Busy start to the weekend

So, the overnight senior manager who made sure I was there so she could talk to me was hurrying out the door like a scalded cat as I was walking in. The entire conversation went, "Hi ToyMan. Bye ToyMan" all while I was trying to say "good morning." Whatever. I was even fifteen or so minutes early so she wouldn’t have to stay over.

I came in Saturday morning to find the my final preparations for the Breaking Dawn release worked out. We had more than a hundred people in line at midnight and by the time I left at 2000 that night we had sold more than half of our initial ship-in. If they got the displays re-worked like I asked after I left (there was a truck being unloaded and they had priority on the pallet jacks or I’d have done it) then we’ll sell the rest of ’em today. I’m off, obviously, but I feel good about it. The store did just shy of $300k in sales Friday, and I’m sure we did at least that on Saturday. Today will be strong because we’ll have a large portion (eighty percent or so) of our Hispanic customers doing their shopping for the week, and most of those folks generally check out with at least one heaping full buggy, if not two or three, per party.

Despite all that, we didn’t beat prior year sales at the store level or even in my departments for last year on Friday and Saturday, but we did beat the Plan, from which all bonuses flow, so we’re doing well for next year’s payout at any rate. And just so everyone understands, the bonus threshold for my hourly employees is much lower (about 5% in each metric) across the board, so if I’m happy about the state of mine they are most likely downright ecstatic. I think the shift in sales is due to the fact that Valentine’s Day was on a Monday last year and this year it’s on a Tuesday, so the extra day has diluted the weekend sales numbers for this year, but we’ll probably be even or slightly up against last year for the week at the store level. I’m still trying to figure out what the crap was selling in my department last year because we were down 50% on Friday. We were up against $50k, which is completely outrageous for a department that size.

Still no final numbers for this year’s bonuses, but the P&L’s dropped last weekend, and they normally update the bonus number within ten days of that so very soon I’ll know which pistol I’ll be able to buy. If I’ve got enough left over I might get someone to install sling swivels on my shotgun too; having a sling for it may come in handy someday.

I’ve sent my money off to the NRA to upgrade my membership from Life Member to Endowment Member, which during their normal election year freak-out they have discounted by 75%, so yay me. I’m also getting a nifty fleece jacket with the Endowment Member badge embroidered on it once my last check clears as a bonus. Woohoo!

I talked ever so briefly to Thumper Friday night. Her phone dialed me of its own accord (at least that what she claimed) and we had a short conversation where I explained that she called me, not the other way around and she said her phone freaked out and I should go back to sleep. We both said good-bye and hung up. That was it. I figure she was probably using me as a reference on something and was looking up my contact info and accidentally dialed me. I’ve done it before too, but usually manage to stop the call before it rings on the other end. At any rate, it was good to hear her voice, even for only a few seconds.