Jessica Drew

*Editor's Note. The two pics that AREN'T Jessica Drew are Daph and Mr. Brickwood "up close". Remember ladies, "mildly criminally insane"!!! Also, I was on the verge of sleep, DST screw's me up every year, when I wrote this. I've gone back and reviewed it, and I think I got every screwed up peice of sentax, but you never know. If I didn't, my apologies.

Alright, so its time to talk about Jessica! My favorite subject. Well, here goes the story. Its long, so go get a beverage, use the facilities. Go ahead, I'll wait.
..
..
..
Ok! Comfy? Good. Ten years ago this summer Radioshack and Sprint got together and decided to hold the sales contest to end all sales contests. It would be called "Sprint to Vegas" and the winners would receive, yup, a trip to beautiful Las Vegas Nevada. All expenses paid, week long, on the company vacation for you and a guest. Now, what made this contest so special was that each district (23-30 stores on average) would have a winner sent. DM's could also compete with each other, and so on, up the company ladder. And so, a summertime RS tradition was born.
By the time yours truly had become a manager three contests had come and gone, and the winners had always been out of mall stores. You see, while the rules of the contest were designed to give everyone a level playing field, traditionally mall stores had more wireless traffic, which meant more wireless sales, which usually meant they won. My first three contests, I placed second. It was becoming a HUGE frustration, because no matter what we rallied and did, one of the malls would inevitably come from behind and beat us in the last few days of the contest!
Then I was promoted to a mall. It wasn't the biggest mall in the city, but I knew it could be, and with the help of several really good employees, including Mr. Brickwood for a time, we set about building that store into what I knew it could be. And we did. Finally, one year, by the skin of my teeth, I won!
It was great! That first trip was probably the most amazing because it was all new and exciting! I hadn't been to Las Vegas in a long time. Unfortunately, Stacie doesn't fly, so I took a buddy. I remember thinking what a great time it would have been if she'd come with me instead, but alas, it was not to be.
The end of that year saw a load of changes at my store. Five of my associates had been promoted to manager within the year (including Mr. Brickwood) and I hadn't planned for that, like I should have. Therefore, I was left with a staff that wasn't able to keep up with what we'd done before, and the store started losing. Big time.
I should pause here to explain that there is NOTHING worse as a RS manager than to lose. Not only do you make no bonus, you feel like a failure and it puts you in a bad mood. Is it possible to win all the time? No, but with the right staff you can win 90% of the time, which is close enough.
Anyway, so we're losing. I'm just getting angrier and angrier about it all the time, and honestly becoming something of an ass for my staff to work for. In fact, that Christmas I lost all but TWO associates simply because people didn't want to work for me if it meant putting up with my BS! By three weeks before Christmas I had three employees left. Richard Ames (One of the aforementioned ones who'd been promoted, spent six months on the job and realized it wasn't right for him, and left. He came back and worked for me every subsequent Christmas, but he could only work weekends and Tuesday nights), Suzanne Rinebarger( who had stepped up to be my assistant after Mr. Brickwood left, but then got pregnant, and was having such bad morning sickness she couldn't really work and went home everyday), and Daphne Ferrin.
Ah, Daphne. Let me tell you something about Daphne. She busted her ASS for me that Christmas. You see, Daph had been my waitress at the Applebee's where Mr. Brickwood and I ate lunch every Monday afternoon. I had asked her to come work for me shortly after meeting her (a few weeks) and she'd laughed it off and acted a little weirded out, so I didn't bring it up again. Then, about five months later she plopped herself down at our table (as she often did, we were beyond normal waitress/customer relations at this point), and declared how much she HATED her job! I made a big joke of saying something along the lines of "Well damn! I asked you to come work for me five months ago!" to which she said something about thinking I was joking. So, a few weeks later Daph was working for me, and she was very good at her job! In fact, and I've got no problem saying this, I love Daphne Ferrin, and I always will. If she were to ever need me I would be there, no questions asked. She was that important
