Thursday, August 12, 2010

On moving

I've moved!

I still live in the same apartment (even though some of the reactions to yesterday's post were implicit suggestions that I move to a bigger apartment so that I can buy a dishwasher and stop complaining about having to wash them by hand...). And I'm not doing anything drastic like switching blog platforms (I lurves Blogger. Yes I do!).

But the store I work in has moved!

We didn't move far - the mall we're located in has been expanding and morphing and redecorating for a while now, and FINALLY it's done! We've been working in a construction site for two years (!), having to accept such things as terrible (or no) air circulation, noise, dust, extreme heat, gradually losing space in our own store (including our break room), other stores disappearing at (seemingly) random, one - ONE - bathroom shared with the customers of the entire mall, the parking lot from hing, and having to cope with customers who were angry with the slow pace of the process and the inconveniences suffered in the meantime. All this with the intangible "it will be worth it when it's done" hanging somewhere in the distant future, out of reach.

Ladies and gentlemen, the future is here. The official opening was this Tuesday. Our new store is located in the new part of the mall, in a brand new, large, beautiful, clean, noise-free, dust-free (for now...), airconditioned space. You know those bookshops you can just walk around in for hours because it looks gorgeous? Yeah, I work in one of those now.

The rest of the mall looks great too. It was my day off yesterday (the only day this week), and I still went there just to look around (and spend half my wage this month in the process). There are lots and lots of new shops, restaurants, bathrooms (you may laugh, but trust me - this matters when it's your workplace!), and the new parking lot is great (not that I have a car, so I don't worry too much about this).

On our opening night we made about four times as much as a regular day. We had Christmas season levels on our sales. And everyone was so happy. The customers were friendly, we got a lot of compliments on the new store, and no one minded that we didn't know where anything was (it was the strangest feeling - I'm used to know exactly where to find everything in the store, and now I had no idea where to even start looking).

I think the two years in a construction site may have actually been worth it!

21 comments:

Natasha said...

Isn't that amazing!!!
Congratulations, and I do hope your salary is linked to the revenue your store makes :-)

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Congrats from me also. Good luck.

Yvonne.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's exciting!

Erinn said...

Congrats! Enjoy the newness of the new store and don't get lost going to work.

RosieC said...

Congrats! It sounds great. Just don't come home too exhausted over the next few weeks from your store's renewed popularity :)

Unknown said...

Congrats!!! How fun and exciting!!! You are glowing, radiating, I can see the bookshop sparkle! With each word you wrote I imagined myself searching in this fun store... to bad we don't live close or I'd come and check it out!

Happy Thursday! Enjoy your day at work!

Cruella Collett said...

Natasha - I wish! No extra bonus for me, but at least the hours spent at work are less tedious :)

Yvonne - thanks :)

Alex - It is. I never thought I'd be this excited about going to work :)

Erinn - hehe, I'll try not to get lost. I almost did on my first day ;)

Rosie - I might today. We're open until midnight, for some reason. I'm predicting a looooong night...

Jen - hehe, thanks! Funny thing is, I am glowing a little today... Either there is something weird about my new body lotion, or I have turned into a Twilightian vampire...

M.J. Nicholls said...

Yes, but do you have a section dedicated entirely to Coetzee? And I bet you have no Lucy Ellmann. I am going to pout until you ship over some Lucy Ellmann. ::pouts::

Unknown said...

Wow, I love working in a new store! Everything is so clean to begin with. Well, I'm happy for you.

CD

Jules said...

Congrats and I sympathize with construction. It use to be my career :D
Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Aubrie said...

Congrats on the move! My job moved to a different place a few years back and it 's sooo much nicer. Now I don't have to feed the meter to go to work, and we have a ton more space. :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, that sounds like a great move. I've moved twice at two workplaces and besides the stress of the actually move and making sure inventory, computers, furniture, etc all gets moved properly, I loved having a new space to work in. You are so lucky to work in a mall where you can shop on yur lunch breaks. I wish we had a decent shopping plaza within walking disatnce of my workplace. I'd definitely get out of the office more often. - G

LTM said...

yay! Fun new digs~

You know I managed a bookstore right after college... Truth!

All that to say, your award's up on my site... come guess! ;p

DL Hammons said...

That's great! I hope the freshness doesn't wear off for a very long time! :)

Pat Tillett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pat Tillett said...

I've always wanted to work in a bookstore. Now that I'm retired, I may just do that. I love them.
big ones small ones, all of them!

Anonymous said...

That's awesome; I'm happy for you. :]

I've been working at a department store for about a month now and I still don't know where some of the stuff is. It's frustrating, because you just never know when you'll come across a customer who will hate you for it.

Missed Periods said...

It's so great that you like your job. Most people seem not to. But, I mean, it is a big, beautiful bookstore, which is pretty dreamy.

Cheeseboy said...

Congratulations! Moving is tough, but definitely worth it in your case. Hope the Christmas level sales continue.

Private said...

Where is this magical mall in which you work? And what bookstore is it? I'll pop in and say Hi:)

Cruella Collett said...

Mark - that we do not, unless you count the section between Codram, Eddie and Cofa, Azim - that is the section dedicated to Coetzee. And until Ms Ellmann gets herself on the Schibsted International import list you'll have to continue pouting...

Clarissa - it is very clean. And tidy. Now if we could keep all the customers away, we might be able to keep it that way...

Jules - you worked in construction? I guess you are really to blame for all the noise and dust, then... :P

Aubrie - isn't it nice? Very good to have a fresh start.

Georgina - "lucky", or just broke... It gets expensive in the long run. I have spent almost as much as I've made this week...

Leigh - I did not know that! You know the biz, then!

DL - I hope so too!

Pat - that would be nice retirement work, especially if you got to be in one of the slow ones. Were you could speak to the customers, make recommendations, have a cuppa when you felt like it. Maybe I'd like to do that myself some day ;)

Amanda - that's true. Some people get in your face for the strangest reasons...

MP - trust me, there are times I don't like it. But at the moment it is pretty neat :)

Cheeseboy - so far they have! Money, money, money (not to me, though..)

Alexandra - Storo Storsenter! It's in the Aftenposten today (Friday) by the way! And that would be fun :)

Related Posts with Thumbnails