MANAGE TEEN WORKERS EFFECTIVELY. Or, you just might get beat-up by a gang of angry bag boys.

During my research for my book on leading teen workers, I was chatting with a group of teens who were recently hired at a local grocery store. They were all boys and all had the same job. According to them, the extent of their job description was to, “sack the groceries, offer to help carry the bags out to the car, and roundup the carts that lazy-ass shoppers leave out in the parking lot.”

Obviously, those are their words, not mine.

At this meeting, we were talking about their job performance and how the quality of their performance depends on which manager is working the front checkout area at any given time. There are some managers to whom they “react,” and there are some to whom they “respond.” The young men were telling me about one of the managers named Chuck. (By the way, none of the names have been changed, so if your name is Chuck, you might want to pay close attention to this part.) One teen named Kevin was telling me about an experience he had a couple weeks ago with his manager. This is what Kevin shared with me about Chuck, word for word (minus the profanity – it was just a little too extreme). Kevin said, “So, like I’m up there doing my job, ya know? I just sacked the groceries and stuffed the bags into this lady’s cart and asked her if she wanted some help out to her car, right? She says, ‘No’. So, I start walking to another checkout lane to sack some more groceries for this old dude. Just as I’m about to ask gramps if he wants paper or plastic, Chuckles calls out my name from way across the store and says, ‘I need you out in the lot rounding up carts! Now! Let’s go! Right now! We have customers waiting! Move it!!’ And he says it just like that, too. I’m like, ‘Seriously? Move it? Are you really telling me to ‘Move it’? Can you believe this guy is talking to me like that? Who does he think he is?’”

It was the very moment that I heard Kevin say, “Chuckles” that I knew there was going to be an issue with this particular manager. But I played along and asked what most adults would ask if they were in the middle of this conversation, “So, what’s the problem? Listen, you said yourself that rounding-up carts was part of your job.” Kevin fires back with, “yea that’s a part of my job, no doubt. But, he doesn’t have to call me out in front of everybody, like he’s my BOSS or something!” I couldn’t help but reply, “Umm, well, didn’t you just say he IS your manager? Doesn’t that mean that he IS your boss?”

That was it. I’ve managed to push Kevin, my teen research subject, way over the top and he’s heading down hill fast, “Hell no! He’s not MY boss! Not after that! Not for $6.50 an hour he’s not my boss! He can forget it if he thinks I’m EVER going to do anything HE tells me to. That ___________ piece of ___________ can kiss my ________ because I’m not his __________ so he can ____________ and then he can _______________ and then I’m gonna…….. “

I think you can clearly see where this conversation was now headed.

What’s particularly interesting is looking at this situation from the manager’s point of view. Chuckles has no clue that this kid even feels this way. None. He probably doesn’t even remember asking Kevin to roundup the carts in the first place. But, here we are 2 weeks later and this teen is still seething about it. And, it’s not just Kevin. It’s all his buddies and every other teen that was in earshot of Chuckles, as well. Unfortunately, Chuckles is under the impression that he only asked him to roundup the carts. In reality though, that’s not even close to what actually happened – not in the mind of his teen workers anyway. What came out of the mouth of Chuckles may have been, “I need you out in the lot rounding up carts! Now! Let’s go! Right now! We have customers waiting! Move it!!” And, I’m sure that’s all he meant. Truthfully, getting carts for customers probably was his only intention. But, that doesn’t matter because what Kevin, along with every teen in the vicinity, heard was, “Attention shoppers! This is the Almighty King Charles. I want you all to witness how I publicly humiliate and belittle this peon. Hey you, I’m talking to you, Bag Boy. Now be a good little Bag Boy and do what I tell you to. Go fetch me some carts and be fast about it. Don’t keep me waiting. King Charles doesn’t like to wait, Bag Boy!” That’s the reality of Chuckles’ message.

Pretty interesting. Chuckles just wanted some carts, but instead what he got was a group of angry bag-boys that high-five when they talk about beating him up out back by the dumpster.

(Incidentally, I’m aware that it’s probably immature of me to keep calling him Chuckles. But, I just can’t help myself.)

So, what should have Chuckles done? Really, just about anything other than what he did would’ve been better. But, just for starters, what if Chuckles made the 15 second investment required to walk over to the teen, look him right in the eye and with all the sincerity he can muster, say, “Kevin, I really appreciate how quickly you move from customer to customer. You are awesome at your job I totally respect that. We have a lot of shoppers coming in and looking for carts. So, after you help this gentleman to his car with his groceries, could you round up the carts out in the lot and bring them in with you? I would appreciate it if I could count on you for that, Kevin.”

What teen doesn’t want to be respected and counted on? It really is that simple.

Throughout my book, keynotes, and workshops for employers of teens, I share dozens of techniques and strategies for effectively leading teen workers. Let’s work together so that I can provide you with that valuable information. Your managers, workers, and customers deserve it.

Believe me, I’d hate for you to end up like Chuckles.