UpLife

So it’s been a long time since I’ve really written a post on my blog. So here’s a little update which will probably turn into a long update–but we’ll see how things go…

Today I was originally scheduled to work from 10am-6pm at Staples–but since I didn’t have to do my normal activity at school from 7:30-9:30ish, I informed Shane (one of my Staples mgr’s) that I could come in at 7am if needed. He said that would be great, but that I would still need to work till 6pm so that there would be enough employee’s in the store. I agreed to the 11hr shift which I discovered is referred to as an “ironman” shift. I do agree that 11hrs is long, but it went pretty quickly. My shifts almost always go by quickly because I’m so busy with my Inventory Associate/Sales Associate position. I never have nothing to do. Usually I don’t get all my I.A. stuff done because I also have to be helping customers throughout the day. Unfortunately, it also means that my service plan sales have suffered greatly. It’s mainly because I just don’t interact with customers as much, and although my level of customer service hasn’t dropped, because I don’t interact with as many, I’m just not selling as many products that I can even offer the customer a service plan. When a customer is purchasing something that is applicable to a service plan, I always do ask them, but they always say “no”
But in other happy Staples news, I had kind of wondered how cool it would be if I would get Associate of the Month for October (I wasn’t eligible for Sept since I didn’t start until about the 2nd week in Sept). I knew I did well on service plans, and I’m pretty sure my customer service is awesome, but I figured that since I was a newbie, I probably wouldn’t get it for October. Nonetheless, I kept checking the sheet each day which contains the 2007 Associates of the Month. I knew that they didn’t choose one until a couple weeks into the next month, but I still kept checking. Then today, I was on break and I glanced at the sheet. I saw that they had put a name down for October finally. Then
I looked closer and saw that it was my name! That made me pretty happy. I guess they’ll be putting up an official certificate on the wall for the next month and then maybe I’ll the get the certificate–I’m not really sure what all happens. I mean, they haven’t even told me yet that it’s happened (maybe they never will). Probably the most I’ll get out of it is a congratulations, a pretty piece of paper–and if I’m lucky, a pin to put on my name badge. Too bad it doesn’t come with a pay raise.

In other fun exciting news, my girlfriend moves into Dubuque on Saturday. I’m sure I’ll be spending the afternoon helping her family move her in, and then I have to go work from 5-9 at Staples.

In other fun exciting news, my new rear brake rotors arrived today, so hopefully I’ll be able to get my car into the shop on Saturday and get them to replace those as well as the rear brake pads (which only lasted 2k miles before wearing out–but they are guaranteed).

I’m looking forward to heading home for Thanksgiving. Mostly because it’s a lot of free food. My plan is to put on at least five lbs while I’m at home.

I will be returning back to Dubuque on T-Giving Day since I have to report to Staples by 5am Friday morning for the oh-so-glorious “Black Friday” (or Green Friday, as Staples calls it). I’m actually looking forward to it since it will be interesting to be an employee. I’ve always been a customer on that day, so now I’ll get to see it from a different perspective. By the way, check out www.bfads.net for a list of all the Black Friday ads from all the coolest stores.

Anyways, I’m done. I’m gonna eat some food now and call the gf and then probably go to bed soon after that.

Update 11/15/07: I was officially congratulated  today by my superiors on my Associate of the Month award. I was also informed that I get a $20 Staples gift card (I hope you like Christmas presents from Staples!).