Staples 239 Super Person Of The Month

I joke you not, hard work has its rewards. Still it comes in unexpected ways.

I was gunning to top the ESP charts for the week with total value. For two weeks I tried real hard, but just couldn't beat the consultants in total value. Sheen always would sell the laptop ESPs, and so he would skyrocket beyond me. Dan was focusing on the plan-o-grams, but he managed to rack up large-value ESPs as well. Then there's me, the small-time seller, racking up 24 a week but coming in value at only $400+ or so sold. I was getting ESPs on small items, such as headphones, mice and keyboard, even flash memory, which were once considered hard ground. Hard drives, phones, speakers... the whole set. Class attachments on cameras, especially the clearance cameras, shot up. Sold a laptop through the two weeks, and a whole host of other things too, with the attachments that are supposed to be sold. Heck, there was even a chair that I sold (our store is too small to have a furniture dept; we only have the odd chair two), and I had an FPP on top of that too. I came to learn that getting the ESP means going with the customer straight through, and that means good customer service.

A few times I came to eye the board that listed the ESP leaders, and the previous Persons-of-the-Months. But my eyes fell more on the former, and not the latter.

Then, today, Derek paged me to call 228. And so I called. And I looked at the clock (showing 6.17pm), thinking, "Oh crap, this is the 8th shift for which I've gone beyond what I'm supposed to. Is he gonna reprimand me for that? Will I get chased off?" And he tells me, in his usual laid-back voice, that, "Eric, I just wanted to tell you that you're the Super Person Of The Month. Congratulations man, good work on the ESPs and the class attachments. How do you pronounce your surname?" And I was stunned for the moment. Gee, I'd never topped the ESP charts for total value, just total sales count. And suddenly, I'm there, chosen by the management as the "Super Person Of The Month"!

Funny how good work is rewarded in odd ways. I'm definitely reporting to work early tomorrow, like 8.30am or something. I wanna hear the morning meeting.