Until I started school at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences on 6/11/07 I had always worked in retail during the holiday season. And it is brutal. When I worked at Michaels Arts & Crafts I started as a general stocker whatever type guy. Then I became the Receiver and I was in charge of the warehouse and the incoming shipments. We would begin to get Christmas and holiday merchandise in July I think. And our stockroom was just full upstairs and down with wreaths and trees and pinecones and christmas junk/stuff/gear. I got used to working early hours to accept deliveries and late nights to change around the appearance inside the store. Then I became frame shop manager at Michael’s and it seems that the holidays became even more hectic as now customers needed their artwork framed yesterday because it was a gift. Nobody ever thinks ahead during the holidays (oh, that’s why Amy and I always try to be done with our Christmas shopping by mid-November. So we don’t have to be crazy to people that work in retail and so we don’t have to deal with those types of insane shoppers). Luckily at Michael’s you don’t do real framing and we couldn’t really fill any orders two weeks before Christmas because we didn’t cut our own frames or a lot of our own mats. So it died down a little bit behind the custom framing counter.
That changed when I moved to Arizona and got a job as store manager at Hall Of Frames. We did all of our own cutting and chopping and mounting and touch ups. We were a real frame shop. So if someone came in on Christmas Eve and needed a custom job done, we would do it. We’d have to use whatever materials we had in stock in the back since it was obviously too late to order materials, but we’d get it done. This is when I would work literally 18-20 hours a day in the shop. My store was one of the most productive and myself and Liz kind of prided ourselves on being the best and not turning customers away. Sometimes I wouldn’t clock in for a few hours so I wouldn’t get in trouble with management. But I loved it. I loved working so hard and being so tired, but feeling like it was all worth it because we were making people happy and we were getting recognition from the head office…and I just love being awake and drinking coffee and listening to music and having a project to work on. I sometimes miss working until I was crazy and loopy and laughing so hard and hanging out with Liz and having a partner in crime like that.
Now I work crazy hours all the time, but it’s different during the holiday season. We are slower around the holidays because a lot of the record label people are celebrating with their families and going out of town etc. The last minute projects for Christmas have been put to bed the few months before Christmas in order to get the sales. So my boss goes out of town the week before Christmas and the staff has a couple weeks off. I love it. It’s so nice to be able to spend time with family during the holidays since in the past I worked 20 hours a day for 2-3 weeks before Christmas and then the next few days directly after. hhahahahahahahahahaha. What a rant that was.
If I don’t have a specific picture related to my post, I will usually post a pic taken from Photobooth. This is my new haircut, thanks Katie, love ya
Currently Listening to: Big Black – Il Duce/Big Money 7″ (1985) who doesn’t love a song about the 40th Prime Minister of Italy
I am so glad I don’t work in retail anymore. The holidays were always the worst. It was always so busy and hectic and it was impossible to get a day off in those last few weeks before christmas.
I do miss being around all of the gifts and decorations though, and the employee discounts. Also rushes could be pretty fun! Especially when you are working with people you really like. It makes the day go by so quickly. I think working in the frame shop at Michaels was the most fun job I ever had!
It’s nice for you not to be working in retail anymore, and I am so happy for you to have the time off at Christmas. Yay!!
I think your years in retail will always be a happy memory for you, even though you wouldn’t want to do it again.
I have never worked in retail (thank you God) but I have worked in food service. When I worked at Camelback Inn, they were actually open ON Thanksgiving and Christmas days, and offered a family style meal for all those families that didn’t want to cook for the holidays. That meant that we had to work, of course. Good news was that I was able to work an early shift so I could get off by 2 pm or so, and have at least some of the day for family.
I’m so thankful that the place I work now is very slow and we get at least a week off around Christmas. I LOVE IT! It makes it nice that we can spread out our celebrations and family time over a longer period of time. I hope we get to see you guys this year, but I’m guessing that Amy may not have much vacation time. Let us know how things look.
By the way, Grandma Irish is going to be at T & K’s this week, so you might want to get in touch with them to see if you can connect. I told her she should come down and eat at that restaurant that you took us to.