A Season of Change....

has begun at my little Chicoland. Cherry, our store manager, has formally announced that she is retiring at the end of August. It is as if a weight has been lifted in so many ways.

Just to recap, Cherry broke her ankle last October and was off work and out of the store for five months. In that time, Joyce, Karen and I were essentially running the store...and we did a good job. It was good for me because I did feel like I stepped up to the plate and I must admit I felt kind of good about myself. That is a very hard thing for me to admit. We maybe only hit our sales plan two out those five months but everybody's business was down.

Flash forward...Cherry came back parttime in late January and things have been chaotic ever since. Scheduling became a nightmare in the extrme. Karen had been doing the schedules in her absence and after a slight learning curve, our ladies were happy, liked their regular days, and we were within our payroll hours. Cherry took over the schedule when she got back and it became not pretty. Our store has 225 base hours per week for payroll and she would schedule 249. I am sure she had her reasons for doing so but I sure didn't understand them.

The worst part is that Cherry got nasty when she came back...particularly to me and Karen. She has issues with Karen because Karen had been acting as a manager in her absence and her technical title is "Sales Lead" which translates as she can open and close the store but really doesn't have decision making power. Karen knows the ins and outs of the store as well as any of us and is a savvy business woman. She was a district manager for the company that handled Nina Ricci and Carolina Herrera fragrances. She knows her way around retail. Since she has been back, Cherry has picked apart every management type of decision that Karen has made and keeps reminding all of us "She is not a manager". She was in Cherry's abscence as far as Joyce and I and our ladies were concerned. On many occassions, Karen was the voice of much needed sensibility and reason.

As far as her attitude to me...whatever I did... it was wrong. I thought I was being paranoid and insecure until a couple of comments about her behaviour to me were passed in my direction...from our ladies. It was nice to know that I wasn't making mountains in my head and I became very glad that I am short and can hide behind the racks. It got to the point that I hated going to work and almost felt sick about having to be there on the same days she was. It's awful to feel like you are screwing up royally and have no idea why. This is retail...not brain surgery but I swear if I put a pair of pants on a hanger, the way I hung them would have been wrong in her eyes. Logically, I knew none of this really had anything to do with Karen or myself. The talk among our ladies was "She is acting nuts and needs to take meds or up her dosage."

So Cherry has made her announcement...and the weight has been lifted. She has been so much happier in the past week and is more like the Cherry that hired me..the person who encouraged, had an easy laugh, and was just fun.

Retail is not an easy job...at least in my store. It is hard, physical labor. I heard the story when I was off for my foot surgery of the woman hired who lasted two days. She was a customer that we had hired...and she was shocked that she had to run the vacuum cleaner and clean the mirrors at the end of the night. (I guess my working at Cedar Point the summer of the Bicentennial and having to bleach the patios and change the fryers every night has tempered my view of "glamourous jobs"....I was in college expectations were low and we got to use the beach.)

The bottom line is that I am glad she is leaving...not for the way that sounds. She didn't want to come back, had been talking about leaving before her accident, and just needed this time back in the store to make closure. She has a granddaughter who just turned a year and she wants to spend time with her. She misses being with her family...her son is in town, but her parents who she worries about are in Toledo and her daughter is in Lexington....and the epiphany I just had.

She's a widow of 19 years and is turning 62 the end of this month.

She's just worried about time.

Things I Want to do this Summer....the Update

It seems that July is whipping through the winds even faster than June did. In an earlier post, I listed some things that I wanted to do to make summer seem like summer. The Update....

1. I can't find my roller skates. I know that they are here SOMEWHERE. I rode my bike instead and almost ran into the side of the garage while riding out of the garage. I also clipped the bushes in the driveway. I think my skates are hiding from me for my own protection.

2. I haven't read Tolstoy in my bathing suit but instead chose Edith Wharton (three books thus far). I decided I would have to go and buy the Cliff Notes if I read Tolstoy...oh hell...I'll just read the Cliff Notes and forget the books.

3. We have had three impromptu get together cookouts. Our friend John grilled the most incredible steak a couple of weeks ago...I can still remember how good it tasted and I am definitely not a foodie. Laughed so hard at these little fetes my face hurt.

