Retail Valentines Eve

I never really thought about what it is like in the stores the day before Valentines. I mean I KNOW Christmas shoping is crazy. Now I know Valentines is crazy too. Not 3 weeks worth of crazy like Christmas. But Valentines Eve crazy. The lines were long for about 3 hours straight. I was exhausted. I did notice a few facts worth mentioning.

1) There are more women buying Valentines product the day before than there are men. I am calculating the ratio to be about 10 women to every 1 man. Does this mean the men don't shop until the actual day? Or does it mean that men really are more prepared for this holiday than women?

2) Very few men buy stuffed animals as a gift to thier loved one. While 7 out of 10 women DO buy a stuffed animal, or 10. I thought that was kind of interesting.

3) Children are better behaved during the Valentines rush than they are durring the Christmas rush. I wonder if this is because we are not reminding them to "Be Good or the Valentines Cupid won't come" constantly. Worth thinking about.

4) Men do not group shop for Valentines like women do. You will see a lone man shopping and looking rather embarrased. While you will see 3 and 4 women shopping together. Kind of like when they go to the bathroom in a restraunt. They just can't go alone.

5) Valentines cards a so NOT cheap. What happened to cards that were $1.35? They are now running from $2.99 on up to $9.99. For a Card! I guess this tells you how often I buy cards these days.

6) Out of all the gifts being sold, I found the lone man buying the heart shaped box of candy and a little stuffed animal to be the most romantic. Every time one came through the line my head just screamed "What a lucky woman". This surprised me as I always thought that particular gift was so un thought out. Normal. Does this mean I now think traditional Valentines is romantic? Hmmmmm.

7) Some women give out Valentines cards like they were Christmas cards. Buying 15 to 20 cards at a time. Ok, lady, think, you can not possibly send out 20 cards to friends and family by tomorrow. The mail is not that quick. AND..... I thought Valentines was for your mate or children. NOT the entire family. Oh, and don't forget, they are not shocked when thier bill is $80.00 for said cards. I would have a heart attack.

8) Very few people buy Valentines for their animals. I rang out one lady that had rawhide hearts for her dog. A miniture poodle. Only one. Now at Christmas EVERY ONE buys gifts for their pets. Do you NOT love your pet? They deserve to feel the LOVE too. Might as well, your buying for the whole family anyway.

9) At Christmas a lot of people will tell me Happy Holidays, Happy New Year or Happy Thanksgiving. Not one person said Happy Valentines.

And the last fact I noticed on Valentines Eve.

10) I am soooooo glad I am not a fourist at this time of year. woot woot!

Treats

A mom and her daughter are checking out last night. They have, I swear, 8 boxes of Rice Krispies and about 30 bags of marshmellows. The girl was about 8 and grinning from ear to ear.

Me: "Ummmmmm Rice Krispy Treats?"
girl: "yes"
Me: "For your class"
girl: "For two classes!"

It is 8:36 pm when they came through.

Me: "Wow, that's some project. Are they due tomorrow and you didn't tell mom until tonight?" (keep in mind my daughter did this to me on numerous occasions)
girl: "No, they are due Thursday" (like that gives them oh so much more time--today is Tuesday)

I am looking at the mom like....girlfriend you got a job ahead of you. She is giving me the same look back.

Me: "That is so cool. Are you making them by yourself or is mom helping you?"
girl" moms helping"
Me: "your mom must be very nice?"
girl: "oh she IS"


Here is the good part...............

Me: "well next time you should have her help you make POPCORN BALLS...."
girl: (gets all excited) "POPCORN BALLS??????? What are those?"

Oh my god...are you kidding right now? Have popcorn balls completly disappeared from our list of treats? We explain to her what they are. She gets so excited she is jumping up and down right now.

girl: "Those would be so COOL. Can we make THOSE?"

The mom just grins and says "Next time." She gives me that BIG eyed look and I just mouth the word "Sorry" as they leave. It was all good though. The mom enjoyed the conversation as much as I did. The girl was just too cute.

