Days off...

My days off this time of year are few and far between.  Working for a small company has its pros and cons.  And keeping a small payroll to keep cost down is def a con this time of year. 

We're getting into busy season which pretty much means all hands on deck at all times.  When we get big shipments (last week we got 23 boxes in 3 days and I'm not talking little ones... we're talking some 70 pounders) yours truly gets to skip her days off and tag the days away instead.  Oh by the way... all of our tags are hand written.  We are soooooo old school its not even funny.  In the 5 stores we own, only one of them has an actual register.  All sales are written by hand in sales books in the other stores. 

Let me give a little background on my work (cause I don't think I have yet)  I started working for this company when I was 13.  They basically scooped me up off the street.  When I started they had one store on the cape and one in Boston.  I started as a "back room girl".  Basically I was the backroom bitch.  When I started they had a lot of white cotton clothing that all need to be starched and ironed before it when out on the floor.  Guess who's job that was... yep yours truly.  What a pain in the ass!  On top of ironing I was in charge of tagging all the merchandise that came into the store.  This was my job for 2 years.  Hmmmmm maybe even 3.  By my 3rd year they did let me out on the sales floor a little more so I could actually see the light of day sometimes.  Anyone that knows me looks at me with shock when I say I was shy when I was little.  I'm talking painfully shy!  My boss says how I basically knew 2 words when I first started working for them, yes, and okay.  Hehe you cant get me to shut up at this point in my life!  So we'll say by year 3 or 4 they had closed the store in Boston and decided to open another store on the cape in the same town we were already it.  So I was moved down to that store to help down there.  It was wayyyy more fun!!  We started as a hat store.  Strictly hats.  And some VERY expensive ones.  And slowly morphed into a clothing and accessory store. 

In may of my senior year of high school my brother passed away (a story for another day).  Mid way through summer I decided I didn't want to go to school cause I thought it would be a waste of money cause I really didn't think I'd be able to focus on it.  My bosses suggested that I take some time and move down to New Orleans and work for the winter down there.  Hmmmm Great idea... I can escape with out the pressure of school to worry about.  So right after my 19th birthday I headed down to Nola to work in one of the 2 stores they had down here.  One they opened soon after closing the Boston store and the other maybe a year or two before I moved down.  From that point on I start my back and forth adventure.  We opened a third store in Nola in 03 or 04.  Then in 05 a little bitch named Katrina came along and knocked the stores off there feet a little.  We kept the three stores open for another year and then thought it best to close one cause it was just to hard to maintain.  So now we're down to 4 at this point.  Two on the cape and two in Nola.  Oh ps. also at this point I've started to do the buying for the stores.... that started in Sept 01.  Eventually we opened a third store on the cape.  (my baby)  This store is allll me.  I planned the layout, colors, inventory, staff, etc.  This was my baby and I love her!!  So now we're at 3 stores on the cape and 2 in Nola.  So on top of working a 40+ hour work week... during the summer its more like 70+ hours.  I do all the buying for 3 of the stores and help with the buying for the other 2.  On top of displays, keeping inventory, maintaining a happy and productive staff, and basically everything else that goes along with a clothing store.

Okay back to the actual reason of the post.  We are officially in high season.  Anyone that knows retail, knows what I'm talking about.  For people that don't know retail let me give you a little hint to what high season looks like.  You know that week before Xmas at the mall, where you pull in at 10:30am thinking, "oh the mall just opened at 10 I'll find a parking spot no problem" and then you actually pull in only to see 35 cars circling already cause the parking lot is already full because its the week before Xmas and people are trying to finish all there shopping.  I've never worked mall retail but to me the holiday season seems like there high season.  For me the high season starts right before mardi gras and ends labor day weekend.  That's a LONG ASS busy season.  Because I come from a busy time in Nola and jump right into set up on the cape and into another busy season there is no rest for the weary.  Now I know I said I'm going to blog more.  And I promise I'm really going to try.... but if they seem few and far between I just wanted y'all to know why. 

I have today and tomorrow off.  I didn't get called in today (modern day miracle).  We'll see what tomorrow brings!! 

xoxo
Becca