UP AT THE CRACK OF DAWN

As I type this, it is 5:45 a.m. and Pey is on her way to school to catch the butt-early bus to San Antonio. I've been up since the alarm went off at 5:00. I am a chronic insomniac, but of course last night was the first night in weeks that I didn't wake up in the middle of the night. So the 5:00 a.m. wake-up call was an unwelcome one.

Despite my grogginess, I'm very excited for Pey's choir. She woke up in a very good mood (it probably doesn't hurt that she gets to miss school for this) and is pretty stoked about today. She will get to ride home with her dad and me instead of taking the bus all the way back to Houston, which should be fun for her.

This post is probably not grammatically correct.

So, yesterday sucked.

1 - The old eBay person sent me an email stating that I had no right to hold her last paycheck despite the fact she signed a contract. I wasn't going to keep the check forever; just until she came in and wrapped up her obligations. Which would have taken her all of fifteen minutes. I've got an attorney backing me up, so whatevs, beyotch.

2 - The new eBay person has worked 36 hours over the past week. During that time, she cleaned up the office (one hour) and inventoried 102 eBay items (six - SIX hours!). The latter would have taken me two hours, tops, as most of it was clothing. She spent two hours shipping out items that I asked her to ship. Actually, I had told her to ship every item that had sold. She stopped at six items for some reason. When I asked her the next day if she had completed the shipping, she said "no." I told her she had to finish all the shipping, which is when she copped an attitude with me and got very rude. She said "you told me to stop shipping and put up some listings instead." When I asked her specifically when I told her to stop shipping, she said "yesterday afternoon." I told her no, I did not tell her to stop, and in fact I had repeatedly told her to get it done. She then started whining about being confused and said that I "just didn't understand." By the way, she worked four full days before I told her to get everything shipped. During that time, she took several pictures but did not put up one.single.listing. Not one. So now I'm out a week's salary on this loser, and have pretty much nothing to show for it.

3 - New eBay person was subsequently fired. She left a letter stating that she "regretted the time she spent working for us." Newsflash: We regret it, too.

4 - Yesterday one of the new guys (Andy) at the store messed up the computer, and I had to go up there late last night to fix it. He should have just picked up the phone when the mistake happened and let us know. He didn't, and it cost me and Gary valuable time and aggravation trying to rectify the problem.

There were more crappy things that happened yesterday, but I'm too tired to remember it all. I'll post more when I remember. After all, crappy days make better blogs.

Off to San Antonio - Ciao!

CLARIFICATION

Hubby wasn't trying to break my arm the other night. He says he was either dreaming about squishing a bug, or trying not to fall off a mountain. Actually, he put those suggestions out there as possibilities - he has no recollection of the event at all.

Poor guy.

Work has been stressful. We hired an eBay person a couple of months ago, and she did a not-great job. Then she decides she's going to get another job, but still keep the one with us part-time. Then she doesn't show up for a week. Last night I received a Dear John email from her (including, of course, the requisite "let me know when I can come in to pick up my last paycheck."). I fired right back with "you signed a contract, so get in here and finalize these auctions." She'd better show up - I'm in no mood for crap today.

Yesterday we had to purge the store of all kids' toys because of a highly-confusing CPSC ruling about lead testing. As a consignment store, I obviously do not have the money or time to lead-test every item that comes in. At least we sell enough other items that we won't go bankrupt because of this. It's sad, though, that we won't be able to sell toys anymore. Some clothing is on the chopping block, too, but I am not yet sure how we're going to deal with that.

My feet are killing me from all the housecleaning we had to do in the store yesterday. I worked on a concrete floor for about 10 straight hours. Anyone know a good masseuse?

Off to work now. Have a good day, y'all.

Thoughts for the day...

• Pey is going to San Antonio for a choir performance on Friday. Three elementary school choirs out of the state were selected for the TMEA conference, so it's a huge deal. I'm so proud.
• Pey went for the 5th-grade visit to the junior high yesterday. She's starting 6th grade in the fall. For anyone who thinks time doesn't actually fly, well, you're wrong.
  
• Ry is playing guitar now. He's also grown six inches in about four months. Sweetest 12-year-old you'd ever want to meet. Still likes giving hugs and kissses to his parents and grandparents.
  
• K starts driver's ed soon. (See "time flying" reference.) He's a great kid, loves to work out, and at 15 years old and 5'7", he's super helpful to have around the house.
• Happy birthday to my youngest sibling. Tree is 29 today (really, he is). He's dating a superbitch (she'd make GREAT blog fodder), but he is still a good guy. Hopefully he'll see the light soon.
  
