Okay so I think you all know I work for Adidas and a few have asked me what I actually DO. I am a visual merchandiser which means I merchandise Adidas' product for both the men's and women's departments within the Dick's Sporting Goods stores and sometimes Sports Authority). In a nut-shell my real job description title should be "Problem Solver!!!" I go in and figure out what product goes with what and then I display it so customers look at and say, ya I DO want that shirt with those shorts, and I want those one's too and hey look at this!" My people do occasionally put out a "game-plan" for how corporate wants product shown but let me tell you it almost NEVER makes since and is obvious those people haven't ever worked in the field and thus again I play Problem solver!
So I arrived at one of my stores yesterday at 8am b/c on top of the normal bi-monthly rotation this store was suppose to have a specialized snap-framer come in to replace the large wall graphics while I put out the smaller stuff, so I'm there to witness and report any issues Adidas will need to be aware of. Well the guy never showed up and he didn't show up last week at another store 2 hours away and I got there at 8am for nothin' though yes it meant my work day ended earlier but still...
So I'm there yesterday, I reported to Adidas via text the guy didn't show, going about my business, the air conditioner in this store is weak at best and I'm sweating from the get-go. I had been there for about 4.5 hours had JUST finished with the men's side and about to take "after" photos (which I report) when this guy- I SWEAR I thought I was seriously on candid-camera or some MTV Punked, or Boiling Point or something, I thought he was purposely trying to see how far he could test my patience until I freak-out! He walked around grabbing clothes, putting them back in the wrong place, hung wrong and messing up the rest of the clothing on the rack, then walked over to another display doing the same thing, walked over the tiered tables, and was grabbing, unfolding shirts that take FOREVER to fold, and continued on.
My right eye was twitching and I was sweating so bad I thought I was actually gonna chew this guy out and knew at the same time it was get reported back and I would SO be fired! THANK GOODNESS my iPod starting playing Mormon Tab at that moment- Ave Verum Corpus (my favorite of all Mormon Tab and super beautiful, calming piece). I didn't freak-out. But I did text Tom "I NEED A BREAK!" So he came and picked me up, already having the air conditioner on FULL blast to my side and we got some dollar menu lunch and a chocolate shake to share! :) I was already very tired and didn't want to go back to finish the women's side. But I did.
I went back- again the game plan was almost 2 months behind and the new product DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. Its just so not clear what is suppose to go with what- the colors don't match though the styles do??? Makes me think back to my conception I, II, III, and senior courses all hitting in the idea of cohesiveness and yet- here the big-wigs aren't doing it. Makes me want to slap the crap out of whoever is NOT doing their job and allowing 9-11 different styles of shorts to be produced within one season- it’s absolutely RETARDED and overwhelming to the customer. HELLO I took just a few marketing classes and know that's NOT good planning or cost effective.
Okay so back to my rotation. I'm there, sweating again. When I first came back from lunch I had to go the bathroom and me being me was like, okay I'll go right after I do this, and this and this and this and pretty soon its a couple hours later and I've sweated out whatever full blatter I did have. I was there for a few hours when something happened that swung my mood from annoyed to excited.
From the corner of my eye I saw a flash of deep red, not quite wine, not cherry-red, not Christmas red, it was a RICH, beautiful red, silk blouse with under-stated, chic, gold buttons, a light, tan, fitted pencil skirt, PERFECT length, and the heels, in a word: AWESOME! MY STYLE, stilettos, red and cream almost in a leopard pattern but they didn't come off in a sexual-animal print way but in a VERY classy, sophisticated way. The woman was tall, very slender but not scary-thin, dark hair, not colored or styled trendy but classically long. And studded pearl ear rings.
I'm sure I looked like a weirdo. There I was in maternity Capri pants where the waist band hits in a way where it cuts my stomach in halves and creates 2 rolls instead of a normal- pregnant- one-roll belly, a Gap shirt with nasty grease(?) stains at the bottom (it was thrown away after I got home- not acceptable work attire), with Tom's old- ratty, black dress, sleeves rolled up to elbows, the edge of the collar worn, bottomed one bottom in front in an attempt to hid the 2-roll, FUNKY belly- (still not obvious to most I'm pregnant). my hair was sloppily- quickly pulled into a pony-tail that morning and b/c of the heat and humidity there were fly always all over the place surrounding my sweaty, shiny, red face. Nails with paint chipped off the ends. And wearing very worn out, dirty, scuffed Adidas shoes. This woman was in the golf section, looking very speedily for some attire. I totally wanted to compliment this woman, she was wearing my quintessential look (including owning my desired body-mass-index!) so I did. As she walked by where I was standing, wiping away my eye-brow sweat I blurted out: "Um I just have to say, I love everything about your outfit, its fantastic! And I can't wait to not be pregnant anymore to have that body back!" (as if I ever got THAT hot!). The woman smiled and replied, "Believe me, I have a 2-yr-old, its work! But Thank you for much, that is really sweet!"
I could hardly believe it. The THIN woman was nice. Well I CAN believe it. My false judgments about "Thin women" have melted away a lot over the past few months of working on them. But even if she was rude I STILL loved the outfit! I think the reason why I get so excited is because obviously I have a style I love and while I can't really afford to dress it nor does it "FIT" in with a pregnant body at present, I'm just so happy that THAT style does exist AND I'm happy the style isn't popular, nor trendy! I would get a bit frustrated when I'd be in the singles ward and my friends would point out so-and-so's "awesome" outfit and how much they loved it. And so-and-so's outfits were always sooo Anthropologie, shabby-chic look- VERY trendy, very in. I guess it annoyed me BUTTTTT I'm double-standard cause...well I don't want "MY" look copied! I want to be CLASSIC and classic can't be CALSSIC when its trendy and everywhere! So really, I shouldn't have been intimated by "Anthro look!"
Well that was about it. When I finished work- who knows how long after I was beat, totally spent. Tom made me a hot bath after scrubbing out the tub and even lit some candles! And while I soaked he walked down to the Safeway to pick up one of my anti-nausea meds. So nice. For the rest of the day I basically didn’t do anything and I liked!
Jess, I don't know how you didn't knock that guy upside the head. You are a better person than I am! I can't believe that you still don't look prego - I get constant comments like, "Usually, I make it a point to NEVER ask a woman if she's pregnant, but with you, I feel like I'm pretty dang safe." HUGE. Yup. I wish I had a pic of this girl in her outfit - I'm so intrigued!
ReplyDelete