Earning My Keep: Cats & BOOK's

Earning My Keep: Cats

I'd said that the cats I'm sitting are old. That's true of the two official residents of the house. But there is a young cat too--a feral cat, Robinson.

Robinson was was living in the yard last winter. The house-owners left food out for him; then they brought him in when he was weakened from an infected wound.
They took him to the vet, who administered antibiotics, and kept him inside while he healed. Then they got him neutered and chipped.

Robinson is still a wild cat--he acts like a raccoon or a squirrel. He lets the man of the house pick him up--I've seen it--but he seems to tolerate rather than enjoy it. He stays outside, mostly, coming inside to eat, but only if I'm not in sight.
The main cat here hates him--she will chase him off.
I leave the kitchen door open and Robinson sits there--glaring--until the coast is clear.

 I've been reading about feral cats, and the only thing to do is be patient. Since I'm only here three weeks, I merely hope not to scare him away.

Below is Marmelade, the Main Cat, asking to come in. She is sweet (to humans), but has some dementia and is something of a concern and a pest as she wanders around in the evening, mewing.
At bedtime, she gets shut in a bedroom, where she sleeps quietly all night.

The owners pay generously, and I am definitely earning it this time, being alert for three kitties' needs.

Earning My Keep: BOOK's

Big Boss gave me the printout of the stores monthly Sales by Category for August. Was I ever chuffed!
BOOK's did waaaay better than it ever has--25 percent better.
And was number 6 of  35 categories!

The biggest earners are three clothing categories, furniture and beds, and electronics.

By any but thrift store (or garage sale) standards, we're talking dinky dollar amounts--average price per piece of most things we sell is around three bucks. (I'm sure that's small by the Big Thrift standards too though--Salvation Army & Goodwill prices are higher than ours.)

2,038 books sold at an average price-per-piece of $1.20.
(Most books are priced 99 cents each. Magazines, kids books, and discount books cost .49 each.)

Toys, also my department, average $1.86 each. (Again, I put out lots of toys for 49 cents each.) Thanks to volunteer Abby, who does a bang-up job on puzzles & games.

Beds has the highest price average, by far, of anything in the store: $142 per piece--that includes mattress, box spring, and frame. (Often they are like-new--donated from mattress companies that accept returns.)

Next closest average price-per-piece is furniture: $45/per piece.
Shoes average $5.
Electric (anything with a cord), $7.50.

Women's  clothing, by far the store's largest earner, averaged $3.13/price per piece. (Ditto men's clothing; children's average $2.09.)

If you do the math, you'll see my departments only bring in about twice what the store pays me. In business terms, that's not a good ratio.
But the management always supports BOOK's--and this surprises me, since, as I always say, they are not themselves readers.

Big Boss says books bring in people who buy couches, so I guess they see it as a loss leader.
But also, BOOK's earn a lot of praise from customers. Manageress tells me more people compliment my area than any other. No other thrift store hosts a secondhand bookstore, so people are surprised and pleased. 

I take personal credit too: I know books in general, and I've gotten better at curating this bookstore in specific, as I've learned what sells and what doesn't.
Like I've mentioned, I don't put out so much stuff that doesn't sell, so the shelves aren't cluttered with deadwood.

There's definitely room for improvement in BOOK's. I rarely clean the area, for instance... If I had more time and energy, I'd do more rearranging and tidying. But I am tired and sore at the end of a 6-hour shift, so honestly, I don't think I could do much more.
Or, if I did more, it'd be more stuff like fun displays.

I added Douglas Adams to my "Books from the Pink Bits" display. (I didn't title it that at the store.)
It tickles me so much when I come up with a fun side-by-side like this:

Toys could use a ton more love, but they are low priority to me.
I inherited them from the toy volunteer who quit at Covidtime. She used to take them home and clean them, and bag them by category.
I enjoy toys okay, but I just bag 'em up and stick 'em out.

That price vs. pay ratio I mentioned isn't the whole measure of what I bring to the store though. I float a lot--talk to and help my coworkers in almost every other department.
Except hanging clothes. I hate that and don't do it.

But I do straighten the sales floor---that is, pick up clothes that have fallen off hangers or that shoppers have dropped (common); pull empty hangers; re-match shoes with their wandering mates.

In Housewares, I throw out chipped dishes; add to (or create) end-cap displays; straighten, and occasionally restock, the shelves, which become a mess in a minute.

I also take out the garbage. It's heavy, which can be a problem for me, but I like to do it. It gives me a sense of order in a disordered world! I move through the store with a rolling garbage can and get all the departments--plus the offices, kitchen, and bathrooms.
SOMETIMES I even rinse out the (filthy) garbage cans. I am the only person I have ever seen do this.

Department stores hire people to do all this. We don't have any one worker whose job it is to tend and clean and "face" the store.

Plus... I chit chat! I talk to all my coworkers and a lot of shoppers. There are a lot of regulars---people like BJ, who used to come almost every day.

That's maybe one of the biggest things I do: be a friendly face.