caused my co-workers to have to do them. I

finally got someone that I could do deliveries and pick-ups with that knew what

he was doing. In my job at this time, now currently about two years, I had went

through many different people that I worked with. The problem was that our

store was a training store, that meant people would be there for about two

months then be shipped to another store once there training was done. With

working with different people all the time you had to get used to working with

them, which way to flip the sofa or the best way into the house- which is not

always through the front door. Well, finally Martin came over and he

was supposed to be over here to stay. Martin and I came off great, he had been

working at another store for about a year, so he knew what he was doing. So when

we went out to do a delivery we both had the same idea of which way to flip and

which entrance would be the best. If we had a question or comment we could

express it to each other. It was great working with someone that you could do a

delivery without saying a word and it would be delivered perfect. We both had

common interests and we got along great, I would actually say that I met a great

friend in Martin.

Bob could see that we were getting along great and after awhile it

seemed that Martin and I would not do to many deliveries or pick ups together.

This bothered me because we could get a delivery done faster and one-time than

anyone else in the area. Actually we were both angered by it, but Bob was the

boss and we had to listen to the “Great One”. With working with renting out

furniture, we have a policy that we will move the merchandise if you are moving.

We do this first of all, because we like to ensure that the merchandise is going

in a secure area. We also do this to make sure that we know what address that

our merchandise is located. And lastly we do this because some of our

merchandise is heavy and our customer’s do not have a truck that can fit all the

furniture, so we choose to move the merchandise for them.

We have a customer that rents a nice traditional style dining room set.

And she needed to have it moved to her new residence. She has a cherrywood

dinette table, cherrywood server, and a cherrywood hutch and base. Now

cherrywood is a very soft wood and can be easily damaged. So when Martin and

myself went to pick up the merchandise we were very careful in wrapping the

items. She lived in an upstairs apartment and was moving to a house down the

road. We wrapped everything up and loaded it into the truck and strapped

everything down. The customer told us that she still had some packing to do and

her mother, who is also one of our customers, will be waiting at the house for

us.

Once we got to the house we moved everything through the garage because

it was a straight shot into the house. The mother was there the whole time that

we were moving everything into the house. We only had one piece left, it was

the top of the china hutch, which was glassed filled and very fragile. Instead

of put it on the dolly we decided it would be easier and better if we were to

carry it in. As we were walking into the garage we hit the top piece on the

edge of the garage door. We placed it on top of the base and examined were we

had hit the china hutch top, we did not notice anything and the mother was there

and she made no reference to anything wrong.We went on with the rest of our

day, normal as usual. As we were coming through the back door, we heard Bob

yell to us “I have something for you guys to sign.”. we came into his office to

see what he wanted us to sign, they were write-up slips. He had written on the

paper that we damaged customer’s merchandise and that we were not careful and

safe in the way that we delivered the merchandise. I guess the customer called

up later in the day and said that we had broke her china hutch.My first

response was, “We didn’t break it, we hit the top but we check out everything,

and it was all right. The mother was there also and she didn’t say anything.”.

Bob said, “You should have told me that you hit the top of the china

hutch, and we wouldn’t have this problem. All I know is that she called saying

that when she came home it was broke. I need you guys to sign these.”I said,

“The way this is written, I refuse to sign it. I think in my opinion that I was

safe and careful in delivering it. Also I know we didn’t break it cause I

checked it out myself.”.

Bob said, “You refuse to sign it.”"Yes, I’m not going to sign it.”,

I replied.Bob said, “Well, you can go home right know, and consider

yourself on suspense until you come back and talk to me about this.”.I said,

“Bye.”. As I was leaving I could here Bob asking Martin if he had the

same opinion as me, because he could go home with me. Martin did not share my

opinion, or at least he did not express it. It was about 5:00 o’clock on Friday

when he sent me home, so I started my weekend early. Usually when working for

the company you work on Saturday and have Sunday and another day off during the

week. So I decided to have a long weekend. When I got home I was thinki’ng to

myself, how could he take her word over ours. He did not even ask us what

happen, it was just here sign this. One of the first things I did was to call

up the other managers and tell them what happened. They all did not agree with

me but they did not agree with Bob either. I decided to call the new market

manager, Mike, and to tell him what happened and to also tell him my side of the

story. When I called him, he listen and then gave me his own advice. He had

told me that write-ups are not an omission of guilt, they are just write-ups

that say something was done and we need to have a change in behavior or

termination will be in the future.While on my extended weekend, Saturday I

was thinking about being written up. I had never been written up in my life.

