Elephant-Shaped Cake Pans

I have never felt so whiny about anything in my life, as I have this new job of mine! I know everyone is sick of hearing me talk about it. One day I am feeling hopeful and enjoying it, the next day I am depressed and miserable about it. Most days I vacillate between the two extremes throughout the day. I feel like I'm becoming bi-polar over it. LOL

One of my lower points was Wednesday afternoon when I was the closing manager. My first time to be closing manager without another manager there in the evening to answer any questions I might have. I had one employee's husband call in sick for her and 30 minutes later another employee called in who couldn't make it to work because she rides with the aforementioned lady. All of this on the night when everything had to be recovered perfectly in the store because the Zone VP was going to be in the store the next day along with all of the District Framing Managers who would be holding an all day meeting in our store. Panic much? Yes, I did a bit (or a lot!). I was able to find one person who could come in and cover one of the shifts. Huge sigh of relief!

Meanwhile, I answered a call to the store from a customer wanting to know if we carry elephant-shaped cake pans. I put her on hold, then over the headset asked an associate on the floor to check to see if we carry elephant-shaped cake pans. In short; no, we don't. I let the customer know, with my apologies, that we don't.

When I hung up the phone I looked at the other manager sitting next to me in the office and said, "You know, it really is just about 'do you carry elephant-shaped cake pans.' " That's all the customer is concerned with. They don't care if you are burdened with preparations for corporate visitors, staffing problems, or lack of sleep. It all just boils down to elephant-shaped cake pans.

So I've spent a bit of time this week reminding myself that's it's just about elephant-shaped cake pans. No one's life is in my hands, I'm not making decisions that will affect the global economy, or the welfare of a nation.

Maybe I can handle the cake pan dilemmas of the world.

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