the Strangeness that is my life

[Rebecca Iavelli]

I'm about to pull out my hair today! We have a new "team leader" who is making changes, so things are all stirred up right now, and a mess. On top of that, our corordinator was fired two weeks ago, so there really isn't anyone who knows what they are doing, sending us our product, and having the correct price on it.

Already we have had 4 different prices on our poinsettia, in less than 2 days, and also another little tree that we are selling right now, I had to change the price on them (a ton of them, by the way), because they went up a dollar, and now today I find that they were put back down a dollar, so all the pricing I did earlier, had to be re-done.

Nothing seems to be getting done, because THEY (they being the office bigwigs that are not on the sales floor in any store, just in a office building pushing paper), can't decide exactly what prices are going to be on products, sending us too much stuff and making everything on sale, then changing their minds the next day and making them regular price, then changing again and raising the price. This isn't even our "big" season. I dred to see what Valentines and Mother's Day are going to be like if things continue the way they are now. They are expecting us to do so much work, but then cause so much more that we can't get it done, because we have to keep fixing their problems.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Black Jack Rackham]

One week before xmas and I haven't seen an update in almost two weeks. MUST. HAVE. THE. FUNNY.

[salamanca]

Yesterday I got yelled at by angry parents because we sell an "elf on the shelf" hide and seek elf game. Said parents were angry because the item was on a shelf for sale where her child could see it. (and apparently Santa brings the elf so it should not be in stores.). This happened during my rush that lasted 4 hours, while I was working alone, and was in the middle of a 9 hour day with no chance for a restroom break. So I smoothed it over by explaining to the child that the elf is obviously plastic and not an elf. And Santa was obviously real. And that it's important to know the difference between real things and stuff invented by a greeting card company. That has been my highlight in a fortnight of inept staff and boring customers.

[spizio]

And now the mall takes a cue from Kohl's and Toys R Us and stays open around the clock through Christmases Eve and we don't get any updates? That is until the rambling semi-coherent post around New Years Eve.

[Black Jack Rackham]

I saw a couple of people mention this on FB earlier today, thought you might get a little chuckle out of it Dave. Take Elf on the Shelf, spray paint him jet black. Add two scimitars and a stuffed black panther. Market him to gamers as Drizzt, the Dark Elf on a Shelf.

[salamanca]

We are NOT open around the clock. Just 7am until 11 pm every day. So I am catching 11 hour shifts every day. Mind you nobody told the public so at 9:28 am I have had 2 customers and one guy asking for a "garage sale" calendar. Demand for two games has been high... Cards Against Humanity and...Simon. Yeah, the beeping thing from the 70's. I do have a Sharknado calendar in. The waterproofing place next to me fired a guy yesterday because he was napping at the booth. And the local NBC station ran a lovely piece claiming we were the most dangerous mall in Ohio with 76 incidents inviolving the police. It was almost accurate IF you divide the number of incidents by 3 and clarify that 24 of those 25 actual incidents were shoplifting issues. They finally apologised and retracted yesterday. Scarry sales totals are showing each day completing within 5 dollars of last year's totals. A little too similar for me.

[Lady Grace]

Just tried Cards Against Humanity this past week. Me likey.

[salamanca]

Sorry, I agree with my friend, Shawn, about the game. It's entertainment aimed at people who watch other folks injure themselves on Youtube. As a design mechanic, it was interesting to see how wrong one could make Apples to Apples but it holds no play value for me. And after the last two seasons, I am sick to death of listening to teenagers tell me it's the greatest game ever made. No real highlights today outside of my favorite mall walker dropping in for the first time since his intestinal surgery (he's 91 so I have been worried a bit) turned out just when he was getting on his feet, his wife broke her hip. So they have been at home healing. Bonus weather. We got a warm trend and rain that has melted any odds for a white christmas which should make driving to and fro much happier!.

