Finally Facilitating Fragrance Finders in a Friendly Fashion

Yesterday was my first day of work. Finally! I've been waiting to be on the schedule or even to be used on any of my call-in shifts. I was scheduled to work from 3pm to 8pm with a possible extension to 10:30pm if it was busy. I had my VCR set to tape Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy, a Luna bar in my purse to snack on during my break and was ready to rock the sales floor. At Bath & Body Works they give us girls lockers to store our purses in so I got to fight with a silly combination lock for a few minutes after I got clocked in. You would think that after working at a bank that has two combination locks on the safes that I would be able to work the stupid things. But no, it took me about four attempts to get it open at the start of my shift and three and the end of it. I got my name tag made, apron on, and spy gear placed (ear piece and communication pack, very top secret like) before I stepped out onto the floor for a quick overview of the many specials and sales going on and then instructed as to what I'd be doing.

I was working the front half of the store greeting people, introducing Vanilla Noir the new fragrance, helping people find what they're looking for, giving bags to people with their arms full of merchandise, and straightening the displays. For a while foot traffic was kind of slow and the front of the store was so well stocked and straightened you would have thought we had not opened yet that day. Well, maybe it wasn't quite that organized but I had nothing else happening so I just kept making sure everything looked good. Later Suzanna, one of the managers, told me that she liked that I didn't just stand around if there weren't customers in the store. Go me! Even if I wasn't new and trying to impress them so they give me more hours, it bugs me when people think it's ok to be paid to do nothing. I've worked with a few people that thought it was ok to put off doing the work that needed to be done and I don't think it is fair to everyone else that they work with or the customers that it may end up affecting. The only thing that she said that I needed to work on was offering demos to customers. I just find it a little awkward just demonstrating a product on a customer but I figured out a way that I can easily offer the demo. Instead of something along the lines of "we have a new fragrance, Vanilla Noir, let me have you try the lotion..." I have been practicing "we have a new fragrance, Vanilla Noir, that I'd like to show you, would you like to try it or just smell it?" That way I'm giving them the choice to try that product but still making sure that they are introduced to it. That's right, along with my spy gear I was also wearing my thinking cap.

I had a few interesting customer interactions at work, the type that make you want to go back just to see what other situations you may have. I had one lady who kept asking me questions about the air freshening products that we offer. She wanted to know what she could use that isn't a plug in because she doesn't trust those and isn't a candle because she doesn't like to burn things. So, I told Anti-Pyro that we have room sprays that work nicely and have the travel ready air freshener which can be clipped or placed wherever she needs. So after talking to her for far to long about how she can make her apartment smell nice for the holidays she wandered toward the back half of the store to do more shopping. About five minutes later, Anti-Pyro walks back up to me and asks me how much our cashmere teddy bears are. I check the tag, let her know and she thanks me and walks back to the other end of the store. After that I start saying "let any of us know if you have any questions" rather than "let me know". Not that I minded helping her but she could have easily asked one of the three other girls working instead of walking all the way back up to me. Later this nice, chronologically advanced woman came into the store and told me that she was happy to have found us. Apparently a few years ago the store was downtown or something and she moved away when the store moved to the mall so she didn't think we were in the area anymore. I don't know, I was very confused I just know that she was happy to have been reunited with the store. I showed her Vanilla Noir and answered a question she had about one of the products then left her to browse when I checked on someone else. A few other times I helped her with stuff and when her bag was full and about to head up to the register to check out she walked over and asked me if I work on commission. I told her that I didn't but then wondered if she was asking because she wanted to give me credit or because I acted like I was looking for a sale. I am pretty sure it was because she liked me and the service I offered her and she wanted to give me credit for the sale if possible.

I also had this guy wander in who looked so lost. He was buying gifts for an exchange at his work and had no idea of what to get. I helped him out with some of the pre-made gift sets and you could see the relief on his face. I also had this guy who was shopping for his wife and had no idea about what was going on. I think he thought we were more like Sephora or somewhere that has more of skin care products rather than pamper yourself products. I asked him if he had any ideas and was trying to ask him open ended questions to get an idea of how I could help him with suggestions but he just wouldn't answer with anything helpful. Seriously the only thing I learned was he didn't want lotion and she has oily skin. I feel like I offered nearly everything possible but he just didn't seem interested. I felt like sending him to Longs or Rite Aid to just look in their skin care section.

