Associate Overcrowding

Thought of the Day:

Having left yesterday, my parents were out of town once again all day today in New Castle, IN, with my brother's baseball team—even though he had no scheduled games today, it would be pointless to make the trip home just to drive up again early tomorrow. I got up at 8:20 this morning to get ready for work, so before leaving I ate breakfast of a bowl of cereal, fed the dog, showered, fixed a lunch for myself to eat during my break this afternoon, retrieved the newspaper from the mailbox, and glanced through a few sections. I ended up heading out for the day just after 9:30 and getting to the mall early as usual. I ran into Amy Dean upstairs while going to clock in, and she pointed out that it is kind of bad that we work at the same place in adjacent departments but never really get to see or talk to each other, so we held back for a moment to catch up with one another. She asked me how my summer was going, and I basically said that I couldn't complain; she said that hers has been pretty good as well—we both then acknowledged that the whole college scene is going to creep up on us faster than either of us can even imagine right now (she's going to Bellarmine next month). It is always a great thing to see a familiar face in the morning to start off the day because it makes it seem that going to work for me is not solely working in a shoe department (a bad pun could be made right here), but also it is about associating with one's coworkers in a friendly setting.

I arrived down on the floor in time to start my shift set to begin this morning at ten o'clock. When I entered the stockroom to get my goal sheet however, my coworker Susan quickly handed me a package and some other loose pieces of paper, explaining that the associate business cards that our manager Marcella ordered had come in and that I needed to fill out five customer cards in order to invite people to the department's back-to-school fitting event next weekend. Two thoughts came along with this presentation of new information, the first being that Marcella must be crazy to think that every associate in the department has a need for business cards—I am leaving in about three weeks for college, making it totally unnecessary for me to prospect for customers loyal to my sales habits. The second related thought was that Marcella also must be a little too overoptimistic about the upcoming fitting event—I've heard the results from my coworkers about the one they sponsored last year in which almost no one showed up, but I guess I'll just go along with the flow. Making it out of the backroom, I realized that there were already four scheduled associates to start off the workday when I got there (Susan and myself along with Makenzie Kidd and Robert Shoopman). Business was steady today, but with an overabundance of workers in the department there were often several dull moments with nothing to do as we just stood around with no one to help.

Just before one o'clock I made a catalog order for an order woman who desired a style of shoe that we had in stock but just not the size of the color she wanted; she seemed very grateful to receive my assistance in getting what she wanted, which definitely made me feel good about the sale. Around 1:10 I encountered a kid who over by the athletic shoes who said that he recognized me from somewhere; I responded that he most likely did know me from somewhere (since I am involved in umpteen different activities). He thought I might be from Providence, so I said that I just graduated, and he then said that his cousin Jake just graduated as well at which point I made the connection that he went to Sacred Heart and was the kid by whom I sat during the grade school tour back in December—he was actually the one to point out that I was one of the Popcorn Players who came to his school though [see 07 Dec 2004]. Sometimes kids deserve a lot more credit than people give them because they have excellent memories (especially to remember people whom they last saw nearly eight months ago). At about the same time just after talking with Jake Stengel's cousin, Amy came into the department accompanied by Heather Bowling—she was leaving for her lunch break and Heather had come to join her so they could eat at Subway together in the mall. They just wanted to come by and check in to see what I was up to and chat for a minute (I might have asked to join them if it weren't that I didn't get lunch for another hour or so).

I successfully opened up my third charge account for a customer today around 1:40 without anyone's help all by myself, thus adding two dollars to my next paycheck. Early on this morning I actually started asking people if they had accounts through the store, and if they didn't if they cared to open one; I carried this out with nearly every customer today to see if they would in fact fill out an application and open an account with me. What prompted this suddenly was the fact that the "magic number" of the day was unreasonably high today, having noticed all the signs when I came into work, so I thought I might try my best to contribute to lowering it and building business in the company (as the important executives might put it). This particular lady who was interested in the charge account was shopping with her two children and obviously was enticed by the ten-percent discount she would receive upon applying—she was approved as she knew she would be, giving me the chance to walk the ticket down to the catalog desk after ringing up her purchases at the register to have my name announced over the intercom a few minutes later. It wasn't too long after that that I was able to take my lunch break around 2:30, at which point I clocked out upstairs and walked out to my car to get my lunch. I proceeded into the main part of the mall toward my preferred area in which to eat, but it was unusually full leaving me with no choice but to walk down the connecting corridor a little to find another table.

Upon getting halfway through my sandwich this afternoon while sitting alone right outside the Subway, I noticed my coworker Amanda Davis in the mall walking toward me. She had come to the mall early before her scheduled shift to get something to eat, later noticed me in the mall, and just wanted to know if she could have lunch with me so that neither of us would end up eating by ourselves. I definitely welcomed her company as we spent the next fifteen minutes or so together having lunch and just talking with each other in an effort to get to know each other a little better. We tried to figure out the people we both knew in common, and it turned out that I knew several of her friends at Providence and she knew several of my friends at New Albany (she graduated this past May like me in the same class as Katie Haas and Ashleigh Coffey). We also talked about college some since we're both headed there next month even though she is staying here whereas I am going away; we also discussed the shoe department a little, both in agreement that too many people get scheduled to work at one time making it hard for anyone to reach his or her goal. I felt somewhat embarrassed with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bag of broken pretzels, and bottle of lukewarm water compared to her chicken nuggets, french fries, and soft drink (she did ask if I tried to eat healthy), but it was okay and I was more than happy to have someone to eat with and talk to this afternoon.