[salamanca]

And today out in Mentor, the tall and the small, the seasonal shoppers came out to the mall. Every last person came out, one and all. They came for the puzzlers they came for a game, they came for calendars, the came, came, came, came. They came for calendars with the dates all the same. And Sal stood at his booth in his tall black hat. He stood selling presents, gifts and grumpy cat. He sold out of stuff at an incredible pace. He sold stuff so fast, you would think it a race. He sold out of Catan, Wits and Wagersand Big Bang. He sold out of John Wayne and the register rang. Sal outdid the sales of christmas past. He even sold the stuff he had stashed for last. And down at the mall, there are some who would say that Sal's sales grew 3 sizes that day.

[salamanca]

Translation of that grinchy homage:. It was damn busy. The drunk guys that go to the mall once a year were there spending big. The german grandmas were in town shopping with the kids. The lazy were grabbing up stuff last minute. And, as usual, the really dumb folk were baffled that we were out of stuff we had a single copy of a month ago. Amazingly, I sold a huge volume of product with most of it on markdown. I am literally going into tomorrow (assuming the second shift does ok) with 1 copy of Smartass, Dirty Minds, Logo, Wavelength, Catan, Risk, Dominion, Chess, and pretty much anything else worth playing. No idea what i'll do for product after noon tomorrow. THE BOSS tried to help by transferring a load of stuff from the other mall but he foolishly only brought products we still have (because they are overpriced) or he brought a single copy and you all know I see that as a challenge to sell quickly. But it was a fun day to do retail. Folks are still being really polite so it's easy to spin the hours along.

[salamanca]

Well, yesterday's sales results ended up just shy of 5 digits which is not shabby when you sell nothing over 35 bucks in value. We clobbered Hickory Farms, Maurice's, Build a Bear and almost caught the blended coffee drinks on total. (which would be an epic feat). Today was much less insane for sales but more crazy for shoppers. People are getting indignant when they discover we are sold out of products. One of the store managers described it as "they think our storeroom door leads to Narnia and we can just wander back and find stuff". Also had several return customers expecting me to hand them the great "new game" for this year. But we are out of new party games. And we had no great ones anyhow. And I got asked about a "finding Sasquatch" game so I need to dig a bit and see if that even exists for my own edification. And we have a winner for worst request in the history of Go! Games.... Some one asked for something so mindblowingly awful that it probably is in development. Something that is such a bad idea it cannot help but be successful. Some foolish parent asked for a "CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY JUNIOR EDITION". Obviously clueless to what the game entails, this guy wanted a kids version of a popular game he appears to have heard about with no details. One can only imagine how horribly wrong that idea will end up.

[smafdi]

That's an easy sell. What would be cards against humanity junior? Why that'd be apples to apples my good sir!

On the CaH front, it's a fun novelty at least for my group. I enjoy it for about 20m then am bored. There are several here who would play every day if they could, me I can barely stomach it the once every 3-6mo that currently happens.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Came to mention Apples to Apples and found my job already done. I enjoy it about as much as smafdi. But the problem for me is, you can't really play it with the same people over and over, half the enjoyment is watching newbs see the atrocious things written on their cards. I need something a little more challenging if I'm going to play it multiple times. Speaking of, we finally broke out Road to Canterbury. Good fun but I think to really get the most enjoyment out of it you need to mention (specifically) what sin you are trying to get the pilgrim to engage in. Not just "I'm placing 'Greed' on Blue over there." But rather, "Hey, Blue, I hear that the secret poker game you played in last night... what's that? 'What poker game?' you say? Oh no need to hide things from me, as a humble priest, God tells me all. No no, no need to pay me to keep what I know from getting back to Father Holierthanthou. But, if you insist..."

[Lady Grace]

Mike's considering trying to teach his nieces & nephews how to play Munchkin again this week...