My last interesting person was a grandmother shopping for her 12 year old granddaughter. She wanted to get her some fun lotions and lip glosses that are age appropriate so I showed her where our kids collection is and helped her pick out some lip glosses that were just shiny and glittery rather than adding color. The lip glosses are currently on sale for $5 each rather than their usual $7.50 so go get some for stocking stuffers and make the ladies happy. Sorry, couldn't help myself. So granny bought a handful of lip glosses, two kid lotions, two kid body sprays, mini seasonal hand sanitizers, and a pair of the softest socks in the world (also on sale!) for her granddaughter. I loved helping her and talking with her but I had a hard time freeing myself to check on other customers which I need to be able to do. Turned out that it wasn't too much of a problem because we weren't too busy otherwise and she ended up spending about $75 on all the stuff she bought. Our goal, in order to meet our sales goals, is to have something like 4 out of every 10 people that coming in to buy something and I think that of the people that I helped, probably 7 of every 10 ended up buying something. I doubt it was all me, but I like to think that I facilitated in some of those sales occurring.

So you would think that with such a successful sounding shift they would have needed me to stay until 10:30, right? Wrong. Even though people that were coming in were also leaving having purchased something, we were not getting a lot of people entering the store. Because of that they ended up sending me home at 6pm. So my shift that should have been five hours was only a smidgen over three. My training lasted longer than my first day of real work. So I am trying to find out if Color Me Mine is still interested in hiring me. I can't have a job that doesn't need me to work. Doesn't make for a very good paycheck nor does it keep me busy. I don't need to read through my Stuart Woods books that fast. Hopefully I'll have good news from them soon.

Sorry about the new record breaking long post. But I hope the alliteration aided in any agony.
Loves.

Hair! And I'm Not Talking About That Hippie Movie.

Yesterday I decided I would color my hair since I had nothing else going on. It's been a while since I've dyed my hair and I was ready for a little something different. I generally don't go too far from my natural color but I really like giving it a little somethin' somethin' every once and a while. I busted out my Clairol's Natural Whatever in Navajo Bronze that will wash out after about 28 shampoos and got to work staining my orange towel. Luckily I already knew that I would be ruining a towel so I used the oldest towel from my collection. Though now luckily little orange towel will get to play along any time I decide to color again. After I dyed my hair I let it air dry, again had nowhere to go so no need to blow dry, and a few hours later I went to check it out in the mirror. I try not to keep checking out the color as my hair drys because I like the final 'ta-da!' I get by seeing it wet (to make sure I only dyed my hair and not my head or ears) and then fully dry. This time my 'ta-da' moment was more of a 'ta-oh that's no fun' because apparently my natural hair color is very very close to Navajo Bronze (light caramel brown) so there is essentially no change in my hair color; it just looks a little glossier. I though it would warm up my color a little bit more and maybe give it just a little bit more of a darker brown. Oh well, next time I know not to go for light caramel brown, I need to go for medium or darkerish.

Tomorrow I am going to the dollar movie theater to go see Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. It was one that I wanted to see and luckily I get to catch it for really cheap! I think there should be more theaters that play movies two seasons later than their release for only $1-$2. I haven't been to a movie at this theater yet but I have a feeling this may be a semi-regular outing.

Loves.

Psychology Major? Looks Like English To Me.

I just realized that my posts tend to be essays. I know I don't post terribly often but this may be some sort of disease. Maybe I should be an English major...

Making Spirits Bright

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Turkey Coma Is My Favorite Coma

Today was actually my second time leaving Buellton for Bakersfield this weekend. I was on the schedule at B&BW for call-in shifts for Friday and Saturday. If I have a call-in shift I am supposed to call about an hour and a half before the start time to see if they are busy and need me to come in to work. Since the drive from B-field to B-town is three hours I would have to call from the road, after having pulled over of course. I don't have a bluetooth for my cell phone and I'm not going to get a $100-ish ticket for using my phone and car at the same time.

