Last Splash

The gene pool could use a little Chlorine.

Today I have come to a realization about success. While I was employed in a job where I had a lot of responsibility and was very well-payed accordingly, I thought success meant getting promoted and getting raises. That was my measure for having a successful career. I think I may have been wrong on this one.

I'm interviewing for a position that probably 60% of high school graduates could do effectively. It pays about half what my former job did, and with it comes the repsonsibility of managing one person: myself. It's a job a lot of people may be bored with, or think was easy or beneath them. I used to be one of the people that would think that, so I know. I used to think that I had to work my ass off to gain fancy titles to make up for the fact that I do not have a college educated mind. (Just a life educated one, and a very opinionated one at that.) After interviewing with six different managers at this very small company, I'm realizing that while the job might be simple, the people that work there are friendly, jovial, and down to earth. They laugh with each other, they tease each other, and they work together in a positive way. This is so much more important to me than any title I would have. I realized halfway through my second interview with them something I had forgotten back when I interviewed for my former job almost five years ago: the company is sometimes more important than the job. My previous employer went through a lot of changes since I began, changes that made them different from the company I started with in 2003. The reason I chose that company was because of the people, and 80% of the people had changed.

I'm also ready to start a family. Everyone says that when you are ready to have kids, it just hits you, like overnight, and for five years I've gone along and said "yeah, one day that could be me...I mean, it would be nice and all, but I'm happy with my lifestyle now" but I haven't really felt the time was right. Before I lost my job, my husband and I were talking about trying around Christmas, but still not committed to it. Then, I lost my job, and suddenly had nights and weekends off with him and we started to do things as a family, and it just clicked. I am ready. This is the right time. It's amazing how a drastic change in income makes you realize that there are lots of nights out and fancy meals and $25 bottles of wine and massages and pedicures and giving expensive gifts and going back to Marin County for your anniversary you can give up and still be just as happy.

So, that really solidified what my new definition of success will be: a job that gives me time to spend with my family and a work environment where I feel comfortable with everyone I work with, and being a good wife, mom, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, and friend. And hockey fan.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 15:28 | link | comments |
the retail beast

So, this time it's only been three months, right? What's changed? I'm an aunt, the office is painted, and I lost my job. No kidding...I made a dumb mistake and got fired for it. But I'm not bitter, not at all. In fact, once I had that first weekend off and then realized I didn't have to work Black Friday or Christmas Eve for the first time in almost 10 years, any sense of regret flew out the window.

I'm in a new phase in life now...feeling like maybe what I was doing only felt right because it was what I knew for so long, but after interviewing for some jobs with less pressure, less hours, and less turnover, I feel like I'm where I need to be. Albeit less money, too, but if I ever want to start a family then I need to find a job that will allow me the freedom to spend time with my family.

So, for now...I have a lot of time on my hands, my resume is burning up the internet, and I am spending every weekend doing exactly what I want to do. Not at a mall. I'm home with my husband in the evening, I've discovered that I really do have a passion and a knowledge for cooking, and I have seen my mom, sister, grandmother, and John's grandparents more in the last month than the entire six months before that.

I promise this time, it will not be six or even three months. I have to keep you guys updated on the job search, the beautiful niece that I'm going to visit tonight after dropping by my favorite culinary landmark in Chapel Hill, and how my enormous homemade Christmas project is going. There is very little Christmas giving going on this year that does not come out of my creative mind (or an extensive internet search for DIY presents). We're making homemade liqueurs, chile scented olive oil, spice rubs, doggie bark, Christmas scented topiary trees, newspaper firelogs, biscotti, shortbread cookies, and the ever popular cookies in a jar. And there's only one store in a hundred mile radius that carries chocolate extract, and they also happen to have the best wine dept in NC. Wish me luck!

posted by: Cannonball14 at 19:58 | link | comments (3) |
the retail beast

From the mind of my good friend Windhazel (I'm to lazy to bother linking, sorry) comes a light in the bleary uninspired day I'm having: a post about low rise jeans. Now, being a retail professional and "fit expert" I will promote a reasonable amount of low rise in jeans: the kind you find at Eddie Bauer or like stores catering to a population whose general age is 22 and above.
If the waistband sits approximately 2 fingers' width below your belly button, you are wearing them correctly (unless you have no hips, so you buy them a size or two too small and they are squishing you to create the "muffin top" look...in which case you are a very classy lady). They can be a very comfortable alternative for a girl like me, who is 5'9" tall and all legs. Long pants usually have a crotch that hits me at mid-thigh, causing me to hike them up almost above my true waist to fit properly, which is just not comfortable. However, I need the 34" and higher inseam, so lower rise jeans in tall fit perfectly. Especially the ones that are made to rise higher in the back than the front: thank you!