But seriously folks. When DID we stop getting popcorn balls for every occasion? I remember getting them for Halloween Trick or Treating. In all different colors. They were my fav. I even made them myself at least once a month. It is a sad sad time when the young folks of our day have never seen a Popcorn Ball.

Super Excited

I am so super excited about this. Yesterday morning I decided I want a funky little Chandelier for the corner of my new living room. I went on Ebay and immediatly found this little jem. Exactly what I had pictured in my head. The auction had 9 hours left and I won. This little baby is all mine. So super excited. I am thinking I will stain the crystals with Adirondack inks. For some reason I have a blue/tealish type color in my head. I can not wait to get it. Another SCORE!

Total SCORE

As most of you know by now, I am moving. Time for me to focus on ME. I am so excited about this new change.

I want my new home to be airy, bright and funky modern. The other day I SCORED BIG TIME. I got this chair from a friend of Andi's. Renee is a home decorator and stager. She was getting rid of a lot of stuff. I got this chair for $25.00. Totally not kidding here. $25.00. Actualy I got two of them for $25.00 each. I could not believe my luck.

NEW KiDS ON THE BLOCK- Please don't go girl

And Then you get One of These

Ok, so it's 9;10 pm. The store closed 10 minettes ago but we are not done ringing everyone up. Keep in mind.......I am tired, cranky, and hungry. It's been a very long day.

My customer hands me a shirt and pants. "I need this in a bag. Don't get them wet." Okey Dokey. Not a problem right? "I said don't get them wet!" ME: "Yes, I know" I hand her the bag.

She hands me another shirt and pants. "I need these in a bag." I put them in a bag. THEN she hands me another shirt and pants. "I need these in a bag." Now I am thinking "lady...........are you kidding me right now? Please tell me you are not going to do this for the whole cart you have there?" But of course I can not say this out loud to her. I put them in a bag.

Lady: "Do you have a bigger bag? Put the three bags you just filled into a bigger bag."

Me thinking "Oh HEElllll NO" But I do it.

She hands me a spatula and a can opener. "I need these in a bag" Are you catching the part where she is handing me all of these instead of putting them on the conveyor belt like most normal customers? Are you catching the part where we are past closing and I can go home when I am done ringing her up?

She hands me then hands me 6 items from the dollar section. "I need these in a bag" I am trying not to say anything to her for fear it will come out all irritated sounding. Which I AM......but.......customer service ettiquette says I can not do that. Dam rules........at which point she says. "NOw put that bag into another bag"

Then I ring up her last item which was 8 plastic boxes the size of shoe boxes with plastic lids. You know the storage kind. She is digging for her money. To make things go a little faster I walk around to her cart to put the boxes in. Then I think............"what if I put them in there wrong. Ok, don't put them in" I set the boxes back on the counter by the cart. She gives me her payment and I tell her I was not sure where she wanted the boxes.

Lady "oh put them in a big bag." Dam I should have put them in the cart anyway. I put the lids in a big bag and she says "and the bottoms can go in another bag"

Me: "Can we put them all in the one bag?" Knowing the big bag totaly will hold all of these.

Lady: "I would prefer two bags so it does not bust out."

15 minettes it took me to get her out of my line. I was sooooooooo DONE for the night. And, WHY do these people wait until closing to check out? AND, do they know we get graded on how fast we ring them up? I think she was a spy testing me. She had to of been. No one REALLY does that stuff to cashiers. RIGHT?

Girl Panties

Another customer post! I am finding my customers to be quit entertaining.

This man comes up and has one item to purchase. A pack of little girls panties. This would not have been so alarmning if he had not of said.

man: "I opened them to see how big they were."

Sure enough on pair of the panites were out of the bag. My head was yelling "pedofile, oh my gosh, pedofile". I must of looked at him with a horrible sickening look all confused like.