Friday morning, later than I planned because I overslept (big surprise...), I left B-town with my lunch packed and ready to report to work. I figured that they were going to need everyone who is scheduled since it was Black Friday. I got to New Cuyama, about 1/2 way between the B's, pulled over near their market and called work to verify if they needed me. Turns out, they decided not to use my call-in. So I don't have to work, possibly, until Saturday at 5pm. Since it was nearly noon and I had my delicious mom-made turkey sandwich, I got comfy and had a lovely picnic listening to Maroon 5. I picnicked in my car because it was windy and cool outside! After my lunch I got back on the road and about an hour and a half later was back to B-town. Since I had an extra 24 hours or so and they had leftovers I decided to go back down for an extra day. I had been joking that I was just going to drive to New Cuyama for a picnic Friday and then go back and visit for an extra day and knew I had to stick with that plan. Plus the sky to the east looked less inviting than the sky in the west. It was nice being able to just hang out for one more day.

So today I packed up, with a killer case of deja vu, and left the house at about quarter to 2 and pulled off at New Cuyama to call B&BW to check if I was needing to come in for my call-in shift. Go ahead, guess what they said. Guess yet? Ok. They said that they would not be using my call-in today. Again! So guess what I did. I drove to... drumroll please! ... Bakersfield! I wasn't going to turn around again, that's just a ridiculous waste of gas, my time and I did need to feed Lavender. Bonus: the sky to the east didn't look scary today!

I got back from Buellton about two hours ago and it seems so quiet here. Not that it was loud at home but there were people there and a cat who was telling me all about how he is mistreated and forced to sleep on a bed smaller than his bed. And why did I take his bed away in the first place, it was working just fine, thank you much. But he was very excited that the air mattress was set up for his use while I was down there. So not only did he get a big bed back but his human pillow that he is so kind to share his bed with! His life is so rough. Haha

Thanksgiving was great. Mom cooked a delish meal and my Turkey Bingo turkey was so yummy! (Each year the Elks have a turkey bingo where the prizes are turkeys and I won last year!!! We've been going for years and this is the first time we've won.) I actually ate cranberry sauce this year, figured I had to try the dish that I made. Julia came up and it was great being able to see her, plus she brought the pies. She made pumpkin and apple and they were so good! I had brought down my Wii so we all ended up playing Wii Sports after dinner. We played tennis since we didn't want to kill ourselves after having eaten. Although towards the end of the night Becca and I did box each other and that was killer! We tied with two KO's each but I am going to say that I won, not only because it's my blog but also because she wouldn't fight a rematch to declare a winner. Ha!

Ok, I have to go find myself some dinner before it gets way too late.
Loves!

Cramming Those Silly Finals In

I have a long weekend! Well, I usually have a long weekend of three days but this week I get four whole days. I love an extra day off. Finals are this coming week and since I only have two classes with a final I manage to have Monday off. Yippee! I'm not sure how I managed it but out of my five classes I only have two classes that require a final. I like this, much nicer than community college. hehe I hope I am so lucky next quarter, although I only have three classes winter quarter so having two finals wouldn't be quite as big of a deal. Neither of my prerequisite psychology classes have a final and neither does my on-line jogging class. I still get a giggle out of the fact that I took jogging on-line. So my two classes with a final are History of Greece and Film Music. My music final should be fairly easy since it's identifying listening examples that we've been studying all quarter. I just need to make sure I remember the years and composers for the films. I can recognize the songs easily. My Greece final will take some studying. There's quite a bit more to that one and I want to makes sure I can keep my currently good grade in that class. If I work hard I may be able to pull off a 4.0 this quarter. It'll either be that or a 3.8 I think.

Next quarter, as I said, I have signed up for three classes. Though I will still be considered full time since I am taking 12 units. (Anything 12 or more units is full time) Somehow I managed to get all my classes on Mondays and Wednesdays which will be nice for my availability for a job. I will be taking two psychology classes and a "passions" class. The passion classes are extracurricular classes in which the professors choose the topic that they teach. They teach something they're passionate about, hence the name. I'll be taking a class that is basically an on-line book club, only with one specific book to read. I don't remember the title off the top of my head but it looked like it'd be interesting. Amazon.com allowed me to read the first few pages of the book and I made sure it was written in a style that wouldn't be painful to read. I just had an assigned reading of a novel and it was so difficult to read that I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be stuck in that position again. It's never a good sign if a reader has to force themselves to read. I just hope this book doesn't interfere with my Stuart Woods time. I can't seem to put his books down for too long now that mom's introduced his work to me. I even manage to neglect the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich.