Now, I'm pretty sure this is not the type of low-rise jean Windhazel refers to, so let me share my theory on clothing manufacturers. Years ago, let's say we're nearing the decade mark, a strange thing happened. Analysts pinpointed that the highest amount of buying power came from the teenage range, particularly females between the ages of about 15-23, and surpassed both the young professionals demographic and the middle age female category. At the same time, Prozac started becoming overprescribed to young females (who were probably suffering from PMS but were misdiagnosed with depression) and Prozac and like anti-depressants makes you gain weight in the stomach region. So, as girls were hitting puberty, their bellies grew and their hips did not, and women with hips were buying less. So certain big manufacturers (the Gap is who I would call the worst offender, follwed closely by Abercrombie, J.Crew, and the Limited brand companies) began slowly changing the fit of their clothes to widen the waist and narrow the hips of women's pants. Since apparently they could not find a waist to sit the band on, they just gave up and said "if we make them so they fit lower, we can put smaller sizes in them b/c of the waistband measurement, and create value by making women feel they are smaller". And since the Gap, Abercrombie, and above mentioned stores were driving the retail market at the time, other retailers followed suit. Or so my theory.

But there's good news, Windhazel and those others that fear ultra low rise supremacy: recently the mid-range female category retook the top posting and is having a resurgence, and super high rise styles were featured in recent spring runway shows. I think we can proudly say that while the mom-jean is not back, women that want jeans to fit are making their voice heard with buying power and choosing jeans made by retailers like Eddie Bauer, J.Jill, and Lee. So, we will survive. And those nasty bad retailers that pushed pubic-rise jeans on us: they're about to do their time. Gap essentially lost it's base market (young professionals) just as they (YP's) started to make money, and to regain customers they are spending ALL of their money on Advertising instead of quality clothing, which means they are now selling at a much higher markdown rate and losing bottom line. Abercrombie's numbers are not nearly where they used to be b/c the surge in guest-service-focused companies means their "brand-representative" as opposed to "sales associate" approach is simply not working, and when was the last time you saw a line at The Limited?

posted by: Cannonball14 at 16:53 | link | comments (4) |
meow, the retail beast

I worked another store opening this week, and wouldn't you know that on my lunch break one day I passed a girl of somewhere between 17 and 20 (I'm really getting much worse at judging ages now...high school girls look waaaay too young to be driving) that said to her friend as they were passing Soho Shoes "oh, did you know they have Ugg boots?"

Now, I guess that because I have a somewhat interest in trends and fashions, seeing as how I'm a 'retail professional' or whatever you want to call me, this comment disturbed me. Because she didn't say it with a sneer, such as "can you believe they're still carrying Uggs...as if...". She said it with a "hey, Uggs are so hard to find around here where people don't wear turtlenecks and we get an inch of snow ever 2.7 years...I'm so glad there's finally a shoe store that carries them".

I guess I just assumed that all high schoolers were current on fashion trends b/c of the readily available Glamour-Cosmo-Jane-Marie Claire magazines that I, too, loved as a young adult [and still do as a guilty pleasure (except Cosmo...I realized somewhere around 6 years ago that they basically have a rotation of 16 articles that they just repeat in succession, changing names and minor details with each issue)]. But I guess I was wrong. And maybe she only reads trendy fashion mags circa 2002.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 16:11 | link | comments (4) |
meow, the retail beast

