u/Komonkantsu

So I work retail, front end. I've worked in this position for the past 4 years and 2 years before that at another location. When I was hired there was a supervisor but she was fired within weeks of me starting, the next quit after a violent argument and nobody even knew she was the supervisor until she was gone, the next was a manager who had never even worked a register before and I and the other people trained on the service desk had to train him and he quit after a few months, after that we had a few hired that didn't last more than 2 weeks, even one that quit on her second day. After that it seemed like they "gave up" and so the department has been running with no supervisor and no manager.

I've put a lot of effort into understanding my department and I know how to do everything that we have to authorize, I understand for the most part the reasoning behind different processes and I'm pretty good at handling irate customers. The only other person "on my level" has been working there for 40 years. There are occasions where the cashiers will say something like "let me ask my manager" and call me over, or call me over when they're having an issue with a customer because I am good at explaining why things are the way they are and even correcting them if they've said something wrong but without diminishing what the cashier had said.

I'm close with the managers and supervisors of the floor departments and they have been telling me for the past 2 years that I should be the next supervisor or manager. There have been new managers hired that I have even trained on how to handle issues in my department. They've been confused when they passed over me for management roles and hired externally, and have been encouraging me to ask for a promotion though until now I've been too scared to do it.

I finally asked to be supervisor and I do think I'm going to get it because apparently the owner of the store has also said he wants me in the position, but I'm extremely nervous. The front end runs a lot differently than the floor and I feel like I would be starting from complete scratch. The upper management is notoriously bad with expectations, eg. this is wrong fix it with no guidance on what they actually want to be fixed or what is wrong in the first place so a significant amount is just trial and error until they're happy. I think if I just ask what their expectations are they will just say keep it running and make money.

There is no training manual and I have nobody to rely on to "show me the ropes" and I think thats a big part of why nobody has been successful in the position. On the floor, even when there is no manager in the position they have other floor managers to rely on, but I wouldn't have that. The other managers don't even really know how to work the tills, let alone all the procedures for the work that we do.

I'm confident that I can be a person of authority and help guide the people around me and step in when they need me (a lot) but I'm also nervous because I know in most management positions you're able to delegate what you used to do to someone else and focus on managing, but I know that they will expect me to stay where I am and do my current job while also managing the department. I wouldn't be able to actually observe the work of the people on the tills for example because I have to stay at the desk and I have the nagging feeling that if they make a mistake it will be my responsibility but I won't have the time to actually fix it or retrain people when I'm also focusing on my own duties which take up a significant amount of time and the downtimes are maybe minutes in between customers.

I'm intentionally asking to be supervisor first and not manager because I want to be able to learn the ropes first before I take on more responsibilities. My understanding now is that I will be doing what I am currently but I wouldn't have to call for customer issues or authorization codes and I'd have slightly more authority to correct behaviour or make exceptions on the rules.

My question is mostly how do I succeed when I would be completely on my own? How do I effectively ask what they expect from me or their priorities in a way that will actually get me a real answer? How would I balance all of that when I also have to stay in one place? I'm also a nervous and shy person generally although you wouldn't really know it from my "work persona" and I don't like conflict. I have no experience in a leadership role. I really want to grow and learn how to do it effectively but I also have the feeling that I'm gonna be squashed in the process.