6 Lesson Learned MGT 3312 The second I turned sixteen, my parents forced me to get a job. I didn’t want a job at the time because I was so busy with school and choir. But I also needed a way to pay for choir, tour, and any activities I ever wanted to do. My parents were done giving me money. As much as I didn’t like the idea, I was forced to accept it. I was able to find a job at TJ Maxx, but I didn’t really like it. The job I really wanted was at Deseret Book. I love to read books, plus they had the perfect hours to fit my schedule and they were closed on Sunday’s. Of course, I was not the only person that wanted to work there. They get ten to twenty applications a week, and there was some tough competition, and I was still in high school with almost no work history. Luckily, I had a friend that vouched for me and told the manager that I would be a great addition to the staff. It still took me two months to get the job, and I worked very hard for it. I had to call every couple days and bug the manager about my application, and he finally gave me an interview and offered me the job. I was so happy. I loved working at Deseret Book. I still miss it all the time. I started out working in the Lionhouse Pantry, which was in the back of the store. I would make the salads and bake the rolls. I quickly grew bored of that. What I really wanted was to sell the books. Each shift I would hurry and get my list of things done in the pantry so that I could go out on the floor and sell. They have a program called the Platinum Program, which is just a rewards program. The difference in Deseret Book’s rewards program was that customers had to pay $25 to sign up, so it was really hard to get anyone to do that. Only for me, it was really easy. I was a natural salesperson. I remember one time, a man came in to buy one book for his wife and I sold him the entire set, which was 10 books total, plus a Platinum account. I consistently sold quadruple the number of Platinum accounts than anyone else in my store, including the store manager. I was good. And I knew it. When I was nineteen-years-old, I finally got promoted to supervisor. I was really excited to finally be rewarded for my success and hard work. I knew I deserved that promotion. But I knew it a little too much. Before my promotion, I had become close friends with my coworkers. When I got promoted, I was arrogant, and I quickly lost their respect and friendship. The girls I had once laughed with and talked to now laughed and talked without me, but would quiet down when I walked up. They may have been a little jealous, but I over-exaggerated their jealousy and made myself believe that they wished they were me. I knew I was the best, and I knew that they knew it. The power quickly went to my head. I thought I was irreplaceable, an asset that the company would never want to lose no matter the cost. Soon, I was ordering my former friends around, acting like they never did anything good en.

1. 6
Lesson Learned
MGT 3312
The second I turned sixteen, my parents forced me to get a
job. I didn’t want a job at the time because I was so busy with
school and choir. But I also needed a way to pay for choir, tour,
and any activities I ever wanted to do. My parents were done
giving me money. As much as I didn’t like the idea, I was
forced to accept it. I was able to find a job at TJ Maxx, but I
didn’t really like it. The job I really wanted was at Deseret
Book. I love to read books, plus they had the perfect hours to fit
my schedule and they were closed on Sunday’s.
Of course, I was not the only person that wanted to work
there. They get ten to twenty applications a week, and there was
some tough competition, and I was still in high school with
almost no work history. Luckily, I had a friend that vouched for
me and told the manager that I would be a great addition to the

2. staff. It still took me two months to get the job, and I worked
very hard for it. I had to call every couple days and bug the
manager about my application, and he finally gave me an
interview and offered me the job. I was so happy.
I loved working at Deseret Book. I still miss it all the time.
I started out working in the Lionhouse Pantry, which was in the
back of the store. I would make the salads and bake the rolls. I
quickly grew bored of that. What I really wanted was to sell the
books. Each shift I would hurry and get my list of things done
in the pantry so that I could go out on the floor and sell. They
have a program called the Platinum Program, which is just a
rewards program. The difference in Deseret Book’s rewards
program was that customers had to pay $25 to sign up, so it was
really hard to get anyone to do that. Only for me, it was really
easy. I was a natural salesperson. I remember one time, a man
came in to buy one book for his wife and I sold him the entire
set, which was 10 books total, plus a Platinum account. I
consistently sold quadruple the number of Platinum accounts
than anyone else in my store, including the store manager. I was
good. And I knew it.
When I was nineteen-years-old, I finally got promoted to
supervisor. I was really excited to finally be rewarded for my
success and hard work. I knew I deserved that promotion. But I
knew it a little too much. Before my promotion, I had become
close friends with my coworkers. When I got promoted, I was
arrogant, and I quickly lost their respect and friendship. The
girls I had once laughed with and talked to now laughed and
talked without me, but would quiet down when I walked up.
They may have been a little jealous, but I over-exaggerated
their jealousy and made myself believe that they wished they
were me. I knew I was the best, and I knew that they knew it.
The power quickly went to my head. I thought I was
irreplaceable, an asset that the company would never want to
lose no matter the cost. Soon, I was ordering my former friends
around, acting like they never did anything good enough and
rubbing it in their faces that I no longer had to do the daily

