3rd Grade is Over, Yet Tattle-Tales Live On!

When I was in elementary school, I remember kids who’d raise their hand to report earth-shattering events like, “Teacher, Johnny is picking his nose.” We had a name for these kids—“tattletale”.

Most stores have one sales associate who finds satisfaction in spreading rumors about their co-workers who are becoming more competent and successful in their endeavors.

Because you’re the owner of the store, you see and hear everything. “Johnny took three cigarette breaks instead of two, Johnny came in 10 minutes late and we had to rush to set-up the store, Johnny took an hour and 10 minutes at lunch instead of just an hour.” We’d all like to think we’ve hired a mature group of staff members, yet as good at their job as some of your sales associates might be, tattletales live on.

Your options:

• You appreciate the news from your tattletale and sit down with the wrongdoer to address the issues the tattletale has uttered to everyone else in the store.
• You hear all the complaining and you choose to ignore it because he/she is an honest, loyal, and moneymaking, sales associate and because you choose not to encourage tattletales.
• You use your tattletale as your spy so that you know what is going on while you are not around.

How do you handle the tattletale in your store? She utters this news to all of her co-workers trying to get them to notice these minuscule details. Do you ignore your tattletale? Address him or her? Address the wrongdoer? Totally, discourage this behavior and try to get the tattletale to stop?