Thur 2/25 & Fri 2/26

Thursday 2/25 8.30am

Not sure whether I'll make it out today as there's a front moving in so the knee hurts and I just put in two days at work so it's a little stressed, too. And there's supposed to be wind gusts up to 40mph later today. However, it's starting to be Spring temps here, mid to high 60s. El Paso may hit 70 by the end of next week. And I'm starting to see greening all around. When the time changes on 14 March, we start the summer hours in the store (oh yah!)

Really want to check my emails to see whether I have a job offer from anybody, but may just do it early tomorrow.

Kenn was gone for three days to the Manager's Meeting in Las Cruces. Got back late yesterday and said we're going to be getting lots of new stuff from new vendors. Where we're going to put all the new stuff is a puzzle. He says the powers-that-be are pleased with the way this store is going. Ask me if I care, go ahead, I dare you.

The most baffling thing about this corp. is why they haven't implemented POS scanning so they know what's really selling. Every item is required to have a barcode tag on it, which they use when they do the main inventories, so it can be done. Why we're not using scanners when selling is a mystery.

Two other things don't make any sense either. One is leaving items on the shelf when the date code says they've been there for over a year and haven't sold. Why isn't that stuff pulled and sold off to jobbers? The other is the lack of a photo catalog, either printed or digital, so that managers can see what they're ordering. As it is, they only get a truncated name and description, so it's sort of "I don't know what that is but I'll give it a try" ordering system. And sometimes the warehouse sends unordered stuff to try to get rid of it (I guess), like sending "Arizona" souvenirs to this store.

Worked with Carol (Kenn's wife) yesterday and it went fine. We both have the same attitude about the stuff and the systems. She talked about what a skinflint Kenn is (great, yet another wonderful character trait). Ah well. She said evaluations are supposed to happen this week or next -- it'll be interesting to see how that process goes and how he'll rate me. I think workers should be able to evaluate their bosses, too. And if corp. bigwigs paid attention to that, it wouldn't hurt. She also said that she'd told Kenn he needed to work with me to train me on stuff; he said he knew it but then he wouldn't get his time off. Awww, poor baby. But that's the reason he's going to lose a good worker (me).

Am thinking now that I'll do a dump/flush today, then tomorrow am will leave fairly early and go to the petroglyph site, then do groceries and email late in the day. Or vice versa. The light will be better for photos in the afternoon but there's no twilight in the desert so it would mean getting back after dark, backing in and getting hooked up. Which I can do, of course, it's just a little trickier.

Have to start trying to find a mechanic to fix the rod knock in the engine, too. No idea what that's going to cost. Sigh.

Later:
Got called into a store meeting for 1pm. It was supposed to take 15 minutes but I got to just stand for a solid hour (really good for the knee) listening to Kenn drone on about all the wonderful things he'd learned at the conference. There was a throwaway line tossed in "no gossiping" that almost made me laugh out loud. Don't they know that's what people do? all people? No wonder they have so much turnover. All the people who have stayed with them for any length are local people, not RVers, but they are set up to handle RVers, with spaces at each store, and they advertise for them. Was handed a self-evaluation form to fill in -- I'll do my best to be diplomatic as I do want to get a good reference out of this company.

Fri 2/26
Got a late start. Took a shower, fed the cats, and was on the road about 11.30 or so. Stopped by Hastings Entertainment (bookstore/movies/music) as I'd been told there were lots of sale DVDs. Managed to find Hell is for Heroes, one of my favorite WW II movies (Steve McQueen, Fess Parker, Bobby Darin, Nick Adams, etc.). They could special order What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? for me but it's almost $20 so I said no thanks. Then off to grocery shop, and now at the cafe (where they've had a mechanical failure so cold food only).

Best thoughts to B. If all goes well, she'll soon be able to see us coming and going.