Thursday, July 31, 2008
warning
I am about to undo our wireless modem. I won't have any internet until next Thursday. Lettin' you all know.
why am I awake? who knows?
So it's probably way too early to be up... seeing as this starts my week of vacation, I didn't get to bed until 1 AM and I'm still up at 8.
Everything is -almost- packed up. The problem with that is that there are now loads of huge boxes sitting around blocking my ability to move freely around my room. I probably could have solved that problem by, you know, not putting the boxes in the center of my small bedroom... but what fun would that be?
Goals today:
1. To the bank, to fill out a change of address form.
2. Water office, to pay bill and set up water for the new place, fill out change of address.
3. Post office, to set up change of address/weeklong hold while all this is going on.
4. The mall, to run by work and pick up a few dishes I left there and leave my keys for the manager from Kentucky who is covering my shifts while I'm gone. I am broke-broke-broke, so no shopping.
5. FINISH PACKING dear lord Katie could you make this take any longer
6. Do dishes, pack up my dishes.
7. Throw sheets/pillowcases in the washer/dryer to clean.
there. That is what I hope to get done before my family or Jason's shows up tonight.
Man, all this stuff better go well. Jason and I are sick with nervousness anyway. And I wanna eat cupcakes.
Everything is -almost- packed up. The problem with that is that there are now loads of huge boxes sitting around blocking my ability to move freely around my room. I probably could have solved that problem by, you know, not putting the boxes in the center of my small bedroom... but what fun would that be?
Goals today:
1. To the bank, to fill out a change of address form.
2. Water office, to pay bill and set up water for the new place, fill out change of address.
3. Post office, to set up change of address/weeklong hold while all this is going on.
4. The mall, to run by work and pick up a few dishes I left there and leave my keys for the manager from Kentucky who is covering my shifts while I'm gone. I am broke-broke-broke, so no shopping.
5. FINISH PACKING dear lord Katie could you make this take any longer
6. Do dishes, pack up my dishes.
7. Throw sheets/pillowcases in the washer/dryer to clean.
there. That is what I hope to get done before my family or Jason's shows up tonight.
Man, all this stuff better go well. Jason and I are sick with nervousness anyway. And I wanna eat cupcakes.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
One by one, I'm on to the next one
As for the second post of my day and the second ever on this particular blog...
I work in a women's specialty clothing store. We have a lot, and I mean a LOT, of regular customers. Some of them, over time, grow to know our names and rather a lot about our lives as they engage us in conversation or we engage them. We have one customer I'll call MR who is in all the time. MR is a teacher and comes in a lot to buy clothing. She's vivacious, very social, and really a lot of fun. She is one of those customers who treats the employees like we are real people with lives outside of this job. For this, we adore her.
She's also famous for returning a lot. A LOT. Sometimes it can be frustrating. In the past month I've helped her with two sort of twisty returns. On one, she wanted to return a giant pile of pants past our two-month return limit because she had gained some weight and they were getting a bit tight. All of them still had the tags and had clearly not been worn... but she didn't have her receipt.
So I told her to make sure to come in when I was working and we worked it out; she ended up spending more than she got back, and she thanked me all over the place. Another time she returned a bunch of stuff and then re-bought it with cash, because she had used a card she wasn't supposed to.
Anyway, I was only at work until 2 PM today. Around 4:30 I get a call from my Assistant Manager. "You have a present," AM announces.
We banter back and forth a bit and she informs me that one of our "best customers" left me a wedding present and made my AM swear up and down she wouldn't tell me who it was. But, "remember, Katie, you've HELPED HER A LOT, you know?"
"Oh, it's MR isn't it?!" I said, and grabbed my keys and headed. She was already gone by the time I got there. But she had gone out and bought me a yankee scented candle... and the scent was "Bridal Bouquet". It was so very, very kind of her...
and a needed stress relief between coming up to this wedding and trying to pack to move on Friday. I was just excited, and it really is gratifying to know that some of our customers keep our lives in their heads after they walk out the door. The thing I love best about retail is that sometimes you make actual connections with your customers, not just salesperson-to-buyer, but deeper than that.
