The Holiday Formerly Known As Thanksgiving Debriefing Thread 2015

[Jay 2K Winger]

I worked on Turkey Day, and was the only ITSD tech on for the whole shift. Not that it mattered. I got three calls during the entire 8 hours. One was from Dad, updating me on our plans for today, and the other two were from a user having password issues, whose problem was beyond the scope of my ability to fix, but he was accepting of that and the fact it wouldn't get addressed until Monday.

[BrenDAnn]

My shift on Turkey Day wasn't too bad. Of course, being at a C-Store, I wasn't expecting much. My greatest amusement came from the college kid who was going to his friend's tiny town for the first time. It was funny listening to him mangle the names with such excitement, knowing the area he was talking about. I got a whole lot of 'Aw sucks you're working today', and three consecutive people asked if I drew the short straw. Other than that, and the icy, shitty weather, it wasn't horrible. Crossing my fingers that anyone that worked this morning or last night stayed safe in the insanity of consumerism!

ETA: I did have one person genuinely thank me for being there yesterday. All hope is not lost with humanity!

[Food Lady]

Nice complement: "You look fresh. Did you just come in?" I had, in fact, come in only 2 hours before that. I've never been told I looked fresh before. That's a new one. I'll take it.

[Kittish]

...
Actually, I was the one complaining about the pitifully low amount of food stamps. People who don't have access to a kitchen or who don't know how to cook and budget simply cannot survive on less than $7.00 a day.

Currently, I have the turkey bones and stuff we won't eat cooking in the crock pot to make stock. Most people throw those wonderful things in the trash because they don't know how to use them.

...

In other news, turkeys will be very cheap over the weekend. I'm going to get a couple more. They are cheap protein, easy to cook and well worth the 50 cents a pound they will cost.

Sheesh, who in their right minds even waits til the week of, much less the day before Thanksgiving to take care of something they've known about for at least a month? I get my notice that it's time to renew near the beginning of the month before I need to go in to talk to them. As far as the amount goes, it's more than I was spending a month on food before I moved out here and qualified for the program. I certainly won't complain about being able to eat better!

I roasted a turkey I'd had kicking around in my freezer from right after last Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago and promptly stripped the meat from it and refroze most of that (so it'd take up less room in the freezer, mainly, need the room for cookie dough). I thought about making stock from the bones and skin, but decided not to this time. Boyfriend isn't hugely fond of turkey. He'll eat sandwiches and such with it, but doesn't want gravy or soups based on turkey stock.

I am probably going to buy another bird this weekend, since as you noted they'll be on sale for extra cheap. I might have to thaw and cook it right away, depending on whether I can fit it in the freezer. All that cookie dough is still in the way, but about half of it is going to be baked next week, so maybe.

[Rosco the Iroc]

Today was good. It was busy but not crazy and everyone was great and up beat. A dad brought in his 3 daughters and they had a blast. BF brought in GF who never shot, she listen and took my pistol instruction to heart and shot one of the best shot groups I've seen shot there with a .38 revolver. She was grinning ear to ear. and I get paid to do it!

The outlet was a madhouse when I drove by.

[Trixie]

Last evening I drove by my local Walmart and it was kind crowded. Could've gotten a good space if I wanted to shop. There was also like 5 cops cars parked right outside the store. The local mall was crowded at hell, no way I'd even try to go to that mall on a non-holiday shopping trip. That was nuts. When I went in today they said it wasn't too busy. Just one group of nasty women buying all of our supply of something we have on sale every year. And many times just as good of a sale during the year. Glad I wasn't there for that.

[Aria]

I could have gone shopping today. They were talking on the radio about the AWESOME sales and how at Crossiron Mills you could get a 100 dollar gift card for 75 dollars!

I was like, that place is a zoo normally. Can't be arsed. Then I went to bed. XD

[Food Lady]

I am probably going to buy another bird this weekend, since as you noted they'll be on sale for extra cheap. I might have to thaw and cook it right away, depending on whether I can fit it in the freezer. All that cookie dough is still in the way, but about half of it is going to be baked next week, so maybe.

If I were a meat eater I would, too! My mom does it. She makes soup and freezes in those seal-a-meal bags for all year long. Smart lady.