• Work is great. And awful. Love my work; frustrated with my staff. Hate being lied to. If you don't understand your job, say so. I'm more than happy to help. Geez.
• I'm so thankful we're not filing for bankruptcy like the rest of America.
• eBay still sucks, but it does help pay the bills.
• Hubby tried to break my arm in his sleep the other night. He does lots of weird stuff in his sleep, but this was the first time he actually hurt me. He didn't mean to, of course, and he feels awful about it. As for me, I'm sleeping with one eye open these days. Heh.
• Less stress in our lives would be much appreciated.
  

More later!

SO WE'LL START WITH THE COACH PURSE

A new customer walks into our store last week and says that she has a Coach purse she wants to consign. She shows me her receipt, proving its authenticity, then pulls out this GORGEOUS brown Coach purse, matching wallet, and dust bag. She says her husband buys her a new one every two months, and she finally decided she had too many and wouldn't mind a little extra spending money. Must be rough, lol.

Of course, it's all I can do to contain myself - fifty percent of a Coach purse sale is nothing to sneeze at - but I smile and calmly say, "Sure, we'd be happy to sell it for you. I'll set it aside for eBay, as that's the best way to sell a higher-dollar item such as this."

Who knew that it would take an act of Congress to sell a Coach purse on eBay? Even if you have all the paperwork verifying that it's really a Coach (and not, say, a Cooch), eBay will pull your listings before you have the chance to say "Bid Now!"

Six flagged attempts later, I gave up in frustration. I can't tell you how annoyed I was - here I was, sitting on a real authentic moneymaker, and I couldn't sell it!

The next day, one of our regular customers comes in. I'll call her Leeza. She's been with us for well over a year, and when she drops off her things for consignment, the items are almost always in garbage bags. It used to frustrate me, as store policy states ALL dropoffs must be in boxes with lids, but I've gotten over that. It's not unusual for one of Leeza's bags to contain the following:

• 6 empty DVD cases
  
• 2 issues of Yachting magazine (her husband's subscription)
  
• 4 pairs of brand new Hollister jeans
• 2 tubes of used lipstick
• 1 Coach purse
• 1 $3000 diamond tennis bracelet
  

Buried treasures, I call 'em. Obviously Leeza's family has money, so it's always fun to process her items.

Anyway, the day after the eBay fiasco, Leeza comes in with her teenage daughter to drop off two boxes (yes, BOXES! Woohoo!). I figure she knows a thing or three about designer handbags, so I asked her if she had any idea what the purse might be worth. Since eBay wasn't going to work out, I was thinking of putting it on Craigslist, but I had no idea at what value to list it.

The purse was in my car at the time, as I didn't know where to keep it safely in the store (that's another story), so she was guessing its value sight-unseen. From my description, she and her daughter talked about it for a bit, then Leeza said, "Probably about $300-350 new, and you typically price items at about half their original value, right? So I'd say about $150-175 would be a safe bet."

I thanked her profusely, and she left the store. She and her daughter sat in their car and talked for a minute, then Leeza walked back in and said, "If the purse has any leather on it, it's probably worth more than that." I told her that yes, it did have leather handles and accents, then I told her it was in my car and asked if she'd like to see it. She nodded, and we walked outside.

Once I got the purse from the backseat, she held it up and said, "Yes, this is a very nice one." Then she walked it over to her car and showed it to her daughter, who said, "That's easily $400." Pleased to finally have a definitive price range, I thanked them again and took the purse inside, intending to immediately put it on Craigslist with this newfound information.

About two minutes later, Leeza walked into the store and said, "I want to buy it. Ring it up at $200 and I'll take it." Then she handed me her credit card. I rang up the sale, then as I hand her the credit card receipt to sign, she says, "And I want you to have it."

I thought I misunderstood her, and started to protest. She said, "No. You deserve it. You work really hard here, and you always take care of me. I want you to have it."

Again I tried to protest, but she smiled and said, "Listen, I happen to have an extra $200, and I want to do this for you." By this time her daughter had re-entered the store. She also smiled at me and said, "Just take it."

I started to cry. That was definitely the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me at work, and I feel very, very blessed. I certainly never thought I'd have a real Coach purse, but ... wow. How rare is it that something so wonderful happens to a regular Joe like me?

SO MUCH TO SAY; SO LITTLE TIME

Will add more later. Topic list:

• Coach purses
• Personnel changes
• 80s parties
• Sex on the beach

Interest piqued? Stay tuned... ;>

TOMORROW IS A NEW DAY

Well, Aimless was pretty much kinda-sorta let go on Friday. Gary really sucks at firing people. He told her she had a choice:

1 - She could have a raise, but her hours would be cut, or
2 - She could not have a raise, but her hours would stay the same, or
3 - She could not work here at all

Um, yeah. So she said "No!" to the first two - and tossed in a snarky "I could make ten dollars an hour stirring soup!" (where? WHERE?) - but when she left, she told me she'd "contact me on Monday about the schedule." Unfortunately, I was not in the meeting wherein Gary "fired" her, so I didn't know what she was talking about.

