Customers, Creative Minds and Whoopie Pies

Today is a bit overcast outside, it is hard to be a creative mind when it is dreary outside.  I want sunshine in my life, I want customers in my life and I wanted a Lemon Whoopie Pie today.  I wanted the WP because it was offered to me and I am trying to be good with eating all the junk.  Well that goes down the tube when I am offered anything lemon.  It could have gone down the tubes with the offer of anything that sounded good but I only want you to think that I have a weakness for lemon right now.  

Now I get to work everyday and I want to be so productive, so I get right to work on projects and particulars that I have thought to do.  Today was no different.  I love when I first come to work because I am a go getter, a girl on a mission, a self help guru!!!!  I can and will conquer the world.  This was true for the the first hour or two this morning.  And I get the first two or three things done and then I decided that I was hungry.  And I remember that I was given the Lemon Whoopie Pie today, not just any whoopie pie but a HUGE Whoopie with Lemon Cakes on the top and the bottom and Lemon Pie filling in the middle of a whole lot of whipped cream.  You know the kind you have to hold with two hands.  Well it was looking really good after the third thing I got accomplished so I decided to sit down and have some of it.  Some of it became all of it and I am still reeling from the sugar coma I am in.  So that girl with the ambition that was going to get it all done today, the girl with big dreams, she is asleep in the corner of the store on a dreary day, hoping for customers that don't mind the snoring..... 

Note to self:  Lay off the Whoopie Pies!!!!!  

Always,

A slightly sugared up shop keeper that is going to have to go buy new pants if she keeps eating like this.  

I knew it was to good to last

So here is a doozy for ya!  This lady walks in today, I speak just like I do to all of my customers, it is something I take pride in.  I really don't like for people come and have it seem like I can't be bothered to speak, not that they all speak back but that is another story.  She speaks, looks around and about 20 minutes later she comes to the counter with some candy.  I ring it up and it comes to 16 dollars and some change.  She unfolds a paper that barely is holding together.  It is a promotion that we ran TWO YEARS AGO.  I kindly point out the expiration date of 5/1/12 and tell her that I cannot accept it.  When we run promotions like that there are rules for a reason.  Those rules were plainly written and it was a digital promotion that made sure that before you purchased it and printed it you were aware that it had to be used within one month.  Apparently I was talking gibberish because she just looked at me and said" so you aren't going to honor this?" I am afraid I took a deep breath, and said "well when you purchased it you knew the rules."  She then proceeded to tongue lash me about how other businesses would just go good for it and that I should too, that it wasn't her fault that she couldn't get here since then, that I was being ridiculous, yep she said ridiculous....  so nicely,  I took her damn coupon, I applied it to purchase and told her that she still owed me six dollars and some change.  She said the coupon was for $20.00 and I said well if you read the fine print it says that if you use it after the month expiration date up to a year later it is only worth what you paid for it, which was $10.00.  I am not sure that she will be back.  But since I haven't seen her in two years, I am guessing that might not be what breaks me.  I could very well break but I don't want it to be by the likes of someone like that...    

 

As always, a heart felt and heavy hearted Shop Keeper that wants to make everyone happy without doing myself in.  

Uneventful is not always a bad thing!

Today has been a good day, no one in to ask for money, no one in asking for things I didn't have on my shelves already and no one expecting more out of me than I could give.  

That means it has been a good day in this shop-keeper's life.  I came home smiling and feeling like life is good, life has meaning and that I must have been put in this position for a reason, no matter good, bad or indifferent.  

I know you are thinking "this broad, she is nuts".... but when Uneventful days happen I feel like the Queen of Hearts.  Loved from all angles, good at what I do, almost invincible... That's right, I rule the world!  My world, this little piece of real estate that I call my castle, it's townsfolk.   Even my own mind did not take over today, it did not rule me.  I, on the other hand, ruled it all!!!!

You see, the people who own retail shops, they need these days because without them we might give up, we might give in to those tears that well up in our eyes or the ache in our hearts.  When we have good days, they give us hope, hope for the future one day at a time.  So for tonight I am going to wear my tiara home and rule the day, for tomorrow may be a different story.  The difference is I will start tomorrow with the hope from today!

Always a Heartfelt Shop-Keeper

Time flies when your having fun....or not!!!!

I haven't written in awhile here... I know it is not good for people to know who is writing this... it seems like I am cynical, bitter, and a bit off my rocker.  But I find that what I have to say has to be said so that I don't go out of my mind.... so that I can find a way to let go of all the bad.  I am not trying to dump on people, I am trying to keep what little peace of mind I have.  So I have decided to write again, so that I can put it out there, instead of it piling up in my mind...

Like I have said before, I am only letting you know about some of the bad that happens in my shop, so that you know, I try hard, I try really hard to make my customers happy but the world that we live in now is taking it's toll on me.  

Yesterday I had a sales rep in.  No she did not have an appointment, she instead decided to cold call.  After 10 years of cold calls I do not appreciate them.  I know that sounds a bit "cold" but they are inconvenient.  No matter when.  You decide if you would have thought the same.  You can decide the same or not, but remember that I am the one that sits here day after day hoping for customers, hoping that I can pay my bills, and hoping that we (the shop) will make it through another day, week, month and year.  

She walked through the door and said she was from Gift Craft (huge company, all imported).  She told me her name, I don't remember it, sorry.  Asked me if I knew her company?  I said yes, we had done business with her company in the past.  She said she wasn't aware that we had ever done business with them.  Then she asked if I had time to look at her things...... seriously?  You can see that there are two other people here, so what makes her think that I will turn my back on those two people.  They could have been customers, other sales reps, friends, or anything else.  She had no idea, so for her to presume that I wanted to look at her things right then.....ugh, Strike # 1.  So she asked if I will make an appointment, I say No that I don't want to make an appointment at this time.  She pushes further... Strike #2.  So I proceed to tell her that business has SUCKED, that we are barely making it, that we have had another very hard winter.  She insisted that I must be alone in this because she is placing orders all over the place.  Well that pisses me off because I have several business owners that I speak with on a regular basis and that is not what they are telling me.  So I also tell her that I am done with buying from big import companies only to have them sell off all of their overstock to discount stores without offering it to us first at those rates.  She tells me her company isn't doing that and again insists that if I would only give her a bit of my time that she knows she has product that would do better in my store than what I am selling now. I tell her that I am more interested in selling handmade now, or USA made.  She tells me that there is no mark up in that and that is probably not the smartest idea, that I should be selling to the tourists, that might help me not to be so idle,  Strike #3.  Seriously, you have never set foot in my store until yesterday, when you decided to cold call on me because you were driving by.... you walk in and assume that I am doing well because the shelves are stocked, you believe I should give you an appointment right there on the spot so that you won't have to drive back from where to hell ever that you came from... and then you make a decision that you know what is going to sell better for me than I do after 10 years of me doing this.  Well Chicky, you will never get an appointment with me to sell me a bunch of imported items that will eventually go on sale at the dollar general...that's right that is where I see some of your items.  You also should know that if you hand me a card and ask me to make an appointment and I say not now, an appropriate answer would be to ask for my card and if you could call me at a later time.    And people wonder why I consider drinking on a daily basis lately.