Amanda had to report for her shift at three o'clock, so we both finished up in time for her to get to the store. With thirty minutes still left in my break, I decided to walk down to Waldenbooks in order to do my normal browse of the store—I glanced through a book of some political humor, looked on the shelf of the classic literature, and scanned the religious and reference shelves for anything that might look interesting (unfortunately nothing did though). I went back to the store at about 3:20 after going back to my car and then clocking in again, but the time after my break until I got off for the day was shorter than my time leading up to my break from this morning. Around five o'clock this evening, I noticed my aunt Carol's sister Laverne shopping in the department obviously for shoes, but I know before today's encounter that she is an avid shopper of all kinds of things (I've heard the stories from the trips to Chicago that she and Carol have taken with my mom and other aunts). I talked with her for a few minutes before helping her get a pair of shoes from the back, and I found out that she actually works with Craig Eberle—I knew that both of them were in the reality business, but I guess I just didn't make the connection that they worked for the same company much less at the same location. I filled her in on my college plans and explained why she found me working at J.C. Penney today (my method of making a few extra dollars for college), and she said that she had been over at Chris and Carol's house yesterday for my cousin Kaitlin's birthday.

Nearing the end of my shift, I wrote a note to Marcella upon Susan's suggestion concerning the afternoon I asked off for next Sunday in order to attend the Notre Dame Mass and picnic at Bellarmine. Evidently Robert put in a late request for time off and had to lie his way through the request (sort of) to get it approved not too long ago, so because of this there was a sign in the backroom this morning announcing that Marcella would like all requests for time off made personally with her in addition to being made through the associate Internet site. I explained in the note that I had a "college function" and expressed my hope that she would understand why I needed the day off—supposedly the big back-to-school sale is that same weekend, so I am deeply hoping that Marcella will put my school priorities above those of her department. At this point in my life, very few things apart from spending time with my family are more important than my education, and even though Sunday's event is just a social activity that the alumni club sponsors, I still feel like it is a valuable thing for me to attend. I ended my shift fifteen minutes late because I was waiting to see if a customers I was assisting was going to buy the shoes I helped her son with (she didn't buy them after all making my extra minutes worthless). That failed purchase made me come up about fifty-five dollars short of my goal today, but I still sold over seven hundred dollars worth of shoes and achieved a great unit score today of 1.48 after selling thirty-one pairs in twenty-one transactions.

I left the store just after 6:15 this evening to head home for the night and got home around fifteen minutes later to pretty much call it a night. I brought in the mail that had been sitting in the mailbox all afternoon (since my sister would never think to bring it in). While doing so, I noticed that my IUS Sociology professor's husband sent a letter addressed to my dad through the mail, but I do not know what the envelope might contain—I am just hoping it is a receipt for the yard damage that I caused back on the first day of March [see 01 Mar 2005] and not a nasty note filled with heated anger. I immediately fixed myself some dinner upon getting home, warming up some leftover tortellini from Thursday evening and passing up on the leftover pizza from yesterday (but I can still eat that all next week anyway). During my dinner, I looked through the two leftover sections of the newspaper, flipped through the archdiocesan newspaper that came in the mail today, and scanned my dad's latest entertainment magazine and my latest Mensa magazine (neither of which were very interesting today). I was the only one home tonight since Kristin spent the whole afternoon and part of this evening at Ryan Miller's sister's wedding at O.L.P.H. and reception somewhere in Jeffersonville—she came home briefly at one point but left again to go back to Ryan's house with a group of friends, leaving me alone at the house (but I have actually grown to enjoy the solitude).

Following dinner I spent some time on the computer and discovered around 8:45 whiled logged into my associate account that I a new hiree appraisal had been posted on my list of tasks for me to read. Glancing over the report, I was pleased to see that Marcella mostly gave me positive ratings saying that my performance matched employee expectations, but I was marked as deficient in making catalog referrals and charge applications (both of which I proudly did today). Still, catalog orders and new charge accounts do not happen everyday for every person, and obviously some people like Susan are much better at making them happen than others—I am hoping though that I can be more assertive when it comes to these options at the store (I still have to be certified in making catalog orders anyway). On the appraisal I had to electronically sign that I had read the report and associated manager's comments, as part of which Marcella wrote that I am an "asset to the department," which made me feel good to have the approval of the person who is in essence my boss. Today actually marked one month exactly since I started working at J.C. Penney [see 30 Jun 2005], and I will admit that it really hasn't been as bad as I thought it could possibly be in the beginning. I know my way around pretty well and am finally able to reason certain situations out by myself that may arise during a shift; I still need help off and on when odd situations come up, but I am definitely more confident now.

One year ago...
My brother's regional baseball tournament started this morning in Niles, MI, with a game against the state champion from Wisconsin—his team ended up winning by one run, holding the score in the seventh inning to secure a victory for themselves. This afternoon, my parents, my sister, and I visited Notre Dame (my first time actually to visit the campus since junior high when my youth group took a side trip to see the university during a youth ministry activity). Happening on the guest relations desk, we found out about an admissions meeting to take place that afternoon, so the four of us proceeded to the main building and sat in on the information session in which we watched a short video (the one I've seen many times now) and listened to an admissions counselor speak. Later that evening, my mom, Kristin, and I ate dinner apart from all of the team members at Pizza Hut near the motel in South Bend; we ended up sampling a new kind of pizza that the chain was offering at the time as part of a promotional deal. Tonight back at the motel, most of the team parents stayed out late in the parking lot holding their own small impromptu party, but I went to bed early in the room in order to avoid the inebriated chaos outside.