Escaping Retail Jail ?? - 17 Years of Lowe's!

I’ve waited about two years now before jotting down my thoughts of how my 17 year career with Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse abruptly ended in January 2017. I was a part of the 2,400 “middle manager” lay off that Lowe’s pulled off right prior to the end of fiscal 2016 to alleviate some payroll issues they had accumulated and wanted off the books. Lowe’s Public Relations department prompted a “less than 1% lay off” statement to the news outlets, as Lowe’s employed about 285,000 at the time. But, let me take you through how this whole Lowe’s thing started first.

I started with Lowe’s on July 5th, 2000. Lowe’s was brand new to the west coast only having 2 stores at the time. In fact, before seeing the “Lowe’s Coming Soon” sign, I had never even heard of this oldest home improvement mega-store - Home Depot has more stores, but was started later. I accepted a position of Department Manager upon my hire date, as I was told “we don’t hire directly in as an Assistant Store Manager” roll. I helped build my local store from four walls and a ceiling to a grand opening store. Yes, my first day on site required me to climb aboard semi trucks delivering all the “Steel” that makes up those giant “Big Box” stores. Literally 50+ semi trucks waited to be off-loaded so we could start what was called “Steel Set” Since I was an out-sider (new to Lowe’s), I was a part of the misfit crew and got to lead the “anchor” team. That means drilling into the concrete and hand tightening concrete anchors to a specific torque setting - as California building inspectors require. I spent a better part of a week on the ground pouring sweat into a building that I just committed to help build. Most people would have said, “sorry, good luck”, but I stayed in the non-powered building - yeah, no power….did I mention it was July? In California?

Fast forward, I was stupid enough to stay on past that “Hell Week” and got promoted before the store even opened. I accepted a position of Assistant Store Manager one week before the store opened. No one knew what they were doing including my store manager, who was new to Lowe’s as well. He resigned shortly after the store opened under pressure from his boss. He actually handed me his resignation at the exit door. I never saw him again. I was a “salaried” manager, which meant in Lowe’s eyes, that they owned you. Day, night, third shift, weekend, holiday, you were theirs. 55 hours a week - 5 days a week, 11 hour shifts. Even in the wee hours in the morning, I was penalized by living close, so I was first on the alarm call list. I have responded to motion detectors, doors ajar, rats and burglaries - I actually beat the cops there to a burglary, by a half hour. This was all in my first 6 months with a company that I was brand new to and they were brand new to California.

I ended up transferring about 2 years later to a store 30 miles away from my home. Mostly to evade my newer store manager who was reminding me of that first SM that resigned. I joined a band of managers that just got things done. We all clicked, had similar interests and all knew how to make good decisions and maximize the bonus potential. At the time, Lowe’s actually rewarded salaried managers for doing a good job in regards to sales and profit - you know, the things that businesses need? During this time, it wasn’t unrealistic to receive a 50%, 60% or even 75% annual bonus (based on your salary). My group of managers rode through 3 stores to take advantage of knowing how to run a store well - although this also meant building 2 more stores. These were the “fun” years at Lowe’s (2003-2008). I actually worked for a company that demanded a lot, but actually paid for my contribution and experience. I was very well respected in the community of managers, and I respected them.

In 2007, I was asked to help build yet another store. I say “ask” loosely because when I first interviewed for the spot, I walked out of the interview due to the Store Manager. Once again, Lowe’s goes through store managers like …………….That store manager quit a couple of days later and the District Manager called me to re-interview. I was offered the position of Operations Manager and helped build my last store for Lowe’s. I made this the perfect store. With all of my years of managing great teams, I wanted this experience to top them all, and it did - it was my Rome. I ran that store, not the 3 store managers I had in 3 years there. I was the rock that the store depended on and contributed to the district being successful. In 2010, I was asked to take on another challenge. It would mean leaving my Rome and going back to where it all began in 2000. My district manager asked me to help fix my first store I built. Being a business driven individual, I asked for a copy of the financials - because in the end, it’s all about what’s possible and impossible. The financials looked decent and I accepted the position heading back to my original store.

Returning to that store was strange. I saw people that now look 10 years older than I remembered - after all, I was 29 when I started in 2000, but it was 2010 now. It was now one of those “older” stores with all the bad habits and everything just looked worn out. Even the forklifts looked tired. Although my expertise was running a store, I quickly realized that my new store manager had other ideas. My title of Operations Manager meant I was the second in charge, but I rarely got the opportunity to lead the team. This was very unlike my experience the last 7+ years. 

I made the best of it and rode the wave of new programs Lowe’s rolled out year after year from 2010-2017. If there wasn’t a new program, there were extreme changes. January 26th, 2011 brought one of the first major layoffs. It was all orchestrated by corporate and there was a mandatory meeting called for on a Tuesday. All salaried managers across the country were gathered in the “training” room - they even accounted for the different time zones. We were all told not to touch our cell phones - the “HR” manager was the watchdog in the room. Manager, by manager we were brought into a room. The first manager was called in…….he exited the office and our “Store Manager” told us all waiting that “Johnny” no longer works for Lowe’s. I was the next called into the room - yeah, I was shitting my pants. I was told that my position of “Operations Manager” was eliminated. I was offered the position of “Assistant Store Manager” but with that I was told I would need to take a $5,000/year decrease in pay. I had to make a decision now. Either take the new position and pay cut, or my last day with Lowe’s was January 26, 2011. I was thankful and kept my job, but I was cautious. Lowe’s was not the same place anymore. There were agendas and it clearly didn’t involve the people that helped build the name. This led to 1,700 “middle managers” losing their jobs. Lowe’s took the approach of targeting poor performers or the last one hired. Most stores lost one salaried manager, and some lost two - it all depended on what the district manager decided.