Although I have not had that many jobs, I have never had anybody tell me or

write me up to say that I was doing something wrong. This might have effected

the way I acted. I had been working for the company for two years and never

broke any merchandise and self taught myself practically everything I knew. I

also made it a key to be careful and safe in all I do, and now Bob is trying to

say that I cannot do my job. That is what it was like, he was saying you can

not do your job, that is how I felt. On Saturday night, I decided to call up

Bob and say that I would like to speak with , he said that if I came in early

Monday morning we could talk this out and have a meeting. In Monday

morning’s meeting, we talked about what had happened on Friday night. I had

told him how I felt about that we knew we hit the top but had checked it out and

found nothing to be wrong with the china hutch. I still had to sign a write-up

but he had written it differently, I still thought that I was not in the wrong,

but instead of arguing more I signed the write-up. I needed the job and I

needed the money to pay bills and to pay for school. I later found out that

Bob had been written up by Mike for something concerning the store. Bob has the

personality that he will pass the buck as they say. In order to make Bob not

look as bad he would have to bring us done to his level, and in order to do that,

he would have to write us up. Bob does not like criticism about his job just

like no one else likes criticism about their job. For about a week Bob

and myself would pass but we use very little words. We ordered the customer a

new china hutch. When it came in we delivered out to her house. This was the

first time I had been back to the house to see what she said we had done to her

china hutch. Upon moving closer to the china hutch, it was very noticeable.

This was something you would notice once you got within 10 feet. Now when it

happened Martin, the mother, and myself did not see the damage. In my honest

opinion I believe she was trying to see what we had done after her mother told

her we hit the top, and she pulled down on it, and broke it her self.We

delivered the new china hutch in the box, being very careful as to not hit

anything or damage anything. About a week later she called up and said that the

color was lighter on the one she currently has, and that she would like to get

her old one back. We went back out to her house and delivered her old one back

to her. She never knew what happened behind the scenes of all this commotion.

She got back her old china hutch and was like nothing ever happened, but I know

that in my mind that alot had happened.Bob continued to work at that

store for about another 6 months. A couple days after Christmas and a about a

week before Bob was going to take vacation in which he would be getting married,

the company let Bob go. After nine years of working for the company he was

fired. He was fired because he was given the store to turn it around, and

although he had good months, the overall numbers were not what the company

expected. I went to work for another store in which the manager

apprecia’tes me and knows all that I can do. He allows me to do my job and to

help out the store. After about three months for working at a different store,

the store that I came from in the first place needed me back. This is the first

week that I have been back to my old store. The funny thing is that in the back

room I see a cherrywood dinette, a cherrywood server, and a cherrywood china

hutch. I checked all the numbers, and they belong to the same customer.

So after everything is said and done, the customer never kept the merchandise

that see proclaimed that Martin and I damaged. Bob no longer works for the

company. Martin works at another store. And I am back at my old store. I have

worked here for three years and seen people come and go, but nothing will affect

me as much as Bob did.

CASE ANALYSIS

Aaron , working at a rental company for two years of excellent service,

is blamed for a deed that he claims he did not do.What would have

happened if Aaron did not refuse to sign the write-up?How would the customer

feel if she knew what happened behind the scenes? If Bob did not think he

was god, would the outco’me be different?Analysis The main explanation of this

conflict would be different opinions. Bob was a man who thought everything that

he did was right. And, of course, that meant that anything that anything that

anyone else did was wrong, unless they did it Bob’s way. The problem with doing

it Bob’s way is that most of us thought his way was the wrong way. Bob was out

to show everyone that he deserved the job of market manager and the way he tried

to show it was that he was always right and he was above everyone else.

I most admit that I have faults also. Once I was suspended the first thing I

did was call up someone else to make sure they were on my side. I wanted

someone to pick a side and I wanted them to pick my side. I needed to get

assurance that what I did was right. I can also admit that when he gave me the

write-up I blew up at him, it may not necessarily be with that write-up but a

compilation of many different problems. If I have a problem with a person I

should talked to them and fix the problem before it gets worse, as it did.