It was later that Gary told me about the options he gave her. I could just smack him.

Aimless called me on my cell phone yesterday and said she just didn't understand what was going on. Whatever. The store has not been making enough money to give ANYONE a raise (or even pay me at all, for that matter) since Aimless came on board. She is very, very aware of this, yet she apparently thinks I'm going to be able to pull magical gold coins out of thin air and give them to her.

Anyway, when she called, I told her I was out to lunch with my family (I was) and that I'd have to call her back (oops). I know she's going to be pissed tomorrow when she gets her check, but the truth is that I never promised her a $2-an-hour raise. I went ahead and gave her $1 for this check, but it was painful to do so.

Tomorrow I'm back at the store every day. Again. I guess I'll continue the search for a daytime person (sigh), but honestly I'm not optimistic about the prospects. I just don't understand why it's so hard to find good help these days. Gary says the reason is that besides the two of us - who have a vested interest in the store - no one else really cares. Sadly, he has a point.

One bright spot: Tnk is going to start working for me part-time on Wednesdays. I'm really excited, as she's a fast learner and will do great with the customers. Let's just hope that family-issue thing doesn't rear its ugly head.

By the way, thanks for all the kind words and good advice. Y'all rock.

MOMMA NEVER SAID IT WOULD BE LIKE THIS

Work has been slightly less than a treat lately. Sales have been down, and employee morale is hovering on the brink of extinction. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit, but my newest employee - we'll call her Aimless - has not turned out to be the saving grace I thought she'd be.

During her interview process, Gary told her that the salary range for her position was between, let's say, six to eight dollars an hour. She signed a contract that basically stated she was in training for the first 30 days, and at the end of that time, she'd be re-evaluated and her salary could possibly go up.

Just for clarification, "Possibly" is NOT the same as "Definitely." "Definitely" is apparently what she heard, as on day 31 she came in to work and said in a sing-song voice, "I'm about to quit my second job, since I'm at eight now!" Having no idea what she was talking about, I remember thinking, "Wow, did she lose weight?" I guess I looked confused, because she stared me in the eye and said "Eight.Dollars.An.Hour."

I reached desperately through my brain for that conversation, as I never recall having it with anyone. I said, "Huh, I thought it was seven, but let me check." I went through her paperwork, and sure enough there was nothing there guaranteeing ANY raise at ANY time. Not that I don't want to give raises, because I really, truly do, but as I said, sales are down and there's just no way I can meet what she wants. I'd never make a promise like that - one that I couldn't keep.

The following week, Aimless went ahead and quit her other job. She had been working at a ballet studio every Tuesday, leaving me to cover the store by myself on those days. With my blessing, I might add. She has repeatedly and frequently told me how grateful she is with my flexibility in scheduling (and if I do say so myself, I am VERY flexible whenever someone needs time off - never have had to say no yet).

All that changed the first day she got to work after quitting that second job. She came in and saw that she was scheduled for every day, and immediately started yelling at me. Yelling. At Me. The Owner. (Why didn't I fire her ass right then...? That question continues to haunt me.) She said, "I can make EIGHTY DOLLARS AN HOUR teaching private ballet lessons, but I can't work with this schedule!" Shocked, I stared at her for a minute, then calmly said that if she needed time off, she had to tell me, as I otherwise have no way of knowing what she needs.

She continued to rant about the schedule, jabbing me with verbal "if it weren't for the scheduling issues" commentaries on a daily basis. Her attitude toward her job has gotten worse with each passing day:

• I now have customers angrily calling me and saying how rude she is.
• I ask her to accomplish a task, but she does something else.
• I tell her to do something, and she stalls until Gary calls in - then she takes instruction from him.
• When I ask her why something was not done, she says, "Gary told me to do THIS instead."

For the record, I am her direct boss and manager, and I always tell her what to do first - I see her first every day; Gary is rarely (if ever) there anymore. Plus, as I said, I'm half-owner of this company, and she should be doing whatever I ask her to do, dammit.

I'm at the point where I dread going to work every day because I know I'm going to get attitude from Aimless. My stomach is in knots by the time I get to the store. (I know, that's stupid.) I soooooooo want to fire her, but Gary is balking because (1) he likes the fact that I have "backup" in case I can't open the store some morning, and (2) he's afraid she'll file for Unemployment. Which she can't, anyway, because she hasn't worked with us long enough, so he's actually making it worse by keeping her.

