1. The day we perish like dogs
March 6, 2015.
The consultation room of the product department on the 14th floor of Abinoel, Roche Department Store in Sogong.
“Mr. Kang, I’m sorry to say this, but I think you should leave the Busan headquarters and Jeonju store out of the MD this August.”
“What? What do you mean, you suddenly want to leave out the Busan headquarters and Jeonju store?”
“That’s what happened. We’re doing a large-scale renewal and expansion of our Busan Seomyeon headquarters this time, right?”
“But? That’s been talked about before, and we decided to reduce the number of brands and bid on sales, right? In our position in infants and children, it’s just us and Happy Paradise, and we have more sales?”
“Oh, come on, that’s how it was decided?”
“No, I mean, why shouldn’t we be included? Why shouldn’t they be included?”
In mass retail, including department stores, there’s a saying that sales are the bully.
Whether it’s a new store or a remodel, the location and square footage of a store is dictated by sales.
Therefore, when choosing a location, brands with high sales are given first choice.
Now, in a deathmatch where one or the other has to go, we’re going to be left out even though we have the higher sales?
What is this shock and awe?
And how do we report this?
Moreover, the Busan store is one of the big three, along with the Seoul Sogong and Jamsil stores.
It is such a core store that even LOTTE changed the name of its Seomyeon store to Busan Main Store.
Do you know how happy Mr. Hong was when he opened this store?
The opposite of what he said was that he would go crazy if he was kicked out.
You have to stop him.
No matter what.
“You can’t take it out! You can’t do this!”
“For God’s sake, team leader, keep your voice down!”
The consultation room is an open area with partitions and a conference table and chairs.
As my voice rose in excitement, I could feel the stares of the people at the other table.
“If you want to pull out, just pull out the week before! We’re the ones with the higher sales, why are you asking us to pull out?”
“Awww, team leader, are you going to smoke?”
When I showed no signs of calming down, Buyer Kim Hyun-kyung pulled out a cigarette card.
I was dying for a real cigarette.
We hurried downstairs and crossed the street into the alley next to Young Plaza.
It’s a favorite smoking spot for Roche employees and suppliers.
Buyer Kim Hyun-kyung stepped into the alley and got angry with me.
“What if you get angry so loudly in the counseling room?”
“No, it’s not like that, isn’t it? Don’t you think I’m not angry? Isn’t this wrong, Mr. Buyer? The chief buyer said that there would only be one place left with sales, and we’re 30% higher than those jellyfish guys, so why would we leave?”
Buyer Hyun-Kyung Kim had a long history with me.
When she joined LOCE as a recruit and started working at LOCE’s Kwanak store as a supporter, a title that has since disappeared, I had just joined Daesung Apparel and was in charge of sales at Kwanak with Gara as my manager.
We had a lot of back-and-forth and tiffs with each other, but we got to know each other well enough to occasionally have a glass of soju together.
Then, Kim became a partrider and was transferred to the head office as a young buyer a year ago, and I became the head of the sales team this year.
This is how it usually goes in department stores and supermarkets.
No matter how old or young you are, you grow up together.
And that’s the power of a young man against a big retailer.
Anyway, with this kind of relationship, a Super Eul dared to tangle with a Super Eul department store buyer.
“Oh, I don’t know, it’s decided from above, what can I do?”
“Above? Above the chief buyer?”
“Yes!”
“Did you?”
“You’re right. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. I told Mr. Park that the chief buyer would call him, so he’ll get a call.”
“Well, well, well, damn it!”
Game over.
Mr. Yoo, the former head of merchandise purchasing at Roche Department Store, who had just joined Happy Paradise as a vice president.
That’s because he intervened.
It’s safe to say that the department store industry has become much more transparent, and bribery is almost non-existent.
At best, they buy alcohol, and if they get too close, they sometimes take them to the first class and let them off the hook.
It’s an obviously tangled neighborhood, and if you back up too much, it won’t last long, so if it’s a little bit of convenience, you might not know, but the days of openly unfair behavior are gone.
