Full Version: Store Tour 12/23
From: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#1]
27 Dec 2006
To: ALL
These pictures were taken at 8:30am on the 23rd of December. The mall hours were 8am till 11pm and everyone was exhausted. The previous day 131 customers were served and their orders engraved. The mess was overwhelming and it is all within view of the customers. Occasionally I would apologize to a customer for the mess but they would say they didn't care what the store looked like as long as their order was done correctly and on time. Virtually all the time it was.
2. Glass engraving area. Items that are not glass were thrown there because there was no more room in the flat engraving prep area.
5. What is supposed to be a prep area for the IS400. Note the taken apart computer. At 8am that morning the computer that runs the 400 died. Harv grabbed another computer and started pulling parts out. I'm pacing and encouraging him with comments like "do you have any idea how much money we are supposed to make today?"
7. An area that only really tall customers can see. Harv's rule is that this area is supposed to be clean at all times. The rules seem to fly out the window at XMAS.
10. Stuff waiting to be engraved, picked up or who knows what.
By the 24th I am sorry to say the mess had gotten worse. The mall closed at 6pm. Our last customer left at 7:30. We went to dinner and we were asleep by 9:30.
Oh yes, SALES WERE UP.
EDIT: The pictures are no longer labeled like in the old forum software. Use your imagination to know which is which.
EDITED: 10 May 2007 by HARVEY-ONLY
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#2]
27 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#1] 27 Dec 2006
Congratulations on surviving the onslaught. :-)
From: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#3]
27 Dec 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#2] 28 Dec 2006
David,
What a funny choice of words. Piece of trivia for you. Who wrote the game called Onslaught for the Atari computer system that was sold by the now defunct Creative Computing magazine? The answer is (drum roll please) Harv.
We may have survived XMAS but I'm not sure the store did. It is not 1/4 back to normal.
Dee
From: UncleSteve [#4]
27 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#3] 28 Dec 2006
The "mess" that you and Harv rightfully disliked, just made the customers see a very busy (read desirable!) source for their gifts..... not a clean, organized storefront with no interest, that couldn't sell $10 bills for a buck!!!!
Now IF you had been Shanghied in the middle of it all.......... >.<
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#5]
28 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#3] 28 Dec 2006
Knowing, from past conversations, that Harvey was involved in programming for Atari, I probably would have correctly guessed the answer to your trivia question. :-)
Your photos depict the aftermath of a particularly profitable holiday season, which can't be that bad a thing. :-)
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#6]
28 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#1] 28 Dec 2006
Dee,
My back of the house looked a bit like your's during the closing days of the holiday season, although, I didn't quite pull the numbers you did.
When I locked up the final day on Saturday, Dec 23, I counted 24 new non-holiday jobs of varying size that were put off and now needed to be completed prior to January 1, which meant they had to be ready for pick-up no later than December 30. These jobs, combined with more new business, seem to have extended the holiday craziness.
This does not time well with the fact that I need to take an accurate physical inventory by the end of the year. Lend me a tear. :'-(
EDITED: 28 Dec 2006 by DATAKES
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#7]
28 Dec 2006
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#6] 28 Dec 2006
From: UncleSteve [#8]
28 Dec 2006
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#6] 28 Dec 2006
Dave,
Glad you had a successful season. Just shut down the loading dock for receipts and get out all the jobs and you won't have as much to count!
And I don't want to hear about all the bills everyone has to pay to suppliers to restock for the coming year!
If you don't like paying for replacement inventory, just lock the door and go away! If you don't sell anything, you don't have to replace it! :D
(That last line is a pet peeve I have had for years!)
From: LaZerDude (C_BURKE) [#9]
28 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#1] 28 Dec 2006
Dee,
THANKS! Now I don't feel so bad about the continual mess my place is in.
From: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#10]
28 Dec 2006
To: UncleSteve [#8] 29 Dec 2006
Steve,
As upset I get with the mess I would rather have the mess and an up season then a down season and the time to clean.
I agree with you on people who don't want to reorder. If you don't want to reorder it don't sell it!
