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Karaoke At Wally World

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I may have mentioned this before, but I am in management at Wal-Mart and I supervisor the overnight shift. Every now and then I do something at work to lighten things up. We’ve had poetry nights and song nights but we always spoof a well known poem or song. It usually only takes about 10 minutes at the start of our shift and it leaves everyone something to laugh about all night. I’ve ordered pizza and made Cowboy Stew for the crew and we’ve had Sundae Nights and Banana Split Nights, all at the store’s expense. Right now we are four weeks into a major remodel at my store and it’s very stressful for our regular overnight associates. There is a lot of noise and it’s hard to do our jobs because there are counters constantly being moved and there are lots of extra people from the company’s remodel team, people from other stores, and five contracting groups doing painting, floor replacement, electrical work, and carpenters. Every night we have to walk the store to locate different departments that they’ve moved again. We don’t know where things are and the customers don’t know where things are and it all changes about every eight hours. My associates maintain their same expectations as far as their work is concerned, although management knows that we can’t do the same quality job that we usually do. I decided that we needed to take it up a notch so this past Saturday night we had a dinner show. I’ve been planning this for over a month and I’ve even stayed late a couple of days to make sure the day shifts knew about it and to invite them. They think we’re crazy but the store manager loves it. He knows it really helps maintain the moral of everyone on overnights, even the ones who think it’s silly or who don’t participate.
Anyway, someone brought their karaoke machine and cd’s and we even bought a cd with a lot of old tv theme songs and we all brought a dish from home. We had deer stew and chicken stew, meatballs, chicken and rice, homemade chicken pot pie, tuna salad, chili, brown beans and cornbread, salad, cakes, pies, brownies, and cookies. During our lunch we turned on the karaoke machine and started the show. Not everyone takes lunch at the same time but we managed to have someone singing during everyone’s lunch break. Except for a couple of associates, we are terrible singers! That’s what makes it so much fun. The crew really gets a kick out of watching and hearing management making fools out of themselves. It’s funny how the worse singers always pick songs that are hard to sing. A couple of associates got a real kick out of finding songs that made me sound even worse than I normally sound. I think it's so funny that my associates think I'm acting silly when I sing and that I really can sing. They just won't believe that I truly sound that bad! We may have taken a couple of extra minutes for lunch, but Saturday was one of the most productive nights we’ve had since the remodel started. When we left Sunday morning, the store looked better than it had in four weeks. I’m always amazed at how something so silly and that takes so little time can make so much difference. Now I have to come up with something even sillier for next time.
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  1. pussnboots's Avatar
    sounds like all had a fun time. I wish when I was working, that my supervisor had thought of something like this so all can just chill and have some fun.
  2. Petrarch's Love's Avatar
    Sounds like you're a fun person to work with Granny. Glad everyone had a good time.
  3. mtpspur's Avatar
    Wow your Wal-mart sounds like nothing in the Beavercreek Ohio area. Glad management at your place havea handle on employee relations. The Mrs works for the competition--Meijers and mrale is a bit low right now--one store closing and another being built and moving the workers around. When you mentioned TV themes I had vision of you doing the Mary Tyler Moor song. That would be a sight.
  4. ampoule's Avatar
    Sounds fun. You could have called it Wally World Idol. Next you'll have to do Dancing With the Stars or the opposite and have someone teach yoga. Can you imagine some of your employees doing yoga? Could be funny.
  5. Virgil's Avatar
    Can I work for you Granny? You given me some thoughts for my team. But it would seem so out of place to do something like that where I work. I try to lighten things up with a joke or two before a meeting.
  6. Granny5's Avatar
    Virgil, I always have fun at work, even when it's hard work. Our meetings last about 10-15 minutes. At the end of every meeting, if I don't say, "All I'm saying is give peace a chance." they think I'm sick or mad. My crew works so darn hard and they do anything I ask them to do. They make fun of me a lot, but it's funny fun and cooking simple foods and singing a little song and embarrassing myself is nothing compared to what they have to do.