Nice Day.

My job doesn't come with a lot of praise. It's not that I need constant affirmation, but it is nice to know that I'm appreciated. At the same time, it would sound a little silly for my boss to approach me to say, "Thanks for making the paperback favorites table well-stocked," because, well, of course it is, that's part of what I do all day. In a retail setting it is much easier to notice the negatives--a book has sold out and there's a big empty spot on the table, or a table in the back has been neglected and has magazines scattered all over. So that's mainly what I hear--what needs to be fixed or what isn't working. Which is fine. It's just kind of a drag. Of course it's easier to notice that one sticker on a display is missing rather than 109 other books are stickered correctly.

A large part of my job is making sure a book that's selling fast never sells out and also to anticipate trends, which can be anything from Barack (easy) to The Butter Battle Book, a staff selection that started flying off the shelf. This is something that can't be measured by ordering numbers or recapping results, as those are only apparent days later. Luckily, the concept easily became inherent to my daily activities--half the time I don't even notice that I'm doing what I'm doing because it's just what I do. (And if that isn't the vaguest sentence you've ever heard...)

That said, today H and I were both working on the computers and I started musing about a book we'd never been sent, stating that the Washington Post had named it the best book of the year. I immediately ordered it, tagged for the new fiction wall, and went on with my work. H turned to me with a very interested look on her face and said, "You know, I think I know how everything works around here, but I really don't. And I just realized today [we had been recapping and ordering all morning] how much you do that no one even knows about. You really fly under the radar."

I took this as the highest compliment. Obviously, it's nice for someone (other than my boss) to realize that I run a pretty tight ship and pack a lot into a day. I had no example to follow when I took the supervisor position, so I'm glad to see that I'm doing well and that I'm providing a good example. However, I also realized that, because a lot of what I do is just part of my daily activities, when I train my successor I will have to make an effort to voice these actions that I find so natural.

My boss said the other nice thing to me when we were discussing company policy and I mentioned that I had (very, very nicely) asked someone in another department to not use the passenger elevator for freight. She thanked me for not being afraid to take a supervisory role in the store. Because there are such distinct departments in our store, most people won't reprimand people from other departments. Me, however? If something is wrong, it needs to be fixed. I've learned in the past month to do this very, very diplomatically, and it was nice to know that my boss noticed how hard I was trying while still being assertive. (I've struggled with this particular aspect--I'm more likely to say, "You shouldn't have a cart on this elevator. Next time, use the freight elevator" with a completely straight face that just may be conveyed as, um, mean. I'm just so straight-forward that I don't take into account that it might be the person's second day and she's just following what other people had done. So I was very proud of myself for smiling and mentioning the broken escalator and saying, "just so you know" in a very light voice. Yay me for not being that bitch at the service desk.)

So yeah, nice day.