10 Survival Rules for Managers
Some management advice comes from business school. Some comes from a Medium article about retail survival rules that made Lori lean in — she's admittedly obsessed with anything written about retail ownership. This week, Vonda and Lori take a list of seventeen survival rules for retail managers (from a December 2021 piece by Judy Kaldchik), toss out the corporate-only ones, and work through the ten that actually matter in a flower shop. They're funny, they're small, and every single one shapes how your team feels about working for you.
The little comforts are not little
Rule one: never put decaf in the work coffee pot. It's a joke, but it isn't. The hosts extend it into a real principle — know what your people consider a treat and keep it stocked. Have real coffee and creamer, keep tea bags on hand for the tea drinkers, and bring in donuts (or bagels, or Panera) as an occasional morning surprise so people walk in thinking, "what a special day this is."
Same spirit, rule four: if the shop runs out of toilet paper, it is always your fault. Stocking the basics — TP, paper towels, hand soap — is the owner's job, full stop. (This rule prompts Lori's on-air confession that she and her broke college coworkers used to smuggle rolls home from her campus retail job. She suspects the manager knew.)
Lead by example — starting with the clock
If you come in late, they'll come in late. You cannot manage on "do as I say, not as I do," because people learn by watching. The hosts recall a Q&A at an SAF session where a shop owner described a longtime designer who was 15 minutes late every single shift, no matter how they scheduled her — and the rest of the staff had started either copying her or resenting the obvious favoritism. The owner never acted on it, and the audience answered before Vonda and Lori could: address it directly or let her go, because tolerating it teaches everyone else the rules don't apply.
Names, thanks, and the dirty jobs
No name is too hard to pronounce. Learn your employees' names, say them correctly, and don't substitute an easier version without asking — Lori has been "Laura" to past employers and it stings. If a name is unfamiliar, asking "how do you pronounce that? I want to get it right" is a sign of respect, not ignorance.
Don't dump all the scut work on the new hire, either. In a flower shop, that means bucket washing. Vonda's approach in her shop: teach flower processing first, explain why clean buckets matter, demonstrate, and then keep jumping in to wash buckets alongside everyone — no one "graduates" from the dirty jobs. And frame the task with gratitude ("I'm so glad you're here to help with this — it has to be done right because of bacteria") instead of "we all hate this job, now it's yours."
Which leads straight to the next rule: say thank you in front of the staff when someone does something right. Praise in public, criticize one-on-one. Whether someone is an introvert or an extrovert, everyone wants to know someone is proud of them.
Schedules, seasonal help, and being straight with people
Post schedules at least two weeks in advance, put yourself on them, and do everything in your power not to change them — while training your team to request time off early. Vonda notes small shops with set schedules may not need a formal posting, but the transparency principle stands, especially around Saturdays and holiday weekends.
The seasonal-help rule sparked the episode's best debate. Lori's story: at a holiday retail job years ago, management simply stopped scheduling the other seasonal hires rather than telling them the season was over — and the way they were treated made her quit too. Vonda explains why some owners quietly reduce hours (unemployment rules make resignations cheaper than firings), but both land in the same place: be transparent up front. Tell holiday hires exactly when the busy season ends, then close it out with a thank-you and an invitation to come back next year.
Empower the team, then back them up
Give your people permission to make decisions and answer customer questions — even in a tiny shop where you think you'll always be there, because Murphy's law says you won't be. And when a customer escalates, back your employee up. There's a way to calm an angry customer without throwing your staff under the bus, and if it doesn't come naturally, script out a few scenarios and practice.
Key takeaways
- Model everything you expect — punctuality, bucket washing, and attitude — because your team learns by watching you.
- Stock the basics and spring for treats: real coffee, tea, toilet paper, and the occasional box of donuts buy more goodwill than they cost.
- Praise in public, correct in private, and use people's actual names — pronounced correctly.
- Be transparent about schedules and seasonal roles; quietly un-scheduling someone is the coward's way out.
- Empower employees to handle customers, and always have their back when things escalate.