4. I have gone swimming twice and even have a nice little X tan line on my back. Gotta love the Speedo tank suit.

5. Haven't laid in the grass and looked at stars but have sat on the porch and dreamed. Still feels like being in the Adirondaks sitting out there and I am still passionately in love with this apartment. Bob takes his time falling in love but he's coming along.

Hope everyone is having fun and doing exactly want they hoped to do this summer.

Dinner...

Bob and I went to dinner last at Figlio's. Lovely little place in Grandview. Small, charming, good food, not horribly expensive. We are always fascinated by the lovely dried roses that are spiked upside down to the wall as art. Simple, beautiful, elegant and one of those things you see that makes you think "I could do that". We could because Bob grows beautiful roses...we just haven't found the perfect wall space to put the "I could do that" project into practice.

As we were leaving, I ran into the mother of Cory's best forever friend. It took me a moment to recognize her...it was one of those moments when you know someone and it takes a moment for the Rolodex in your head to flip through the pages...I know that I had this perplexed look because I didn't place her right away. Seeing her just brought back such a flood of memories.

Carson (that is Cory's friend) was the best kid. He had the most infectious laugh when he was little. He and Cory became friends in Kindergarten and Carson spent alot of timme at our house and Cory at their's. I think back and know that Cory got the better end of the deal. Carson's family took Cory to Chautauqua TWICE...we took Carson roller skating and to see Mel Brook's "Men in Tights". I oo remember Carson leaning over to me during the movie and saying "This really isn't very good, is it?". I just looked and nodded. I guess what I mean to say is that Carson got the beer experience with us while Cory got to taste champagne with Carson's family.

...but it never seemed weird. Janice and Karl are two of the loveliest most generous people in the world. Both supremely intelligent and just...nice. I did tell Janice last night that I never called Karl (and probably never will) anything except Mr.Peterson. He would come to pick Carson up and there would be this large man...a larger than life presence ...and I would always call him Mr Peterson. He would say "Call me Karl" and I would usually answer "Okay...Karl. Mr. Peterson". That answer was always met by a gracious booming laugh. She laughed loudly, and I don't think she's a loud laugher.

Your kids lose touch with their friends, just like we did. Luckily for Cory, he went to a samll high school and since graduation there has been a steady flow of the Grandview Gypsies to the Portland area. The friends he grew up with from a young age are the people he hangs with now in Portland. Having moved so much growing up, I admire that consistency of friendship. You find the people you need and love and want tohang with even if it means moving across country. One of the first things that Janice said to me was that Carson had been out to see Cory. I guess she and I know how important thhis friendship is to them...more than they know.

A side bar about the Grandview Gypsies: you know the scene in "Sleepless in Seattle" where the flight plans were crossing? I swear for awhile that was how it was between who was going to Portalnd, who was coming back to Ohio. which meant a new apartment and moving every couple of months. It got real confusing.

Janice said something great to me last night. Her comment was "Cory was always just the most wonderful kid". I do think she glowed a little talking about himj ust like I do when talking about Carson. I loved her son and she loved mine.

We have both raised men that are as we both hoped they would be. Even though I never knew Janice well, we both had our hands in. Our young men are better for it.

Remind Me....

...why am I in retail? Oh yeah, it's because they hired me when I needed a job. As you know, I REALLY do like the job. Then come those things called holidays. Sorry...the soapbox is coming out from under the desk and I am going to stand on it.

We are open on the Fourth of July. Unitl 7:00. It sucks. It sucks because I have to work, but in reality that is a minor point to me. I really am offended that ANYONE has to work on the Fourth. What has happened to us and our society?

Growing up, I remember the Fourth of July as a time to be with family and it meantto mean something importanht even if I was too young to understand when I was little. It seemed to be a holiday about honour and hope and celebration. Now it just seems like an excuse for stores to have three day sales.

I have had customers outraged that we are open. The frequent comment is "In THIS community?". The Upper Arlington celebration is a big tradition but it should not just be about one community...it should be about everyone.

I can understand drugstores and even grocery stores being open part of the day but why a clothing store? Why Macy's? Why JoAnn Fabric? These are not stores that provide anything that you need to live. You CAN wait until Saturday to return that top or buy that spool of thread.