However, there is no way to do anything when a heavyweight executive intervenes at the general manager level.
Buyers are employees who will be leaving the company someday.
They can’t help but look out for their future plates.
“aaahhhhh!”
A scream escaped me.
“What can we do? Isn’t their boss a joke?”
“…”
How did I end up being consoled by the buyer?
“Ha ha, Mr. Buyer, go upstairs, I’m coming.”
“Team leader, cheer up. I’ll find a fixed venue for you, so if she says something bad, tell her.”
“Thanks.”
“Call me, I’ll buy you a drink or something.”
“Yeah.”
As Kim Hyun-kyung disappeared across the street, I pulled out another cigarette and popped it into my mouth.
This is not a matter to delay reporting.
Turr! Turr!
– Are you done?
I heard the voice of Mr. Park Jin-ho, the head of our sales department.
“Yes, it’s over.”
– What did he say? Why did Kim Hyun-kyung call me out of the blue? When will the position at the Busan headquarters be confirmed?
“That’s the thing. They say we’re out and Happy Paradise is in.”
– What! What does that mean? Say it again!
“We’re out, and Happa is in!”
– No, that’s bullsh*t! Clearly our sales are much better! Are you sure about this?
Again, a predictable reaction.
Something even Mr. Park, the sales ghost on the floor, didn’t see coming.
“Mr. Park!”
– What the hell! Say it right!
“You know Vice President Hae-pa Yoo-stay, he made the move and talked to the head of merchandise purchasing, Hui-sung Lee!”
– …
I would have figured it all out the moment I heard the name of the former head of merchandise purchasing, Yoo Sang-tae.
– f*ck you, you jellyfish bastards, you’re making my business sound so dirty!
“I’m sorry.”
– Why would you be sorry, asshole?
“Phew! Hagan Choi, the chief buyer, said he’ll contact you personally.”
– Damn it! Okay. Come right in.
“Okay.”
This afternoon is going to be hell.
I walked like a cow being led to the slaughter to get to work.
Another worry was nagging at me.
My girlfriend Yeonju, who has been unusually nervous lately, hasn’t answered her phone for two days.
An ominous feeling of foreboding gripped me.
When I arrived at work, I went to the head of sales, who graciously took me out to the roof for a smoke.
“Did you talk to the chief buyer?”
“Yeah.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing, just that he can’t help himself. He’s dirty!”
“And what did you say to the assistant general manager?”
“Well, he just says he’s sorry. He says that since Vice President Yu just joined the company, he’s trying too hard to impress Chairman Jellyfish.”
In the department store industry, children’s clothing brands are very similar to each other.
In any department store, the brand is the brand, and you can’t help but recognize it because you see it every day when you go to buyers and store meetings.
Moreover, Happy Paradise is an absolute powerhouse in the babywear industry.
It’s not a company like ours with only 30 billion in sales in a decade, but a company like Sasung Electronics on our floor with over 100 billion in sales.
Mr. Park Jin-ho is also from there.
“Ha! What about the boss?”
“I don’t know yet. I have to finish this and go downstairs to report.”
“Should I go in, too?”
“Is your boss going through One Day Today? I’m sure he’ll be looking for you right away.”
“…”
I felt like I was going to lose my mind.
Hong Sung-tae, the president of Daesung Apparel, the company I work for, doesn’t treat Mr. Park too harshly, no matter what happens.
This is because Mr. Park joined the company in the early days and was responsible for launching the brand in department stores, and he was afraid that if he said anything, he would be thrown out.
Instead, he’ll call his manager or a team leader like me and tell him to go f*ck himself.
It doesn’t make sense in the context of a normal company system, but we did it anyway.
“Cheol-Sik.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You think the boss is going to be a b*tch today?”
“Yeah”
“But you’ll have to put up with it, okay?”
“…”
Six years into my career and now in my thirties, I realized why I had given myself the title of sales team leader early on.
What’s the point of hiring experienced people?
