Yesterday was Friday the 13^th, big whomping queen of unlucky days. I had a good day though.

I worked a closing shift yesterday. When I got there, everyone was in a foul mood, including the store manager. I’m not just talking grumpy. They were wretched.

In a large building like ours where everyone interacts, it’s easy for one shift to infect the next during the changeover. I was determined that this not continue though. For one thing, I was in no mood to deal with cranky people all night!

So, I gathered my second shift associates together and explained the game plan. I told them that the dayside crew had a bad day, but that they were going home now and we were going to have a good night. I used the excuse that it was Friday night and we would be much to busy to be anything other happy. I also asked them to try their best to turn around the way the mid-shift associates might be feeling.

I was right about being busy. Dayside didn’t get a lot of work done. We had a lot of catching up to do before we were ready for the over-night stock team and we were swamped with customers.

That being the case, we had a great night! Everyone was in a good mood at the end of the night and we completed almost everything that we needed to.

Was the store perfect? No, but at least we weren’t miserable.