Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Teachers DO NOT expect students to spend exorbitant amounts of money on class projects 23 September 2015

Holy Mackerel.
The first customer tonight clearly should have planned ahead. Clearly. The first thing she wanted was spray paint. Clear Coat...as many cans as you have. I tell her, "We have 21 cans..." She says, "Well, just get me half a dozen." So, I get them. Then she says she's looked all over the store for the button magnets. I walk over to the magnet section. There are two pegs which are empty, and so I scan them. They are the neodymium button magnets, and I was guessing these were probably the ones she was looking for. Probably. I scanned the tag holder. 21. Hmmm....checking out the overstock boxes. I see two possible boxes. Off to find a ladder. She's getting impatient as I'm trying to help her. Actually, she's getting downright rude. "Where are they?" "Why don't you keep them down here?" "Why are they in boxes?" Hmmmm....clearly she doesn't do this type of work. I find the ladder and check the boxes. Nope...She's m load. AND she says to me. "Where can I get some?" I suggest Walmart, Target, Home Depot, etc. She says she's been to all of them. She says, "I need these in 15 minutes. What are you going to do to get them?" I'm thinking...first of all woman, you should have taken your emergency to the hospital, because this isn't my emergency. Second, a month from now, you won't even care about the magnets. Third, if you need them in 15 minutes, you're beat. She asks if the other Michaels' have them? They might, but we'll have to call. She is ranting. I'm called to the register, and one of the assistant managers calls the Eastern store. After about 15 minutes of checking she finds some for said woman, who walked off and didn't even bother to say thank you. WOW!
I'm at the register and this woman brings up some Wilton things to bake a cake. Two 12" X 3", one of which is dented. She wants to "buy it, use it and then just return it because it's damaged." Ummmm.....no. I'll go get another. Which I do. But she continues to tell me she's going to return them anyway. WOW!
Then a woman brought in some journals and wanted an adjustment. She said she was "overcharged" for 15 and didn't get them...at the Rainbow and 215 store! Ummmm....you're going to have to go back there and take it up with them. They made the mistake.
Then there was the young guy with a cute little baby girl in a stroller. I'm guessing about 8 months. He was out shopping for his wife. She bought some pink glitter tulle, and when they opened it, glitter got all over the baby and she wanted him to exchange it for the glitter-less tulle. Mind you, glitter is ALL over the store right now. Between the Halloween stuff and the Christmas stuff, we are all covered with glitter. Even the inside of my car and my cat have glitter. But I see we might have some in the overstock, so off to get the ladder. I"m thinking I should just find some way to drag it around with me. I did find some and he was happy. Then he said his wife wanted some poster, the kind that "starts with an"R". I'm not sure what it is, but I'm sure she said it starts with an "R". We are all racking our brains. I don't know if he called her or what, but guess what. She wanted FELT. NO "R" in that. BUT we gave him credit for shopping for his wife, with the baby.
Then the cashier asked about people bringing guns into the store. It was in a holster. Asst. mgr. said that's fine as long as it's in the holster and they aren't waving it around. I was fine with it.
Several parents were there getting supplies for "projects those %&$#* teachers are having my kid do." WOW! Okay. Do I tell them I work at a middle school? Do I tell them I know hundreds of teachers who assign projects? Do I tell them that I have yet to meet a teacher who requires you to spend UNBELIEVABLE amounts of money on these projects?!?!?!? Depends on the people, if the student is with them, their attitude, etc. This one woman was downright rude about this teacher...so, there wasn't much sympathy from me. She didn't have said child with her, so this project which was supposed to be a drawing of a ten room habitat of some sort, with the rooms labeled, etc. turned into this wooden castle which opens up (about $40.00) and a myriad of other things. Total for this school project--a WHOPPING $163.47!!!! When my children were in school and doing projects, i NEVER spent that kind of money!!!!!! We went through stuff at home or figured out something. There were other projects too, but this was the most expensive. Most were around $50.00, which is still more than I would do.
Then this woman who "always buys flowers here" and "is a GREAT customer" wanted to exchange some flowers she bought in the spring...because they have black dots on them...Hmmmmm....NOT!
At 8:45 the line was long, many shoppers still coming in and still shopping. One guy didn't have enough money and needed to go and ask someone for more. The lights are out as it's after 9, and people in line are impatient. So am I...it's 9:07 and no one should be in line...but they are. OHHHHH....it was a long night. I'm glad that I've always worked with great people. Most of the customers were "sorry" to keep us late. I always wonder about that. When you come in to a store four minutes before it closes?
Such is life. Bobby came in. I love my children and love seeing them. That hug and kiss go a long way. I asked to borrow something from him...as usual, he was more than willing to help me out.
Bedtime...5AM comes early...