3. chores that they did. I made special effort to tell them what they
did wrong so they would know who was in charge. I made them
absolutely miserable, and I knew they hated me. I wasn’t happy
with my job anymore, I was just lonely because I had alienated
the people that once made the job enjoyable.
A few months after being promoted, I was called in to my
manager’s office and they asked for my resignation. I was
crushed, not because I was happy with my job anymore, but
because I had honestly believed that they would fall apart
without me. I was the star. How dare they even think they could
survive if I left? I look back now and I’m horrified at the way I
acted. I can’t believe how immature I was, and how rude I had
been to my friends. Given the chance, I would do everything
different now.
One of the chapters from The Ropes that is like my
experience was chapter 6: “The Sincerest Form of Flattery.” In
this story, Stanley tries to run things the way Kerry Drake
would. Yet he finds that when he demands that something be
done, he doesn’t get the response Kerry did. His employees did
not respect him enough to care what he said, and they didn’t
have faith that he knew what he was talking about. When I was
telling my employees what to do, they didn’t always listen.
They thought I was rude and arrogant, and just telling them to
do things just because I could, which was probably true. I didn’t
always know what I was talking about, or take into
consideration what would be in the best interest or most helpful
to Deseret Book as a whole, I just wanted them to do what I said
just because I had the authority to say it. I overstepped my
boundaries, and I lost their respect for that.
Another similarity in this chapter is that Stanley wasn’t
really being himself. He was trying to be more like Kerry, and
have more power and more control than he was really supposed
to have. That is exactly what I did. They gave me an inch and I
took more than a mile. I tried to control every aspect of the
store. I told everyone not only what to do but when to do it.
And I wasn’t really acting like myself either. I am the kind of

4. person that really wants everyone to like me, even to a fault.
But at this point in my life, I was alienating everyone at work
and I knew it. It wasn’t good for me, and it definitely wasn’t
good for my employees.
I like to think that if I had been there a little longer, I
would have mellowed out, just like Ted. After a while he
realized that he wasn’t getting the respect that he was hoping,
and that was his own fault. I hope that I eventually would have
realized that and done some things to change my attitude and
the way I worked. I think attitude made all the difference in this
situation, and I think the novelty of the promotion at my age
would have worn off, hopefully to reveal a smart and kind
manager under my initially arrogant shell.
The other chapter from The Ropes that relates to my
situation is chapter 13: “Fair Day’s Work.” The part that struck
home with me was actually one of the discussion questions we
had. The question was “Why does Ted feel that the phrase ‘work
smarter not harder’ will motivate the mill hands?” In my answer
I talked about how telling the employees to work harder will
most likely not work. It will actually probably just make them
mad. I think that’s what I did, so in a way Ted had it right. I
was just telling people to work harder just because I could, not
because it really needed to be done. If I had really cared or been
a kind and smart supervisor, I probably would have put more
thought into how I told them to work. Working smarter, not
harder would have actually been great advice because it would
have showed that I care whether they do back-breaking work. It
would have showed that I at least put some thought into the way
they work, what needs done, and how they could do it most
efficiently without becoming too stressed out and exhausted all
the time.
The theory that related most to my experience was Theory
X versus Theory Y. I was definitely a Theory X manager. I
viewed my employees as lazy, and I never thought they would
get something done unless I told them when and how to do it. I
thought they needed constant supervision or they would quit

5. working and just sit around. I didn’t trust them at all, which
probably made it so they didn’t trust me at all! I believe things
would have turned out differently if I had been a Theory Y
manager. I just needed to give my employees the benefit of the
doubt, let them prove that they were good at their jobs, that they
weren’t lazy, and that I could trust them.
This entire experience taught me a lot, mostly because I
have regretted it for so long. I absolutely ruined the chance I
had to continue working at a place I loved. To this day I still
have nightmares about what happened, and how I treated
people. I was too young to accept that kind of responsibility and
to handle it properly. I hope that given the chance, I would do it
all differently. I believe I’m more mature now, and I would
never treat people the way I did when I was nineteen. I also
don’t think the power would go to my head.
I have also learned so much through school about how to
be a great manager. My regret aside, I think I now have the
knowledge necessary to make informed decisions about what is
best for my store, rather than just doing what was best for me. I
also have the knowledge from this class to know what kind of
manager I would want to be. I would definitely strive to be
more like a Theory Y manager. I think a huge part of
management is trusting people. Otherwise it would be called
“micromanagement.” I would try to give employees the benefit
of the doubt, and give them a chance to prove that they are
responsible and trustworthy.
My favorite lesson of all is just to be myself. I’m not the
kind of person that would ever intentionally knock someone
down. Even once, let alone repeatedly. Yet this is what I did to
my employees because I thought I was so much better than
them. I thought that just because I had the title, that they were
beneath me. This line of thinking made us bitter towards each
other, and working against one another is never a good thing.
The most important thing is to work together and realize what
each individual brings to the table. After all, what is a team if
there’s only one player?

6. Grade:95 of 100
Comments: this is an excellent paper and you are better for
both the experience and the exercise of writing the paper.
remember, any ninny can wield the ax of formal power, but it
takes faith and risk to trust others. Great managers hire good
people and support them acting mainly as a facilitator and
leading by example. You will be a great manager one day if
you choose that path again and just do the opposite of
everything you did in the past. Also, you make a great point
about being yourself. Perhaps you are more of a sales type
anyway and should stick with those types of jobs and leave the
administration to those who are good at that aspect. Great job
either way.