(Update: He felt this way because he's rarely there, but he did come in last Friday and got to see her attitude in action, so he's starting to come around.)

All I know is, I can't work this way. I've already talked to a part-time replacement, who can start working next week. Tomorrow I plan to get Aimless' key back and tell her to hit the road. It's not going to be easy, but it has to be done.

Thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated.

EMPLOYEE ISSUES

One of the comments on my previous post asked if I was going to stop telling employee stories now that I'm officially an owner of the business. No worries; I'm definitely not going to stop. I never used anyone's real name - even Gary is not my co-owner's real name - so why shouldn't I share the fun?

Only now that I'm half-responsible for the bills, this latest story is not so much "fun."

I went to the store this morning to check on an eBay item from yesterday, and found that Dubya, who'd closed last night, had left the air conditioner on. But not just one - he left TWO of them on! (The store has three separate units.)

As a point of reference:

My house = 3,050 sf; two-story; poor insulation; single-paned windows
The store = 3,300 sf; single-story; good insulation; three solid walls

Last month's light bills:
My house = $103.00
The store = $500.00

I do not know how that happened, as we haven't been running the heat or a/c in a long time. Understandably, I'm very upset with Dubya, and would love it if it were legal for me to dock his paycheck to pay for the empty store being air conditioned last night.

But that's not all.

He did not set the alarm correctly, meaning if someone had broken in, we'd be screwed.
He left a large area of broken glass in one of the main pathways of the store.
He lied on the check-out form (everyone who does closing has to fill this out) - said he'd turned off the a/c and vacuumed, when he certainly had not.

Thing is, I really like Dubya, and I'm as disappointed in him as I would be if one of my own kids had lied to me.

Hopefully that will be the worst thing that happens this weekend. If not, well, stay tuned!

IT'S BEEN A LONG ROAD

It's a beautiful morning here in Houston. The temperature hovers around 55 degrees, and the sun is shining brightly. I'm enjoying all of this through the glass windows of a newly-acquired office warehouse, where I sit waiting on the AT&T guys to come install a DSL line.

So much has happened in the past few months.

I'd known since October that "Gary" had put the store up for sale (at his wife's urging), but he was asking for way more money than he knew he'd get because he didn't actually want to sell. I wasn't worried - I know the store and the business in general is his passion, and he certainly didn't want out.

The bombshell hit in late January, when he told me that he was finally having to get serious about selling the business, and in fact had two potential buyers lined up. To say that I was shocked would be a tremendous understatement. I knew that he really really didn't want to sell, but was under intense pressure from his wife to do so. She has never been supportive of the store, and in fact has been a hindrance at every turn. If Gary needed to help out with a Saturday delivery, for example, she would suddenly come up with some kind of emergency to try and prevent him from helping out with his own business. Her actions have been ridiculous for years, but lately she's been borderline P/A.

So during this conversation, he offered my sisters and me the opportunity to purchase the store for a fairly low price. That way, he could stay on as a consultant and shareholder, and not feel like he was giving up the business he'd started from the ground floor. The twins and I had several meetings - trying to come up with funding, a company name, division of duties, and so on - and for awhile we were pretty excited about it. But the more I thought about going into business with family, the more depressed I got. I love my sisters, but I was terrified of what our relationship would become in the future.

Eventually I decided that it was just not worth it to risk family harmony for the sake of business. Plus, in the interest of full disclosure, I harbored some resentment that my sisters were going to have equal say with me in what felt like MY store. I'd been there for almost a year (today's my 11-month anniversary, actually), while they don't know anything about the store at all. The fact that they were investing money in the store would mean they got instant power, and part of me had a hard time dealing with that. I think that's because I've been dealing with the "twin thing" all my life - I've put up with years of being excluded, and I sure didn't need that from my business partners.

That being said, the decision not to purchase the store was not at all an easy one. Allowing Gary to sell it to another buyer meant the end of the road for me - as store manager and friend to the owner, I've enjoyed a certain amount of freedom in running the place. Under new management, all that would change. I was intensely sad at the upcoming end of the road, and worst of all - I still had to break the news to Gary.

I called and asked him to meet me at Starbucks the next day so that we could talk. We chitchatted a bit, then when I finally built up the courage, I finally told him that we weren't going to be able to take over the store after all. It was awful. I couldn't stop crying. I felt like I was letting everyone down. Even worse, I felt intense guilt over letting his dream die. He kept telling me not to feel guilty, and not to worry because he'd be fine. While I appreciated the kind words, I know him well enough to see that he was very disappointed.

