Tag: Retail

A Day In The Retail Trenches

Work can be extra taxing at times, and today was definitely one of them! But we pulled through and I wrote another 2k words bringing me 12k ahead of target at this point of the month! Also, two publishers have both suggested I send my work to them, and they'd better be careful what they ask for! I just might!

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A Moment In Time

Work is an odd place.

I work in retail and today, for a small moment, I found myself extremely proud to be there. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but I’ve always introduced the fact I work retail in a depressed sort of light. When people ask where my partner works, I’ve always been proud of the fact that she’s a teacher. She teaches the future generations kindness, patience and knowledge. These gifts are incredible and unparalleled. Then people turn to me. I feel the sweat begin to form beneath my arms. I get nervous. Then they ask the question I fear, “And where you do work?”

Back in Canada, retail has a stigma. Maybe it’s everywhere, I don’t know. Retail is looked at as that place where people who couldn’t get a career settle in. Upon my arrival in Australia, I knew retail was my best hope. I had next to no professional experience in programming and less than zero experience in animation. I did have plenty of experience in management though, so I relied on it. I had managed to get one retail job and managed to get two promotions there within a year. Then I moved across to my current company and managed a similar feat. Despite these accomplishments, I still avoided eye contact when people asked where I worked. I’d say things like, “I only work retail.” or “I’m just a manager.”

In reality, work is where I sometimes feel happiest. I’m not saying my home life is terrible and I’m not saying I’d change a thing. But everyday I feel that sense of accomplishment of getting something done or rallying the team to overcome a challenge. I not only enjoy it, I savour it. Perhaps it is due to my hobby of writing near accomplishing nothing. Maybe the path is too vague. At work the path is clear and the numbers don’t lie. When you’re doing well, you know it, and so do the sales. It’s nice to know that once I have finished something there is a result.

I felt extremely accomplished the moment I wrote the final words to Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse. I reread it and enjoyed it immensely. I passed it onto my partner who had many questions and comments. In fact, she’s still working on her edit. Now that it’s done, it’s almost like… what now? I recently read a story posted by one of the people I have met during my blogging escapades. It was so rich with detail I felt as though I’d been there. Her characters seemed like old friends. I finished the story and almost clapped it was that well done. Then I read her next blog post about how she’s still having trouble finding a publisher. The story was so good, I’d pay for it. Yet here I was, standing in the shadow of her talents, hoping to find my own success. Doom is about as close a word to the true feeling for my poor story.

At work today we rejoiced in the sales of last week, being up over a quarter of our target above the budget. We contributed to many of the goals and targets our region is tracking and we celebrated with the team. I had a load of fun joking around and despite the terrible weather outside and the lack of customers, I found myself just enjoying the day. My boss came off the conference call grinning and I asked him how it had gone. It had gone better than expected and apparently the bosses were happy. Everything has been going exceptionally well. Are there things to work on? Of course. But at the end of the day, this is the best job I’ve ever had. Today, for the first time in my life, I felt extremely proud of what I do for a living. But of course tomorrow is a new day, but for now, I feel like some sort of retail rockstar… so I’ll just ride the high while I can.

As for writing, I’m hoping to find that sense of accomplishment again sometime soon. I’ve also been trying to get up the courage to enter a local writing competition, or submit a short story for publication. It’s only taken a decade for me to be confident in retail… seems I just need some more time and some more completed stories to get there.

As for those of you out there who use Scrivener, do you make separate files for each different idea or do you have all your ideas in one place and have each idea in its own folder? This question relates very closely to the original reason I started using a wiki (which I may try to go back to at some point) as ideas and the such can be outlined for characters easier and story ideas can be worked on without switching screens. At the moment, all of my ideas are in their own “.scriv” files and when I’m working on one idea if I get inspiration into another, it’s very jarring to close one and load another. I’m open to suggestions!

Although I’ve heard plenty about the writings of the people beyond the screen, but what do you do to pay the bills? Who is the daytime author really?

