Got to Do My Most Favoritest Thing Today

New boss said he had something for me to do in seasonal, then asked,
"Are you good at condensing?"

WOW.
"YES! I am."

If he only knew. I LOVE TO CONDENSE seasonal. It's the thing I like to do most in seasonal... as a matter of fact it's probably the one part of my job that I have loved to do the most down through the years.

And it only happens in seasonal. And it's the reason years ago, I really tried hard to be allowed to work in seasonal.

What, you ask, do you mean by "condense"?

As merchandise sells, there is always new merchandise waiting in the wings to fill up the counters. That means the merchandise in these areas which has sold down-- normally because of markdowns--needs to be reset into a much smaller area. This process starts in June and goes all the way through until after Christmas when garden is completely set. It actually doesn't stop even then because even as garden is being set, there is "holiday" merchandise that must be condensed so the next phase can be set. The holiday condensing takes place from the beginning of the year until June is done on a smaller scale. But it goes from moving out Valentines to bring in Easter, moving out Easter to bring in graduation, Summer Crafts-VBS and July 4 stuff, then moving all that out to set Fall and Thanksgiving and Halloween stuff in that area. (The first three aisles past the cash registers are home to the lesser sets. But the area from there on around the corner for several aisles is occupied by garden, home accent markdowns, then more garden until Christmas comes in June.)

One thing I've always enjoyed doing in my life has been sorting and organizing and that is what is required in condensing.

Today I condensed the last of the garden markdown and the last of the home accent summer clearance merchandise. It was taking up two whole sides and I condensed it to one side.

I really ENJOY doing that. So I had a GOOD day.

When I finished, he told me I had done a "beautiful" job. I laughed and said, "I think I'm going to like you."