After leaving Starbucks, I went back to the store and locked up for the night. I flipped the sign to Closed, and couldn't help thinking how poetic that action was. I called my sisters to tell them my decision, and started sobbing into the phone so hard that they could barely understand me. To their great credit, they were both very understanding and agreed with my decision.

I finally calmed down and drove home, but walking into the house and seeing my husband's sympathetic face made me break down again. I went to bed and cried for hours that night.

The next morning, I went downstairs to help get everyone off to work and school. As I was standing in the kitchen, I looked around and realized that I was about to be right back where I'd started the previous year - kids and husband all heading off to work and school, and me stuck at home. It was Thursday morning, and Gary had told me that the new buyers were very eager and would probably want to take over the following Monday. That meant I just had two workdays left, so I went in to open the store for the day, trying desperately to care. Here I was manager of a successful business - and a fun place to work - but it just didn't matter anymore.

Gary took me to lunch that day so we could discuss "closure" on the store - how we were going to have a sale to make more money for the store before it changed hands; how we were going to wrap up eBay listings; how we were going to take inventory; etc. We had received a new piece of equipment the previous day, so I asked him if he wanted to go back to the store and install it. He did, so we headed back, both of us a little melancholy.

I'll never forget this next part: Gary bent over the computer to hook up the new barcode scanner, then sat up and looked slowly around the store. Then he spun around, stared me straight in the eye, and asked with some desperation, "What can I do to keep this place? How can I make that happen?"

"How about you buy in, and we'll be full partners and run this place together?"

He then gave me a ridiculously low purchase price, which helped make the decision even easier.

The next couple of weeks were a complete blur, and I must say, I've learned more since mid-February than I could have picked up in a year of business school. I single-handedly renegotiated our lease for the next two years, saving us in excess of $1000 a month. I've been added to bank accounts and am the proud owner of my first-ever company credit card. I've signed official documents in front of a notary. I've written a HUGE check (okay, I've done that before, but never to buy a business!). Next Tuesday we have a meeting with our accountant. I have never had my own accountant before, and golly, do I feel important. LOL

I've even negotiated a better deal on our new office warehouse. Which brings me back to where I am, still waiting on AT&T to show up. But y'all, I'm a small business owner! I am so happy with the way things have worked out. Wish me luck - and here's hoping 2008 will continue to be happy and prosperous for everyone.

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY

My sister nearly lost her life in a traffic accident involving a drunk driver. Thank God she's still with us today - back on the force, putting away the bad guys - so that we can celebrate these anniversaries.

Happy re-Birthday, Tnk. I love you.

Trace

OOPS, I FORGOT AGAIN

Forgot to blog yesterday. I did have a full day, though, if that's any defense:

7:00 a.m. - Discovered that the Saturn would not start in 30-degree weather
7:35 a.m. - Jump-started the Saturn (my poor Kia took the brunt of starting two cars in the cold)
7:55 a.m. - Arrived at local Wal-Mart, whose auto department is supposed to open at 7:00
7:56 a.m. - Called said Wal-Mart automotive department, who said they couldn't help me, but that someone should be in "shortly"
8:15 a.m. - Realizing that the Saturn had been idling for 20 minutes (I was afraid to turn it off, lest it not restart and strand me at Wal-Mart), I left and drove to another Wal-Mart
8:33 a.m. - Arrived at new Wal-Mart, where not one but two automotive department employees came out to greet me
8:34 a.m. - Determined that the battery had a bad cell and I needed a new one
8:45 a.m. - New battery installed, I was on my way to work at last

9:09 a.m. - After stopping at Sonic for a Diet Cherry Coke, I made it to work
3:45 p.m. - Left work to go home and see kids for awhile
5:05 p.m. - Back at work, because I had to close the store by myself because the scheduled kid quit! :(
7:06 p.m. - Finished closing procedures and locked up the store
7:07 p.m. - Hubby calls and reminds me that Kane needs a haircut before ROTC inspection today (Thursday)
7:12 p.m. - Pulled into driveway and unlocked door so Kane could get into car
7:12:30 p.m. - Backed out of driveway and drove to Supercuts
7:45 p.m. - Finished at Supercuts and drove to Sonic for late-night dinner
8:05 p.m. - Arrived home at last. Watched OU eat it. Ha!

I wasn't awake long after that, so I completely screwed up one of my resolutions already. Ah well. Happy new year!

RESOLVE

I have not made very many new year's resolutions this year, but here a fewI'm going to try and stick with anyway:

Exercise more. This one should be doable, as I was walking every night for at least 30 minutes. Then hubby's ankle got hurt back in November, so we haven't been able to walk for several weeks now. I would go by myself, but I'm nervous walking around the streets by myself after dark. We're going to try riding bikes and see if that's better for the old ankle.

