Friday, June 19, 2009

Farewell to Some SU! Sets

Well actually Stampin Up! might be saying 'Goodbye' to these stamp sets, but I'm not. I just bought these three sets when I saw them on the retired list and I plan to use them a lot.

The first one is 'Morning Soft'. I used the sketch from this week's Paper Craft Planet Sketch Challenge. The image is water colored with SU! Markers. If I had to do this card over again, I would choose a softer blue. This was my very first time coloring this image, so I was just experimenting. I was trying to capture the bright, vivid blue of Morning Glories in real life, but mine ended up too dark, no matter how many times I tried to lighten it. The papers are all SU! Designer Papers, and those are adhesive crystals down the sides of the card. I also put Stickles in the flower centers.

My second card was made for this week's Color Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. The colors are Whisper White, Ruby Red, and Baja Breeze. The stamp set is 'A Little Birdie Told Me'. The Designer Paper is Magnolia and the image was colored with Prismacolored Pencils and Gamosol.


The last card was made for this week's Sketch Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. The cute boat image is from 'Boatloads of Love'. The sentiment is computer generated and says 'To wish you a Happy Birthday' inside the card. The card stock colors are White, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Only Orange, and Brilliant Blue. I used the Cuttlebug 'Divine Swirls' Embossing Folder on the Bashful Blue Card Stock. The image was colored with Copic Markers.
Hey guess what? I was called in to work yesterday! So now I got a whopping 16.5 hours this week! Then I found out they actually tried to call me yesterday but my phone line was busy. I have a teenage son and dial-up Internet. I was so bummed to hear I could have worked yesterday too and missed the opportunity. So I gave them my cell phone number, and hopefully I won't miss another work opportunity. Next week I'm only scheduled for 4 hours....so I'm really hoping to be called in! We had a HUGE sale this week, so business has been good, but we were extremely understaffed so we also had a lot of unhappy customers, and, unfortunately, I ended up with ANOTHER upset phone customer. I had long lines of people IN THE STORE waiting to be helped, and she demanded that I look for a specific type of ribbon RIGHT NOW. Well, we have an entire aisle of ribbon, and it would take me at least 15 minutes to find the type of ribbon she wanted based only on a verbal description, so I kindly explained the situation with her and asked if I could take her name and number and call her back when it was less busy and I actually found the ribbon. She angrily refused that option, so I asked her if I could put her on hold, and I told the manager the situation over the head set, but by the time a manager picked up the phone, she had already hung up. So, I'm sure, I'll probably get another 'complaint' against me, but I don't know what else I could have done. In both situations I did alert the manager that I had a 'difficult customer' on the phone and asked for their help, but I'm worried I'll start looking bad pretty soon, and that's frustrating because there is nothing else I really could have done given the situations. I'm starting to be afraid to answer the phone now! LOL! For a minimum wage job, there is certainly a lot of stress and anxiety. I had one guest in the store yesterday who was an acquaintance and knew my education and background, and she was so surprised to see me working there and asked 'why?'. She said in her opinion, low-paying jobs are often more stressful, and if I could get paid more substitute teaching I should do that instead. I tried to explain that I took the job because I thought it would be fun and didn't expect it to be so much stress, and, in all honesty, I do LOVE my job. I love the products we sell, the people I work with, and helping customers if I know how to help them....the stress comes when I don't know the answer and customers get angry with me. We sell every type of craft item in the store there is, and customers expect you to know everything about EVERY craft, and they don't realize that you may not be able to knit, but you can sew dresses or do other crafty things. The store is filled with Crafty Talented Employees, but not one single employee is all-knowing in every craft. Every employee has their own specialty, whether its quilting, knitting, beading, etc. Well, enough venting for one day. Today I'm home, and back to work again tomorrow. Hopefully all the customers will be happy and cheerful. Have a good day! Amy

14 comments:

  1. Amy, I love your morning glory card. I think the colors are very nice. Sorry to hear of your trouble with cranky customers. Try not to let it get to you. Unfortunately we live in a society where people think THEY are the most important person and everyone else should stand back and wait. And their also so nasty anymore. Not sure if that's due to the economy or overindulgence or just lack of good old plain manners. Hang in there, your store is priviledged to have such a sweet knowledgeable person manning the counter, and the phone.

