$24

Early this morning, (like, before school), this girl came in and studied our gum section. She was pretty small, and maybe in 5th or 6th grade. She bought a Covergirl lipstain and gum. And she spent $24. When she saw her total, I expected that she would ask me to void a few items, but she just dug deeper in her coin purse. And she paid exact change, which I like. But $24?! My parents would not have let me walk around with that much money, let alone spend most of it on gum.

These two sisters came in and asked for a price check on various items in their cart. Which then they didn't want. The more talkative sister asked for the $2.99 item in the coffee section.
"It was $2.99 but nothing was there. But we would like to know what it was."
I checked for them, and they seemed unclear on what I had said, so they looked around and pretended I didn't say anything. Then she asks me for a delicious mint.
"They are small and fruity and minty. And they are delicious. What are they called?"
"I have no idea. Icebreakers, Altoids, Mentos? I don't know."
"They are in that family." Then she went to look at the mints. Tic-Tacs was what she was talking about. I also sold her a few packages of mints on clearance. She bought them out an asked for more. Very unclear on the concept of clearance. She calls a few hours later to ask if we have her mints. She can't find them anywhere and she wants to know what we did with them. I told her I didn't have them, and I know she walked out of the store with them.

It Was Unbearably Slow

I'm not sure why, but it was unbearably slow today. I saw a kid I went to high school and church with. Two guys came in pretty early today; they bought a Sharpie and a caramel, separately. About fifteen minutes after they left, my co-workers found a dimebag hidden around the chips.

Holistic Healer

Some guy came in and asked if I knew where Dempster and Bronx was. Then he said he is involved in a holistic new age process that takes a person's name, birthdate and time of birth, scrambles it and then tells said person what kind of job or field they should go into. He told my co-worker she will be famous someday. He told me I should go into a helping profession, like therapy. The whole conversation was kind of creepy, funny and a little chilling.

Gift Cards

If you purchase a gift card using a credit card, I need to see your ID. I won't let you buy a gift card with a gift card. If I ID you for cigarettes and you don't have it, then you don't have any smokes either. The minimum amount you can put on a GreenDot card is $20. If you look way under 18, I am not selling you that lighter, cough syrup or decongestant. I need to see your ID with that check. That is just the way things go.

This girl and her friend came in and asked where the gift cards were. They are right across from my register so I pointed over there and said "Right there." They got a DSW gift card and went to pick out a birthday card (yes I was ear hustling). When they got to my register my phone rang so I was trying to have two conversations at once. I told the girl if she was paying with a credit card I needed to see her I.D. She gave me a look, then held up her cards with her fingers over them. I told the guy on the phone to hang on for a minute, then as I was about to tell her I needed to see the full cards, she gave another look and said (in a super-bitchy tone) "You know what? I don't want it." I felt like she thought she was hurting my feelings when she said that because as she was walking away she starts telling her friend she has never been ID-d for a gift card, what the hell is that, blah, blah, blah. Obviously I just dodged a bullet right there, and I don't give a fuck if her friend doesn't get DSW shoes for her birthday. I'm just trying to do my damn job.

Labor Day

Yes, I had to work on Labor Day.

It was pretty busy because we had those two-day only sales. I did wear my new flu t-shirt and somehow got a few compliments on it, although I felt a little foolish.

The new kid was there and he was able to answer calls and put up stock pretty well.

My stalker called four or five times. I'm assuming he was not working.

I tried to log in to my account so I could request a few more days off, but it seems I have forgotten my newly-changed password. Again.

This is going to be a long week.

This Is Our New Uniform?

Apparently we have new shirts we have to wear. I heard from a co-worker one of the district head honchos wants us to wear these t-shirts with a flu bug on the front. They are red. Red t-shirts do not look that great with khakis, in my professional opinion. I asked my manager and the assistant manager if I could still wear the navy blue button-ups I have. (Which do look pretty good with khakis.) They said it was ok. Before I clocked out I told them that on Monday  would be wearing the flu bug shirt as my work shirt. I asked several times if this was ok (they already think I might be a little slow due to my inability to remember my passwords). I told them that I don't want to come to work on Monday feeling like a fool in red. The store manager told me that as long as I wash them, everything will be o.k. I hope that wasn't a comment indicating that I should wash my other shirts more often. I really hope I'm not the smelly and sweaty girl.