All right, kids. I am back in full swing. My store is in hiatus. Latest news is that I might open on Black Friday, which is crazy and unheard of in the retail world, but hey...it's be a guaranteed success. Wedding plans are ripening quickly. We're still searching for a cake. Meeting a DJ today. Freaking out about doing my flowers myself. Freaking out about how expensive flowers are, even if you do them yourself. Bought the bachelorette airplane tickets. Picked out flower girl dresses for my mom to sew. Just realized I have to address 100 invites in the next 3 weeks. Holy Crap.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 18:11 | link | comments (8) |
the retail beast, bridezilla

Oh dear...I'm afraid I may be a convert to the legging. It's quite terrifying, actually, considering how much fun I've made of the gaucho girl fashion sense. Now, skinny pants have turned gauchos into *gasp* tights that stop mid-calf. And I was laughing like all the rest until today. I just got home form the salon. My hairdresser is a spitfire in her mid-30's, 5 foot nothing and 105 lbs soaking wet, the owner of a cool and trendy salon who has spent time in DC and Thailand. And today, she was wearing the cutest little slim-cut polka-dot dress. With leggings. And she looked adorable.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 20:21 | link | comments |
meow, the retail beast

I just lost a whole post. Damn. I have a job interview today. How did I prepare? By staying up late watching a rotating smorgasboard of Jimmy Kimmel (did he really get bit by a snake or was that just a Grey's Anatomy schtick?), The Surreal Life, and the Girls Next Door. And then I woke up early and had ice cream for breakfast. And, too lazy to make a fresh pot of coffee, I just reheated leftovers from yesterday's pot. Is that how you spell Anatomy?

In other news, Just Me is ignoring me because he is insanely jealous of my center-ice seats for the Eastern Conference Finals (and the Stanley Cup Finals as well, although I dare not assume that we will be going...one series at a time). Hey, I might have tickets to sell for game 7. Gate price is $90. I paid $60...strip pricing is the greatest. This will be the best series yet: whoever wins this series will likely win the Cup. It's almost anticlimactic, like when the Red Sox beat the Yankees in that dramatic fashion in 2004, and you almost didn't watch much of the World Series because the real deal was beating the Yankees.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 12:50 | link | comments |
the retail beast, the sports report

Self-confidance is a crazy beast. I've been feeling unattractive lately, and I can't really point out why...I haven't gained weight, but I'm not losing any either. And when I try to 'diet' the stress of dieting gets to me, and then I eat an asiago cheese bagel for breakfast and it snowballs from there. I've learned something very frustrating about shopping for wedding dresses...although 62% of women in the US are a size 14 or larger, most "full-service" bridal salons only carry sample dresses in sizes 8-14. So, if I want to see how a dress might fit on me, I have to endure fake sympathy from a size 6 bridal consultant as she brings me size 12 and 14 dresses to try on, most of which don't zip, some of which I can't even get over my lucious birthing hips, and then I have to step outside the comfort of the fitting room into the mirror room, where 3 or 4 people smaller than me watch as my mom and I look at the dress in the mirror, with her pulling it closed in the back so we can get a reasonable sense of what it will look like "in the right size" as the consultant so tactfully puts it. And then I'm expected to order a dress that I haven't even tried on for $800, for the most important day of my life.

On the outside, I'm probably seen as a very self-confidant person. I walk with my head up, take long strides, make eye contact if I see someone looking directly at me, don't fidget with my hair or self-conciously pull at my clothing. When I am in said bridal dressing room, I make jokes about my size, I make my mom laugh when I say things like "let's see how much of me we're gonna fit into this one". But after a day of this I do break down. I cry in the car, feeling frustrated and like I shouldn't even attempt this until I lose 20 pounds.

The most annoying part of being overweight comes from other people. People who are already a great, healthy, beautiful size and complain about all these "fat areas" they have that no one else can see. Men who are my height and weight 180 and complain that they're too heavy. Skinny girls who say "I know how you feel...trust me, it sucks being this thin...I would kill to have boobs like yours." I think that one hurts the worst, because until my freshman year in college I was one of them. I was 5'8" by eighth grade and weighed 115 from then pretty much until my senior year of high school. My nickname was "flatty". Boys seemed to like girls with bodies back then (when did that change?). I broke up with every boyfriend I had in high school because we progressed to the "second base" stage and I was embarrassed for him to touch my non-existent breasts. However, I know these girls are lying because I never wanted to be one of the fat chicks: I wanted to be one of the girls who had skinny waists with a little bit of a booty and some C-cup boobs. I didn't want to be the amazon girl that was already wearing a size 16 and had DD's. Nobody wanted to be that girl. And now I am.

