A Better Week

It's been a better week at work this week. I've not really posted all week, as I was working on four days instead of three, which included two half days to plug gaps. As a consequence, this didn't leave much time for writing blog posts or doing much else apart from catching a few classes at the gym.

In discussion with the Manager, I've decided to take two weeks off at Christmas, as I have quite a few days of leave to use up before my contract ends in February and unless my contract gets extended again I will struggle to take it all.  I may, therefore, also have to take most of January off work, which actually wouldn't be an altogether bad thing, as I could do a good spring clean and also do my tax return which will be due at the end of the month.

The shop has been getting visibly busier this week with people starting to buy Christmas cards and presents and Secret Santa gifts for colleagues, which has been good for business.

I spent the whole afternoon on Friday clearing shoes from the shop floor, that had been out for a good while and hadn't sold for whatever reason and sending them to other shops for another chance to be sold, then pricing more and placing them out on the shelves.  It's a job I do thoroughly maybe once every few weeks, and takes quite a while, so it was good to get it done before the Christmas rush starts proper. They will probably just get topped up weekly from here on in, as there may not be time to do it again before Christmas. It has at least made a serious dent in the mountain of shoes in the stockroom, although I suspect that it will have risen significantly again when I go back to work on Tuesday.

I've now got used to the amount of stock that there is all the time in our stockroom. It's something that might overwhelm some people when they first start, and it often gets worse when we are short staffed, but after a while you just get used to it and are thankful, because if we didn't have it we would be in more trouble.

I was hoping to go to a meeting next week at which all of the shop managers in the area will receive training on visual merchandising.  Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to go, as it is mandatory for the manager to go and we can't both be spared, but I have printed off the workbook from the computer and am reading my way through it.  It has some interesting ideas.  Some of the ideas I've already implemented without even knowing, but others I could do at some point before I leave.

Although I've had my difficulties in this job over the last six months, I do recognise that it is a great shop to work in for many reasons and now that I'm coming to the end of my contract and starting to think about what I will do next, it is a hard act to follow in terms of job satisfaction. If I make a move, which I'm not sure I will yet, I want it to be in the right direction. We'll see anyway what happens. Another opportunity may present itself between then and now.

I like to believe in the notion of serendipity and that the right thing finds you at the right time.  I see it happen all the time in the shop and I experienced it a lot when I shopped in charity shops more in the past. People often find just what they were looking for. I love it when it happens. That is part of the magic of working where I do, seeing the joy that the donated items sometimes bring to their new owners, however short lived it might turn out to be. At least they've not paid full price for it.

Do you believe in serendipity?