December 14, 2013

►    A Seasonal Specialty Stores Report Card was received from Julie L. in Peterborough, NH concerning Paul’s service performed in September of 2012.  We were rated Excellent, on all 17 points.  “I appreciate when staff is willing to troubleshoot over the phone.”

►    Advertising changes Sunday, 12/15:  “Family Gifts”. Department promotions and weekly specials continue.

►    Remember:  Gift Certificate season begins today.  Make sure you know how to sell one.

►    I found an insurance company that is willing to help people work with Healthcare.gov to buy health insurance:  Healthmarket Connect, 444 Willow Street, Manchester, NH  03103.  Phone: 603-637-9891; Fax:  888-910-5673;  Email:  assist@healthmarketconnect.com.   They have provided the following chart of family size vs. income range for the government subsidies to purchase insurance:

Family size          Income range                                        Family size       Income range

1                      $11,490-$45,960                                       5                   $27,570-$110,280

2                      $15,510-$62,040                                       6                   $31,590-$126,360

3                      $19,530-$78,120                                        7                   $35,610-$142,440

4                      $23,550-$94,200                                       8                   $39,630-$158,520

*Larger family sizes, please call or email.

►    Happy Holidays to everyone.  A word to the wise:  you should open your pay stub every week before you throw it away.  Because every year, someone never cashes a bonus or Christmas check, because they throw them away.

►    From Seth: Only the globe-shaped fluorescent bulbs should be used in the billiard lights.  I keep finding incandescent globes and spotlights installed in these lights.  They consume much more energy and will overload the circuit.  If you are not sure which bulbs to use or cannot find the proper bulbs, please ask a manager.  Thank you.

►    Added by Dennis: Overload the circuits means start a fire, which has happened twice in the past.  Fortunately, both times the ceiling or building did not catch fire – just the ends of the tracks.

►    From now ‘til Christmas, we are offering 20% off cue cases purchased with a 2-piece cue.  Sales people need to point it out – especially to customers purchasing cues for a Christmas present.  Cashiers need to remember to take the discount when you ring it up.

►    I assume everyone remembers that when someone buys a 2-piece cue, they also get a Seasonal chalk holder with chalk in it, and cue care directions?

►    The Premium Assortment of cookies in the lunchroom this week were sent to Anne-Marie as a “Thank You” for buying so many printer ink cartridges.  She turned them over to all of us, just like store people turn in their tips.  So enjoy them while you wait for your Girl Scout cookies to come in.

►    We have lost a great deal of transparency in the switch to mostly computerized sales orders.  It is causing much more work for Patrick, Ann and Dennis; and we are going to have customer problems, too.  Why?  Because when you hand-wrote them, you showed your math.  You at least gave a regular price and crossed it out on a mark-down.  Free goods in an above-ground package usually showed the color of the sale sheet.

Now you are leaving all that out.  Using the computer does not relieve you from telling us and the customer what you are doing.  If a customer gets a discount, we all deserve to know why.  Showing a negative item is not enough – that doesn’t say why.  It is better, actually, to discount the item – but write on the line, or in the remarks, why.

►    Automatic pool cleaners with rubber or fragile brushes should not be stored on surfaces that will ruin the brushes.  That’s why we put cardboard on the shelves when we store customer cleaners for repair.  So you should not put the cleaner on top of the cord – that will ruin them too.  Put the cord on top or next to the cleaner.

►    I do not stay up at night thinking of things to write here.  I just work here every day and remember what I see.

►    Weird New From The Weird:

(1)   Two brothers, celebrating a winning lottery ticket in Wichita, Kan., in February, bought a stash of marijuana, but then, attempting to light a bong using butane lighter fluid, one accidentally blew up the family home.  That brother was hospitalized with second-degree burns, and the other was arrested for marijuana possession.

(2)   Megan Thode, 27, went to trial in February in Easton, PA., suing Lehigh University, accusing a professor of illegally discriminating against her with a C-plus grade in a class in 2009 in the school’s graduate counseling program, in which a B was the minimum required to continue.  Thode demanded $1.3 million for future damage to her career (but not a tuition refund – as she had matriculate for free because her father is a Lehigh professor).  Four days after the trial began, the judge ruled against her.

►    It Could Be Worse:

The front office asked us to figure out the square footage dedicated to each department in our clothing store.  To save time, I suggested we count the ceiling tiles above each department.  “They’re each two square feet.  Counting the tiles would give us an accurate dimension of each department without having to work around all the displays,” I explained.  My boss hated the idea.  “He-lloo,” she said, sarcastically, “we need the square footage of the floor, not the ceiling.”  Terri Hanke, Kansas