Work less. I told Gary that I no longer want to be manager of the store. The hours were killing me - I was averaging 9-10 hours a day, five days a week, with a couple more hours per day on the weekends. After 23 straight working days, I'd had enough. What we're going to do is hire a new manager and put me back on pricing, plus doing eBay, Craigslist, and the website. I can't wait to get the new guy hired.

Blog more. Ideally, I'd post at least a short little snippet every day; however, I know that this goal is unlikely. One thing that might help is the new toy I got last weekend - check it out here. This thing is so cool! I can listen to music or watch videos or surf the Internet. I think I'm in love.

Complain less. This one may prove to be hard, as it's my nature to want to call up everyone and tell them about the weird customer we had in the store, or the bad service I got at Kroger. To soothe my inner gripeypants, I may blog about this stuff instead. That doesn't count as actual complaining, does it?

I think I'll go play with my new iPod Touch now. No complaints about that...so far.

HOW MANY TIMES CAN I SAY "TONE CHIMES" IN ONE POST?

Pey is a member of her school's tone chimes group. Have you ever heard of tone chimes? I hadn't until Pey made the band, so to speak. When I was in elementary school, we had handbells. Those still exist, of course, but apparently the big thing now is the tone chimes.

A couple of weeks ago, the choir and tone chimes groups from Pey's elementary school held an outdoor concert in Old Town Spring. It was the first time I got to see Pey in action, and it was very cool. J (stepmom) videotaped it and sent me the footage. Since I figure I'm not the only one who's never seen tone chimes in action before, I thought I'd post the video. You can see it here.

(Pey's the dark-haired beauty just to the left of the director. I may be a little proud.)

I'm still in awe of the fact that my 10-year-old can read music. In my mind, she's still six ... which, coincidentally, is the number of times I said "tone chimes" in this post. Seven if you count the title. :)

PLEY'S ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BAKING DAY

Yesterday I hosted our family's 2nd annual Baking Day. Basically, my sisters and stepmom (J) come over and we all use my stove, Kitchenaid mixer, and two ovens to make Christmas goodies to share. It's always fun and even if things don't turn out perfectly, we have a good time visiting and laughing.

Last year's Baking Day was more successful than this year's. My Puppy Chow was clumpy, I burned the crust on the pumpkin gooey butter cake, J's lemon bars didn't taste lemony, and Tnk's almond-coconut brittle never did set. Nothing tasted bad, but we were pretty disappointed in the goodies. I guess we were having too much fun visiting to care much about the actual baking. (The sibs and J don't know it yet, but I'm scheduling another Baking Day for two weeks hence. We're going to get it right this time!)

Below is a short video from Baking Day. I'd bought a Santa apron and mitt from Kohl's a couple of weeks ago and wore them yesterday, and J thought they were cute so she videotaped me. EMTsis is the one who's "wired" - she went in for an exam yesterday, and her blood pressure was through the roof, so her doctor put her on a heart monitor for a day. She says she's not worried, so we shouldn't be. Yeah, we'll call that Plan B.

Anyway, you can see the quick video clip here.

Tnk, by the way, is the one with her back to the camera, washing dishes. You can also see some of my kitchen and my cool KitchenAid mixer, plus you can get a quickie glimpse of our Christmas tree in the background. The video isn't very long, but I'm happy J took it.

Update: Next Baking Day (Baking Day, Part Deux) has been scheduled for Wednesday, December 19th. Hope I don't burn anything this time!

JEN'S OUT

I think I'm becoming a little too familiar with the process of firing employees. I let Jen go today. I did it over the phone and told her that contractual issues, overstaffing, etc., was the main reason, but that's actually not true.

What is true is that she didn't really care about her job or doing it well. She has misbalanced the till twice - since the meeting where I asked her specifically if she knew how to do it correctly - and she deliberately began closing procedures 45 minutes early last night. Forty-five minutes! All employees were told rather bluntly not to even begin balancing the till until the store closed, and not a minute sooner. Yet Jen decided to do things her own way and bail out early.

Gary came in last night and caught her, which is why she got snippy with him.

He and I debated for hours today over whether we should write her up or let her go. In the end, we decided it was best to cut her loose, as she obviously does not care what management thinks, nor does she want to do her job well. Jen is still under her initial 30-day contract, which she signed, and which states that we can terminate her within that time frame with no prior warning nor reason. She gave us lots of "reason," but I left it at "contractual issues" when I spoke with her.