And as hard as it is to admit that you don't have to be fat to be disgusted by your body, that is the way I feel sometimes. I hate hearing people who look good to me complain about their weight, their stomach, their flabby arms, whatever. I feel in a way like I've earned my right to complain. I know what it's like to be a girl that guys check out, I know how it feels to get whistled at and have doors held by strangers and see two guys looking at you while talking to each other across the room, and it hurts to know I am not that girl anymore. I am the observer now...the one watching the perky blond get the door held for her, and watching the same guy walk past me without acknowledging that I exist. (I am the girl who is beautiful in the face, but...)I watch men come into my store to shop for their wives and know that if they're a fairly young, attractive man, 90% of the time when I ask what size they need they are going to say "xs" or "4". I hated browsing the match or yahoo personal ads years ago and noticing that maybe 1 in 10 men used the words "slightly overweight" or "a little extra" when they chose what kind of body type they were looking for. (And "curvy" doesn't count when the other options you picked were slim, slender, thin, athletic, etc...you're just looking for a skinny girl with big boobs.)

None of these things are really important to me anymore, because I know I've found the man that loves everything about me, but it hurts just the same.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 16:00 | link | comments (1) |
meow, the retail beast, bridezilla

A note to all of you would-be shoppers out there:

When you are done trying something on in a store, give it to a sales associate or leave it in the fitting room. Do not leave it in the floor, hanging on any sharp knobs, or God forbid try to hang it back on the rack yourself. You may think you know how to button, zip, and arrange clothing on racks, but it's a much harder talent than it looks. Plus, you're lazy, and most of the time you don't bother to pay attention to how your piece of clothing looks compared to all of the others you're about to hang it with. We are there for a reason. It's boring in Jauary, and we really want something to do, and we've been trained on all of that crap. Plus we have boards to help us fold stuff, so you throwing an unfolded sweater on top of a stack is not necessary. It makes our store look junky. Really, if one of us offers to put something back for you, part of it is because we want to make your life easier and save you time, but the other part of it is that we know that later, while we're trying to sell someone that pair of size 4 jeans that are the last one in the store that you've accidentally hung backwards and unzipped in the petite section so that we can't find them, we will lose what just may be the $78 we need to hit our sales plan that day. And much later, when we stay for an hour to fold up everything you've gone through (which especially pisses us off when you either stay late or unfold every medium sweater in a stack b/c you just swear that they all fit differently) we will find it and a string of expletives will leave our mouths, all realeasing bad karma for you. You don't have to treat us like shit, either, because chances are we work just as hard as you do (especially if you are shopping at 2PM on a weekday) and actually enjoy offering assistance most of the time. Nope, when you're done in the fitting room, and you come out with your "yes" pile, a simple "is it ok that I left the stuff I didn't want in there?" will do. You uphold your end of the bargain, and we will uphold ours: to be pleasant, cheerful, honest, and knowledgable about our product so that you may actually enjoy shopping for clothes for once.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 20:56 | link | comments (8) |
the retail beast

Consumerism

Among other points...I'm sick of people saying that consumerism is bad. Consumerism can be troubling if you are buying things you cannot afford, this is true, but no one is making you buy them. I've seen people talking lately about American consumerism and how greedy and selfish we are. I'm sure this is true in some cases, and a lot of Americans have yet to recognize and figure out a way to contribute to huge worldwide problems, but everyone seems to forget that consumerism is what drives our economy. It creates the jobs of all the employees that work in retail, food and service, the hotel industry, plus all of the corporate and wholesale jobs that the retail world creates. Most importantly, it puts money back into our economy and tax system, so that our income taxes don't go new-asshole-tearing high.

