Regional Manager Visits

So, there are times in the life of a retail store manager (and other business management jobs I'm sure) where your boss will bring his boss (and sometimes his bosses boss...that's a lot of bosses) around to your store. When you catch wind of this visit one of two things will happen; first thing you will scream into the air at no one in particular "WHY!?!?!?!" and then begin running about frantically, yelling orders at your employees, making price tags, scrubbing the bathroom floor which hasn't seen a mop since the last visit, fixing the vacuum so that the floor that hasn't been decently vauumed in a week or so can now be vacuumed, picking at that spot on the floor, window, door, or product that has so plagued your mind that you decide you need to pull up the carpet, replace the window, paint the door or move the product to the back of the peg so you won't have to see the spot every time you walk by (and you do walk by a lot because, hey, you spend more than half your waking moments there), and the list goes on. Needless to say you quickly run out of time and energy before the visit comes. The second thing that might happen is you bow your head, say a little prayer and begin by telling your employees that they may not have a job in a few days if the store isn't immaculate for the up and coming visit. They set out frantically running here and there making sure things are priced, straightened, neat and organized and you wait on pins and needles for the day of the visit to come hoping that everything will be okay, that you can hide the spot on the carpet with a product display or something, and that the visit will come and go quickly so you can return to life as normal. Suffice it to say that I have had more of the latter type "pre-visit" experiences recently than the former.
I tell all this because I had yet another store visit today. John, my boss and Rob, his boss, came by my store. Now John, does not like store visits with his boss. They become a headache for him more often then not because stores look like lived in college dorm rooms instead of the organized, neat, clean retail environment they should be. Nevertheless and notwithstanding, he knows that whenever he has a visit he will be yelled at more than praises sung to and for that reason loathes the opportunity to tour his stores with his boss. All stores that is expect mine. Now I know that I may be tooting my own horn here, but that's only because of the praise that I received today from Rob. Usually Rob will go around and count missing price tags, point out spots in the carpet, burnt out light bulbs, a checklist not completely filled out, and all the other negative things that he can find. (He likes to nit-pick) But Rob came in my store today, put his stuff in the back and checked to see that I had 8 specific price tags set, which I did (the first store in the last two weeks that he has visited that has had them set).
Then he asked me for our Non-negotiable Checklist. Now from the title you may gather that on this checklist one would find tasks that have to be completed on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and that if not complete would find you gracing a chair in the unemployment office waiting room. Such should be the case, but alas there are not enough people that have applied for employment at RadioShack to fill the voids left by all the managers that have not accomplished the tasks from this checklist.
Now my inherent integrity (yes one can inherit integrity, they can learn it yes, but mine I got from my parents.) tells me when I am presented with a checklist, to check off those things that have been done and in this case set up a plan of action for completing those things not yet finished. That same underlying feeling tells me that I should be surprised to find out that I am the first manager that Rob has encountered that has completed the checklist this way. His words were "I come into your store and I see everything neat, spaced, priced and looking fantastic, and I look at your checklist here where it says that you don't have things demo-ready, and then I flip over to the back and I see a list of the things that need to be taken out of their box, powered on and made demo-ready, and it tells me that you care about your store, that you have taken the time to go through and answer each question thoroughly. It shows great integrity."
He then went on to let me know that I should expect phone calls from other stores that he visits with instructions to be educated on how to use the Non-negotiable checklist.
I get anxious when I am to be visited. Mainly because I want everything to be perfect. I know that is ridiculous because there's no retail store that can be and be functional at the same time. But that's what I strive for. And I'm in a store that's not the best in sales, but Rob says he's willing to overlook that and make an exception, so that I may join the District Manager Candidate program this year and seek promotion to District Manager.
I may not always like my job, but days like today make it feel more rewarding, like I have accomplished something more than just to take home a paycheck or fill the empty space.