What if Mr. Hong bullied me a few times and I ran away?
So, as a stalwart, I was given the opportunity to play the role of team leader in the middle, and eventually I became the team leader.
The funny thing is that the organization became very strange.
There’s Mr. Park Jin-ho, the head of sales, who has over 20 years of experience, and then there’s me, Steel Sik, who’s been here for six years.
There are even employees who are fired as soon as they enter the organization, so there are only four people who are in their first or second year who I have to deal with.
Six people in the sales department.
This is the reality of our sales headquarters at Daesung Apparel.
So, if something like today happened, Mr. Park would usually counsel me after the fact because he was afraid that I would run away too, but today was such a big accident that it was like he was giving me a pill in advance.
But honestly, I don’t know today.
There’s really nothing I did wrong, and the judgment is complicated.
What if the boss is going to do something like this again?
I’m not sure, but I didn’t have to say that to Mr. Park.
“Yes, I understand.”
“Okay, let’s go downstairs. I’m going to get beat up, so let’s just get it over with and forget about it.”
And, after a while.
“What the hell, we’ve been doing so sh*tty in sales that we’re getting kicked out when we’re doing so well, you f*cking assholes!”
“…”
Mr. Hong’s rant began.
I expected it, but the intensity is more than that.
At times like this, the rule of thumb is to keep your mouth shut.
If I said anything, it would only prolong this painful time.
Why hasn’t she gotten back to me, anyway?
Anxiety.
“What did I do to get here? What are you going to do if the company goes under? You can just quit and go somewhere else, but me! What am I? Talk to me!”
“…”
“Hey, Steel Sik!”
“Yes, boss.”
“You asshole, you think I gave you the job of head of sales to do this sh*t, how are you going to take charge of this?”
The word quit kept coming out of my mouth, but I held it in.
What was he going to do to me?
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Is that all you’re sorry for? How much did I give you a raise this year? I gave you more than everyone else, didn’t I?”
I would never bring up my salary first.
It’s not my job to do so, and it’s not my company’s job to give me a raise.
However, this year, when I was struggling because they only raised my title to team leader, I told the boss and gave me a 2 million won raise because I was afraid he would run away.
That would have made me 30 million won a year at the age of 30.
“Yes, you gave me a raise.”
“Hey, but you’re a sh*tty worker, you’re wasting your salary!”
“…!”
This was out of line.
It’s not the first time I’ve heard Mr. Hong lose his temper and yell “You’re wasting your salary!”, but at least I’ve never heard it, and I shouldn’t have.
After all, I’ve worked hard for six years, and I’ve earned it.
And yet, I’ve been loyal to you while receiving a paltry salary?
For a moment, something hot surged inside him, and he raised his bowed head and looked straight at Mr. Hong.
I should just slap him, right?
At that moment, Mr. Park, who was behind my back, pinched my side.
A sign to hold it together.
Moreover, Mr. Hong turned away, avoiding my gaze, as if he thought he’d been a little harsh, too.
Damn it!
Is this how life is supposed to be?
Anyway, Mr. Hong crossed the line and my time of suffering ended sooner than I expected.
He told me to write a countermeasure and report back.
I went up to the roof alone and lit a cigarette to soothe my stolen soul.
“Whoa!”
I can’t do this.
It was my first job, and I naively thought that all small and medium-sized companies were like that, so before I knew it, I had worked for 6 years.
I’ve done enough.
It was time to look for a new job.
Bam!
At that moment, Waktok came and I turned on my smartphone and checked it.
Oh, it’s playing!
I hurriedly read the message.
– Brother. I don’t have the confidence to tell you in person, so I’m texting you.
We should stop seeing each other.
I’ll just be honest with you.
I’m with someone else.
I’m sorry. It just happened.
You’re a good person, you’ll find someone better than me.
Also, I’ve moved to a different department, so you won’t see me in the store anymore.
So be happy, brother.
Feeling something snap in my head, I stayed put.
It was indeed a day to perish like a dog.
