The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

Maybe it has do with the moral of the employees as well as the Management of the stores. If you boost the morale of the employees and maybe offer incentives to the employees with the best kept department this may change. I have observe the same scenerio you have mentioned.

I’ve worked as a retail manager and, in the department store chain I was with, the larger “flagship” stores (situated in predominantly white MD and VA suburbs) consistently received the lion’s share of corporate attention–and dollars.

They were the stores that the top brass frequented on a regular basis and they were the stores always kept in mint condition (even if that meant working ’til 2-3 am in the morning–box folding aisle after aisle of polo shirts, stacking shelf after shelf jeans, redressing mannequins, etc.).

During my “flagship” tenure (“Won’t they pleeeeease go somewhere else?!”), Corporate paying a visit to one of the downtown DC stores was about as likely an event as the President leaving the White House and strolling through the sections of DC that, in appearance, rival third-world countries. It was something that just NEVER happened.

I think that people who’re already feeling disenfranchised (economically, and from being overlooked) probably feel even more disenfranchised when they’re repeatedly bypassed and rendered invisible. So the attitude becomes: “If they don’t care, why should we?”

Our downtown stores? They resembled the Wal-Marts and K-Marts that you’ve been noticing. Yet the chain itself was “upscale”–akin to Macy’s. The staff and the customers just weren’t invested with the same fervor that those of us from the “key” stores were.

That said, “If they don’t care, why should we?” is a really messed up mindset (whether it’s happening in a store or a community) because what it says, in my mind, is “We’re not valid until someone from outside stamps our hands…we’re not worthy of more.”

Race, historical baggage, economic disenfranchisement, low self-esteem from constantly being rendered “invisible,” self-destruction (due to low self-esteem)? I think that a little of each plays into it. The ball of string’s a long one to unravel. Keith Boykin’s “Our Own Worst Enemy” is a good start.

Ultimately, that hand-stamp validation has to come from within.

I have noticed this with fast food stores as well. Basically it is the management in conjuction with the employees of each store that determines how clean the store will be. These employees come from the community where these stores are located.

We as blacks have been in a position of us against them when it comes to employers for a long time. We don’t take pride in our work places because we think that it all belongs to the “MAN” anyway. We never seem to take ownership of our work places like some others do. I realy don’t want to over generalize this but something is wrong when this happens from sea to shinning sea in our community.

I think that so far all of you brought up some good points. I think that Mary’s point is especially very true:

“If they don’t care, why should we?”

That statement raised another question in my mind–

Why is it that seemingly minorities that fit the profile I mention above took more pride in their work back during a time in our country when segregation and racism was part of the norm of everyday life? My grandparents were not rich (grandfather worked in a paper mill, grandmother cleaned houses), but they (and their friends and family) always kept a clean house, clean neighborhood, etc. ?

[Why is it that seemingly minorities that fit the profile I mention above took more pride in their work back during a time in our country when segregation and racism was part of the norm...?]

“You must take care of the root in order to heal the tree.” –Gullah Proverb

I think it’s all intertwined. Your value system is part of your spirit. It’s who you are. Step away from that system and assume someone else’s and you’re lost–in more ways than one. You’ve just substituted water for blood. We integrated and we dropped our internal values in favor of consumerism/materialism (the majority’s values).

This is a piece that I keep bookmarked and it’s (“putting myself back in balance and harmony” while also existing in the mainstream) a mindset that I try to spread to others. It’s wisdom that easily translates from the Native American community to the Black community.

All too often, I think we get trapped in the “Black Bubble” (thinking that we have to reinvent the wheel and/or solve all the issues on our own) and don’t incorporate the “best of” wisdom from other cultures.

It’s not about shunning everything/everybody white. It’s about rediscovery and filling ourselves spiritually.

