no, I'm not dead yet

I haven't posted for a while, so it's time to play a little catch up.

First of all, I have new neighbors. Check it out:

It's a family of robins. I'll post a new video when the babies hatch. I have tried a few times to get footage of the mother on the nest, but she is just too wary. As it is, I don't really like the fact that there isn't another door I can use, so I stop bothering her.

Earlier tonight, I installed a new home entertainment center for the kitties. Specifically, I got a tube-style birdfeeder and a hummingbird feeder. I think the cats will enjoy the view, and I look forward to seeing the birds on the deck. I guess I've been in a bird mood lately.

The store has been driving me crazy lately. You wouldn't believe the pressure to sell new member card accounts. If I have a bad day, it's because I'm not really trying. If I have a good day, then there is no reason why I shouldn't sell at least that many every day, and by the way we are still behind and I need to keep pushing the part-timers. And now, we are under huge pressure to meet impossible goals for selling gift cards. Since we're in the middle of our annual gift card contest, I have to ask every customer if they are buying gift cards, and mention Mother's Day or graduation coming up. One of my coworkers had a woman start crying because her mother had just died. No matter, we still have to mention Mother's Day.

Mind you, I already have to ask if they have a member card, mention one benefit of the card, push the card if the customer hasn't been beaten into it yet, and ask if they have signed up for our spam list email coupons if they refuse my card offers.

One customer walked out of the store in the middle of all this. Actually, that was before the gift card contest. I can't imagine his reaction if he knew how much selling we have to do now.

Please shoot me.

I had another customer recently who was quite confused when she got to my counter. She said that she had just gotten a call that her special order was ready, and that this was her second notice that it had arrived. Only she hadn't gotten any previous notice. Well, the book was on the shelf, and, as I expected, was marked that an email had already been sent to the customer.

So I told her this. "Well, I never got an email!" She glared at me.

I was sympathetic, and told her I was sorry about that. "Have you checked your spam box? Sometimes our emails get diverted to that."

"Well, if it came from Barnes & Noble, I'm sure I just trashed it." She continued glaring at me, as if this was my fault.

"Well, um, I guess that was the notice that we got your book...?"

Yep, she glared at me the same way through the rest of the transaction. I don't have any idea what she expected me to do.

The other day I had another customer who confused me. He asked me if we had any wrapping paper for sale. "I'm sorry, but we don't. Would you like me to wrap something for you?"

His response was an impatient sigh, then "No, I need a full roll. Is there any place nearby that sells paper?"

No problem. There is a Micheal's and a Hallmark store in my shopping center, and I gave him easy directions to find both. He didn't like my answer.

"That's too far away. I don't want to walk that far!" He finished his transaction and grumped away.

Micheal's, by the way, is right next door, which I made very clear to him. It would have been even funnier if he asked for our restrooms as well, because they are further away from the registers than the craft store is.

By the way, I now have a Dreamwidth account, and this is my test to see if it cross-posts automatically.