He quickly added "they are for my dog"

me: "WHAT!"
man: "my little dog is in heat. If I don't put panties on her it is just a mess."

I was so relieved and even giggled at this.

Me: "you do know they make doggie diapers?"
man: "yes but you can rewash the panties and use them again."

Now I have heard every thing. Seriousy, panties on a little doggie. He has a great idea though. Still giggling over here.

He did NOT!!!!!!

This man comes to my register last night. He was probably about 35, had not shaven in a couple of days and his hair was all messy. He was not in shape if you know what I mean. You know the pot belly that most men get when they get older. His shirt was at least 10 years old, stained and had a hole in it. Underneath the shirt there must have been another shirt holding something in the chest pocket as it was protruding. He had salt and pepperish colored hair with a chubby face. His hands were dirty like he was a mechanic or something along those lines. Overall, he was not someone I would be attracted to.

What happened next is what made this man "My Customer of the Day". He was purchasing some cold medicine. For some of you that don't know, we have to ID people who buy cold medicine to be sure they are 18. The register itself prompts us to ID the buyer. His friend noticed the register prompting me and asked why we ID for cold medicine. I told him why and my man says "Come home with me and I will show you my ID".......................

My head screams """""WHAT? He did NOT just say that!!!!!!!!""""
I try to ignore the comment. I tell him his total is $23.63.

Wait it gets worse...................

He puts his payment on the counter. $23.65. All is good right? NO! In my head I am thinking the total was $23.69. So I look at him waiting. He looks back and says "thats it". I shake my head a little like I am a dork and say.........."Ohhhh, I was thinking 69" (like in 69 cents) his friend starts to laugh and so does he.

My head screams """"""CRAP! I did NOT just say that!!!!!!!""""

I try to ignore it but then he says "And why where you thinking 69?"

My head screams """""OH MY GOSH! get this man OUT of my line. Seriously, do I LOOK like I would be attracted to you? GO AWAY NOW!Ewwwwwwwww!"""""""

I ignored his comment, gave him his 2 cents change with my head down and moved on to the next customer. That was such a BIG Ewwwwwww. Gross. He may have been missing some teeth too. Not sure on that one. I was totally grossed out.

Customer of the Day

Three younger guys come to my cashier line the other night. Guy #1 has this cute tie with Martini Glasses on it.

Me: "Cute tie."
Guy 1: "Thank you"
Guy 2: "Is that a pickup line?"
(all laughing)
Me: "No."
Guy 2: "Oh, that would have been a good pick up line."

Guy 2 buys nothing. Guy 3 has a tie also but his has Champagne glasses on it with bubbles.

Me: "Oh, CUTE tie. Love the bubbles."

They all look at me

Me: "THAT was a pick up line."

(all laughing)

Guy 2: "Obviously, it was the bubbles that did it. I am going to have to use that line."

They were a fun group of guys. They were going to Tahoe for the weekend and they needed ties for the night life. I love when I have a good time with my customers.

7 wonderful Years

Every 2 years I get a "Years of Service" award at our annual Christmas Party. This year our Christmas party was canceled due to the passing of a co-worker. My boss's wife, who worked at Benchmark for 9 years. But that is a different story.

We had our monthly company meeting on Thursday. The awards were given at the meeting that should have been given out at the Party. I was so thrilled to receive this amazing Lenox Crystal vase for being with the company for 7 years. I have actually been there almost 8 years. Carrie and I were the only ones awarded 7 years. This vase is sooooo heavy and it is about 18 inches tall. So BIG! It is amazing and I am honored to receive such an awesome award.

Shopping

I went furniture shopping last night. Getting an idea of what I want. This I think was my favorite. The colors in the picture are all wrong though. It is really a dark brown with Robins Egg Blue accents. So stunning and pretty.
This was one of my other favs. It is a soft sage green with yellow and orange accents. Not sure which one I like better. They are both really comfy. The second one you can sit up a little better without leaning back. What do you think?