Now I'm here, packing and working on music. But my room smells like flowers and I'm smiling.
I work in a women's specialty clothing store. We have a lot, and I mean a LOT, of regular customers. Some of them, over time, grow to know our names and rather a lot about our lives as they engage us in conversation or we engage them. We have one customer I'll call MR who is in all the time. MR is a teacher and comes in a lot to buy clothing. She's vivacious, very social, and really a lot of fun. She is one of those customers who treats the employees like we are real people with lives outside of this job. For this, we adore her.
She's also famous for returning a lot. A LOT. Sometimes it can be frustrating. In the past month I've helped her with two sort of twisty returns. On one, she wanted to return a giant pile of pants past our two-month return limit because she had gained some weight and they were getting a bit tight. All of them still had the tags and had clearly not been worn... but she didn't have her receipt.
So I told her to make sure to come in when I was working and we worked it out; she ended up spending more than she got back, and she thanked me all over the place. Another time she returned a bunch of stuff and then re-bought it with cash, because she had used a card she wasn't supposed to.
Anyway, I was only at work until 2 PM today. Around 4:30 I get a call from my Assistant Manager. "You have a present," AM announces.
We banter back and forth a bit and she informs me that one of our "best customers" left me a wedding present and made my AM swear up and down she wouldn't tell me who it was. But, "remember, Katie, you've HELPED HER A LOT, you know?"
"Oh, it's MR isn't it?!" I said, and grabbed my keys and headed. She was already gone by the time I got there. But she had gone out and bought me a yankee scented candle... and the scent was "Bridal Bouquet". It was so very, very kind of her...
and a needed stress relief between coming up to this wedding and trying to pack to move on Friday. I was just excited, and it really is gratifying to know that some of our customers keep our lives in their heads after they walk out the door. The thing I love best about retail is that sometimes you make actual connections with your customers, not just salesperson-to-buyer, but deeper than that.
Now I'm here, packing and working on music. But my room smells like flowers and I'm smiling.
Starting Up
Why hello people. If you're reading this, you are now privy to my public blog. This is posts about my life that my family can access as well as friends and anyone who is generally curious about what I'm up to these days.
Generally, the way to start these things is with an introduction, so I'll try not to disappoint.
Name: Katherine Nicole VanHoorn, very soon to be Faulk
Age: 22
Hair: What they call "dirty" or "dishwater" blonde; it's mostly blonde, but it's got brown and red in it too
Eyes: Green with circles of brown on the very inside; hazel is the word I think
Build: Hourglass, with some extra weight around my hips and stomach. I'm okay with it.
I am going into my Super-Senior or Fifth year of college at SIUC, in Carbondale Illinois. I'm an art major, which means I plan to spend the rest of my life happily living in poverty... or doing something that in no way relates to my degree. I also believe wholeheartedly that education for its own sake is absolutely worthwhile, so no, I don't feel my education was in any way wasted.
I am currently three days from being married to Jason Faulk, who is almost two years older than me and is also an art major who still has a semester left to go. We've got two years or slightly less left in Carbondale and then it's off to the great unknown, I suppose.
This is my introduction, I guess.
Generally, the way to start these things is with an introduction, so I'll try not to disappoint.
Name: Katherine Nicole VanHoorn, very soon to be Faulk
Age: 22
Hair: What they call "dirty" or "dishwater" blonde; it's mostly blonde, but it's got brown and red in it too
Eyes: Green with circles of brown on the very inside; hazel is the word I think
Build: Hourglass, with some extra weight around my hips and stomach. I'm okay with it.
I am going into my Super-Senior or Fifth year of college at SIUC, in Carbondale Illinois. I'm an art major, which means I plan to spend the rest of my life happily living in poverty... or doing something that in no way relates to my degree. I also believe wholeheartedly that education for its own sake is absolutely worthwhile, so no, I don't feel my education was in any way wasted.
I am currently three days from being married to Jason Faulk, who is almost two years older than me and is also an art major who still has a semester left to go. We've got two years or slightly less left in Carbondale and then it's off to the great unknown, I suppose.
This is my introduction, I guess.
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