An Update From Beyond The Screen

Holy crap, it’s almost halfway through December! Time flies when you suddenly have more hours at work and you have a dynamic duo of puppies who are extremely well behaved (until they decide otherwise). Needless to say I’ve been getting into a routine with the little guys but writing has very obviously taken a backseat for the moment as my routine currently goes: Puppies, Sleep, Eat, Shower. Either way, for those of you who were enjoying the daily posts I will get back into that habit as soon as my puppies stop turning pee pads into confetti… but for now the updates will be sporadic although I am more on top of my emails now as I have been trying (Read: Struggling) to keep up with those!

So, where am I in regards to completing my story?

Absolutely no closer! I have considered bringing my story to work to write on my break but as any retail manager knows, that’s near impossible. I get paged to the counter and around the shop a million and one times a day. Just at work alone I do over the daily goal of ten thousand steps. When I wake up my routine is take the puppies out to pee, breakfast for pups, out for poop (Pups only!), then if I have time breakfast, brush teeth and head to work. All excuses, I know, but until I get this new routine down I will be focussing on getting these pups trained properly. We’re not supposed to have them as our Strata setup didn’t approve them, however we’re going to make sure they’re the best behaved they can be. The final chapters of the story are coming together and I already know the last paragraph and its phrasing. However in a movie (because of the visual effects) it could be much more subtle!

How are the pups?

Puppy Lounge
Thor and Loki, sound sleep together… after a hard day of trying to destroy each other.

 

Loki
Life is hard for Loki the Destroyer.
Thor Lounge
Thor the Conquerer napping after sitting on Loki for awhile.
Guilty as charged!
Thor’s guilty face. Still damn cute.
I'm sorry
Loki’s “I’m sorry I just bit you” face.

Needless to say, I am absolutely taken by these two cute as hell fluffballs, despite their ability to get into trouble and absolutely tear apart their pee pads. It’s hard to stay strong when little Thor whines when we leave him alone. Luckily for us, they’re never truly alone as they do have each other and they do cuddle up (as well as try and murder each other). They’re both cuddly (on their own terms) and Thor likes to ensure Loki stays in line. Frequently if I am correcting Loki’s behaviour he also comes in and nips at his smaller counterpart. This is different to their play time nips… but then again, maybe I’m reading it differently. I’m sure the little sausage dog is laughing and saying “Haha, sucker… you got caught!”

It has definitely been a big adjustment for me not only routine wise but health wise as well. I haven’t had any time to really get bored and snack throughout the day which is great, but on the flip side my allergies are taking their toll on my energy levels throughout the day as their dander fights with my immune system. Do I regret getting them? Hell no. Just look at Loki’s eyes… just little balls of love. They’re actually quite well behaved for only having them for a week! It is rough at times as their little cries just tug on the heart strings unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. These are my first pets ever and I’m so glad I finally got my dachshund. It’s been years in waiting and it’s so worth it!

How is work?

Retail is definitely not the dream, but I love it. Christmas is the one time of year that challenges my passion for helping people as occasionally the customers can ask for more than I can offer. Not only that but with the holiday stress on everyone, customers can get rude (so can staff, don’t get me wrong) and make easy situations harder than they need to be. I’ve also been told that I am most definitely stuck in my current role until at the very least September next year. This is good because I can push to ensure the team is up to scratch for then but also I will be the one in charge of many decisions and planning the opening of the new store next September. It’s going to be another month of working my rump off, but that’s fine. It’ll be a great experience and I still have to learn the program for rosters as well as get deep into our Telco and Finance sections. I’ve got a bit to learn before I get my own shop anyway, I’m just really excited to help build a team and a culture where people want to be at work and love being there! This is how successful stores run! I’ve done it before with EB Games and HMV, so I’m excited to get my own shop again and get that vibe back into my life!

And such is life!

All in all, things are going really well, as soon as I work writing into this new schedule I’ll be on my way to virtually the right life! Lately I’ve been reading mostly Puppy Training books (Cesar The Dog Whisperer actually works!) and the new tunes I’ve been listening to include Jake Bugg’s Shangri La as well as KO and his various songs (Two faves Capable and Moving Mountains). Every once in awhile its good to get into some new tunes! I love that I get free streaming music through work! Although the last album I bought was Bad Religion’s Christmas Album!

