"I get up every morning and go to work each day..."

(title quote: Bruce Springsteen, The Promised Land)

"It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality." - Harold S. Geneen

It has been a busy week. I know, they're all busy weeks, but this week I haven't been working double shifts almost every day like I did last week. I only worked at the CD store on Monday and Tuesday, then the rest of the week, just at the game store. Yet, the week has seemed even more full than last week.

I have worked mostly closing shifts this week, so mornings have been my "free time." On Monday morning, I helped my friend Matt move. It was sad, yet it has reconnected me somewhat with that group of friends of which he was a part. On Tuesday morning, I posted about helping him move and did some other things on the computer. On Wednesday, I had to go to work earlier than normal for a closing shift, so I didn't get much time to do anything before work. Thursday is my day for my appointment in Wilmington, so I left home at around 8 a.m. and pretty much went straight to work as soon as I got home.

On Friday, I had my first solo run at opening the game store. My friend Chad, the manager, was nervous and protective about his baby. He had never let anyone go solo so early in their training. I did fine. He called several times and even called his long-standing assistant manager for reassurance that I would be fine by myself. The store was busy the entire time I was alone, but I handled it fairly well, and got the opening duties completed, along with the inventory duties that go along with opening the store each day. Overall, I think it was excellent training to open by myself and have to answer all of the customer questions with nobody else to rely on for help. It helps me to learn. Often, when we have someone else to rely on, we use them as a crutch and ask them things we already know just because we don't think we know them. Being forced to do it reassures us that we can indeed do it.

After work on Friday, I went to the parking lot to discover that in the morning's rain showers, I had left the lights on in my dad's car. I can open a store by myself, but can't remember to turn off the headlights on the car. So, I called my wife to bring the jumper cables, which are in our car, since we had battery problems early in the summer. My preoccupation with all things work related made me leave the lights on (when I left the car in the morning, I was repeating the alarm code over and over in my head) and thus, I arrived home an hour later than I anticipated.

"Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there." - Will Rogers

During the first week of employment at the game store, sales percentages of target items do not count. Our target items are pre-order reservations for soon-to-be-released games and subscriptions to our store magazine/discount program. Even though it didn't count, I still made a passing grade by surpassing the 6% necessary. Here's how it works. In order to pass for the week, 6% of all qualified transactions must include at least one of those two items. If I remember correctly, my final percentage for the week was 11%. This past week, I set out to do better than that. Since I am training to be a manager, I reasoned that my percentages should be among the highest in the store, and that the percentages of others should also be higher when they're working with me. I didn't check my final numbers for the week last night, but they will be posted on the board in the back room. The last I checked, I was over 20% for the week and I had assisted several others in raising their numbers. At one point during the week, my rates were as high as 33%, second highest in the store, but with some in-store festivities and long hours the past three days, those numbers fell back to earth somewhat. Still, I'm pleased with my performance.

Last night, I was working with an associate who has been employed by the store part-time for several months. I had the opportunity to train him to do some things that he had little experience with doing. I have been there for two weeks. Chad told me later that I am, without question, the fastest trainee he has ever had, and for me to be able to assist in providing training to other employees was amazing to him. In preparation for the release of Halo 3, we had a Halo 2 tournament in the store last night, so I didn't have to do the closing duties, since the registers would be open until the tournament ended at midnight. Chad said he regretted that I would miss out on the practice, since I begin floating to other stores this coming week, but he said that he felt sure that if he threw me in a store and said close by yourself, that I would be able to do it without any major problems. He told me that the district manager wanted me on the fast track (which I knew) for management training, but that he would be surprised by how fast things were going.

