Great times
I really was not looking forward to today. Latest shift (10-8) that I've worked in weeks, and on just one day of rest. Turns out, it was a great day. I got through 20 more feet of resets, most notably including 8 feet of headphones spent training Bendina on planograms start to finish. I thoroughly enjoy resets, thoroughly enjoy training/teaching others. What a great combination. It took Bendina a good hour or so, but after her initial frustration, she got it. It all clicked... and it was very apparent that she suddenly understood how to make resets and POGs quick and easy... and accurate. That moment of sudden realization and enlightenment.... that singularly defines why I have enjoyed my time at South Salem so greatly. Working hand in hand with MD1 trainees, tackling subjects with them and giving them day-to-day experience that helps make things make sense... that makes my day every chance I have to experience it. That's my favorite thing about my job anyhow - whatver store I'm at. The most important lesson I took away from Felicia and ME was the importance of teaching and training to the flexibility, agility, and ultimately - financial success of a department. Therefore, teaching and training are two of the highest prioriites in my job. It just so happens that at Salem I have found myself taking a far more active role in the training of our MD1 trainees than I'd anticipated. I figured that Dave is a well-respected manager with 30+ years experience... he would be the sole trainer. I figured wrong. It has evolved into each of us training the candidates in our day-to-day work routine. For me, that means training in things like RMS, stockroom standards, following up on audits, resets, and the basics like controlling costs, minimizing wage vs maximizing sales opportunities... the sorts of things that any assistant should be doing. And I thoroughly enjoy teaching and training on every one of those points. Jolly good fun. And after Bendina left I was able to fly through the other 12 feet on my own without any need to explain anything. Very liberating to just do the resets. Best of both worlds, anyone?
And now I've just wrapped up watching the third and final debate. McCain did have the stronger first 20-30 minutes as the pundits seem to think. But as soon as the debate turned to a discussion on negative ads, he faltered, went off course, and never recovered. Instead, Obama picked up the pace and had a pretty strong debate of his own. I found myself feeling hope as Obama described health care, education, and tax policies. Hope? Yep. It's been quite a long time, but I feel hopeful for the future. Then again, I was pretty hopeful after all of the Kerry v. Bush debates four years ago. But there is a solid difference. Last time around, Kerry absolutely destroyed Bush in the debates. Bush was an absolute mess... at times even looking downright confused. Kerry took advantage of that. But I don't remember any singular point in Kerry's platform that made me hopeful for the future. This time, although I feel that the Obama/Biden tickets did win the debate series, it wasn't by the obscene margin that I felt Kerry/Lieberman won by. Instead, I feel hopeful because there is a certain message out there that I hope will resonate with enough people that we will see some concrete changes in our nation. Maybe even to the point that we can have a shred of international dignity and respect back. The entertainment reaped from the 2004 debates is all well and good, but when the final result is a second Bush term... no thank you. I would rather have somewhat blasé debating like we had this time around.... followed by 4 years of Obama. I hope....
Since I've touched on some politics tonight, how about that stock market? The Dow Jones is down 25% in the last month, the Nasdaq is down 26%, and the S&P 500 is down 24%.. closer to home, my retirement funds are down between 20% and 40!!!!%... I guess the good thing is that if the markets ever pick up, I can look back on this and recall the times when I was buying into my retirement funds at extremely cheap rates. I'm just glad I'm not relying on that money for a long time to come. Scary stuff no matter how you slice it. But hey! Oil prices have dropped. In connection, local gas prices have plummeted lately. Last Saturday, I paid $3.01 for a gallon of gas. When I paid $4.20 in mid-July, I figured I'd never see the other side of $4.00 again. Now it looks like only a matter of hours until I see the other side of $3.00. How cool is that.
I'm beginning to ramble. You know, that means it's time for me to log off and get to bed...