Bad Hair Week

I thought things were going to calm down after *christmas* and things would get back to normal. I thought I was going to have an opportunity to breathe and get my head around things after the C word. I thought by the middle of January, I was going to have re-charged my batteries, I would be working as many hours as I could scrounge and things would have eased.

I was wrong.

We've gone from *christmas* to Sale to annual stock take. The nightmare continues. I'm up to my eyeballs in paperwork, that I am constantly missing important bits of information for, my reps aren't returning my calls; and then customers want serving.

Except, that the few customers we've got, are rude, obnoxious or just plain stupid.

Let me tell you a little bit about our stock situation at the moment, as in, we have very little of anything. The shoppers during the festive season have pretty much wiped us out of all the popular fragrance lines (though you can still get Gwen Steffani's LAMB and Sarah Jessica Parker's Covet, oh and Britney, we have lots of her fragrances still in stock). No Marc Jacobs Daisy, no Lanvin's Arpege or Eclat d'Arpege, no Paul Smith Rose, no D&G Light Blue. Not for you my dear. There are two reasons why we won't be immediately stocking up. One, it's our stock take in a few days time, the Powers that Be want as little stock in store, so no orders to be placed/delivered before February and two, we aren't the only people who've had time off, which means the manufacturers and distributors are running behind.

Unfortunately, our customers seem to take this as a personal affront. The way they act, it's as if I am withholding said fragrance from them, because I am a complete bitch. How very dare I? Don't I know they're my best customer?

Then we have the Sale Confusion. Our department store does not do store wide 10% off, like other department stores (like Debenhams, for example); the fragrance section only discounts unsold gift sets and discontinued lines. One particularly vile woman, dressed in fake fur, with make-up done by Circus Clown Inc, pounced on me. She demanded to know why was there a fragrance tester for a line, of which there was only a solitary box of shower gel left. My explanation that the tester was out so that a buyer might see what the shower gel might smell like, fell on stony ground. As did my explanation that the other items in the fragrance line had been sold. And no, discontinued meant we weren't going to get any more of that fragrance in again.

My colleagues let me go to lunch 10 minutes early because my temper was beginning to show through. A couple of women staggered in.

"I'm looking for my favourite perfume. Can't remember what it's called. Think it begins with 'G'. It's in a round bottle."

The fumes from their lunch-time drinkies nearly blinded me, but I did manage to find her most favouritest perfume in the world. Omnia Crystalline, by Bulgari.

Well, she was close; there was a 'g' in the name.

Skint

This has been a lean Christmas for us. I've been grateful for the generosity of people around me and although I've been flat broke, we've managed to have a lovely time. The sofa still bears the indent of my prone body, the biscuit box looks emptier by the day and while I'm still in shape, it must be borne in mind that round is a shape. Boy has now gone off to spend some time with his dad, leaving me, the cat and the biscuits.

It has given me some time for contemplation and a touch of righteousness. I was absolutely horrified at press reports of the Boxing Day sale rush, that started by all accounts at midnight on-line. Apparently, there were queues outside of Next waiting for the doors to open at 4am.

If you were standing in that queue, I'd really like your feedback on this question. What exactly was so lacking in your life that you had to be there at 4am Boxing Day? What was so important that you had to leave your bed, your home to go stand in the cold and damp for?

Don't get me wrong, I love a bargain as much as the next person, but even when I had money to burn, I can't think what I would have needed that much. I am genuinely curious. I'd love to find out what people bought in the Sales.