It was a great Saturday at work. I took on Asst man’s role of setting up end-cap displays. He was better at it than I am, but I’m okay and I like doing it— and seemingly no one else does.
Very cool box camera…
I set up a new Octobery book display too. Some ghosts, some knitting, some baking, pirate skull buttons, another shelfful too.
The most wonderful volunteer, Dalton, appeared on the heels of Asst Man’s departure last week, out of nowhere like Mary Poppins. She blew away the traces of his murk and set things right with her cheerful, no-nonsense efficiencies. I don’t agree with Big Boss who says the Holy Spirit sends the right people—the HS sends some right doozies too—but sometimes, yeah, it’s like…, How did this invigorating tonic appear, just as my soul was slumping?
Dalton is a buff, youngish Black woman. She doesn’t ask for permission, she engages her core and gets to work. I asked her if she’d been in the Marines. She laughed and said Big Boss asked that too. No Marines. Yes, rugby.
She worked all week in Asst Man’s old housewares-sorting area, which always looked like a hurricane had come through. At the end of her five days, it looked like a military storage area. Not only organized, but deep-cleaned.
She doesn’t actually care about thrift or know about vintage stuff, but for now I don’t care—I am in love; and the depth of my love for Dalton is a reflection of how sick and tired I’ve been of Asst Man’s blaming other people instead of thinking up solutions and DOING THEM without someone holding his hand or giving him a cookie.
We are the grown-ups. It is so so nice to work with one who knows that. She’s going to grad school in January so it’s only for a short time, but she’s just the booster I needed.
the end displays are great! if things sell from them then you put together a good display. besides they will have your stamp of style!!!
ReplyDeletethe yellow teletubby on the teapot is cracked me up when i saw it.
having worked retail years ago for pottery barn, we had corporate guidance on endcaps and displays. but the most fascinating part was how things would sell once they were moved into a display or i would hear comments of "how long has this been in the store?"
how wonderful to have someone who sees a task and just does it. the managers at the pottery barn used to tell me that they never had to tell me what to do. i saw the job and did it-- ie dusting all of the glass shelves.
kirsten
Good point, KIRSTEN: making things visible--putting them on display, moving them around--is key to selling them!
ReplyDeleteDitto books:
titles that have sat on the shelves for months will sell (sometimes) when I put them on the Display Shelf:
"THIS IS SPECIAL" (or, merely visible!).
The teletubby is a dear--she lived with me for a while--that's LaaLaa--but said she wanted to go out into the world again...
The idea of Corporate Guidance made me laugh--as you know from me going on and on (and on) about it, our store has NO guidance on most things, certainly not on displays. If I didn't pick up doing them, I think they'd go back to being random clutter.