When there is a lax dress code, people seem to go crazy. I, of course, am one of them. I seem to focus on the colors of my outfits more then anything else. This leads to me wearing sweats and over-sized pants, skimpy tops, and dirty sneakers. My thought is that we do actually get dirty at work. I have gotten milk, body wash, laundry detergent, dish detergent, industrial cleaning fluid, coffee, lotion and body spray spilled on me. I have sat in dirt and grime, while sweating. I do not work in an office so I feel that I should be able to wear outfits that allow me a little give.

The t-shirt thing throws me off too, because now I can wear collared shirts to work. Before I wouldn't because my navy shirts are collared and I don't think a double collar looks that great.

My other issue with these new shirts is that we have just been through a uniform change. Previously, we had button-ups or polos with our company logo on the back. Then they said that we could wear any blue shirt to work. That turned out to be a horrible plan because people were wearing blue tank tops and club shirts. For the record, I was not one of those people. Then we had a posting in the office that said by August 31st we ALL had to get dark blue polos or button-ups. Or t-shirts I guess. AND we had to wear a new name tag. They had these cute silver ones and then switched them to these tacky coach-like hanging ones. So I got my shirts and made sure not to lose my name tag and now they are changing it to the flu shirts. Although I'm sure the flu shirts will be out as soon as the flu season is over. Now choosing my outfit before work will take twice as long.

Cigarettes

Oh my lord, today was stressful. I stayed 45 minutes after my shift to finish the cigarette count. But I get to go home 45 minutes early on Monday, probably. Although no one ever wants to cover for me like that. Ridiculous.

One of the crazy coupon ladies came in today. But she was courteous and well-organized.

I felt like we were absurdly busy today.

This woman called to ask about an engagement gift she had received. "P.S. I love you". She wanted to know if we carried it. Which we do not, because it is a Bath and Body Works line. She said that the nearest one is closed, and am I sure that we don't have it.
"Yes I am sure because that is a store brand. They do not carry our products so we do not carry theirs."
"Oh thats' too bad, because it really is lovely. And you don't carry it? Its' called P.S I Love You."
"Yes ma'am I am sure."
"But they gave me your number."
"Who?"
"The store that closed. They gave me your number to check if you carried it."
"Another store that is possibly closed gave you our number to see if we had their brand? Are you sure?"
"Yes. But they closed. And you don't have it? It is such a lovely scent."
If I wasn't so paranoid about corporate checking up on me, I would have screamed at her. It goes on:
" Yes ma'am I am VERY sure."
"Oh, how sad. Ok, but do you have a tinted moisturizer? It is so lovely. The other ones are not tinted so they are not lovely. This one looks great."
"Neutrogena?"
"Yes! So you have it?"
"No, I was just clarifying. It has a sunscreen in it and its' a tinted moisturizer?"
"Yes! Oh, it looks so lovely on my skin, which has an olive complexion. I mean, I am not a dark olive. Just a slightly tinted one. And this moisturizer looks fantastic on me. The other ones do not. Because they are not tinted."
"I understand. Well, we did have that moisturizer, but we do not anymore. I bought mine off the clearance shelf, although I am not an olive. So, we do not carry that kind any longer. Perhaps I can transfer you to a manager who can try to locate it at another store?"
"Oh yes, that would be fantastic! It is such a lovely tint."
"Ok. Uh, hang on."
Shortly after transferring I see my manager look for the moisturizer in the aisle. I yell to him that we don't have it, I need for him to check another store. He looks stressed and confused (he is in the cosmetics department, after all). He picks up the phone and tells her to call another branch. Then he looks to me and asks if we have a perfume called P.S I Love You. This is how I lose my mind every shift.
Actually, she had called twice. This was the second conversation because I had to get management involved.