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  2. Amy, I am with you - maybe someone else can answer the phone! :)

    LOVE LOVE your boat card - that is one of my all-time fav SU! sets and I will never part with it!

    The others are beauties too - gorgeous flowers!

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  3. Amy, your cards are great -- your coloring is fantastic!

    I'm sorry that your job has been so stressful -- I hope next week is better! :)

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  4. These are all terrific cards. Good for you for using all your new sets right away.

    I'm sure you will not get in trouble because of the ribbon lady on the phone. One of the primary rules of retail business is that the customer in the store with money in hand is always more important than the person on the phone. Especially someone who is only interested in a $2 spool of ribbon. Don't worry about it. Besides, if you were at the register, you shouldn't be expected to answer the phone. If there are no staff members to do it, the manager should be picking up the phone.

    And I wouldn't give it a second thought about being overqualified for a job. A few years ago, I did just what you did. I took a job at a natural foods store as a cashier. Yes I had 2 college degrees at the time and I could have done more. But I wanted a job where I just had to show up, didn't have to think too much about anything but checking people out then go home and relax. And I usually liked being at work. Problem was, they saw how efficient I was and knew I had prior managerial experience so they offered me a promotion to night manager. I should have said no, but I accepted. Ten things began to go downhill. Meetings, having to handle employees who didn't show up, having to handle customer complaints...Eventually I disliked my job so much that I quit. But it worked out for the best because it prompted me to go back to college and get my degree in accounting (yes, my third degree) and now I have a job I like and still make pretty good money at.

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  5. Amy these cards are all sooo wonderful, morning glory is STUNNING and the other two are just as wonderfully adorable!!! Fabulous creations!!

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  6. All of your cards are so lovely, especially the flower one. Gorgeous colors, now I want that stamp set. Many, ahem, many many years ago I was an asst. mgr at G street fabrics in Md. If you are familiar with the place you know what a mecca it is for fabricaholics like myself. I loved working there but I am not cut out for customer service, have you ever been yelled at in three different languages LOL! And I didn't even get fired. Retail is tough. Point is please don't stress over nasty customers. Good employees like you are hard to come by and I am sure those in charge are well aware how valuable you are.

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  7. Gorgeous cards. I bought Morning Soft too. Hang in there with the job- it sounds like when you get to know everything a little better it will be less stressful.

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  8. Wonderful cards!! Sorry to hear you're having to deal with difficult customers! Hope next week is better!!

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  9. I love your cards! That morning glory card is really beautiful! I am sure your work feels lucky to have you and you just can't make every customer happy!

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  10. Great cards! I like the morning glory - you did a great job.

    It's good to "vent" your frustrations. I too am in a job where people think I should trying for a job "more in my field" and some let me know it. They feel I'm taking a job away from someone else. But, I love my job, I feel I do it well, and it's not up to them where I work. As long as the boss is happy with my work. OK, now I've vented too.

    Thanks for posting the wonderful cards.

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  11. Love the Morning Glory card...You coloured it so beautifully! So sorry about your work woes....hopefully it picks up and gets better soon!

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  12. Hey girlfriend ... these cards are awesome but of course my favorite is the Morning Soft card! BEAUTIFUL coloring and the layout really makes it POP!! This is a good set to paper piece too!!

    Don't worry about cranky customers ... unfortunately you can't avoid them and there seems to be more and more of them everyday! Just keep doing what you do and keep that beautiful smile on your face and no more can be asked of you!! Hang in there!!

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  13. BEautiful cards Amy! Love them all, and your morning glory card is a show stopper!

    I recently decided to go back to work, but instead of returning to a financial services career, I chose to work at a scrapbook store. I have to say it's a small business and people are generally much nicer than I experienced as a scrapbook instructor at Michael's. Sometimes people forget we're people too. They think they're yelling at the store, not you, so don't take it too personally. I find the small business environment where I work is much nicer and more personal than when I worked at Michaels several years ago. Hang in there. If you enjoy the industry it will eventually shine through and you will carve your niche.

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  14. Great cards, Amy. I especially love the Morning Soft card...I just love that set and your coloring is SOOO pretty on it.

    Sorry you're having so much stress at your job...people can sure make things tough.

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