point of sale

No Customer Roll for You!

Because I didn't work yesterday.

Linda volunteered to work for me.

I did have to go in around 1:00 for an hour training session on the POS. Completely disruptive to business, which is why I've been scheduling these sessions before work, but both Aaron and Sam wanted to do it at 1:00, and I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.

Sam has missed two sessions, I have missed a session, and -- showing that Aaron is human after all -- he missed one session.

I'm just not quite getting there. There are a couple of major issues I haven't quite figured out. Part of it is my own reluctance to learn a new system. I find myself paying attention for only a period of time, and then my brain shuts down. (Aaron says he sees it in my eyes...)

Part of it is that I need to import some information from my book publisher.

It's like the information is slowly coalescing into something solid, but it's still a little blurry.

And part of it is that this is the absolute worse time to be taking on a big new task. I'm so busy with customers that my head is spinning. Huge foot traffic, lots of little transactions, and very little time off. I can't stop everything midstream. Just the hour of training yesterday made that very clear.

I asked Sam how many other stores had my system, and he said 150. Out of 3000. "Are there other stores who want it?"

"Oh, my, yes. We have a HUGE waiting list."

I hope they don't lose patience with me. My 90 day training window is rapidly closing, but Sam said they'd extend it if needed.

I've set a tentative date a few weeks from now to spend an evening doing inventory with friends and family. I'm giving myself until the end of September to make the full transition. It should be easier to deal with all the hiccups if I have a third or half as many transactions to deal with. (Probably about a third less sales, but more than that in customer count....)

I know it needs to be done, I realize that I'll end up really appreciating it, but damn -- being my own boss, I give myself too many outs.

UP next.

It seems to me that I spend most of my time at the store trying to simplify tasks, winnow them down to essentials, weed out the extra, and streamline procedures.

So reading Lyle's blog, The Diner Life, and Keeneye's Blog, Untrained Professional with OCD, just wears me out. How do they find the energy?

Here I was feeling sorry for Keeneye, and she goes and takes Flying Lessons. What, huh? No more sympathy from me, buster.

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New stores popping up in downtown Bend, without fanfare. Clothing stores, mostly. cc.McKenzie, and Mary Janes are two I noticed. Anyone know the story? Any others?
Anyone closing?

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I was talking to another comic store owner down in Ashland, and his level of sales was just slightly above mine, but he's open 11 hours a day, versus my 7, so it probably evens out.

Such consistency is actually kind of reassuring. Makes my predictions much more likely. In fact, the only time I wasn't able to really predict sales within a pretty close margin of error was back in 1995, when I had three bubbles burst at the same time, and nothing else selling.

It was also funny when he said to me, "For being how bad it is, I'm doing amazingly well." Which is exactly the statement I've been making.

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I'm meeting tech-guy Aaron Leis at the store early today to go over some things with the Point of Sale computer. He's had two sessions so far with the Diamond people, and it seems to be going smooth.

My biggest concern -- trying to get all my inventory online -- may not be as big a problem as I thought. I'm beginning to think I can take my last full inventory done, and then just add the data from every invoice since, and then just scroll down and cross off what I know I've sold.

What I'd really like is for Aaron to by standing at my shoulder for a couple of days while I introduce the POS, but I'm more likely to get a couple of hours and cell phone access....

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Pretty quiet on the blogosphere, right now. Both twitter and blogs seem to be trending more and more to spam like entries. I guess that was inevitable. It's another reason I don't gussy up this blog, or add all kinds of hyperlinks, or whatever.

I try to keep it non-professional, if you will. But hopefully still readable.

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Seen three summer movies, so far. Star Trek, Wolverine, and Terminator.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with a 6 and above worth seeing in the theater, Wolverine and Terminator were both about 6, Star Trek pretty much a 9. UP next.....