Anyways, redirecting back to my finals for a moment... My finals are Tuesday evening (5-7:30 pm) and Wednesday evening (5-7:30 pm). The school was so nice to bump my classes that normally end at 5:10pm to 5:00 start times for finals week. They must want to challenge those of us who hope to drive home for Thanksgiving a little bit. I'll show them, I'll have my car packed when I get to school so I can leave straight from there. Muhahahaha! I should get home around 10pm depending on how long I take in that final. Then I'll have all of Turkey Day to hang with the family and Friday morning I'll drive back to B-field so that I can go to work. This will be my first real day of work. That's right, I'll be working Black Friday with only training from a video! Whee... That is I am assuming that I'll be working. My hours for Friday are call-in hours so I only go in if they need me. My plan is leave B-town at about 10am then stop at New Cuyama to have an early lunch and call work to verify if they'll want me to come in. If they do, I carry on my merry way. If they don't, I might just turn around and go back and hang with the family one more night. I will for sure come back Saturday though because I have another call-in that evening and I won't do two New Cuyama trips, besides I'll need to feed Lavender by then.

I feel kind of bad. I have had Lavender for about a month and I just noticed something about him. He's a little special. Betas have really cool fins, and Lavender seems to have a little extra fin. Basically, he has extra of the long belly fin on his back right side. It's hard to explain but it's extra and it's cool. Also I noticed that he has Nemo fins! His right "hand" fin (my former marine biology teacher would be so proud) is bigger than his left "hand" fin. So I think I should additional-name him. His new extended name is: Lavender Judd Nemo Gooms.


That's about it for now. I'll save the exciting news about how I did a ton of laundry for another day. Kidding, I won't share all about my sock sorting, even though I know it'd be riveting.
Loves.

Stop the Presses! Top News Story!

Exciting news! Last night I got the phone call I've been hoping for. I officially and finally have a job!!!!! I applied for a position at Bath & Body Works and on Monday I went in for an interview. It was odd because they were doing group interviews so there were 4 of us in there at once all answering the same questions. I tried to answer first or second because by the time the third and forth people are answering they are just repeating the same statements as everyone else or saying "well, basically what they said..." I felt that I did a very good job and when they asked why I want to work at B&BW I didn't say "well, I just really want a job and would love the employee discount." Yes, two people said that. I was honest and said that I wanted to work there because I've been a customer for a really, really long time and like the product and company. Though I totally want the employee discount! hehehe

Here's a masterpiece I created with the paint program of near-future me at work.

Thursday they are having orientation for us new employees from 5 to 9:15. If I remember correctly they hired 20 new people for the holidays. Yes, 2-0 people. Crazy, right? This morning I went over to Old Navy, my favorite clothing store, and bought a couple shirts for work. The dress code is black pants and either a black or white shirt. Since the only black and white tops I have are t-shirts (all my bank clothes were colorful) I needed to get a few tops that I could wear. It worked out well because I had $20 free dollars for Old Navy and they were having a sale on most stuff so I ended up saving a lot of money.

After Old Navy I had to stop at PetSmart (it's on my way home) and give some love to all the kitties there. Since it's the weekend they were also having adoption days and there were two kittens that were so cute! They had the poofy kitten fur and big eyes I just wanted to smuggle them home in my sweatshirt. Last time I was there they had an orange tabby with 6 toes, I named him Hemmingway, but he was gone today so I hope he found a home. Yes, I name the cats that I don't own. He had a silly name so this was a total upgrade. There is a certain cat there that I have fallen in love with. Her name is Sweet Pea and she's a tabby but I think she looks like a jungle cat and want to name her Bagheera. She's been there for weeks and I would bring her home in a heartbeat but I have to save up money for a pet deposit, her adoption fee, supplies, and her first month's rent. Really, it's the pet deposit that's stopping me. I'm thinking about asking the office if I can pay the deposit in installments. I just can't see myself writing them a check for $300 anytime soon. Untill then, I visit her and give her loves.

Better go, I have laundry to fold before it gets even more wrinkly.
Loves.