Cookies and Nuts

We've been busy.

I've spent a lot of time on the floor helping customers, and picking up books, trash, and magazines. I know our store like the back of my hand now. And I know about 20 more books that customers are looking for. Sometimes you'll get three in an hour asking for the same book. Interestingly, many are on the NYT best books of the year list. Places In-between, Omnivores Dilemma, Worst Hard Times, but also books like Pursuit of Happyness (sic), and Amy Sedaris' smartly timed humor/entertaining book.

Looks like SNL season 1 is a runaway best seller, too, or would be except no one in town seems to have enough.

Had a customer last night exclaim that she didn't understand why we couldn't find the only copy our computer was showing of a DVD she wanted. Are you kidding? We're waist high in recovery and alpha is a pipe-dream. Don't get me started on our inventory database (it's crap).

My schedule lately is sleep, eat, work, with eat getting short straw. I've had cookies for meals several days. Cookies on the go. No time for my regular mocha either.

Last night on the way home I stopped at Sliders and got us some more 1 pound hamburgers with onion rings. No problem finishing in one sitting.

Only three days to go. Saturday (and today close behind) will be our busiest day ever. I have a few staff who are trying to get some of these days off. They've tried to submit new availability forms or my special add-hours-only holiday form to indicate they can no longer work weekends, etc. No go, Geronimo. We've already let loose a couple people who are insisting on taking time off. Still, most of the staff have been rising to the occasion. Very few problems with staff and I wish there was more we could do for them. Yesterday I bought about $30 in cookies, nuts, and candy (cheap guy that I am I got quantity instead of quality) and it was almost all gone by the end of my shift (12 hours, by the way).

I think I ate about half of them.