Trollbead University.....

Thursday, July 24th... Lucy, my rep., came by yesterday to teach us about the beads again, and is apparently going to make visits every 2 weeks...drat my luck, I was planning to move some merchandise back onto the counter, but this has thwarted my plan...oh, well. At least we all did well during the class. Lucy's enthusiasm can be a bit much as she approaches everyone who comes into the shop, which is so not our style. However, by the end of the 4 hours (yes, 4 hours of Lucy promoting) even Lucy toned down somewhat and just sat there talking to me and stopped approaching anyone who wasn't zeroed in on the bracelets. We are selling it so I'm thrilled and so was Lucy when I handed her a reorder. Sandy J. was in with her Camilia bracelet which as it turns out can be used interchangably with the Troll beads. So we had fun trying beads on her bracelet. She's actually going to do theme bracelets...yesterdays was 4th of July. She had the silver flag charm and needed Murano beads for the red/white and blue. I did a double shift in the shop yesterday...yes 12 hours straight, and I can tell you by the night shift I was less than enthusiastic about anything. First my new ICU glasses display arrived and was not as promised (and why am I surprised?) I am trying desparately to corral all the reading glasses and sun readers by getting them on one rack. I ordered a rack that would work, only to have a different rack show up and when I called them they gave me some bull about they never send the rack for sunglasses when you order reading glasses...which is not what was said when I first called and ordered. And the glasses were so not what I was expecting....honestly, what were they thinking...while I may keep this order since there were several I did like, the chances of me ordering again are slim to none...so what was the point of screwing me over? Anyway, I'm exhausted today so I'm of no use to anyone, including myself. I shall plow on in hopes of getting some work done, but that's almost a mute point at this stage of the game. While I was keeping the kids occupied with monopoly, some idiot in the lobby put a muffin, or should I say tried to put a muffin through the commercial toaster which of course not only jammed it, but it stops the mechanism so that smoke starts which sets off the fire alarm...which is why we have a sign attached to the front of the toaster saying..."PLEASE DO NOT PUT MUFFINS OR DANISH THROUGH THIS TOASTER...THEY DO NOT FIT"...now I'm not sure which part of this is unclear...but apparently this sign does not work...attached to the front where you would have to be blind not to see it..anyway, Sara and Mary are dealing with that. I'm done dealing with idiots...I am only requiring myself to handle them in the shop. Fortunately, I get just a few a day if any. Oh, yea, I think I've ranted about this before, so this will be a refresher. Yesterday a woman made the mistake of coming up to me and saying..."yes I need a sampler that would be 5" x 7"." I spent a few seconds looking at her with that 'what the hell' look on my face before I composed myself and said, "frankly we don't put our leaflets on the racks according to the size the finished piece comes out to be so you are going to have to go through every rack, read each leaflet to see the finished size." I did get out of my chair to start her off on racks I thought might have samplers that size, but really people...don't ask shop personnel to find pieces to fit the frames you have. If you want something to fit a frame first think about the subject matter. Then ask if we have anything regarding the subject matter...that at least limits the number of racks we have to search. But just saying I don't care I just need it to be 5 x 7...that's crap. I might add she ended up with one of Renee's pieces that are about 3 x 18...so I'm not sure what happened with the 5 x 7, except when she was required to look herself it wasn't so important. Friday...July 25th...I'm exhausted and just coming off 3 straight shifts...good God, I'm not even pleasant to myself. Sara asked me to take a nap since she felt I was bitchy, but if you knew what I put up with in that shop even you would have an attitude. I started out alright, got up...took a shower...came to work and that might have been my first mistake. Everything I did today ended up being a fiasco. I received a Nordic Needle order today, went to move the open box, and it turned over and all the popcorn crap came out behind the counter (and you know I don't like cleaning). Then I got the tickets confused and now I have to redo some of the tickets. And the crowning blow for me was...the Vera Bradley section was a mess, I'm telling you it was like they went in there and just started throwing bags. There were bags on the floor along with the stuffing from some of the bags. Things were out of order big time. I calmly decided to straighten the mess up...and after an hour I had the shelves all done and stood back and thought, "Yes, it looks as it should, very neat and orderly." And then the herd came through...I'm telling you when they stormed the door I knew it wasn't going to be pretty and I wasn't far from wrong. When they finally left (most of them with all the money they came through the door with) I went over to see what they had done and honestly it was a mess all over again. Why do people think it's alright to take the paper stuffing we put in the bags for shape, out of the bag and throw it on the floor...that's what I said, the pigs threw it on my floor. I was furious with the way they left my shop. I could have strangled each and every one of them. And one went on and on about the microfiber and how she had to get it because they are so hard to find, (according to her), and she had to have that bag. Needless to say the minute I heard her talking I knew it was not going to end up in a sale...the more people tell me how they are going to spend a fortune, the more I know that person won't even open their wallets. It's the same with tenants who think they've left the apartment the way they found it. My mother and I use to clean apartments between tenants for my grandmother who had the first real estate office on the island. Mother and I would be walking the buckets and cleaning supplies all over the area as we did the cleaning (and I never received a dime from my grandmother for that....crap!) When someone would come into the office and say, "Mrs. Frame you won't have to clean a thing, we left it just the way we found it." Mother and I would look at each other and we'd load extra cleaning supplies because we knew that place would be a dump when we went in. We'd practically had to shovel the sand and debris out. I've never understood how anyone can think they have cleaned something when they so clearly hadn't. Well it's the same thing in the shop....if a woman comes in proclaiming that she's in her element and she's going to spend every cent she has, we all know to stay seated because this one's not going to spend a cent. Now don't get me wrong...I don't expect everyone that walks through the door to spend money...but most people don't make the announcement when they enter. I have had good news this week. The Russian student now working in Sea Trader (did I tell you I had to let the one that drove me nuts go?) Anyway, I love this kid...she works hard, restocks, cleans...she's a gem. She and I get alone fine...although I'm not sure if the rest of the students heard about me firing the last girl, and so they are all tiptoeing around me. Normally they pay no attention to me because they think I work for Sara so Sara is the one they go to. And I leave it like that, but when that other girl argued with me last Saturday night I knew her ticket was going to get punched. I've never had a foreign student talk back to me...never given them a reason. I still didn't give the girl a reason and yet she felt it necessary to give me her 2 cents. Well, I handed her a paycheck and say adios. And in came Natalie...she's a winner and a keeper.