Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Going to Meet My New Niece Today

My sister had her baby on Sunday. She went into labor that morning, and my mom was at least headed to her hometown by the time I had gotten home from church. (Mom had planned on going in for a week after the baby was born to help out with things.)
Today, I will be riding up with my stepdad to go meet the new baby. I'm really looking forward to that.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 53-54

Friday, I was on the register for most of my shift. If I remember the day correctly, I did some straightening, put out a few clothes and tagged others. I think I put some other things out too.
Today, I ran the register again. However, during one of the slower periods, I helped the manager with the window display. We're going with a red theme this time as it's one of the signature colors of the local university.

It wasn't until closer to the end of my shift that I was able to get a lot of clothing tagged. In today's round of clothing were two rather interesting t-shirts: one that said "FECK YOU YOU FECKIN FECKER!"  and another that said "I [heart] Intercourse, PA." I questioned the appropriateness of either shirt for the kind of business that we are, but the manager assured me that they were both fine. (If anything, she was the one that donated the former, plus she's pretty sure both will sell pretty quick.) I took pictures of both shirts on my phone before I left. I don't have email capabilities on my phone, but I will be able to show them to my sister tomorrow when I go to see her new baby. (The baby was born yesterday; it's a girl.) And I might show my boyfriend (whom I've been dating for two weeks as of this past Saturday) the "fecker" one the next time I see him.

Those have been my two days. I think my main goal for Wednesday will be to tag more clothing and then see where things go from there.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 52

Yesterday, I tagged some clothes and later put them out. I had originally planned on straightening up the children's book section, but someone else beat me to it. So, I washed a few dishes and took some stuff to the front to be priced. I also ran the register in the afternoon as our afternoon cashier was unable to come.
That's been my day yesterday. I'm not sure what will happen tomorrow.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 51

Once again, I ran the register off and on throughout my shift. During the slower periods, I tagged some clothes, put out some clothes, shoes, books, belts, purses, video tapes, or some combination thereof, and did some general straigthening.
We have so many toys right now that the manager has opted to have a sale where one can buy full plastic bags' worth of toys for a dollar. (Under a previous manager we had done something similar with clothes and with childrens' books.)

Of course, we've had some donations come in at different times, most of which was clothing I believe. Someone from a boutique that is more or less across the street from us donated a box that had bolts of fabric and some hangers.

That's been my day. I think that, barring any short notice memos to do otherwise, my goals on Wednesday will be to 1) transfer as much clothing to the middle room as space will allow and tag it and 2) get the childrens' book section straightened up and arranged so that it looks nicer.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 49-50

I know I've been late posting these accounts. Sorry about that.
Anyway, I think on Wednesday, I put out some clothes that had been priced and tagged some that needed it. I had planned on working on straightening up the children's book section when I was finished with the clothes, but according to a memo that our morning cashier got from the manager, getting the shoes from the back room put out was a bigger priority, so I did that. Unfortunately, some of the shoes weren't in very good shape and had to be recycled. Sometime in the afternoon, I washed up a few dishes but straightened up some of the displays the rest of the time I was there.

Today, I tagged and put out some clothes, ran the register off and on, and attempted to get the books straightened up, but I was only able to get so far on that. Oh well, there's always next week, and besides, we do have a bit more help now. (On Wednesday, I think one volunteer and one community service person joined us.) Plus, someone may very well decide to buy a bunch of books over the weekend, and that will be fewer for me to deal with next week (unless of course more come in).

Those were the last two days I've been on duty. I'm hoping we'll get more clothing out and that I will finally get the childrens' book section straightened up.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 48

I know this account is late, but better late than never, right?
Monday, I was on the register for the most part for a couple of hours. But when it was just me and the manager, I tagged some clothes. I think most of the day I was back and forth between tagging clothes to be priced and putting out ones that were. (After all, some of the racks needed some fleshing out.) While I was doing that, the manager's son (who's not going to be available after the school year starts which will be later in the week) at some point came in and took over on the register until our late afternoon/evening cashier made it in.

I'm thinking that today, depending on the situation, my goals will be to tag as much clothing as space on the pricing rack will allow (but it'll generally be everything short of kids' clothes and adult pants and shorts; last time I checked, we're still having a fifty-cent sale on these things, and the manager is bound to be selective as to which of these she wants to put up for sale that this time depending on what she judges them to be worth, but all other clothing is fair game) and straighten up the kids' book section so that it will look nicer. (It's something that needs to be done, but I haven't had much of a chance to do that in the past week.)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 46-47

I'm sorry I haven't updated this as soon as I had hoped.
For a while we had all clothes, shoes, and purses at fifty cents. Now, the fifty-cent thing is limited to kids' clothes and adult pants and shorts.

One of the first things I did on Wednesday was bring in some items from outside. The our cashier for the morning was unable to bring everything in himself because of timing, so I brought it in. I'm not sure how much of it got ruined by the rain going on at the time.

