A Morning Rant

[RoyGBiv]

In another thread about gas prices, the convenience store business became a side topic of discussion, and it's made me revisit things I'd suppressed for the past couple months. Pardon the rant...thanks for indulging me.

I have a particular ax to grind with the convenience store business, specifically the franchised, chained, or oil-company owned varieties. I've been sharpening that ax for years, but I can trace the moment I began to realize I'd soon be gone from that world to 9/11. On that day, before we were even sure the attacks had stopped, district managers and supervisors of the corporation I worked for met to discuss sales strategies and how long it would take their suppliers to deliver display stands of flags and patriotic hats, shirts, etc. to each store. I got a call about this, asking about room for a display. I was so disgusted I simply told them I'd have to get back with them. I was then dealing with a mile long row of cars trying to get gas, fights in the parking lot, and wondering whether the world would still exist by sundown.

In one way or another I was in this business for 15 years and made a good living with it, but I hated it ... every stinking moment of it. 9/11 was simply the worst day. Increasingly it became harder and harder for me to rationalize because in recent years the industry has gone from passive selling to active selling. As management, I was expected not only to engage in active selling, but to demand it of others as a condition of their job. I cannot in good conscience openly hawk tobacco and alcohol and over-priced drinks and bad food and just generally a bunch of crap no one really needs or even wants in a lot of cases, especially with the large proportion of young people and those on public assistance who are customers.

In addition, the corporate variety of this business is, in fact, no better than Wal Mart in the way it treats its employees, and it could also be argued that these kinds of stores, with their vast proliferation, have similar kinds of effects on the community. I've forgotten how many issues arose over the years in which decisions were made at the upper levels of management that dramatically and negatively affected employees' lives. One of these arose several months ago during which I witnessed multiple employees being harassed for sexual orientation, race, sex, etc. and when I made my objections known, I came up against the wall of corporate "ass-saving," was told to shut up, do my job, and just "take one for the team." I couldn't tolerate it anymore, was threatened repeatedly, and I'd had it.

I finally made my decision to leave, and while it's been a special kind of hell trying to find a job outside the industry, emotionally (and physically -- the job is more physically demanding than one would think) I feel much better. I'm not sure if my savings will last until I find gainful employment, but I am sure my sanity has been saved. That's worth more.

In any case, I support any and all attempts to minimize the profitability of these kinds of stores, thus lessening their incentive to expand all over the place. I would like to encourage you to think before you shop. And if you do use convenience stores regularly -- and I realize it's unavoidable on some level -- try to find a privately owned store or stay away from the fountain and the tobacco and the beer cooler. There are cheaper ways to get all these things anyway if you must have them. Please don't help this slave market expand.

/rant