Fast forward to January 2017 - I’ll save you from explaining a boring, mundane 6 more years with a company that made extreme changes every 6 months. Exterior sales, Interior sales, BOPIUS, ProServices, Installed Sales, etc. Lowe’s was scratching at anything they could come up with a few pennies and thousands of upset customers. The company wanted to target selling $30,000 window jobs that had more mistakes from untrained, unlicensed, out-of-store sales people - if Lowe’s would have just sold that 6 pack of light bulbs, they would have made more profit and actually kept a customer. One of our company posters read “Sea of Sameness” after the lay off in 2011. It had a bridge going over that “sea” that literally had no end to it…..in other words the powers that be had no clue where they or “us” were going, but yet to another lay off.

January 13th, 2017 marked a pivotable time for my career with Lowe’s - It was Friday, the 13th too. My phone was blowing up, and oddly enough, It was my day off. Word on the street was that Lowe’s was moving to another closed door meeting and going to cut more “middle managers” Lowe’s and the law firm they hired made a BIG mistake. They qued up UPS packages to all the pre-selected managers and many of them were getting notified about a package. The Topix (more on that later) website was hitting record numbers of people commenting about these packages. I signed up for UPS “My Choice” and saw for myself that I too was getting a package that Friday, the 13th between 3pm-6pm. Could this be a “you’re fired” document, with no face to face? Things just didn’t add up. Later that day, I got a phone call from my store manager (he NEVER calls, only text messages) stating there was a mandatory meeting the coming Tuesday at 10am (from what I remember) and he could not elaborate what was going on. My store manager had the weekend off and I was scheduled to close BOTH days on the weekend, by myself. Yes, 11-10 on Saturday and 10-9 on Sunday. 

I came in on Saturday and spent most of the day cleaning out my desk in preparation of that Tuesday meeting. I typed up an email and saved it in my drafts to say good bye to the people I had worked with for the past 7 years. It was the longest 2 days and 22 hours of my career. Talk about un-motivated. It had been verified that myself and one other ASM were getting packages, although the packages were now in the “pending” status at UPS - The law firm made a date mistake, it was supposed to be delivered on Feb 20th, not Feb 13th.

D-Day - I showed up on Tuesday, January 17th at 10am. All 5 of the ASM’s for our store were there and the training room’s window was covered with a “meeting in progress” note. The five of us all knew what was going to happen and who was chosen to be terminated - I even sent the email draft to the store to let them know what was going on and to say goodbye. Oddly enough, all five of us wanted to be let go - mostly because running $40 million / year, 120,000 sq/ft store with only 3 salaried managers was going to SUCK! Our store manager and HR manager opened the door at 10am and we all had a seat. One by one, the ASM’s were taken back to the office and we all sat in the room under the Lowe’s gag order of no cell phones again. One by one, ASM’s went in to the office and then left. I was the fourth person called into the room. I sat down and although I was prepared for what was going to happen, I am human. Anytime we are told that we are not good enough, or you weren’t selected to remain on a team, it’s a huge blow to your self esteem. 

I sat down with my store manager and HR manager and as my store manager started to read the prepared statement, I notice the HR manager started to cry. My store manager was also choked up as he read that my last day with Lowe’s was that day. I listened to the termination speech and was asked if I had any questions. If you’ve ever watched one of those movies where the actor just lost it, but then a scene later the actual reality happened? That was playing in my mind. I took a deep breathe and began my prepared statement. I let my store manager and HR manager that it was very unfortunate that they were told who to keep and who to let go. After all, one of the ASM’s that was kept was on a final performance notice, yet I had a clean record of performance. Lowe’s covered their bases on the age issue, as one of the older and youngest were let go, although we were both making the most money of the 5 of us - we also had the most tenure. It was merely a money decision. If you made the most, you were let go.

I explained to them how they (Lowe’s) were effecting myself and my family. Although we were given severance pay based on our tenure, it’s a huge blow. I no longer had a job, health benefits, and the comfort of knowing that a company that I had spent 6,000 days at, in the end said “get out”. I was told that although I was eligible for re-hire, I was not eligible for 30 days, at which time the new positions that were created to supplement the remaining managers left would have been filled company wide. At that time, if I chose to re-apply, all my tenure, salary history and benefits would start over, as if I were a new hire. In other words, get out and stay out. Furthermore after reading the 25 page, law binding contract that I received on the 20th, I could not work for Home Depot, Sears, Best Buy, Amazon, etc for 12 months as I could divulge trade secrets. Also, I could not publicly talk about being let go - meaning any news outlets, social media, etc. for 12 months or Lowe’s could pursue legal action against the severance pay they paid me. 

I walked out of the meeting with mixed feelings. On one side, I felt completely sideswiped, but on the flip side I felt relieved. Relieved that I didn’t have to go back anymore. Relieved that I didn’t have to roll out another new Lowe’s “program” that I knew would fail. Relieved that I didn’t have to train another store manager how to do their job. It was like I was released from jail. The Lowe’s retail jail.

I’m thankful for the lay off I went through in 2017 with Lowe’s. It led me to becoming passionate about a new career field for me, marketing. I recently accepted a position as a marketing manager for a manufacturer and I actually enjoy going to work now. I enjoy the people I work with and I get to be creative with my employer and I’m 100% trusted. In the end, I gained life-long friends at Lowe’s. I gained valuable retail battlefield experience - as I had dealt with armed robberies, break-ins, racking collapses, and the dreadful pissed off customer (the last example was always the worst) However, Home Depot has gained a life-long customer - but it still feels odd shopping there.