Okay, so now we're down to six employees:

Gary, who is never, ever there anymore
Me, who is always, always there
Pho, the assistant manager, who I think will step it up a bit now that her friend Jen was let go
Watson, who works so hard it's a shame we can't pay him more
Zac, who is okay, although I had to tell him today to stay off the Internet when the store is busy
Will, the newbie, who is getting rave reviews from everyone he works with

I think we're good, but I may start interviewing again soon. I hate that almost as much as I hate firing people. Sigh.

FINALLY, AN ACCOMPLISHMENT

I'm not used to actually accomplishing goals that I set for myself, but this is one I'm proud of. No, I didn't balance that national budget, establish world peace, or write the Great American Novel. But I did set a small goal for myself, and dang it, I reached it.

I've also dropped 12 pounds this year - and kept it off. That's a biggie for me. Two and a half more pounds and I won't weigh enough to donate blood, lol.

This weekend's goal is setting up the Christmas decorations. Before we can do that, however, the living room has to be dusted and vacuumed, and lots of furniture has to be rearranged. It's hard to find the motivation to do all that.

On the up side, hubby bought the new Josh Groban Christmas CD for me while he was in California last week. I did a little happy dance when I saw that. Maybe if I put it on and turn the speakers up really loud, I'll find that Christmas motivation.

And then I'll be proud of yet another accomplishment. Go me!

AND THEN THERE YA GO

Wow, 30 consecutive days of blog posts. Whodathunk I could do it? Hopefully I'll be able to continue the trend.

I'm sitting here typing through closed eyelids because I'm exhausted and was asleep on the couch until three minutes ago. It's been a long, hard week at work, and I'm glad it's over.

Tomorrow Pey has a choir performance in Old Town Spring. I'm looking forward to hearing some good Christmas music. Then tomorrow night we're going to hubby's sis's house to watch OU vs. MU (go Mizzou!) while the kids play Halo 3 on their XBox 360.

Ooo, big news - I'm about to fire yet another employee. I haven't told you guys about her yet, I don't think. I'll call her Jen. She's a friend of Pho's and is one lazy girl. She has directly disobeyed more than one instruction she's been given, and tonight she snapped at Gary! I can't believe someone would act snippy to the owner of their company. Not exactly good job habits for someone who's only been at the store a few weeks.

After tomorrow, she's out. She (and everyone else) was warned that layoffs were possible, particularly if someone wasn't giving 100 percent. She was barely giving 50. I'm not sorry to see her go. Buh-bye, Jen.

Now I'm off to find one of those cool "I did it!" tags for this page. See ya next year, NaBloPoMo.

ONE MORE DAY UNTIL DH GETS HOME

The kids and I can't wait to see him. It's only been five days, but it feels like it's been a year since he left. We've only spoken on the phone maybe five times, and darn it, I miss my husband.

Just finished watching Rachael Ray, which I DVR every day. I fell asleep at some point, and the show started over. It was weird to wake up and think, "Hey, didn't I just see this?" I am thankful that I woke up, though, because I almost missed posting today - and since it's the second-to-last day of NaBloPoMo, it would really suck to goober it up now.

That said, however, I'm doing the head-bobbing thing that people do when they're extremely tired. Guess I'll toddle off to bed now - the quicker I get to sleep, the quicker hubby will get home!

NOT A BAD DAY

Today was much better than yesterday. First of all, I felt better. I've still got some congestion that's causing me to clear my throat a lot, but overall I'm much healthier than I was last week or even yesterday.

Second of all, we hit our sales goal at 4:38 this afternoon. The store's open until 8:00, so we still have time to make even more money today. Woohoo!

Third, hubby called from California this morning and sounded happy. It was so good to hear his voice.

Fourth, I put on a crockpot full of spaghetti and sauce this morning when I left for work, so when I got home, dinner was waiting. Better than sex. Okay, almost.

Fifth, I just got out of a hot bath. With the chilly weather we've been having, I love me a hot bath. Again, better than sex. Okay, almost.

Watson came in today, even though it was his day off. He picked up the keys to the warehouse, then went over there in his own car and loaded up all the Christmas trees that we still have stored. He brought them back to the store and apologized a bunch of times for his mistake yesterday. AND - he brought me lunch from Boston Market. Seriously, y'all, he is such a great kid. It's a shame that the feeling of remorse is lost on some people (I'm not naming names, but her initials are "PHO.")

Willie is working the closing shift tonight. I don't think I've introduced him yet - he's a 17-year-old high school student and Eagle Scout, and a good worker, to boot. He organizes the store and keeps it looking good, but also takes care of our customers. He's been with us three weeks, I think, and so far I'm impressed.