Now, back to Christmas. Daph had been hired part-time as she was still in college. Now, she could have very easily worked PT hours, but she didn't! She worked over 100 hours a week, for three weeks straight, just so I wouldn't have to be alone. As a result Daph and I got very close, and still are to this day, five years later. She went on to work for me for three years before requesting a transfer to another store (Something we both joked was akin to "breaking up" with someone you love, but know you've got to leave. Daph cried if I remember correctly, and I don't think I did, but I damn sure wanted to.) that she thought would be better for her. Radioshack has been known to cause "burnout" in a great deal of associates (and managers) and a change of scenery can help.
Needless to say, by the beginning of the next year we were beat. Exhausted. Both sick of losing, and not seeing an end in sight!
Then, as we rolled through January losing our shirts again, I got a phone call. It was from my boss. He had a transfer request from Gainesville from a guy I'd heard of before. A guy named Eric Maimo.
Now, for Eric. I don't have a picture of Eric surprisingly. I almost got one at PEAK, but I wasn't quick enough and he doesn't "pose". So, my boss tells me Eric wants to transfer and that he (my boss) thinks he's perfect for our store. Now, I knew this kid was supposed to be the salesman to end all salesmen, and I figured he was GOOD, but I also figured some of it had to do with his old RS being right across the street from the University of Florida. I mean, c'mon, that's 20,000 new customers a semester.
I figured he'd do well, but not what he'd done at his old store. I was right. You see, right as Eric came onboard I couldn't take anymore! I needed a vacation, and so on his first day I was on my first day of vacation. When I left we were at a 12% loss. Seven days later when I come back we were winning by $20,000!!!! This kid was, in Daph's words, "like magic fairy pixie dust! He just waves his hands and they buy!!"
"Like a Jedi?" I asked.
"Yes. Just like a Jedi!" was Daph's response! I immediately pulled him in the back and said "Just promise me one thing Eric..."
"What's that?"
"Win me Vegas!"
"Oh. That all? Done."
And he did. I went to Las Vegas on RS in 2004. Had a great time, again. Took the same buddy, again.
You see, I was right about Eric because he didn't perform the way he had in Gainesville. He blew those numbers out of the water and became the number one associate in the nation in wireless!!! All in all its a great little break just before Christmas to clear your head and get your gameface on for what is basically retail's Superbowl, the month and a half after Thanksgiving.
Well, during that year I had been training to become a DM. It was one of my MAIN reasons for getting into that store in the first place, and after many events, not the least of which was flubbing my interview because I was "too honest" about how I felt about some company policies (something which, I know, made Mr. Quigley* immensely proud), I had decided that store was no longer right for me. So, in 2005 I let my boss know that there was no rush, but that if he had a move in mind that would get me to Fernandina Beach, I'd take it.
Everyone thought I was crazy! Fernandina was a hole in the wall store that didn't do HALF of what my current store did, which meant a $15,000-$20,000 paycut. You know what? Money's not everything. So in June I made the move, and I couldn't be happier!
So shortly after I got there "Sprint to Vegas" (now renamed "Viva Las Vegas" because BOTH wireless partners sponsor it) started. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE figured the new manager at my old store was a shoe-in! I mean, he had the best associate in the NATION working for him! Who could beat that?
Well, I could. I fired up my team, and we managed to beat the mall and send me back to Vegas! I think we won by one phone and 2% or something insanely close like that! Only this time, while I was out there, I drew the lucky key and won the car they give away every year!
So, three weeks after the contest I drove to a dealership to pick out my car. I sat down inside, turned the key, and she roared to life and introduced herself. Her name is Jessica Drew, and no one EVER loved their car as much as I love her! Period! She is great!

*Regarding Mr. Quigley. I will get into that at another time. Suffice it to say he's my mentor. My Obi-won Kenobi. Except he's crazy.

Thanks,
John McDonald
Sent from my Treo