So, lastly I want to wish you all happy holidays, no matter what you celebrate, no matter where you are, I want you guys to just enjoy the time with family and friends. This is one of the first years where I’m content. People asked me what I wanted and the only thing that jumped to mind was more time to write and still get everything else in. Despite not owning a next generation console, I’m not even interested in them at the moment. There’s simply nothing out until next year and by then they should be available in shops. Either way, how are things going with you ladies and gents? Where’s your writing at? Anything new in your life? Did you finish your NaNo project yet? So many questions! Take care and until next time!

 

Games: Why Buy At Launch?

So, for those of you who know me… I am a gamer through and through. I buy games on launch to aid in the ever growing quest for publishers to have “great launches”. I don’t know if this legitimately helps them, but I feel better knowing I support the things I love. I do the same with movies, and this rant applies to both. As an avid supporter of the realm of media (digital or otherwise) I find myself at a crossroads where I never would have guessed I’d be.

I am slowly not buying games at launch.

Why you ask? Well I’m glad you did!

You see, it has become trend that not only do games drop in price or trade ins arrive after a game has been out for awhile but the person who picks it up on day one loses out on getting the whole package. Let’s use Skyrim for instance. I love Skyrim, so much to do, so much to explore and never quite the same experience twice. However I bought this game at launch. Got the game, no special edition, no downloadable content, not a thing extra. Then they announce some downloadable content, which after paying ninety dollars for my game they now would like an additional five or ten dollars. More content? More money. Even more content? Sweet! More money. So if you were the poor sucker who bought the game at launch and got all the content, you spent close to one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty dollars.

Ok, so you really loved the game. It was worth one hundred and thirty to you. Fair enough. Great game, great story. Then as a slap in the face they release everything you bought for a third of the price. Thanks for the giant slap in the face. So what I’ve been asking myself is this: Why buy a game at launch that you can buy in say a year’s time and get all the content for cheaper? I’d rather have the full experience than the expensive episodic experience.

So the problem is pretty apparent, game companies for some strange, unknown reason are slowly conditioning us to not buy their games at launch. They don’t see it now, but I can assure you I’m not the only person out there with this mentality. I have spoken with multiple people who refuse to preorder when they will wait until they can get the “full game” in a bundle or pack. Yeah, it is going swell for companies right now while people are coming to their senses… but parents are going to stop buying brand new, gamers are going to hold off and all it’s going to take is some time.

Assassin’s Creed IV just came out. It looks nifty. I’ll pick it up when it has a GOTY or Platinum Hits All included edition. I preordered the collectors edition of Batman because that statue of Batman and Joker rocked my world. That being said, give me something I can only get at launch. I know there was a statue for Assassin’s Creed IV, but frankly… what if I hated that character like I hated Ezio from Assassin’s Creed II? That’s a big risk. Replica Hidden Blade? Better.

My problem still lies in the fact that it all comes out later in a cheaper package. I think instead of buying the season pass or whatever “buzzword” they’ve marketed, it should come included at launch. Entice people to preorder for only the launch ones will have a full season pass. Then the next lot can pay ten bucks less, with no season pass. Then when the game of the year edition comes out, have it include the DLC on a disc. Have it at that original price point again or the ten dollar less one. Yes eventually that will drop in price, but it doesn’t condition people not to help you at launch.

Don’t get me wrong, gaming has changed considerably in the twenty five years I’ve been gaming. From my old Commodore 64 and Colecovision to my preordered PS4 and Zelda 3DS XL, it is fantastic to be able to get additional content for the games I love. But I just want that content to be an addition to the game, not a sore mark.

Finishing up, I love the new Batman game, but sadly I won’t get the additional DLC from the Playstation store. Same thing happened with Bioshock Infinite. I suppose as I grow older and find my ambitions higher and my time for gaming less, I’ll start prioritising how and when I spend my time and money. I mean it sucks when you buy a movie and then they release an extended edition or collector’s edition… am I right? Same thing with bands, new album, extended album with covers and unreleased tracks. Do you ladies and gents out there feel the same? Let me know via email or in the comments below.