That's it for now. Have a good night!

WORK CRAP

Just got home from a rather frustrating evening (yes, evening) at work. I became very nauseated around noon today and had to leave work to go home and rest for a few hours. I've never taken off from the store for being ill, so the boss checked on me all afternoon. It was nice to be missed, but his phone calls and text messages woke me up three times! Grrr.

I started feeling a little better this evening, so I trekked back to the store around 6:00. We had an employee meeting scheduled for 7:30, so I figured I could catch up a little before everyone got there. What a mess I was greeted with...

While I was out today, Watson was working. A lady came in and claimed that the Christmas tree we had put up and decorated at the front of the store was hers, and that she wanted to go ahead and take it back. Watson couldn't find its identifying barcode (I had put it on the box, which was next to the tree), so he agreed to give the tree to the lady. Then she asks, "Does this thing come apart easily?" Okaaaay, if it really WAS her tree, wouldn't she know that?

It was not her tree. Had he called me when she came in, this whole mess could have been avoided. Now we owe another consignor for a tree that we didn't actually sell.

But wait, it gets better.

We've got a very bitchy customer whom I'll call "DB." DB has been the bane of our existence for months now - it all started when she had our delivery guys pick up her stuff on our old truck, including some "expensive artwork" (or so she claims) - then she immediately proceeded to complain about every.single.aspect of our business. She couldn't believe we sold her paintings for "just" a hundred dollars because she knew they were worth thousands. Couple of side notes here: (1) Our store has the name "Garage Sale" in it. Puhleeze, who'd send "expensive" paintings here? (2) She says she had an art dealer ready to purchase those paintings from her, but she decided to consign them with us instead. Suuuure. (3) I did a lot of research on those paintings, and couldn't find a single thing about the artist. Curious.

Anyway, one of the items DB had us pick up was an antique Singer treadle sewing machine. And let me tell you, it's a beauty - perfect working condition; beautiful case; worth well over $200. We had it stored in our warehouse, as is typical for new arrivals. But then the debacle over the stupid paintings happened, and DB said she wanted her sewing machine back. Happy to be getting rid of her, we told her that would be no problem. We had the guys bring the sewing machine into the store, and I put a large SOLD sign on it in hopes that that would keep customers from asking about it.

Although it's been a few weeks, DB has not picked up the machine yet. Tonight, while neither Gary nor I (the two decision-makers) were present, a woman came into the store. She ignored the Sold sign and asked Pho (a 17-year-old) how much the sewing machine was worth. I'll be damned if Pho didn't tell her "$45." Then she sold it to her. Oh my God, when I heard that, my heart fell into my stomach, and I thought I might throw up again. I ranted to Pho over and over, and she kept making excuses. I am beyond pissed, and so was Gary when I called him to let him know.

You just know that after all these weeks of silence, DB is probably going to call tomorrow. And guess who has to deal with her?

Shit.

Anyway, there's more.

Gary took it upon himself to list two items on eBay over the holiday weekend. He used the store's account, but really, it's mine. I'm the one who has built up the 100% positive feedback, and I'm the one who does all the picture-taking, communicating, shipping, etc.

This time, he did two listings with two Buy It Now options. Of course, they both sold on Saturday. But did I know anything about this? Nope. He didn't mention a thing until late yesterday, when he said, "Oh yeah, I sold some stuff on eBay and I need to you ship it."

Two problems: (1) One of the winners paid $90 for overnight weekend shipping. He has been leaving messages that Gary has not been answering, and he is pissed. (2) The other winner is out of the country, which means that I am going to have to physically take time to go to UPS and fill out fucking customs forms.

I let Gary have it. I told him that if he wanted to do eBay, he had to do it all himself. He's risking our feedback rating and costing us money - I had to refund the overnight guy, and the overseas person already paid shipping, but it's not enough to cover shipping costs, plus packaging materials, plus my time and gas to take the package to UPS.

Gary replied with something to the effect of us needing to get back into eBay because we need the sales, blah blah blah. I don't disagree, but I'm still pissed at the way this was handled. I already wear so many hats at the store that there's just no way I can focus on eBay right now.

Gack, I need a vacation.

After all these things, we held the employee meeting. I tried to be nice, basically let the employees have it - they canNOT leave open boxes lying around; they canNOT leave the store a damn mess for ME to clean up every morning; and they need to stay busy and stay off the Internet; among other things. I finished up by letting them know that layoffs are very possible if sales don't pick up, and I think that may have gotten their attention. Sadly, I was not kidding.

Sorry for the cursing, and thanks for reading this far. I'm off to take some Excedrin and a hot bath. G'nite.