Adventures in Retail

So, many of you have been asking about how my job is going at the BAY, well it is definately none to exciting nor challenging. I keep telling myself that it is a job and it does pay something. Next to nothing, a third of what I was making in Japan, not enough for me to live off of, but who is complaining, right?

We have sales targets we have to meet each shift but, I the retail goddess has not been doing so well with that benchmark. I was never a person to go with all the rules anyways...
I try to meet the target but I am just not aggressive enough...too laid back. I kind of let them off the hook when they say well, I will think about it. I cheerfully, say okay, no worries take your time. Mistake in retail I tell you. And let's not even talk about the requirement that I sign someone up for a BAY card every shift...no where near that target.

But lucky me on Sunday, I hit my target. So, why did I make my sales on Sunday, was it the charming personality, the smile and tilt the head combo, the dimples, or even the aggressive sales technique. Actually it was due to the couple from China who needed souvenirs for their relations in China. Thank god for the omiyage tradition in Asian countries. They bought 13 watches from me...yup 13 watches. It was a pretty easy sell. They were not designer 100$ watches that would have made it an even better day but at $25 a pop it was enough to put me over my target for the day. Yippie!! I did spend about an hour with them though and showed them almost all the watches we had. It made me feel better cause earlier that morning I let another associate have my customer who bought a 799$ tennis bracelet..I was hitting myself after that one.

So far my co-workers have been really nice to me. They have helped me out a lot with the cash training and letting me know which key goes in which display. I cannot believe how many keys they are and how many different locks they go in. You would think that someone would label some of them. User Interface nightmares here.

Most of them are young and around my age. We all laugh and chat quite a bit but not when the manager is around, I have dubbed her "Mother Hen", cause from the moment your shift starts to the moment it ends she will not stop clucking at you. "Do you know your targets for today, you need to get an instant credit today, stop chatting, circulate.....it does not stop. Little did you know that the BAY is an intense sales driven arena of showcases and watches. The bright lights and the intense clucking are enough to drive a person insane.

So, those are this weeks tales from the BAY...Next weeks tales include the story of mother hen, who is mysteriously found to have been locked in a display by a disgruntled new employee.