"It is hard to go beyond your public. If they are satisfied with cheap performance, you will not easily arrive at better. If they know what is good, and require it. you will aspire and burn until you achieve it."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I also received a call on Friday evening from the manager at the CD store. He told me he had waited to do any scheduling for the store until he found out what my schedule at the game store was, so he could work around it. The previous two weeks, he had scheduled the store first and then filled in the shifts I could work and worked them in around his schedule. Particularly this past week, he made little effort to give me any hours. I was fairly sure that this past Monday was my last day there. I gave him a few shifts I could work, since I wanted to hold out and not work every spare moment that I am not working at the game store, and he filled out his schedule and texted my shifts to me. He gave me plenty of hours without overloading me, which I greatly appreciated. Why this sudden change of attitude on his part? It seems that last week, on Friday I think, our store got "secret shopped." The company has a program of evaluating stores using "secret shoppers" who go to the store and ask key focus questions and rate the level of help, friendly service, and target sales they receive. There are about a dozen points of evaluation, including asking if they belong to our discount program, asking if they would like to receive a free trial magazine subscription, putting product into their hands, instructing them on how to use the listening and viewing stations, informing them that we buy and sell used CD's, DVD's and games, etc. I was informed during the course of my conversation with the manager on Friday evening that I had been the associate who had been "shopped." I had earned a perfect 100% rating. The last employee to be "shopped" was the 19 year old who was recently promoted to assistant manager. His rating was an 82%, which earned him the praise of the manager, and the promotion. Standard procedure is that the shopper reports to the corporate offices, who then send an email to the store, which includes the ratings and a full report of the "shop." This time, the shopper actually came back to the store and visited my manager to tell him how amazing my service was.

So, it seems that my performance in both jobs is being recognized as outstanding.

What a difference from how my achievements were rewarded in my teaching job. The last time I went to my principal to inform him of my "superior" ratings (highest possible scores) at both concert and jazz festival this past spring, I was rewarded with a warning for upsetting too many band parents. My ratings were not recognized or acknowledged in any way. It is nice to see that the real world can recognize good performance at times. I know I am far from perfect in either job, and that I need to continue to strive to learn more and do better, but I think I am making a good start.

I have received several questions about the proposed "80's Blog" I have mentioned a few times. Assuming that everyone who originally expressed an interest is still interested, that would mean that myself, Ingrid, Zirelda, JYankee, and now possibly Laurie Anne would be the contributors. I think that is plenty to get started. I will set it up in Blogger, since that is where pretty much all of us already have accounts. Any topics relevant to the 1980's are fair game, from politics and headline news, to fashion, pop culture, celebrities (including "where are they now?" articles), movies and music. With that many contributors, each of us need only write once a week. That would mean 5 posts per week total, one from each of us. I will be emailing you with more specifics and to get things finalized. That will happen tomorrow, since I am free from work for most of the day.

"There are those who said this day would never come. What are they to say now?" - Prophet of Truth, Halo 2

That reminds me. Tomorrow is my "day off." It is the first "day off" I've had in weeks. I have to drive to Wilmington after my wife gets off from work, because I had to reschedule my appointment for tomorrow evening, since I am opening a different branch of the game store on Thursday morning. I have to be home and report to work at the game store tomorrow night at 11:30 p.m. and work until 1:00 a.m. I know, I said it was a day off, but with only a little work, it still counts, right? The reason I have to go in so late is that it is our Halo 3 release party. We don't close the store at 9 p.m. as usual. Instead, we stay open until 1:00 a.m. and begin selling copies of Halo 3 at midnight. The next day, the store opens at 8 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. to continue selling this highly anticipated game. It is the biggest game release in history. There have been far more pre-order reservations for the game than total copies sold of the original Halo. We have a person on staff who serves primarily as bouncer for these special events and we only allow 4 people into the store at a time, beginning at midnight, to purchase the game. The line in front of the store will be incredibly long. I've even seen people set up tents in front of stores a day or more in advance to hold their place in line. I know from my time as a teacher that up to 40% of the male student population skips school on days of big game releases like this (as well as Harry Potter book release days), but it is not a "kids" event. Since it is rated M by the ESRB, you have to be 18 years old to purchase (our tournament last night was ages 18 and up only). That means that anyone under 18 must have a parent present to purchase the game. It also means that a huge percentage of the people buying this game are adults, so it will definitely be a big event. I've included a game trailer below and I'll be sure to give you an eyewitness report from the "front lines" as soon as it's over.


"I have defied gods and demons. I am your shield; I am your sword. I know you; your past, your future. This is the way the world ends."
- Cortana, Halo 3