WHAT?????

Well, heard through the grapevine that Kohl's will be opening at 8:00 pm on THANKSGIVING DAY!  Please, say it aint so!  I was hoping I could at least get a little nap in after the big turkey dinner and before my shift begins.  Maybe I'll get "lucky" and not be scheduled until later in the day...you know, where I can't find a parking spot anywhere near my store?  We'll see......

By the way, I worked only 4 hours last night and my feet are KILLING ME!  I think I might need a pedicure soon.  Or just a foot massage.  Or really, just a nap.  Hey - maybe how about only one job?  Now, I'm just dreaming!

It's been a while.....

I'm posting again!  I know it's been about a week or so since I last posted and since then, I've had my second day of training and my first shift on the Kohl's floor.  CBT Training was very easy, but quite boring.  I can see why Kohl's presents this information because of the number of people making Kohl's their first job (or others who are just venturing out into the world of retail).  I've seen these types of videos before, but you just have to push through it.  I did learn a few things I didn't know, so we are all in a position to learn something new.  I was extremely impressed with the level of security that Kohl's uses.  I don't want to divulge in case it's "top secret," but let's just say that as a customer, you can feel safe walking around your neighborhood Kohl's.  

CBT Training (computer-based-training) covered loss prevention, customer service, greeting customers, sales, returns, angry customers, personality types, etc.  The videos were well produced.  Training took my entire four-hour shift...and I didn't even 100% finish it.  

My next shift was POS training on an actual POS terminal up front.  I had a little "employee in training" sign up in front of the register so people wouldn't come up for me to ring them out...some saw the sign and smiled, saying "Good luck!"  Everyone was so nice.  This part took about 45 minutes (becuase I read EVERYTHING).  Then, I went to watch this really sweet young girl, Brittany, ring up a few people, then I did it myself.  I stumbled a time or two, telling people I was new so they wouldn't think I was nuts (LOL), but it all came back to me pretty well - the customer service/retail aspect anyway.  The registers are pretty easy and self-explanatory.  Honestly, I think after I work tonight I will feel even better about it.  I love talking to people and engaging them in conversation, so that part I'm very excited about.  I know there will be a grumpy Gus or two on occasion, but it's okay - it's all part of the job. 

Just keep smiling! :)

Gearing up for training!

Well, tonight I do CBT at Kohl's (computer-based training).  I'm looking forward to it, and am scheduled from 6-10pm tonight.  Not sure if that will be all computer-based training or if they might let me practice on the registers tonight.  I kind of hope I get to train a bit on the registers since I shadow another POS Associate on Wednesday.  I'm sure whatever they do will be fine.  I'm not really nervous - Lord knows I've had a few "first days" on the job, but I've done retail before and loved it.  Loved it even when lines were 20+ deep and people were yelling because they were tired of waiting.  I consider it my personal mission to turn everyone's bad moods around.  Impossible to do it to everyone, but still I try.

I will definitely need to purchase some more business casual pants.  I've worked in construction accounting for about 17 years, so my business wardrobe consists of jeans and tshirts/blouses.  I have two pair of slacks.  Even I get tired of looking at black pants all the time.  I'm going to have to utilize that Kohl's discount soon and break down and buy some nice-looking pants.

I'll post about my experience of Day 2 training at Kohl's.  I'm just anxious to be done with the "new employee" couple of weeks and jump in and do my job.  That's when it gets fun.  I'm just grateful I was hired early enough to get a lot of experience behind the register before Black Friday.  I'm a little crazy - I'm actually looking forward to working on Black Friday.  When I worked at Mervyn's (back in the day), I absolutely LOVED Black Friday.  We would have so much fun!  

Until tomorrow......

Sad day for Freedom

We mourned the loss of today's game for my son's U15 Classic soccer team, The Freedom, for a while today.  They struggled quite a bit and succombed to the winning team, 4-1.  My son played fullback and then goalie for a while.  The other team was better prepared and wanted it more.  That's sad to admit, but it's true.  Hard to tell your kid, "Hey, they played a better game," but it was true today.  Not to say our boys didn't play hard, but they didn't communicate very well during game play.  It was a hard game to swallow.  It's easier to accept losses when they try their hearts out and still don't win.  This was unfortunately just not one of those games.

My husband took my son camping for the remainder of the weekend, so it's just my daughter and myself at home tonight.  I offered up dinner out and a movie afterward, but she said she'd rather get a Lunchable and a frozen yogurt and stay home and enjoy "the quiet" that happens when no boys are around.  LOL.  So, she's sitting here now playing Xbox and relaxing and I'm on the computer blogging while waiting for our exciting snack of cheesesticks heat up in the oven.   Oh, the exciting life we lead.

Looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.  We'll see if I can actually sleep past 7:30....seems like that's about all I can squeeze out. 

Wish me luck.

Well, I started a new job last night......

This uncool soccer mom went and got herself a part-time job.  Yes, I still have a full-time job AND I'm still an independent consultant with Tastefully Simple....AND I have two children who are very active in school, sports, marching band, and their social lives.  I thought, "You know what I need?  Yet another job!"  This, plus the fact that my husband has been out of work for over a year (but trying to start his own business, which is providing to be difficult at times) helped push me in this direction.

I am now a POS Associate at Kohl's.  Last night, I went through orientation with three very young ladies (ages 20, 18, and 17).  I am 45.  They could all have been my children.  But, to their parents' credit, they were all very sweet, intelligent, friendly, and respectful.  We were all in the same "new employee" boat.

The store manager introduced himself - very friendly man - and went through part of the orientation with us.  Greeting us, welcoming us to the store, telling us why we will love it there.  So far, so good.  I can see why he works with the public.  He definitely has a good customer service presence about him.  Then, the store's HR rep came in.  She was very knowledgeable, sweet and very funny.  She definitely made the routine of going through tax forms, applications, rules, and regulations tolerable.  I've been through quite a few orientations, so I whizzed through the forms.  The young girls - not so much.  You could see the "deer in the headlights" look they each had.  But she worked VERY HARD to make them comfortable.  I was very impressed with what I got out of it.

I go back on Monday (in three days) for computer-based training and on Wednesday, I train with another POS associate. 

Wish me luck!