From 2008….I was reading Maureen Dowd’s post in the New York Times while riding Amtrak into NYC today titled “High Anxiety in the Mile High City,” Ms. Dowd relayed the story of Carol, a former Hillary volunteer. Carol stood at the back of the Democratic woman’s caucus in Denver Tuesday in her Hillary T-shirt and hat signed by Hillary and “Nobama” button. She booed every time any of the women speakers mentioned Obama’s name. She’s had nothing nice to say about the Obamas.
“What about the kids?” Dowd asked.
“Adorable,” she said.
“Well, Michelle raised them,” Dowd replied.
“I think her mother did,” Carol shot back.
This type of person is deadly in a business. I call them Bitter Betties.
My point is not whether you are a McCain, Hillary or Obama supporter; this story illustrates the negativity, cynicism and outright hostility plaguing American business.
This is the person who loudly wants the world to know they were personally wronged. Doesn’t matter when or where – their dissatisfaction with themselves and their lives must be center stage, poisoning others as it wafts over the unsuspecting.
You know you have one like her on your payroll right now. Whether she’s a friend, he’s a long-time worker or even if you are married to them.
When I see Bitter Betty at a store during one of my business makeovers I usually tell the owner to get rid of her – immediately if they want to grow sales.
Invariably I get the defensive, “Oh her, she’s just (name). She’s there every day at 10am, I can count on her.”
I reply, “That’s exactly my point – she’s there every day. You have no idea how much money you are losing due to her attitude.”
Get only a couple of these disempowered people on board and they can ruin your business. Trust me, I’ve seen it first hand.
It could start with an email you sent out for the holiday promotion, drink, fill in the blank isn’t up to their standards. You respond to them politely but they don’t feel listened to. They then tell everyone on the floor their concerns. People who don’t even feel that way are suddenly questioning everything. It spirals into camps of who said this and who said that. It does no one any good.
I can assure you Bitter Betty is on your team somewhere; answering phones, emails, designing graphics, running your training department or on your sales floor.
And just because someone has been there a long time does not mean they are your best employee. Often the best leave because when Bitter Betty is in charge, as they say in the south, “Ain’t nobody happy.”
How can you identify him or her? Simple. Who wants to work with them?
Better yet, who doesn’t want to work with them?
Fire the Bitter Bettys of the world for your own sake. Cynicism isn’t funny or something to be tolerated in this day and age. It’s bad energy sabotaging your retail sales training at every turn.
If you are Bitter Betty, get some help. We all have a cousin who’s getting a divorce, or a father in a hospital bed alone, sick and yet we can’t change the inevitable, have an autistic child, a suicidal family member, fill in the blank – we don’t need you to bring your drama and bad attitude into our lives on a daily basis. Forgive the hurt, the passed over promotion, the rotten marriage, the home sale at 30% less than you hoped, the fact your son or daughter didn’t win the game and be done with it.
Is it time to fire an employee? Take my free firing quiz here.
When I was the VP of Marketing for a franchise, we came up with a series of feature drinks which were designed to lift average check. I often was frustrated that the very programs that could most help struggling franchisees were often met with a cold shoulder.
One of my favorite songs growing up was Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway’s Where Is the Love? The singer was waiting for someone to leave their lover, which never happened. In essence, “after you got all my affection, where’s something in return?”