[salamanca]

Well, the odd stuff was not at my place today. But religious zealots who are apparently upset over calendars being sold that feature people that are not wearing very much (but still covered enough to roam a public beach or show up on a Victoria's secret fashion show) decided to do something about that. From what I hear (and my info is scant as I was busy) they opted to steal said calendars and leave a sign indicating the Go Calendar store was sold out of Mysoginy. I would guess they feel that looking at said photos is in some way sinful and/or demeaning to the models who get paid far better than this highly educated clerk just to look pretty. One can only guess as to the nature of these bandits feelings on the moral dangers of theft. Now professionally speaking, that theft probably grabbed around 1,400 bucks in merchandise if they were stocked at the level we are. That money comes out of the franchise owners pocket which is just a mean thing to do for Christmas. And if you don't like the things there are better waysto deal with it. Like not shopping for a calendar there. For that matter, ask for a customer service number and call the home office. But when you do that, keep in mind that you are imposing on somebody else and their right to make their own choices in this world. And just to make sure you are clear on this boycott thing, if you refuse to buy from any of us, we really don't care. We sell enough dog, cat and island calendars to more than make up for your purchase. And that is my rant for the day. Tomorrow I get up extra early for the 7am opening. Plan to arrive before 6am, stop for donuts to feed my employee, nearby staff that has done me favors and the security guy. Not sure what I will sell as the game booth is down to copies of Logo, NCIS (a clue variant), tripoly, ladybug game, and Would you rather. (and two copies of Catan that I will never convince a last minute shopper is a good idea).

[salamanca]

Seperate story on why Christmas doesn't work. I get this pair of kids (around 17-20 years old) they are asking about games and after the CAH chat we actually discuss a couple good games. The younger sister is totally excited we have Set available because she has apparently wanted a copy for a couple of years and failed to find it. SHE HAS POINTED IT OUT TO MOM WHILE I AM STANDING THERE DECLARING IT THE GAME I HAVE BEEN ASKING ABOUT EVERY YEAR. Then the kids leave and mom starts shopping. Mom and I end up having a very long sales pitch for this busy day because it takes me 18 minutes to talk her into buying the game her daughter wants instead of Tripoly and the NCIS game. I also talked her into some story cubes as the son had just described multiple story creation games to me during that conversation. Note to parents: if the kid asks for a bike do nor buy him a wheelchair. (my employee had the same thing happen at Target with an Xbox one. First item on the list and mom opts for a search for a PS4 despite the "no playstation stuff" request on the list.). Two young people owe me one.

[salamanca]

Never got busy today, just weird. Last minute shopper amateur hour this season. Normally, your last minute folk walk in and look at what is there, ask a question about what they actually see and buy or leave. Today I had people with no clue that when things get sold they are no longer available. I had one guy ask me why I had sold all my copies of a game he wanted. I had a lady ask for "a Big Bang Theory calendar 12 inches across" so I handed it to her. She tells me it's exactly what she needs and then walks away without purchasing it. I had two guys decide a 40 dollar world of warcraft edition of monopoly AND a 9 dollar variation of Pictionary (an improved variation ) were too expensive so they instead bought a 90 dollar WW1 Axis and Allies set. Granted the game is better but when you are comparing games by price it's a crazy decision. My highlight was the lady that accused ME of having crappy taste in games based on what my store had in stock at 4PM christmas eve (really, I just work here and the 2 games you like are the ones I special ordered). She is some sort of eurogame snob and blew off my suggestion of Dominion because it's produced by an American company and thus awful. So I sent her to a friend's store to share the grief.

[Lady Grace]

If it's any consolation, my late ex-BF would have been such a gaming snob too, alas. Mind you, he didn't have the budget for $90 games...

[salamanca]

Side note on the generosity of the season:. Our mall and probably yours as well has gotten out of staffing a gift wrap station during the holidays. Instead they set up the station and find youth groups, community groups and other organizations to handle the task and let them collect donations for the service. Everybody wins. The customer gets his gift wrapped and feels good about giving money to support a local activity or charity. The activity or charity gets money and their volunteers (particularly the kids) get to embrace the spirit of doing something nice for a stranger during the holidays while raising funds in a heated climate instead of trying to sell cookies outside a store in the snow. So what does the mall get?. Half the money donated plus a fee for the paper and tape used. That's right, the mall charges the organization doing the work as volunteers to volunteer.

