Three Days Left-Tick Tock Tick Tock

Three days left.  Three more days of "I can help the next customer!" shouted at the top of my lungs.  Three more days of people standing in line, muttering "Oh my God!  This line is so long!" and then being amazed at how fast said line moves.  People see 6 registers, and one line, and freak out.  What they don't realize is that it actually moves much faster than cruising the lanes in Target, trying to guess which line will go faster.  I always lose on that one.  I get the person in front of me who has a price check, or five million items, or writes a check painfully  slow.  


I'm a fast cashier.  I don't mess around.  I smile, say "Hi, did you find everything okay?"  And then unleash the rapid register operator.  Rung up, bagged, and payment received quickly.  This is, of course, while other booksellers are asking me questions, the phone is ringing, and it's so loud I can't even hear the customer in front of me.  I'm in the Zone!  I wish I could capture that "Zone" when I'm running.  Crap, I would be the quickest runner around! 


I have to say, people haven't been too bad this year.  Coupons and extra sales in the store have brought out the happy in people, who are thrilled to save even more.  And for those people who suck all the information out of us and then decide to "look somewhere else", well, see ya.  There is no where else in Cedar Rapids.  We're the only bookstore in town that sells new books.  Sure, go to Target, and Walmart, and even Sams, and get your basic top ten books for a bit less.  But if you want someone to give you advice, talk about books, and show you stuff you've never even though about, come to our store.  It's what we do.  And we're good at it.


Saying that, I did notice a distinct shift in shoppers yesterday around 1 pm.  The atmosphere changed to one of dogged determination and "this isn't fun" anymore.  People have run out of steam, and are staggering around, grabbing what they can.  This is the fun part of Christmas, because there's no way we can order a book/DVD/CD for a customer and get it before Christmas.  No way.  So it cuts our stress dramatically.   But customers still try!  We are on the downward slope of the mountain, and only require sugar and coffee to keep going until 6pm on Christmas Eve. 


Well, I've put off getting ready for work as long as I can.  I think I'll stop and fortify myself with carbs before I go to work, and put on my game face.  


By the way, I made homemade limoncello.  Can I say just one shot of that perks you right up?  Then it puts you to sleep.  A good way to end the day.  Recipe to follow in another post.  I also made chocolate vodka, but I haven't tried it yet--I'm afraid it will kick my tushy.