So, exciting day ahead for me! And by day, I mean week. And by exciting I mean soul-trampling.
(ugh, Blogger's WYSIWYG editor is just terrible.)
Week 10 is generally the most stressful week of a UW quarter -- papers are due, finals loom like gigantic bats, finalizing classes for next quarter or applying for graduation (or, in my case, applying to postpone it). Yep, I have these, but objectively it's not bad:
- Three 250-300 word critiques of short stories due tomorrow
- 19th Century American Lit Final on Thursday
- 19th Century American Lit Essay due Monday
- Introduction to Biology Final also on Monday
Things just appear bad because my day lasts for eleven hours :D Classes start at 11, end at 2:30, at which point I work from 3 to 10. And though I have the rest of the week off work -- well, I don't expect the intensity to let up.
Really, the biggest stress is work. I'm in last place in the department in every sales metric -- protection plans, services, credit apps, internet connections. The kicker is that I'm constantly reassured that I'm presenting everything right and I'm not lacking in enthusiasm. It is true that my enthusiasm gets a little overbearing, however. But when I have the following to show to customers:
- Six months of complimentary antivirus software (pick one from four different companies)
- Paid 24/7 tech support over the phone, remotely, and in-store
- Paid protection plans covering hardware, accidents, and consumables, internationally
- Paid setup services covering AV, OS updates, optimization, and restore discs
- Paid buy-back program for technology 2 years down the road
- Microsoft Office (not included on any computer)
- No interest financing offers
- Mobile broadband/internet plans
- Bags, mice, hard drives and other accessories
and am expected to cover these points by making individual tie-ins for each and every point for each and every customer -- *inhales* -- wouldn't you be overwhelmed, too? And I didn't even cover data transfers or business uses.
My deal is that I get pissed off if I buy A expecting it to do X, and figuring out later on that A does NOT cover X, but B would have -- and I don't want that to happen to my customers, either. Hence, more explanation. Haven't yet found a good balance between brevity and thoroughness yet.
Don't even get me started on the customers. Well, I suppose an alternate title for this post could be "never work in retail." It's true. You will go crazy, and it will suck out your soul like a pool pump disemboweling a toddler.
If there's any consolation in all this -- for better or worse, I remain alive day after day. Let's start with that, and get to work.
