Ch-Ch-Changes

I've been thinking a lot about change - and changes.   I used to go by the saying "If you want something to change, you have to change something."  Like, driving a different way to work, or walking a different path through the park, having a meal someplace new or different.  When you make a change, the universe is forced to change around you.  Or something like that.

Sometimes, this is very true.

But the other changes I've been pondering have to do with change just for the sake of change.  Or, forcing a change that hasn't been tried out yet.  I'm talking about the stuff that happens in a BigBox store.  And being I've been part of that for nearly 18 years, I understand the need for change. 
Shoppers change, and with that, what services are provided need to change as well. 
Toss in the whole e-commerce thing, and there are many, many changes happening. 

Most people don't adapt to change overnight.  There's a process, there's teaching and training, and there's leaving a little room for trial and error.  But when there are changes that occur in one procedure, or area, of a BigBox store and no one's on board with the changes .... and there's yet another change, folks get fed up.  They can't do a good job when they don't have a clue what's expected any longer. 

Which also adds fuel to the rumor mill that surrounds most work places, and especially retail.  ((Maybe that's because retails employs more women than men??? *smirk* ))  Ok, joking aside, the rumors that fly around because a corporation wants to "try something" in a certain part of the country, or in a certain kind of store ... frankly, I'd rather they be up front about it, and let us add our own thoughts, creative solutions and/or criticisms about the changes.  Because a desk jockey who might know the steps of a certain job function in a retail setting doesn't know the reality of what takes place in the real work place.

For example, someone behind a desk decides that it takes a certain number of hours to unload a trailer full of merchandise; ie, there might be "2500 pieces" on a trailer, which calculates into 2.25 hours with 7 employees unloading it.  There isn't any time built in for the slippery box of paint, which comes 4 gallons to a box and gets heavy; it falls to the floor and breaks open.  Who cleans it?  it most certainly disturbs the flow of unloading the trailer.  When you force people to work in time constraints, where is the give and take when it comes to doing something outside the "usual routine"?

An employee doesn't feel appreciated for what IS accomplished when all that is noticed is that the end time of unloading a trailer isn't met at the specified time.  In order for the crew of 7 employees to unload on time, they have to hustle.  In a world of too much hustle, mistakes are made, or worse, not only product is sacrificed, maybe someone slips in the paint and it becomes an industrial accident.

Do I have a point to all this?  Other than the obvious:  "change is difficult", changes ARE coming, and most likely will affect me in a job security way, along with my job satisfaction.  I'm all for change that makes improvements to the way we work, but not when the changes I foresee eliminate positions.

Those are the changes that scare the hell outta me!