I have a problem with taking criticism from others, I become a power/

domineering person under stressful situations. So when he blamed be for

breaking something I went to either denying that I did it or I blamed it on

someone else. But as for this instance even though my personality profile says

that I deny it whether I did it or not, in this instance I actually did not do

it. Bob and myself are alike in away, he does not like to have other people

tell him how he should do his job, and I do not like people to tell me how I

should do my job. In some way the reason that the whole problem occurred is

that we both have the same personality, in that he know our job, and we can

perform our job as long as people leave us alone.Creative Analysis I could say

that myself, the way I felt on the inside was like using a bow and stick to

start a fire. There were small instances that would cause the bow to move back

and forth. When Bob came to work at our store, the bow started to move. As he

would tell us how things were to be done, the bow moved quicker. But then Bob

started to give us rewards for a job well done, the person moving the bow got

tired and rested. Then Bob started to take away jobs that I did to help out c

-workers, and the man started to stir the bow some more. Then Bob did allow

Martin and myself on deliveries together, and the man starts getting into a

groove and he can actually see smoke. Then Bob accuses us of damaging the

customer’s property, all of a sudden he has red ash, he pours it on the wilt and

starts to blow. The flame does not occur at once but slowly it starts, and then

all of a sudden you have a flame and you start adding more fuel to the fire. As

my fire started to stir and as I added more fuel to the fire, I blew up and let

out all my smoke. And I found myself letting out so much smoke that other

managers of the company could see the smoke.I was a man on fire and I did

not know how to stop myself. I tried to put out the fire but the only way I

could was to give a little smoke to other people. Finally with not to much

smoke left I confronted the man who started me. I agreed that I was wrong and

that next time I will tell him when then next time that even a little smoke

starts.Com’parative Examples In America the was they run the courts are “They

are innocent until proven guilty.”. In my case it was the opposite “Guilty

until proven innocent.”. The problem was there is no innocent in Bob’s mind. He

never gave me a chance to tell my side of the story. He made a snap ruling and

judged that I was guilty. He was the judge, jury, and the executioner. I

thought in this nation were everyone is free and has choices, I guess it is not

the same when it comes to work. I can also see Bo’b in some way being a slave

owner. I was to do his work for him and he would get all the credit. Although I

worked for a wage that was substantially higher than that of a real slave, I was

treated with the same disrespect that the master was the man and I was just a

child, there to do the dirty work. I had a choice to stay or go, but once you

have bills and payments you seem like you are trapped into staying in a place

where you do not feel comfortable.

The main similarity between the two is that I did not feel I was treated

the way I thought I should have be treated. I thought that we all should be

given respect and that we all have a say in the matter. It was as if no matter

what I said, I was wrong, because he had made a decision and he was going to

keep that decision.Personal Experience In my life I have a very difficult time

saying “I’m sorry” or “I was wrong”. This has to do again with my personality

profile, usually the only time that I would have to say these sayings is when I

am in a stressful situation.. And again in stressful situations I become a

power/domineering person who will not accept blame and even elsewhere.I

recently had a fight with one of my colleagues in another class. We were

fighting on why I make fun of her and put her down. She had made a statement a

month earlier saying that I do this because I am bitter at the world. I thought

about that statement long and hard. I came to the conclusion that she was

absolutely correct, but I was not going to tell her that I was wrong. In our

argument I confessed that I was wrong and that I sorry that I did this, and it

was something I need help with. She pawned it off like it was nothing to her, I

felt that here I am opening up and she doesn’t even care. I stormed out of her

house and did not talk to her for several days. A couple days later, we

finally sat down to talk about our problems. I had told her that I hardly say I

sorry or that I was wrong, let alone both of them together. She understood what

I was saying and she explained that she already knew I was wrong, in her mind,

and that she did not need to hear it from me. The other part was the fact that

I did not take time to sit down and talk about what I was feeling at the moment

I blew up. This is the same problem in my story, I get to the point were I

think that my point is not getting through and the only way that I can deal with

the problem is to leave the situation. As they always say “If you have nothing

nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”. I am always fine with that statement

only after I have already blown up.Personal Learning In the previous case I

have learned that in situations w’here I am started to feel uncomfortable I

should talk to the person that is causing me the discomfort. I should not keep

all my frustration all bottled up or I will explode and maybe next time I will

not be lucky. Next time I might hurt someone that I care for very dearly, and

someone who had nothing to do with the situation. This case was important to

me because it gave me info’rmation about myself that I would have never known or

never thought of before I did this report. I know that if a situation arises

that I should try to remain calm and talk out my frustration to the person. I

can now hopefully be comfortable and go out in the work force and not repeat the

performance that I did earlier. Next time it might not be suspension, it might

be that I get fired. I believe that this assignment challenged me to analyze

the situation and to figure out how to avoid it the next time it arises. I hope

the next time it arises, that I remember what came out of this situation,

usually nothing but headaches.