A very smart man I know wants Congress to come out with the all sales-tax based tax system. Imagine: you might pay 20% sales tax, but every cent of your paycheck comes to you. I'm sure lots of people will cry that the rich are putting more taxes in than the poor, but it works because your taxes are based on what you buy.

And an addendum to the Wal-Mart thing, I'm not anti Wal-Mart in any way. I actually think it's a great company providing jobs for a lot of hard-working people that my tax money would be paying to support if they didn't work at Wal-Mart. And people can complain about their low wages (no lower than an average retailer, especially big box retailers) but Wal-Mart is a PUBLIC company, and what is their best employee benefit? Stock options, hello. Everyone, from the CEO to the lowliest stockperson, gets stock options. That's like a built in bonus. If I have any complaint about Wal-Mart, it's that I wish they wouldn't choose a location so close to an existing location, clear a swatch of trees to build it, then leave the old one sitting empty for years.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 14:47 | link | comments (5) |
the retail beast, political bullshit

Ahhhh, the pressure of a job promotion. I feel good...I've a had a good week so far and worked my butt off. One thing I wish I could grow out of is my need for praise to feel like I'm doing a great job. Before I was promoted, I got lots of praise because I was doing "above and beyond". Now of course, I'm just doing my job, so not much praise is warranted. I'm feeling more pressure to get to everything than I was before, more dejected when something is missed or went wrong, and less pride when something is great because it's no longer more than what's expected of me. It's just what is expected of me. I want my staff to be happy and stress-free, and my DM to feel like I'm the best. Does that make me a people pleaser, or just a good manager?

posted by: Cannonball14 at 20:51 | link | comments (1) |
the retail beast

I have nothing interesting to say.

I think I may have PMS. I had two days off work this week, and when I came back into my store yesterday I was like 'what the hell happened'. One of our new managers has this insanely annoying habit of leaving clothes everywhere...clothes on hangers on top of the folding table, clothes on our concierge desk, folded clothes draped over the hangbar in the fitting room. CLEAN UP YOUR GODDAMN CLOTHES! ...that felt better. She does a great job, really, I'm just one of those anal-retentives that has to have the counters cleaned off and the mess put away. Unless I'm at home, where I seem to let it all slide a little too much!

I made fajitas the other night. Hint: you can't shred lettuce on a mini shredder.

I think it must be PMS. I quit my birth control randomly. I hate birth control. Would someone explain to me why it will work for 6 months, and then all of a sudden it's like BAM...thought you had another week before your period? You're wrong...I'm coming today! A week early! (And this has happened with 4 different kinds.)

Okay, that's all I got. Disappointing, I know. But I feel better!

posted by: Cannonball14 at 14:55 | link | comments (2) |
the retail beast

A hint for all the sorostitutes...gauchos...once a discount store is airing a commercial for them, they're available in child's sizes, and older women (like, 60+) are asking for them, I think it's safe to say that trend is, thankfully, over...

posted by: Cannonball14 at 12:56 | link | comments (4) |
meow, the retail beast

See, I promised myself I wouldn't write about work, but it's my damn blog...what the hell is it for anyway? So, work is good. It's great, even. My boss is gone for six weeks on a temporary promotion, so I'm in charge. Seems great if you like *power trips* but then I sit down and realize, it's mine...for fourth quarter. Damn. So, what happens in December? What if she doesn't want the permanent position? I'm okay with that, because I'm patient. I will fight for what I want and the truth is, I don't WANT a new store. I want my store. I don't care if it's a longer drive, it's my staff, my schedules, my visuals, my numbers and charts and graphs (no, actually, those came with...). I know I sound me me me right now, but honestly, she's done a great job training me, and she's ready to move on. Other managers call me for advice, questions, to talk to their assistants, and I'm starting to make some connections throughout our district. My biggest fear? That she'll leave and my DM will hire a new manager because she's giving me whatever new store is opening in my area. But I don't want a new store. The new store will be closer to where I want to settle, yes, but it will be half the volume of mine. Loud sigh. Fourth quarter. A lot of pressure. We set ourselves a goal of 2.5M (a little more than 500K above last year) and I've got a million to go. Alone. It's my test. We'll see how bad I want it.

posted by: Cannonball14 at 14:34 | link | comments |
the retail beast