Dee
From: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#11]
28 Dec 2006
To: LaZerDude (C_BURKE) [#9] 29 Dec 2006
Chuck,
When I am done cleaning the store I will clean the kiosk. After that if you send me a ticket I'll come and clean your store. Of course you will never find anything when I'm done. (devil)
Dee
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#12]
28 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#11] 28 Dec 2006
From: Toni (TONI56) [#13]
29 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#11] 29 Dec 2006
Dee,
If God had wanted men to find things, she would have made everything attach to pegboards. That way men could find anything in the refrigerator & anywhere else. Glad you survived the season & hopefully had few of the problem customers.
From: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#14]
29 Dec 2006
To: Toni (TONI56) [#13] 29 Dec 2006
Toni,
Not only would they have to be on pegboards but color coded and in numeric order!
I have to be honest here. Harv has this list system that he and our employees love. I am the thorn in their side. I may not know what day it is but I can tell you what color and shape the box is and where it is on the shelf. I have promised him that I will get with the list. It is kind of like driving. I love to get lost. I look at it as an adventure and who knows what I might find. If Harv doesn't have directions he doesn't get in the car. I know he is right but it goes against my nature to be that organized.
The worst moment of Christmas for me was when the computer died. Harv was just amazing. He stood perfectly still, got in his "zone" , computers were ripped open, parts went flying and files were moved onto flash drives and reloaded onto another computer. A half hour later we were up and running.
The best part for me were the people who smiled when they looked at their product, said wow and that they would be back.
We only blew 2 jobs this XMAS. Both of them our fault. I hate when it happens but over the years I have learned that when you handle that many individual customers in a short period of time there is no way everything is going to go smoothly.
I hope you had a good Christmas.
Dee
EDITED: 29 Dec 2006 by DEENA-ONLY
From: UncleSteve [#15]
29 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#14] 29 Dec 2006
I was visiting the store when a crowd was there and all of a sudden:
"Steve, could you help someone?"
"Sure, but I don't know what I am doing."
"That's okay, see what you can do."
The person I "helped" wanted a Cross pen.... all the stock is in the back room and you SAW the pictures! :-&
Perfectly calm, Dee says, "look in the boxes under the tray behind the door.!"
Yeah, sure, what tray? WHICH boxes, etc.
Sure enough, I move a tray, dig into the boxes underneath which are piled with Cross pens... all styles and numbers. After a couple of minutes of digging and looking at the ends of all the boxes for the model number, THERE IT WAS! RIGHT WHERE SHE SAID IT WOULD BE! 8-O
Another happy customer served by the unknowing, led by the unwilling and doing the impossible! ;-)
From: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#16]
29 Dec 2006
To: UncleSteve [#15] 29 Dec 2006
Hey,
You helped the customer, you found the product, rang it up and put the product in line to be engraved. You could be Christmas help anytime!
Dee
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#17]
29 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#16] 29 Dec 2006
From: LaZerDude (C_BURKE) [#18]
29 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#11] 29 Dec 2006
Dee, you are starting to sound like my wife. :O
I work best in clutter unfortunately. It is when Lisa moves something or cleans up that I get lost.
If my desk is jammed with cd's, notes, a manual, a couple of work orders and some phone numbers on scratch paper, I can tell you EXACTLY where each one is and what is on it. Clean it up and I"m lost.... :'-(
Sad but true. :-$
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#19]
29 Dec 2006
To: LaZerDude (C_BURKE) [#18] 29 Dec 2006
That is the way I am with my desk and workbench. But at the mall I need my workspace to have at least enough room to lay the product and order down. I like customers to see an organized area and not clutter to give them more confidence that that is what their product will look like.
The stock area I need clean and organized. No reason for a search and maybe you will find mission that takes four times the time than the setup and engraving combined. Also you can just glance at the shelves and know what items need to be restocked and reordered.
EDITED: 29 Dec 2006 by HARVEY-ONLY
From: Barbara (RGILE) [#20]
29 Dec 2006
To: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#19] 29 Dec 2006
Wasn't it you that wrote to me, and we were discussing the slow Christmas rush??? It wasn't there at the time. I am so glad that the rush finally got there and the numbers were good for you.
I also got a rush, and was very pleased with the numbers. Second Christmas and better than the first. Now I am anxious to see the bottom lines at the end of the year.
Thanks again for everything you and Harvey have done for me throughout the year.
Happy New Year to you both, and continued success.
I hope all your computers stay running. ha
Bye for now,
Barbara
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