When I go into retail businesses, I can't help but notice the energy of the people working there. 
I used to be them. I’d held down between 15 and 20 retail jobs by age 25. I try to picture myself in those jobs and think of how I would conduct myself in their positions. 
And, I’m always looking for people who have the right attitude — the kind of people who I’d want working for or with me. A person with the right attitude can learn most skills. 
What’s common in the average retail business, though, is that many of the people working don’t have the right attitude. 
There are employees who ignore customers. 
Those who will acknowledge you with a look, but can’t muster as much as a “hello.” 
Some who seem to not enjoy their job, or just don’t want to be at work… that day (every day). 

How do these folks get jobs? 
I mean, who hired them, and why do they remain employed? 
Can the bosses not see this? 
Business owners, Managers and HR people are fond of saying, “good people are hard to find” as their excuse for punting on the work of hiring for attitude. 
This is meant to explain why bum ass mofos are able to secure gainful employment. 
I’ve done my fair share of hiring (albeit for online jobs, not retail), and I agree that hiring a bum would be quite easy. Finding good people takes time and effort. 
That time and effort does result in the uncovering of those good people, however. 
And, knowing that my business is MY business, I couldn’t sleep well knowing that I’d hired a bum-ass individual to work for me, even if their work is all internal, i.e., no direct contact with clients. 
That’s because they’re representing me — to other workers, to customers, to me. 
If you own a business or are responsible for hiring people at a business, the Law of Association applies to you. 
Just like with your friends and significant other(s), the people you choose to work for and with you are a reflection of YOU. 
(This also applies to the people you accept as your clients and customers,  but that's a different conversation for a different post.) 
Which brings me to this point. 
When you see a trash employee working a job, don't wonder how that person managed to get hired. 
They are who they are; nothing has changed since they first showed up. The question is, who’s the boss or owner who decided that this person should represent his or her business? 
How could they have seen what you’re seeing and be OK with it? 
When you see a bum-ass person working an entry-level job, they’re not the guilty party. 
They presented themselves to someone who could have said NO — but that decision-maker said YES instead. 
When a business is full of below-average employees, the problem is the boss who hired them. 
They are the true cause of the situation. They validated the bum workers to think that what they’re doing is acceptable. 
You can ascend up along the ladder of authority to find out where the problems began. 
Maybe there’s a quality person somewhere in the chain of command, who just stopped paying attention. 
Maybe there isn’t, and the whole operation is doomed to eventually fail. 
The issue with low-quality people is never the low-quality people themselves. They’ve never misrepresented who they were. 
It always starts at the top. 
By the way, to step your associations up, you have to start with yourself and being the type of person that quality people would want to be around. 
Do that by getting the MasterClass: How To "Lift Up" People As A Leader. 
It’s “a la carte,” meaning you get lifetime access with no future commitments.