virginia is for lovers?
well it was a long 3+ weeks, but i am finally home in chicago.
i kept meaning to update while i was there, but those 60-70 hour work weeks (i only had 2 days off), and the added bonus of having cable tv in the hotel room did not motivate me to do much.
and now, for those who care,
i arrived in dc on sunday the 30th, after getting up at 4am to catch the early flight. that night was spent settling in and meeting the 7 other people i would be spending the majority of the next 3 weeks with. the next day, it was off to work!
the area
warrenton, virginia is about an hour from downtown dc. i assumed it would be much like being an hour from downtown chicago. boy was i wrong! this was the South. accents, hunting, chew, "yes ma'am," "y'all," the whole nine yards. overall the people were really nice and even amusing at times - one day an employee asked me where the "dykes" were (i almost responded with "um, here?") but i found out later he was looking for the wire cutters. who knew? the town has about 8,000 residents, and it was rather hilly and pretty. it is a big area for horses - several of the employees lived on farms with them. they had one big strip of retailers (including the burger king which was voted in some local rag as "best burgers in town"...eek!), and a quaint little downtown area which had a kick ass irish pub and little bistro. but this borders opening up was a Big Deal. the only other bookstore in town was a used one and the closest borders was almost a half hour away. so to be in an area where people are really excited to have you there is definitely a change from the dearth of the chicago suburbs.
the work
so for 3 weeks, myself and the other trainers jobs were not only to ensure all the product got on the shelves correctly, but to also train all the new staff. i was in charge of unboxing and shelving all the multimedia and to train staff in it, and in merchandising. while this job is stressful enough, we had the added bonus of having continuous construction up until the day we opened. this is somewhat typical, but what was unusual about it was the utter incompetence of the contractors in general. case in point: the reason why the sort was pushed back a week was because the overhead lights arrived late (due to hurricane katrina they said, i love people taking advantage of a natural disaster to suit their needs). so our sort manager arrived there early to check on things only to find workers painting the store...in the dark. the paint job was so bad that they basically had to repaint the entire store while we were there. i inhaled so many paint fumes and dry wall dust that i am surprised i am not in hospital. not to mention that there was a thin layer of dust on most of our fixtures and product. and to top things off, the bathrooms weren't finished until the store opened, so most days i had to run next store and use the panera bathroom as there was always at least one scary man working there. btw, i never want to eat at panera again...we ate there a little too often.
but aside from the construction issues, i had a great time. putting a store together is quite fun, and hell, all that overtime is quite nice. and the fact we opened the store on time was a great accomplishment. for the most part, i really liked working with my fellow trainers. you really bond after an experience like this...we spent our last night in a trainer's hotel room drinking and playing taboo, which was fun. several of the trainers live in the chicago area, so it is possible we might get together in the near future.
i must say though, by the third week i was sick of eating out and craving vegetables, i missed my apartment, and i really missed amy. so it is good to be back, even though i think i may be getting a cold (joy!)
so today i will spend doing the mountain of laundry i have and catching up on various errands. tonight i hope to take amy out to see the new harry potter movie. and tomorrow it's back to work and "leaping gracefully into the holiday season" (as tess put it).
it's nice to be back :)
i kept meaning to update while i was there, but those 60-70 hour work weeks (i only had 2 days off), and the added bonus of having cable tv in the hotel room did not motivate me to do much.
and now, for those who care,
i arrived in dc on sunday the 30th, after getting up at 4am to catch the early flight. that night was spent settling in and meeting the 7 other people i would be spending the majority of the next 3 weeks with. the next day, it was off to work!
the area
warrenton, virginia is about an hour from downtown dc. i assumed it would be much like being an hour from downtown chicago. boy was i wrong! this was the South. accents, hunting, chew, "yes ma'am," "y'all," the whole nine yards. overall the people were really nice and even amusing at times - one day an employee asked me where the "dykes" were (i almost responded with "um, here?") but i found out later he was looking for the wire cutters. who knew? the town has about 8,000 residents, and it was rather hilly and pretty. it is a big area for horses - several of the employees lived on farms with them. they had one big strip of retailers (including the burger king which was voted in some local rag as "best burgers in town"...eek!), and a quaint little downtown area which had a kick ass irish pub and little bistro. but this borders opening up was a Big Deal. the only other bookstore in town was a used one and the closest borders was almost a half hour away. so to be in an area where people are really excited to have you there is definitely a change from the dearth of the chicago suburbs.
the work
so for 3 weeks, myself and the other trainers jobs were not only to ensure all the product got on the shelves correctly, but to also train all the new staff. i was in charge of unboxing and shelving all the multimedia and to train staff in it, and in merchandising. while this job is stressful enough, we had the added bonus of having continuous construction up until the day we opened. this is somewhat typical, but what was unusual about it was the utter incompetence of the contractors in general. case in point: the reason why the sort was pushed back a week was because the overhead lights arrived late (due to hurricane katrina they said, i love people taking advantage of a natural disaster to suit their needs). so our sort manager arrived there early to check on things only to find workers painting the store...in the dark. the paint job was so bad that they basically had to repaint the entire store while we were there. i inhaled so many paint fumes and dry wall dust that i am surprised i am not in hospital. not to mention that there was a thin layer of dust on most of our fixtures and product. and to top things off, the bathrooms weren't finished until the store opened, so most days i had to run next store and use the panera bathroom as there was always at least one scary man working there. btw, i never want to eat at panera again...we ate there a little too often.
but aside from the construction issues, i had a great time. putting a store together is quite fun, and hell, all that overtime is quite nice. and the fact we opened the store on time was a great accomplishment. for the most part, i really liked working with my fellow trainers. you really bond after an experience like this...we spent our last night in a trainer's hotel room drinking and playing taboo, which was fun. several of the trainers live in the chicago area, so it is possible we might get together in the near future.
i must say though, by the third week i was sick of eating out and craving vegetables, i missed my apartment, and i really missed amy. so it is good to be back, even though i think i may be getting a cold (joy!)
so today i will spend doing the mountain of laundry i have and catching up on various errands. tonight i hope to take amy out to see the new harry potter movie. and tomorrow it's back to work and "leaping gracefully into the holiday season" (as tess put it).
it's nice to be back :)