Kenny Tatum thinks of himself as a “behind the scenes guy” but his employer is seeing upfront results of his work at the TJ Maxx Store in Sedalia. Kenny received support and assistance in obtaining his position through the Employment Services Department at the Center for Human Services.
Kenny started four months ago at TJ Maxx as a merchandise stocker. After several weeks, he asked for more hours and was told he could add custodial duties. The store rarely uses him for cleaning now, Store Manager Dawna Piper said, “Because we have other people who can clean. He puts furniture together and processes everything in the back. He does our displays.”
“He is so willing,” Piper said. “I ask him to do something and he’s on it.” While Kenny’s manager praises his efforts, Kenny remains understated about his contributions. “I like the work, but there is no favorite thing. I just want to work” he said.
While Kenny stocks the entire store he has truly taken ownership of the HomeGoods Department. As such, Kenny’s sense of marketing has been a huge contribution to this Department and these efforts are recognized by Piper and his direct supervisor, Cheyenne Statler. “He knows what will sell, and he asks to put those items on the sale table to keep the turnover of items in his department as high as possible,” Statler said.
The store manager gives credit to Kenny for helping to solve their ‘puzzle pieces.’ Piper described how overwhelming at times it can be to get all the wall art up and looking good. “He can look at our wall art and help the coordinator get all the art to fit on the wall. Or in the back, he puts all the pieces together for the furniture and comes up with displays. Kenny can see all the puzzle pieces.”
When the store has meetings about increasing customer satisfaction, Kenny immediately ‘owns’ the results for his department, Piper said. “He has said right during the store meeting he will take care of the customer satisfaction for his department. He owns it. Then I ask the others to own their department.” Additionally, Kenny attends to the customers on a personal nature and when a customer is looking for something Kenny takes them directly to it. Piper stated that Kenny “just knows what they are looking for.”
Piper said, “He will tell me when some items come in (the Home Dept.) that he knows I’ve been looking for.” Statler laughed and said that Kenny makes it a point to inform her when he receives more decorative pillows as he knows she cannot resist buying them which ultimately increases the sales in his department.
Kenny is a great asset to TJ Maxx and is excelling at his career because of the support and assistance of Employment Services Department at the Center for Human Services.