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

15 September 2015...WOW!

The evening started out great. One of the things I really enjoy in life is the hunt. The research. The ultimate find. The eye spy and ready or not here I come. We have these "guns" at Michaels. They are handy, dandy little devices which will tell you a myriad of things about an individual item. Everything you want, or don't want to know, this little, expensive device will tell you.
A young woman and her mom were searching for 12" X 12" canvases, which were on sale. I want to say they were buy three for the price of one. BUT there was only one on the shelf. I asked if I could help her and she said that someone already told her that was the only one. I scanned it. The gun read, 4 for the quantity on hand. Hmmm...now to find a ladder. Two of them were having a convention over in candles, so I grabbed one and brought it over to fine arts. After checking two of the boxes in the overstock on the cap shelves, I found two more 12" X 12" canvases. SWEET! They were excited. Now they didn't have to go to another Michaels. :)
I'd just finished helping them and an older couple were having some fun in the drawing/sketch pad aisle of fine arts. She was trying to put the sale ad back in the little holder which had come apart. He said to her, "Don't use your favorite saying, there's someone behind you I think can help." She laughed and I showed her how it was done. Then asked if there was anything they needed help with. "Well," he said, "I wanted three of these watercolor pads, but there's only one. We were told there weren't any more of them because they are on sale." Hmmmm....I scanned it, and there were supposed to be 8. To be fair, these guns don't catch up for about 24 hours. But, I said I would look, since I still had the ladder. I did find 6 more and they were very appreciative. We had a nice little chat about watercolors and painting, etc. They thanked me again, and were on their way.
Then a woman approached me wanting watercolor "wash".....what the heck?!?! BUT I hadn't heard what she said at first, only what someone was saying on the headset that she was looking for. So, off we went to the fine arts paint aisle...looking for "wash." What she wanted was watercolor gouache....OH...well, found that.
Next there was a woman who was planning a "Paris" party for her daughter. I think she said she was 10. She wanted a "scrapbook like this photo album, but with 50 pages, not 10." I asked if she was aware that you could add pages to the scrapbooks? No, she didn't know that. So I showed her how easy it was to do. Then we were looking for a suitable scrapbook. I took her to the drive aisle with a scrapbook display; the scrapbooks were on sale "3/$10.00" AND there was one with the Eiffel Tower and it said Paris on it; the colors were the colors you would see at dusk, purples, pinks, etc. She was in LOVE and it was "just what she was looking for!!!" AND "THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!"
Next was a girl about 10 with her mom. She was doing a project for school and wanted the wooden "Scrabble" tiles. I scanned the tag where they were supposed to be and it said we had 4. Off to get the ladder in fine arts. I found a box on the cap shelf which might have them. The number was right, but the letter wasn't. However, there were three bags of them in the box. They were excited. I handed her one of the bags and she asked how many letters there were in the bag. I told her 60. THEN the mom asked, "Is that enough? How many letters are in the alphabet?" I'm staring at her...thinking...you didn't just ask that did you? The girl says 26...the mom questions that answer. I'm still staring, not daring to shake my head or do anything which would make it seem like I'm going to laugh my head off at any moment. I assure her, as does her daughter, that there are indeed 26 letters in the alphabet. She wants to know why there are 60 and what other letters are in the bag, and can she open the bag to check. I told her there were probably several of each vowel and the common consonants. I didn't ask if she knew what those were. They decided to get all three bags. Perfect.
So far it's been a night of hunting in boxes on cap shelves. It's also been a win-win situation in each case.
Then I had some VERY special customers; the kind who call me "grandmomma!!!!!" They were shopping for a special cake pan and other items for a mermaid lagoon birthday party. Jenna will be 3 on Friday. She was excited and saw many things she wanted and put in her cart, only to have Jessica take them out and put them in my cart and I put them back as we walked by. That was fun and gave my life the boost it needed to finish the shift...
....which turned unbelievable the last half hour. I did a spot clean in the bathrooms, and then we were stalking a couple. We didn't realize they were together until just before they checked out. They were THOSE kind of people. The kind who come in separately and he asks for stuff so you don't watch her, but you do watch her and sort of forget him, but our framer didn't. He had seen this woman in the store before. I could see why he remembered her. Her face is etched in my brain. OH MY GOSH!!! And I don't know what she was wearing, but the smell made my throat hurt. She was as disheveled as one could possibly be. Everything hanging out; bra, underwear, boobs, belly, butt...she was on some kind of drugs. THEN she looked at me. WOWZERS!!!!!!! She had on more make-up than Tammy Faye Baker and more hair than Dolly Parton, albeit a very matted wig, which wasn't on straight...and two teeth. I don't think she really knew what she wanted, and I'm not sure she knew what she was doing. I think she was just the decoy...for what, I don't know. We kept on them though and kept telling them we were now closed. They finally left.
And so we close another night at Michaels. It was a good night. I'm glad I could hunt things down and make some sales. Glad I could see part of my family. I also saw another friend I work with at school. Yes, it was a good night.