RECORD STORE TALES:  #1096: Winter Woes: The Shovel Incident

Expanding upon a story told in Record Store Tales Part 18.

Winters at the Record Store were messy!  We had a little front vestibule – a glass enclosure that you had to enter before coming in the store.  In the winter, it was always sloppy.  Filled with slush, water, mud, dirt.  It was impossible to keep clean for very long.  Customers would come in, stamp the snow off their boots, and this would splatter snow and mud on the glass.  In the winter time, as soon as you cleaned it, it would get filthy again.  The mats in there were always soaked wet from slush and snow.

In that front vestibule was a snow shovel.  We often had to shovel in front of the store after a bad snow.  Pretty standard winter gear in Canada.  The front vestibule was the sensible place to store the messy shovel during those times, rather than create a puddle of melting slush in the back.

I was working one afternoon when three to four aimless teenagers were killing time in the store.  I hate to paint all teenagers with one brush, I was once one too, but I was never as snotty as the kids that I dealt with that day.  Like most teenagers, they were just there to kill time.  No money was spent.

I kept an eye on them on their way out, and saw one of them grab my shovel and make a break for it!

Who steals a shovel?  A fucking shovel?

I ran outside into the cold and yelled.

“HEY!  HEY YOU!  BRING THAT BACK!  THAT’S OUR SHOVEL!”

Having been busted, the kid turned around and said, “I was just trying to see how fast I could run…with a shovel…”

What what?  A true WTF moment and one that had me lose faith in the next generation one more time.

I remember one other detail that must be relayed.  I sometimes felt that the Big Boss Man did not have my back, and this was just one other incident.  I called him and told him what happened, and his reaction was not what I expected.  I expected a “Good job,” or “Thanks for keeping your eyes open.”  Instead I received, “Mike…you probably shouldn’t have reacted that way.”

What?  Now there are two WTF moments!

If the kid had stolen a $5 CD and got away with it, I’d be scolded for not paying attention.  He tried to steal a $20 shovel, and I’m the one who got in shit?

I’ll never understand the upper management I dealt with for those years.  And I’ve never had to deal with managers like that since.  Tells you something.

WTF indeed!