Back to my situation...because I think it is typical of so many. Our headquarters is closed except for the skeleton crew that works the help desk. Yes, I am happy that our Everydayman gets the day off...but are the big wigs who make the decisions to be open going to be at the stores working? NO. Are we going to get stern messages on Saturday because business wasn't as good as "they" think it should have been? YES> How much differance is this ONE day going to make in the life of a company? Quite frankly, if one day matters that much the company has been screwed for a long time.

Here is my challenge to anyone who reads this little missive. Our customer service number is 1-888-855-4986. If you think ANY store being open is on the Fourth is inappropriate...call and tell them. I know that you will have to refer specifically to Chico's being open but that's the number I have. Go on the web. Find other store numbers. Call them. I want the holidays to be special again...for all of us.

The soapbox is back under the desk.

I hope you have a lovely Fourth. Independence is the sweetest thing and we all are blessed who have it.

I can't believe...

that it already June 17. Where has the time gone? That statement makes me feel old...didn't our parents say that? Now we say it. I suppose because we too are getting old...well, older.

Today was one of those perfect spring days. I loved watching the sun dance with the clouds. I also thought about the time going quickly and not wanting summer to slip away...it sometimes has a tendency to do that when you work retail hours. As I type that, I realize that the hours are not the cause...it is me. I don't feel sometimes that I am present in all areas of my life because I get so drawn into the stuff with work.

I had a conversation with a friend a couple of days ago about his job. He is a store manager for Subway and is REQUIRED to work at least 50 hours per work. I was taken back. He is okay with it because of good benefits etc. But what the heck is wrong with us when working fifty plus hours a week has become a requirement and more and more a norm?

I remember the first time I went to Hilton Head with Connie and Kay. We had gone to a bar at Marriott Hotel that was on the beach and met a Dutch couple who were on vacation. They had started in Detroit because they had gone to see Bruce Springsteen and had worked their way around the country to South Carolina. They had been on vacation for about three weeks when we met them and were traveling for a couple more weeks before going home. Their five weeks of vacation was the norm in the Netherlands. They were slightly appalled when we told them we generally only got two weeks a year.

I recently figured out that I have about six weeks of vacation time accrued which actually was a bit of a shock. I have also been advised that one should use your sick time first because if you leave a company then they would have to pay you your vacation time...which of course played into my insecurity issues which have been raising their ugly little heads lately but that's a whole other blahblah.

I will be happy to get my two weeks of vacation this year but more importantly, I want to DO things this summer.I don't want the season to slip away unmarked.

Here is my Ten List of Things I Want to Do this Summer.
1. Dig out my roller skates. The streets are pretty smooth in our neighborhood so I think that potential for damage could be minimal.
2. Plant pumpkins.
3. Get a croquet set and use it. We could have the Croquet X-Games on our lawn...huge tree roots in the front yard.
4. Have a slumber party.
5. Read Tolstoy in my bathing suit.
6. Find a pool to read Tolstoy at in my bathing suit.
7. Ride my bike way more. My streamers want the wind in their plastic.
8. Perfect a Southern accent and get a hand held fan in preparation for the Dog Days of Columbus humidity. I would then be able to use both when we...
9. Start Sunday open house cookouts.
10. Lay in the grass and look up at the clouds or the stars and just dream.

Ooooohhhh...so that's how they did that!

We got our stimulus check in the mail yesterday.(YEAH!) We thought from what we had been mailed that we would be receiving $1200 (BIGGER YEAH!) The check was for $1013 and change (slight disappointment...let's not be greedy) but I was confused by the difference.

Today we get the letter of explanation.

We owed taxes last year because of Bob's paper route...had been paying all year...and the difference in the check was the $186 and change that we still owed. Fine and good...our debt is paid and that is another YEAH!!

HOWEVER...the letter of explanation referred to our check for the amount of $1013 and change as "an overpayment of taxes from 2007". Call me dumb... but what does that mean? Did we really over pay on our taxes and we are going to be getting another check to stimulate us? Of course not because this check was clearly marked as 2008 stimulus check.

My observations about receiving said check:
1. Happy to have it because now we can buy a real couch for the Boy's Room and make it a better place to watch football. I have been told that it dampens the atomosphere of watching football games when you are drinking a beer sitting on a daybed covered in an antique crocheted bedspread.

2. We might actually be able to put something in a savings account...I have heard tell of them.

3. A hell of lot of people in the USA must have overpaid on their taxes.

It feels official...

I am sitting at the bad lunch table.