Cincigal Grocery Store Clerk - RENEWED ENTHUSIASM

As most of the customers know I am the 'Flower Girl', a name given to me many years ago.  In fact, my name badge claims me to be the 'Floral Specialist'.  And until about four years ago, I was quite the floral expert - so to speak.

It use to be, until changes were made, that this little department displayed assorted arrangements.  Be they in baskets, vases or boxes with big bows - they sold quite well.  It was fun, in away, to see what I could come up with that would intrigue the customers enough to make the purchase.

But, I have to give credit where credit is due.  Be it the selection I would order or the arrangements I would create, it was all due to the customers.  You see, I discovered a long time ago that in order to please customers you only had to watch them to see what they were interested in.

And, so it began.

For me, it was an ego trip.  All of the compliments, thank you, orders and the realization that sometimes customers only came into the store to get flowers.  We had a reputation and it was a good one.

But, as fate would have it, there would be changes made that would kind of take the very creation of the department and change it forever; they call it 'downsizing'.

First the amount of hours to work the department were cut and then suppliers were changed and, if that were not enough, a display cooler was removed and well - interest in the department took a hit.

No longer was there enough of a selection in the flowers, no more room for cut arrangements, not enough time to work the department and the quality of the stock was not as good as originally handled.  And with these changes came another change, the loss of customers.

Since I was the one who came up with the ideas and taught myself how to create sales these changes were a hard hit.  And yes, I took it personally.

I had never been told to do these things, I just took it upon myself.  And what I ended up creating, were sales.

This was the first time that I began to realize that companies do not think of customers, and what they want, when making their decisions.

So for the next few years I had to learn how to juggle the work load; throw a 50 pound bag of potatoes, water the plants then fill the bananas, bag the Broccoli, crisp the lettuce then box a dozen single roses.  Ordering became a hassle due to sales versus shrink.  There was not enough time to work the department, since there were other departments to work.  And most importantly, there was no support. 

So gone were the compliments, interest and sales.

But, hopefully things are beginning to change - again.

Even though I work less hours (RETIRED), I am now able to give more time and work to this little department; renewed enthusiasm.  There still is not enough room for arrangements but I will try to make some adjustments, along with improving selections.

I will not be able to get the old customers back, since they do not shop here anymore, but I will aim for new customers; let them see what we can do, that is like a calling card.

I really don't know what the future holds for this little department.  But, it is worth a shot.

Working here has provided me quite a bit of insight into what makes retail work, and it is rather simple; pleasing the customers.

How easy is that?

Talk at ya later!