I did get some clothes tagged and ready to go. After that, I started sorting through some bags of clothes until the manager had me put that on hold as some of it was wet. So instead, I put out clothing that was priced and started stocking and organizing the kids' book section. However our cashier for early afternoon had to leave, so I was needed on register. One of the things I did in between customers was sort through a box of toys (a few of which couldn't be salvaged.)

On Friday, I ran the register pretty much all day. During one of the slower periods, I emptied out a box of books and stock the shelves. In said box were a few items that were not books so I took them by the register to be priced.

Closer to the end of my shift, we were low on change, so I was sent to the bank to take care of that. After that, ran some white-out on a sheet so that it could be photocopied. If I didn't know better, I'd say that shortly before time for me to leave, our last manager (who had resigned almost a year ago for personal reasons) had stopped by for a short while, and she bought an action for her son.

That is how it has been the last two days I've been in. I think depending on the situation in the coming week, one of my goals will be to rearrange the kids' book section so that it'll be more presentable.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 45

Today was one of our busiest days. I was basically on register up until the late afternoon/evening cashier was in. I sold a lot of stuff, especially clothes. Part of one person's donation today was a bookcase, and it sold later in the day.
During some of the slower periods, I priced a few things according to the manager's specifications and cleaned a couple of items.

In my last hour on duty, I put some clothes that the manager approved over to the counter in the back room for our clothes hanging specialist to hang when she gets in tomorrow, priced and put out a candle holder in the window per the manager's request, and transferred some pants from the back room to the middle room. I also wiped down a child's desk and chair as best I could, but it was more difficult that I thought it would be. We didn't charge very much for it, though.

That's been my day. The plan for Wednesday is to get whatever capris are left tagged and ready to go as those are one of the items that will be out of season before too long.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

A Busy Weekend

On most weekends, short of church on Sunday, I'm lucky if I'm out of the house at any time between Friday night and Monday morning. However, this weekend has been an exception.
Yesterday, I met up with an old boyfriend for the second time since our breakup in high school. In the evening, I had a surprise visit from my grandma, aunt, and a cousin on my dad's side of the family with whom I went to dinner and then went shopping.

This morning, I had church as usual. This afternoon, I should be headed out to get a haircut as the regional branch of our Humane Society is holding a haircut-a-thon today. It'll just be a matter of when my mom will be ready to go. Tonight, my grandparents and a couple of cousins from my mom's side of the family plan on visiting us for a bit. They're passing through on the way to a family reunion in Tennessee. (As far as I can remember, the closest I ever get to family reunions are weddings and funerals in the family.)

So yeah, this has been a busy weekend so far and will continue to be busy.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 44

I was in charge of the register almost all day. I sold a lot of clothing like nobody's business. But then, what do you expect when there's a 50 cent sale going on clothes? It also applies to shoes and purses. I don't know how long it'll be going on. I guess it'll go on until it has achieved its purpose by the manager's judgement.
When I didn't have a customer to wait on, I was either sorting through bags, putting items out, or tagging and pricing clothes. (Normally, the manager is the one who takes care of pricing, but under rare circumstances, like today, she put me in charge of that as she had to be in and out part of the day.)

In closing, it's been a predominately busy day for me. I'm sure next week will be busy as well.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 43

The first thing I did today was take some empty hangers from near the register to the back room. After that I tagged some clothes. It turns out that all clothes, shoes and purses are fifty cents until further notice. Needless to say, the manager has gotten selective as to what she wants put out at this time.
After that, I noticed that all of the trash cans were pretty full, so I emptied those out. After that, I washed some cups, dishes, etc. that was in the sink, brought a couple of things up to the front for the morning cashier to price (as he's one of the few staff members authorized to do so), and basically tried to sort things in the back.

In the afternoon, the manager was able to price the tagged clothing, and someone else on the staff took care of putting it out. I pretty much tried to either sort things out in the back or straighten things up in the front. The register had been covered almost the whole time I was there, so I only ended up ringing up a couple of sales myself.

That's been my day today. Who knows what Friday will bring?

Monday, August 1, 2011

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 42

At the beginning of the day, I got some rather interesting news. It turns out that we had been broken in from the back...again, but unlike the last time, which was almost a year ago, none of the money was taken because of the particular way that we generally store the money somewhere that, well, let's just say the culprit wouldn't think to look there. And as far as the manager knew, there was nothing missing from the back room either. However, the doors did get fixed later in the day.
As usual, one of the first things I did was sweep the entry way before putting the outdoor displays out. And of course, I ran the register off an on throughout the day. When I wasn't doing that, I was either straightening things up throughout the store, tagging clothes, putting out stuff that had been priced, or cleaning up items to make them more presentable for sale. Things were pretty busy throughout the day, but we did have some help.

That's been my day today. Who knows what Wednesday will bring?