Christmas Rush

The few days leading up to Christmas are always fun. Stressful and hectic, but fun. We were SO busy! I can't believe how much baking goods we sold three days before Christmas! Holy Moley!! I had most of my baking goods purchased by then. I was finishing OFF the cookie decorations!

Anyway, when I got a chance to look at the baking section it looked like we had been hit by a hurricane. I think there were three raisins and a chocolate chip on the shelf. It was nice with the snow, though, that everyone seemed to be in a great mood.

Lots of huge orders too. Maybe I'm missing something but I am amazed at how much FOOD people buy to entertain with. We had very few orders under $50.00 and an awful lot that were well over $200.00 and some cents shy of $300.00. I don't like ANYONE THAT much to be preparing all that food.


So that brings us to . . . . . yesterday.

I had the 2:00 to closing shift and we were actually closing at 6:30. We are normally 24 hours so people tend to panic a little when they know we are going to be closed. SO many people buying the dinner stuff. Fresh fruits and vegetables by the ton!! All 7 registers open and I didn't even get my break until three hours into the shift. Normally its halfway through, but we were just too busy. Lots of people that took one look at the parking lot by the store across the highway and opted for us instead. Not that we weren't crowded but our lot is a whole lot easier and safer to get in and out of.

Lots of my regular customers, and one special one that gave me some home made cookies in a special little box. How very thoughtful!! And good!! Another one gave me a big hug and he was all wet from the rain (yes I said rain - in December - day before Christmas = NOT impressed). I didn't mind though. He's a friend from outside of the store atmosphere.

The 'Late' Girl was "working" yesterday. I still haven't figured out why, or how, she is still employed. She is on time once in every 15 to 20 shifts. She is never at her register unless you tie her to it. She's SO slow that I can get three customers done in the time it takes her to do one. And she is constantly late with no concept of the fact that she is holding any one else up. I've seen her punch in and then go wandering around the store looking for something to eat on her break when she hasn't even started yet. She is actually in trouble and told that she'll be written up every time she's late in the New Year. Her answer was that she smiles at the customers. Yes, she said that.


So, last but not least, TCFH got a 'talking to' as she apparently P O'd a customer and got written up. She laughed it off! She still has not been talked to about picking on her fellow cashiers. (See one of the previous posts). She seems to be getting a little worse each week. No people skills.


(Okay, so it wasn't last)

Back to customers. It was so nice to see one of my regulars as I showed up for my shift. She was so happy to catch me and give me a hug and a kiss. I was hoping to see her and give her my best wishes for the season. Lovely lady. I also saw my elderly gentleman, that buys food for the donation box EVERY time he comes in. He was looking a little frailer than normal. Hope he's okay. Had one customer that tried to fool around the way I do but she wasn't good at it. Some people can pick up on what you're talking about and fit right in with the flow. You can talk like you've known each other for years. She didn't have that. It was like her script was one page ahead of mine. I couldn't follow her at all. Maybe she'd been into the egg nog.

More tomorrow.