[notalwaysright]

Yeah, I was right about the mid day shift being unpleasant. When I get my brain back, I might make a new thread about some of them specifically. Generally, after the morning coupons ended (total purchase coupon ended at noon) the rest of the people were whiny little b*tches. It was honestly like they didn't realize what day it was. Or what store they were in. Seriously, we are busy on normal days, and you think it's cool to storm in all flushered and when you see me doing go backs fly over like "omg! I just... It's so! All I need is to find the glitter!" Yes, your glitter needs are life altering, I can see that.

[XCashier]

I got off very easy. I had the stocking shift, which meant two lovely, customer-free hours to put as much stuff on the shelves as possible. The last three hours I was mostly putting paint and wooden items away, which was one of the least busy areas of the store, and did some cashier backup. We weren't as busy as past Black Fridays, I think it's because Corporate stretched the sale over three days, for once a good idea from them!

Seriously, we are busy on normal days, and you think it's cool to storm in all flushered and when you see me doing go backs fly over like "omg! I just... It's so! All I need is to find the glitter!" Yes, your glitter needs are life altering, I can see that.

Yeah, we sell nothing that is vitally important to life or health, but you'd think we did, the way some of our customers act. First World Problems, indeed.

[Seanette]

Relatively normal day, except for the people who thought we were doing half off, because Goodwill was. We're a thrift store, but not Goodwill or affiliated with them in any way.

[mathnerd]

I went out today because my boys have been in dire need of clothes, but I'm broke enough that I wanted to take advantage of today's sales. We got to the mall around 8am and it wasn't crowded at all. By 9 it was busy, but not too crazy. At 10 we left that mall to go to another one and it was the same story there. Busy but not nuts. I managed to re-outfit all four of us, plus get a couple other odds and ends for just under $300. It was worth the hassle. I did make sure to be super nice to all the employees except one that was a major douche bag, so I was just polite to her.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Well, finally that's over.

Nothing too exciting happened that I know of, except a couple gray-haired drivers backing up their vehicles for carryouts and hitting the pallets of merchandise. I'm told one came fairly close to hitting the cage with the propane tanks for the floor burnisher.

Also, <3 Qdoba. I must've eaten about 8 tacos yesterday.

[XCashier]

Today was insane. My day started with me falling in the shower and slamming my knee very painfully against the tub, and only got worse.

I had a stocking shift, and was given the task of straightening the Licensed Characters aisle (fabric with Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, etc. characters). It took way longer than it should have, partly because of my knee, mostly because people had taken the fleece blanket kits, pulled them apart to look at them (despite the fact that there's a picture on the sleeve that shows what the damned thing looks like!!!) and tossed the pieces wherever. Then my coworker wanted me to cut some fabric for her while I was reassembling the kits, and I'm ashamed to say I snapped at her. I apologized of course, told her about my fall. She forgave me and said pain does that to people; she's a better person than I am.

Then the store opened. Black Friday was nothing compared to today. The Black Friday sale -- and crowds -- were spread over three days, today's sale was only one, so we had massive lines at the register and cutting counter. Had one woman ask me if we had the fabric with the horses on it. Um, we have dozens of fabrics with horses, can you be more specific? She said it was fleece but didn't remember which brand, and she checked her computer three days ago and it said we had it. Um, three days ago was the start of the Black Friday sale, so the odds of us still having it in stock are rather slim!!! Plus what the webpage says doesn't always match reality.

I was up on register all day and wouldn't you know it, my register decided to act up. First the scanner stopped scanning, so that had to be fixed. Then the bloody thing froze up in the middle of a return, so I had to go to a different register. Just one thing after another.

Feh. I'm so glad today is over.

[notalwaysright]

Then the store opened. Black Friday was nothing compared to today.

I seriously called this. It was so busy, and people were even MORE whiny about it. I think we got to about 50 numbers out for a while, so yeah the wait probably sucked, but being a brat about it just makes you look like a spoiled child.

Also, you had that lady asking for "horse fabric"... I had a lady yesterday (when flannel was still on sale) come up while I was helping someone else, and hold up a bolt at me. "Do you know if you have any more of this?" I told her I had no way to tell, as our inventory numbers would not be accurate because of the volume we were selling. She said "oh, well, if you DID have more, where would it be?" Uh, we had flannel in three different places, and it could be in any of them. Also she nearly missed her number, and made some comment like "well, I was waaaay in the back looking for that fabric!" I may have brought that on myself, because I said "just made it!" when she came up. Maybe that was mean? I don't even care anymore.