Saturday Tease

This reminds me; I bought a new scarf.

Black Friday Recap

It was exhausting yesterday at work. I arrived at 2:52am and left shortly after one. Had my "lunch" hour at 8:30am and never had the time to take a break. I was swamped by 6:30 am. Luckily, the 8 o'clock worker arrived at 7am to do some shopping and was allowed to clock in early to help out. I already had 1 manager and 2 other approved persons helping me out. At times, there wasn't enough keys to go around to open the cases to show merchandise. We ran out of a lot of morning specials before 7:30am. They were suppose to last till 1pm! It was hectic to say the least. I was feeling it by 11 o'clock when another person was scheduled. When I left for the day, the department, all 800 sq feet of it, had already done over $13,500! The sales plan for Friday and Saturday was $14,000. I had a plan of $2000 and sold over $6000 by myself. There were a couple of unhappy people that missed out on the bargains they had came for. Of course, they were the ones that showed up at mid morning expecting us to have 20 pieces in backstock. Newsflash: It's fine jewelry, ranging from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, we can't stock dozens of them in stores! If you want it bad enough to pitch a hissy fit, then get your ass out of bed and get there early. Most people were very patient and very understanding. Most were a lot of fun to service. However, when it was time for me to leave, I said goodbye, smiled and waved as I walked out the door.

Regardless of what door is opened for you, you are still the one that must walk through it ~ Ultra Dave

Get Stuffed

Hope all my readers have a wonderful

Thanksgiving!

2ND Annual Holiday of Giving

The host for the evening, Dan(L) and Willie(R).

My date (and coworker) for the evening, Tommy.

It was a wonderful party to raise money and gifts, for The Children's Home Of Winston Salem. There was a huge turn out. I meet some of my dear friends that live out of town and made some new ones. Had great conversations with
good food, good drinks and fabulously generous people.

Thanks Dan and Willie!

Meh...

Nothing really changes much around here. My mother had a cataract removed last week. I took her to the doctor Wednesday. Everything is going fine. She should be able to drive on Sunday for church. My father still has his good days and his bad days. Tuesday he went to the old place to get something out of the basement and had to wait a while to catch his breath before going back up the stairs. My cousin's second oldest son has been helping them out around there. Thank goodness. He's a nice fella, only 18, and hasn't really done any of what they need done before. But he is learning some useful skills and picking up on it quickly. It helps me out because I don't have to try to do it all by myself on my days off. I asked my parents could I trade my sister for him, so I could have a younger brother.
Work is going great. I applied online for the manager's position. I got nice form email stating I wasn't a good match for the position. Not sure how they arrived at the decision, but whatever. I can only assume they want younger people who are willing to work more hours, with more responsiblity for less money. So I say let them find them and train them this close to Christmas. After the first of the year, I'm gonna start looking for a better paying job elsewhere in the mall. I'll take the same pay if the store hours aren't so screwed up.
I'm trying to finish up my Christmas shopping. Just a few more gifts left. I've lost another 5 pounds and so far have kept it off for a while. I still need to lose 15 more pounds and I'll be down to my old weight. I can also get into so more of my old clothes. Woohoo!
I have a fund raiser in Winston Salem coming up on Nov. 20th for The Children's Home. Being fortunate enough to have been adopted by such great, loving parents makes me feel for those who haven't found a forever home yet. It will also be a chance to see friends on that side of the state I rarely get to see.

A Situation

An interesting situation has presented itself at work. One I'm not sure I'm ready for but certainly interested in from a monetary standpoint. One that I have most of the qualifications for as well. Our new manager has left the company, amid rumors of being let go for drinking on the job, for a second time. His area of responsibility is now open. It includes fragrances, cosmetics, juniors, woman's accessories, fashion and fine jewelry. It' a huge area, with more people to supervise than I have before and I'm not all that familiar with juniors or handbags. However, neither was he. He came from managing grocery stores. I have 22 years of retail selling experience. Ten years of jewelry store management and I have sold fragrances, ladies accessories, clothing and shoes and both fine and costume jewelry before. Also as a bonus, I'm already employed and have more training than he did when he started. The most people I've ever managed was about 20. These departments probably have around 30 including part timers and on call staff. (Which rarely seem to be scheduled enough to cover the areas). The cosmetic areas each have counter managers that handle most of the day to day stuff. Fragrance is pretty much self serve as they are no locked cases for any of it. I think my biggest challenge would be learning the department merchandise and all the back end stuff that managers are suppose to do. My concern is twofold: can I return to jewelry sales, either full time or part time if it doesn't work out? and the amount of hours in a day I may be required to work. I can't work a 12 hour day, only because of the 14 hours that would include the travel time, I would be away from my dog and my parents. I have no problem with working long stretches between days off. I'm currently on an 8 day stretch after finishing an 11 day stretch about 10 day ago. I just can't do long hours within a single day with no one to check on the dog or my parents with their health issues. I really do miss management and having a steady salary to count on. So dear readers, should I even bother to mention it to the store manager that I'm interested in the position or realize that my daily hour constraint would leave me out of the running anyway? Once again, your opinion would be appreciated.