Retail Holiday Stress

Mucho apologies for not writing in so long! I've actually got a moment to breathe in between working and chasing after my Christmas obsessed son, so I thought I'd write a little bit. The Saturday after Thanksgiving I bundled up Jeremy, and we went to Twin Falls with my friend Chelsea to do some early Xmas shopping. Well....she shopped, we just kind of tagged along. I was broko loco at that time, but it was fun to get out of Elko for a day and actually walk through other stores besides Walmart. There was some really, really cute clothes I found that I REALLY wanted to buy for myself, but I stuck to my guns and didn't. I'm glad now, since the money I would've used to pay for them ended being spent on Xmas gifts for others. Since my birthday's two weeks after Christmas, I can spoil myself then. Chelsea applauded my self control, lol. Anyway, towards the end of the day she wanted to stop in Barnes & Noble. I hesitated at first, then slunk through the front door feeling like a traitor to my own shop. But, I reasoned that as long as I didn't buy anything, I wasn't really a traitor. I actually got in a conversation with one of the employees, where I discovered something very interesting. It doesn't matter which bookstore you work in, we all have two things that really get on our nerves.

1. Parents that let their kids run loose as soon as they walk in the door.

and,

2. People who don't think before they ask for help.

I'm not trying to be mean, but it's true. There's many times where I'd have a customer walk up and say something like, "I'm looking for a book. I don't know the author or the title, but I know it's about kites. And the cover is blue. Can you tell me where it would be?" Then they get angry when I tell them I need more information to help them. Sometimes I feel like saying, "I'm sorry, but having ESP is not one of my job requirements." They also expect our little local bookstore to have the inventory of a huge chain shop. Don't get me wrong, we can order in anything the "big guys" have, we just don't have every book ever written in actual possession. And, since right now is the Christmas season, some people can be especially desperate to get that perfect gift for someone.

This time of year our boss has us doing book orders several times a week, just so we can get in the books our customers want in plenty of time for Christmas. And, for the most part, our customers are really awesome. Every year we put up a Christmas tree with stars of local kids in need. Customers can pick out a star, find a book for that kid, and the child receives a great present at school before winter vacation. This year, we had 160 stars, and only two weeks to get books purchased for all of them. We came up with the idea of finding books for a bunch of stars at a time and putting them in a basket by the registers. Then, when a customer was checking out, we'd ask if they'd like to purchase a book in the basket, thus negating the time it would take for the customer to select a book themselves. It worked! By the time the Elko Reading Council came to collect the books, every star had a book attached. I must admit though, having to lay on the sugar to every customer so they would purchase a book was not my favorite thing to do. I was so sickeningly sweet I was making myself nauseous. But, we helped a lot of kids, so it was all worth it.

Now we're down to the last week before Christmas, and shoppers are getting more of an edge. I have to remind myself several times a day it's my job to help these people to the best of my ability and keep a smile on my face the entire time. I think I might do the overly happy bookstore clerk bit this last week. That always manages to provide some entertainment for myself and my coworkers. Well, they'll probably want to hang me with my Santa hat, but oh well, it's all in good fun.

Everyone have a safe and wonderful holiday! Peace and Love!