Taking care of the root…

__________

“What we must begin in a very serious and committed way, is spending as much time and energy as is necessary to learn about ourselves by getting educated in our own Indian Elders school system. I don’t mean we should not get the white man’s education but that should be our choice. As I see it, we have no choice; right up to today, the white man’s education is still being imposed upon us in various ways. This is where awareness becomes very important. We must be aware that the white man’s educational system is designed to serve their needs and their interests, and the option to be part of that system has not been, and never will be, our choice. It won’t be our choice until we are allowed the opportunity to bring ourselves back to balance and harmony through our own traditional teachings – our spiritual teachings, our language, our culture, our ceremonies, our identity, and the teachings of our Elders. This is the kind of balance and harmony toward which I am working. For our people, the white man’s education should be seen as a tool; a tool to help us get along in the white man’s world and nothing more. In my view, it is not a particularly good tool at that. It is racist, sexist, elitist, and imperialist. It is exclusive and uninclusive. It is one-sided and biased, pro-war and anti-peace, pro-competition and anti-cooperation, and it is pro-business and profits and anti-human and anti-Earth Mother. How can this help me?

“As I have already stated, I am trying to put myself back in balance and harmony. I realize it begins with me. In order to do so, I’m studying in our ‘Medicine Elders school system.’ I am studying for my Ph.D. in Indian spirituality, ceremonies, culture, history, values, world view, language and Maliseet (Indian) identity. I have been doing this for the past 25 years in a very serious and committed way. I will continue until my Earth Walk is completed.”

Wow! a multifaceted answer for this one. Managment which doesn’t care. Employees who are demoralized,angry,bitter and resentful for working for less wages. Consumers who don’t care(having worked in retail in an upscale neighborhood,I noticed a difference in how the residents of the neighborhood cared for their surroundings,ie. picking up clothes etc off the floor, reporting theft to management etc. Sometimes a store is a reflection of a neighborhood’s energy. Feng Shui if you will. Bad neighborhood, Bad energy , poor quality of employees. Which comes first the chicken or the egg? type issues.

Its the same type of racism we have faced since sef free in this country. We are put on the backburner and in so many cases have developed a backburner mentality. So we don’t take good care of our neighborhoods and they won’t ever fully help us to do so.

I live in an integrated neighborhood. You should see how dirty and unkept the nearby Weis Market is. Even a Weis employee from another store said the local store was dirty.

Should I mention the staff is integrated as is the area? And the area is solidly middle class?

If a store is dirty its cause the management sucks. There is no other reason for it. Example, EVERY target store I’ve ever been in no matter where, is immaculate. That store is run like Borg Cube it is so organized. Home Depot ? It depends if there is a Lowes near by. The K-Mart where I used to be dis-organized but for some reason back when they first files for chapter 11 and a lot of other stores closed it looks great now.

The logic is simple:

motivated Management motivates employees

motivated employees creates a clean, well organized store.

BH,

I completely agree with you.

As I mentioned earlier, why then is this so prevalent in the areas that I mentioned (please keep in mind that my observation is based on my experience in cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia area, Southern California [many examples] , Northern New Jersey]) . Another thing, Wal-Mart and K-Mart are just examples. I have seen this with many grocery stores as well.

Low-income ares don’t have as much choice in where to shop. The stores don’t have try hard to get and retain business so they don’t. Then it goes back to what I said before.

Pride? What’s pride? Back in the 40s, when I worked for the NYNH&HRR, my favorite people were the Pullman Car porters, men who had dignity and commanded respect just by the way they handled themselves and the way they did their jobs! The took pride in presenting a spotless car and good service to their clients; they moved with a dignity that caught your eye, and they were always a pleasure to talk to when they stood outside their cars waiting for the train to move.

I canvassed, sold and collected in black neighborhoods, and I saw inside thousands of homes of thousands of people of all races. I can tell you that the tidiness and neatness of home interiors were not indicative of any race. People in general in those days took more pride in everything they did; storeowners swept the sidewalk in front of their stores, and people swept their sidewalks as well.

The looks of poverty in any neighborhood are the result of attitude, like gang grafitti that can rapidly turn a tidy area into one that gives off the appearance of a slum. It cannot be cured overnight, but like Rosa Parks, someone has to say, “Enough.” Someone has to begin preaching “pride” in everything you do.

Football teams take pride, baseball teams have pride, school bands have pride. Why shouldn’t a Kentucky Fried Chicken place simply sparkle in any neighborhood, poor or not? After all, your customers are like you, friends and neighbors and possibly your relatives. I’d want them to feel like they were dining in the very best K.F.C. place in the whole country! Wouldn’t you?