A Week in Management

[tamakun]

This week has been a totally different week for me. Nicole's off for a vacation (arranged prior to her hiring, so it was allowed), so I've been working alone for the past week, dealing with things all by my lonesome on a daily basis. I have to say, being a manager is hard work, despite not being physically hands-on all the time.

After about a week of working on my own, I've finally started to leave some work as delegated to my co-workers, and I've had to put out the occasional fire from time to time (I've found that arriving early in the morning, I can deal with issues as they come to light, but coming in at 12:30 gives the business plenty of time to accrue issues, and I stress out when I'm faced with a bunch of them when I arrive), but I've been doing well enough, I would think. Today was "admin" day and I was essentially sitting on the computer for most of the day sending out documents, payroll and e-mails (and waiting for e-mail responses in case I made an error - and I made a few). Tomorrow is "stock-taking" day (at the end of every month) which is more computer work but only for a few hours.

Every day I've been having to deal with little things like "shrinkage" (items unaccounted for at the end of the day), wastage, and remaking the Production Log to add/subtract more items based on factors such as weather or orders. It's a lot to think of on a daily basis, but it's getting easier with every passing day.

I also need to realize that things are not as bad as I'm thinking they are! Yesterday, the VP came in from Vancouver to see a number of the stores, and we were first on the docket. I spent a good amount of time on Tuesday making sure the place was in immaculate shape, we had a great display set up for the opening, and ... well, they didn't really say much! They looked about, pointed out a few things, asked how we were doing (I'd say "really well", compared to the last management team), and headed off for another store. Looking back at it, I'd say that I was worrying needlessly, and I'll take their "no negative points" as "positive" :D

Nicole will be back just before the Thanksgiving rush. Thank goodness, too - she's got a lofty goal set for that weekend, and apparently the store has had some insane weekends in the past. I'll admit, I'm both scared yet looking forward to it! Let's see what we can do. ;)

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My god, it's full of links!

An article from TIME Magazine about The Singularity occurring in 2045, which means that we'll be able to upload our minds into a binary format, and technically live forever. I'll admit, I'm very curious about this prospect, and I would love to be able to live beyond my physical shell. I've always been fascinated with cyborgs and androids, and the concept of the technology outpacing us to the point where we can amalgamate with them and AIs will no longer be "Artificial"... it boggles the mind and also frightens me. I am a little concerned about the "Robot Uprising" but I would like to think I'm in good standing with them. ^^;

101 Marketing Quotes. I'll admit that I haven't gotten through them all yet, but they are interesting to look through. It would be easier to read if I didn't have to look at them in a PowerPoint-like presentation, though :P

I've been trying to figure out what to do for Hallowe'en this year, and I would really like to dress up as Professor Layton (Last Specter comes out mid-October!), but that would mean losing the beard. sierralad suggested Professor Jack Layton -- and yes, he was a Professor -- but that would still mean ditching the beard, just keeping the mustache. ^^ ravenworks did mention that it may be too soon, though... the real difficulty is finding the dark-brown jacket and matching top hat!

The real tricky thing about holidays is that, for a business, you need to plan ahead! Case in point, it's Rosh Hashanah; if I had realized that I maybe would have put some traditional Challah on our production list. (We ended up upsetting a customer since it wasn't the "traditional" look, I guess. He never really explained himself.) But it's hard to keep up! Case in point, I make Pumpkin Flans and Pumpkin-Pie Cuppies and Pumpkin Flans during this season (the Flan link goes to a link not currently accessible on the site, due to its seasonal timing!); in order to get this up in time for the season I had to find Pumpkin, make the recipe, perfect it, and then update the website in advance of the season! (I think I did that last year with these Cuppies.) I should invest in a multi-denominational calendar or something so that we can keep up with the holidays. :P

Comments

[zillabean.livejournal.com]

If you dress up as Layton I demand photos.

LOTS OF PHOTOS.

<3