Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Snow Day

Well I hope all you guys out there had a very merry Christmas. The Business was closed for 3 days, and then we got a bonus snow day. We thought Monday was going to be a blizzard, so we stayed closed. Then it turned out to be a giant bust, so I spent the day shopping for post Christmas bargains. Yeah me!

Yesterday was the first return to normal. Audrey did not come in, which only confirms our suspicions that the only reason she did show up last week was to pocket some spending cash (at our expense). I talked to Cindy and Trina and we figure that she probably took almost a third of our total customers for the week.

One of you guys asked what tricks she was pulling to get away with it. Well, she pretty much tried all of them in the book. Her favorite was just taking the next guy through the door, regardless of which girl was up in the rotation. Trina said on Wednesday day shift she took 3 guys in a row by just taking over the front desk and telling Trina she would call her when the next guy came in. She said after the 3rd customer she was ready to just put on her jacket and leave she was so pissed.

Another trick of Audrey's is to just tell customers that she's the only girl there. That one works best on the phone. Then she just makes sure that when he shows up, he doesn't see any of us. I used to fall for the old "Could you go out and get me a pack of smokes?" routine. Then I'd get back just in time to see one of my Regulars coming out of HER session room. Then to add insult to injury, he would sometimes think I blew him off!!

The best thing to do to keep anyone from stealing customers is to just sit and stay at the front desk. I did that last week and even so, Audrey would pull rank with "I got this one..." I was seeing red at the end of each shift. I swear, we were all ready to walk.

And poor Maude... The front desk is usually her domain during the working day. But ever since that blow out over the Christmas decorations, she would just hide in the back office. Talk about uncomfortable. You could just feel the tension whether you were in the front or back of the building. Ugh.

But apart from the fact that work totally sucked all last week, my holiday was good. A long weekend of family and friends. And let me tell ya - all my nieces and nephews were LOVING their Aunty CJ. Thank Gawd I took care of most of the shopping BEFORE Audrey got there and cut our tips in half.

This week before New Years is usually dead. We've gone back to a 1 girl per shift schedule, and will probably stay this way till the end of January. So now we spend our time eating Christmas cookies and fruitcake all day. The one and only good thing about having Audrey around is that she would bring in treats she made herself. If there's one thing we can all agree on it's that even though we all hate Audrey's guts, that bitch can cook.

CJ

8 comments:

Nikolai said...

I think you need to follow your previous thoughts, and open your own place. It's a lot of added responsibility, but it seems as though she is getting worse, and does not value you and the other girls' hard work.

Anonymous said...

I understand that Audrey is the owner, but I don't understand why you, Cindy and Trina don't call her out for stealing your regulars. Isn't this bad for business? Btw, I'm curious, what does Audry look like?

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Anonymous said...

Open your own shop. Price it all out, rent the space and get a good tax guy to do your taxes. Steal the nice lady at the front desk from your current place. 30 days before you leave, start telling your regulars about your new place. Tell the irregulars while you're at it.

You'll likely do pretty well, so long as you do not allow your temper to get the best of you. Managers that are otherwise very good will fail because they can't control their temper.

adm.fookbar said...

goddamn the owner of the business for daring to show up and make some money, that's insanity! she clearly runs the shop as a way to show her goodwill to her employees only, and it should only be run as an altrustic enterprise.

Anonymous said...

why don't you get together and plan a
sickout for when audrey shows up.

If all of you Maude included take a sick out, she's kind of screwed.

-pat

Anonymous said...

Insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result. Audrey needed more money so she went out a got it, from the business she paid you all to build.

If you do take the advice to start your own place; don't start it anywhere near Audrey. A good phone call will have you raided to eliminate her competition. Especially if you headhunt her employees.

While I'm at it here's a business idea for you. I know you have talked in the past about a tanning salon/massage parlour. The problem I see with that is that most straight guys aren't hanging around a tanning salon. What we would flock to is an old school barber shop with the back room massage extras. A haircut, shave, and hand job would be a nice combo. The ultimate man-spa.

cj said...

Nikolai and Anons,
I consider going independent every now and then. Things were sweet with Audrey gone, but hopefully her coming back was just a fluke. When she's been gone, it's been kinda like having my own place. I set the schedule, and we all set the prices. Nice to be able to work without someone else ALWAYS undercutting your prices.


Tightend,
Cindy and Trina are scared to death of her. I've called her on it a few times and guess what - I lose every time. She's the boss and the owner.


adm.fookbar,
Ya know what - you're absolutely right. I hate to say it, but at the end of the day, she's still the owner. And if we don't like it, we'll leave.

Luckily it looks like it's just a one time thing and things are back to normal. What she did isn't fair, but then again - that's life.


CJ

adm.fookbar said...

fair enough, fwiw i hate my boss too.