[salamanca]

Ok, I forgot how much I hate post holiday shoppers. You all are pigs. I mean it, total slobs. First off, as soon as the calendar reads 12/26, nobody who enters a store is willing to accept a listed retail price. If it's not on sale, they walk away. Secondly, they insist on haggling over the sale price or want you to let them return the item they bought a month ago and repurchase it for discount. (which is plain obnoxious). But I get the deal hunting. It's part of the business. What I do not get is the disrespect for property they decide they do not want. Items get picked up, looked at and either thrown onto the nearest shelf or just dropped on the floor. Last week, we didn't have this issue. Last week, customers generally put stuff back where they got it from (for the most part). This week, I am collecting calendars off my game shelves and even the neighboring stands. Who are these people and when did they turn so feral?. On the weird request list:. Today I had a woman most upset we did not have a calendar for a certain "celebrity actor" a person she described as a film icon... Paul Walker. Seriously. She said film icon. He made like 5 versions of one movie... Tasteless.

[salamanca]

Well, that didn't take long. In an empty morning where lousy roads and blowing snow have kept the masses at home, I was just approached by a Korean woman and her teen daughters. None of them speak English. They are also not speaking Korean. (I have heard enough Korean to know that even if I cannot comprehend a bit of it). What they are speaking is Yiddish (which I also have enough passing exposure to recognize but not comprehend). So what did they buy?. One Direction and kittens.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, we had a fun day at work today. Our building sits in a East to West direction on the street, with entrances on both the east and western sides. Today, down a block from us to the west, a 3 alarm fire happened at one of the homes, and due to the direction of the wind, and the fact that the entrances to our building are opposite from each other, it kinda makes a wind tunnel, so all the smoke from the fire was finding its way into our store. I am really surprised that our smoke alarm didn't go off, it got so smokey in our building.
It also cause a lot of problems on the highway near our store, causing rush hour traffic to go from the normal 60/65 miles an hour, to 40 miles an hour.

Thankfully no one was hurt, at the house or any of the firemen that went to put out the fire. From what I read on line, it was caused by a faulty wire connection in the kitchen of the house.

[salamanca]

ok, had Saturday free ( I know, best day ever) and it was the worst day ever.

Got out early with plans to be home early. no such luck. morning went great and opted to drive to a game store in Akron just to check it out. Bought Takenoko and then didn't leave because the starter went out on the car...75 miles from home.

So I find a place that says they can fix it and they supply a tow truck company. By the time the driver gets there and gets me to the shop... the mechanics all have left for the night. so it's on to another place.

that place took great care of me but all told, 5 hours vanished and I trekked home 13 hours after I left that morning.

Today's lesson: It's never a good idea to drive to somebody else's FLGS, stick to your own.

[salamanca]

Well, Col Topic has lost heat again. Poor ladies are turning into Gothcicles in there. (and worse doing a tedious "inventory of buttons") but I just saw a mall security guy wander past scanning checkpoints (little barcodes on the wall to show where they have been and when) now scanning checkpoints is important because when the guard focuses on where he needs to go and what he has to aim his little device at on the wall it mean he is not looking around the mall or watching the people inside. But this particular guy walked past wearing the mandatory "segway safety helmet" but had apparantly left the segway elsewhere. The only thing sillier than a near 60 year old guy on a segway is that guy walking in the helmet. It reminded me of El Conquistador who has popped up in an Altamira adventure or two.

[salamanca]

Mall maintenance staff started taking down christmas stuff at the beginning of the week. Then they abruptly stopped in the middle of the mall. Just now, a couple of them started by with the scaffold machine to continue... But nobody remembered to charge it. (4th piece of equipment in 2 days with this problem). So it got abandoned next to my booth parked next to an electric outlet (not 4 inches from the recharge cable). So these two needed to find a shift leader to help them plug it in and attached it to a 20 foot extension cord. I remind you they parked 4 inches from the outlet...and the charging cord is retractable.