Going Round in Circles

It's been another interesting week at the CS. Things seem to have picked up a bit since the weather has cooled a little and the summer holidays have ended, and our customers seem to be coming back in good numbers.  I think the fact that we currently have a sale on has something to do with it, but I'm not complaining either way.

My manager goes off on two weeks much needed leave at the end of this week and true to form we have another potential staffing crisis, as the new Deputy is also leaving. He has found another job, full-time instead of part-time hours, which he really needed.  It can't be helped, of course, but it does feel like we are just going round in circles, trying to recruit for the remaining hours of my position.  It would probably be much easier for a full time person to be appointed when the job comes up next year and I suspect that it might be advertised as such, if we don't find someone who is happy to stay with only the part time hours available.

I'm not sure when the new DM leaves, it could be this week, next week or the end of the month, but potentially I could be left holding the fort for two weeks alone again.  Thankfully, this time around the manager is not expecting me to work 7 days each week and therefore I may be closing the shop on the two quietest days, which won't go down well with customers, but can't be helped if we don't have the staff to run the place.

The volunteer situation is also unfortunately still dire, but we are trundling on as best we can for the moment. This past week or two, I've been spending an awful lot of my time at work steaming and putting out clothing, as there really isn't anyone else available to do it, and the shop requires a lot of regular replenishment, especially whilst the sale is on.  On the days I'm not there, I have to hope some gets done or I have to prepare some clothes in advance to ensure that new stock goes out.

It's tiring, but at least I currently have more control over things, such as the quality of the stock going into the shop. The problem is, that when I'm preparing the clothing I have the opportunity to find items of clothing that I like myself, that lead me to buy more things from the shop.  (Please note, that I don't price the things I buy myself, another member of staff has to do that for reasons of transparency, etc.) It's usually just clothes to wear for work, but it's not currently good for my bank balance.

Anyway, we had the Charity's Visual Merchandiser in the other day to dress our windows in accordance with the charity's current campaign, which was interesting.  He's very funny and hails from the same part of the country as I do, so we have a bit of a laugh when he comes around.  He saved me the job of re-doing the window anyway, and I'm grateful for any help that we can get.

I'm back at work tomorrow and am fully expecting to be very busy as you can imagine. As a consequence of the above, I might find it a little difficult to post in the next couple of weeks, but I'll do my best to still publish the odd post here and there.  Wish me luck.