Adventures in Hiring ...

And you think you have problems hiring new store associates?

How'd you like to have been in Robin & Julie Cates shoes? Robin & Julie own "On The Pot", a very cool make-your-own pottery studio in Kansas. Visit them online at http://www.paintourpot.com/ and for really cool gifts check out their retail site: http://www.thatsfab.net/

Now, onto their Adventures in Hiring ...

"Two women wandered in to the store asking if we were hiring. We gave them applications and they took them to fill out. Our application has essay questions, so they decided to bring them back later.

We're reading the first application and came to 'Emergency Contacts'. The applicant listed 'my fioncey'. Under home phone it read, 'The Budget Inn', and under work it read, 'The Galvinizing Place'. So, if she's dying, she'll just have to hang on while we look up the numbers.

One of our essay questions is, 'Describe a time when you had to deal with someone difficult and tell how you resolved the problem'.

The applicant wrote, and we quote, 'Well, first, I would just give them dirty looks and make fun of them. Then if its searious, I would slap and hit them and tell them how it's gonna go. You have to do that in my line of work'.

You just can't make this stuff up! We'll keep this application forever. When we think our employees are a pain, we can take it out, re-read it, and realize how lucky we are.

Almost forgot! The applicant describes herself as 'real pationt with people and some kids' ".

When you're in the retail biz, there's never a dull moment!

Steal this idea for YOUR store!

We love this idea!
Article by Sue Stock staff writer at the NC News & Observer ...

http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/517972.html

When Susan Patterson went Christmas shopping Monday with her mother, she was hoping to find a few good deals.

Instead, she got a great deal: $52 worth of toys for free.

The mother-daughter pair from Sanford were this year's first beneficiaries of Cary Towne Center's Random Acts of Kindness -- a holiday promotion in which mall staffers surprise unsuspecting shoppers with free goodies.

Sometimes a shopper gets a voucher for lunch in the food court or a free stroller rental at customer service. Or, as was the case Monday, the mall picks up the tab at one store.

"I'm just completely overwhelmed," said Patterson's mother, Mary Bailes, who was in KB Toys buying for her three grandchildren, ages 4, 6 and 10. "It definitely helps with the budget."

Cary Towne Center introduced the program last year. This year, Raleigh's Triangle Town Center and both The Streets at Southpoint and Northgate in Durham have started similar programs.

Such promotions are along the lines of free gift wrap, blowing fake snow and having a Santa with a real beard -- all efforts that malls make to draw attention and shoppers.

"Of course, you hope someone will think, 'Maybe I'll be the one today, and I'll go to Northgate,' " said Paula Harris, Northgate's marketing manager.

Northgate's program, Santa's Surprise for Shoppers, uses Santa himself to surprise customers with a $100 Northgate gift card. It started the day after Thanksgiving and was planned to end Sunday, but has been extended through the holiday season.

At Southpoint, the first act of kindness occurred Friday, when the mall treated a group of women to dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy.

"They started clapping," said Courtney Phillips, the mall's senior marketing manager. "It was really funny."

Of course, doing something nice for someone else is not a new idea. But it got new life in the retail world last year when Cary Towne Center's corporate parent, Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates Properties, introduced the idea in all its malls as a marketing program.

"We wanted to ask what people needed other than time," said Barb Faucette, CBL's vice president of marketing. "We made maybe two pages of lists of things that we could do to make the shopping experience better. This was one of them."

In all, Cary Towne Center will surprise more than 100 shoppers this season, said mall marketing director Edie Johnson. She declined to say how much will be given out in gifts, but said it will be worth a few thousand dollars.

"We only have a certain amount to work with, so no, we're not going to buy someone a flat-screen TV," she said.

But in the end, the biggest challenge is convincing shoppers that the offer is real.
One shopper even had trouble believing Santa, said Northgate's Harris.

"He finally had to open it for her and said, 'This is real. It's a $100 gift card,' " she said. "She was like, 'Oh, my goodness.' "

The dog ate my party dress ...

You know that holiday party you've been dreading? Afraid your excuse for not attending won't be up to snuff? Never fear: log on to the Holiday Excuse Generator and let it handle the details. Check it out!

http://holiday.enlighten.com/