Hey, Folks!
I hate Thursdays.
Maybe “hate” is too strong of a word. Perhaps “disapprove” is a better word.
If we were going to extend it to a phrase it would be “I disapprove of the Thursday Grind.”
Most people, as far as I can tell, “disapprove” of Mondays, but for me that awful day of drudge work is Thursday. I mean, Mondays the store is closed and my list of things that need to get done is pretty much set in stone and mostly concerns caring for my Dad. Tuesdays are pretty much dedicated to getting the new stock unpacked and ready to go. Wednesdays are usually a blur of activity and I glide through them pretty easily. Fridays I get off early, usually, and I get to see Hillman. Saturdays and Sundays are the weekend and those have barely changed in the last 20 years. But Thursdays…man…
There is SO much to get done on Thursdays, especially during this tumultuous period of renovation. There’s the subscription form that needs to get finished (although I have been getting it mostly completed on Wednesday nights), the Shipping List needs to get finished, I have to write this friendly little missive, any mistakes/snafus from Wednesday have to be dealt with (for instance, I sold a copy of Fortnite #2 to someone yesterday and they called yesterday afternoon claiming the video game code was not in the issue. Since I have sold out I couldn’t just replace it. At this point I’m waiting for Lunar to get back to me about the protocol and they are waiting for DC to get back to them), there’s usually a Diamond reorder to sort, the DC stock for the next week usually arrives and needs to be unpacked, I have to post all of the Sub Form/Ship List stuff, I have to monitor the Sub Form and process orders, and I also try to get at least one coat of paint on a rack so that it can be finished by Sunday. And if it ends up being a busy day then everything gets pushed into the background while I fulfill my primary function of, you know, selling stuff.
I’m sure everyone has regular days like this, but it’s like I get into work an hour or an hour and a half early, sit down and turn on the computer, open a file, and then look at the clock and it is already 3pm. My enthusiasm for my job takes a hit every time.
I also tend to schedule “business meetings” on Thursday as business is usually a little slower and I have more time to stand at the counter and discuss things with business folks. For example, this morning I have a meeting scheduled to meet with a Better Business Bureau representative because Steve’s membership is a bout to expire and it is time for me to join up. Thank goodness the rep called this morning to let me know that they were running behind and would be a little late. They were worried about my reaction, but I was almost giddy with joy to know I had a little extra time to finish my EDitorial…lol
In any case, I’m going to do my level best to try and stay on the sunny side of Thursday today. If you come in to the shop today and ask me how my Thursday is going then I will attempt to give you the cheeriest answer I can dredge up from the pit of my soul!
Jake, my intrepid minion, has gotten on my case about not talking more about Free Comic Book Day. I assume that this is due to the amount of FCBD calls he had to field last Friday and Saturday as the first Saturday in May is usually the Big Day. Well, frankly, I’m not sure what to say about it at this point. I can say that the comic industry has tentatively scheduled the revised 2021 FCBD for Saturday, August 14th. I have already ordered all of the FCBD books and I have a meeting scheduled with my advertising partners (yes, it is scheduled for a Thursday) to discuss my promotional strategy for the event. However, at this point, I have no idea what a FCBD will look like in a post-Apocalyptic era. I mean, on an average FCBD we usually expect 800-900 folks to come through the store over a 6 hour period. Considering we didn’t have a FCBD last year and that this is my first year as Ringleader of a FCBD then I’m thinking that total might be considerably more visitors. The last thing I want to see is my store turned into a friggin’ Super Spreader Event in the case of an outbreak. I’ve been considering a couple of strategies and I want to let everyone know that it is being worked on. There will be more information once I have a little more time to think about it. In the meantime, if I have a spare moment (HA!) I’ll try to get a Facebook post up with this year’s FCBD titles.
For the last two weeks I’ve been meaning to mention a small change to how I process orders with the Weekly Subscription List and I kept forgetting. I wrote a note to myself this week so I wouldn’t forget…lol. For most of the sub list’s existence I have made the order cut off for it Wednesday morning. This became a very stressful deadline for me, mostly because business starts immediately on Wednesday mornings and I oftentimes didn’t have the opportunity to futz around with processing orders while I have a line up at the counter. Also, I am still working on massaging out my numbers for many monthly titles as there has been a significant uptick in regular weekly customers over the last three months. As a result, I have been running out of stock before finishing the sub list and have been pulling my hair out trying to keep up. I could go on and on about the changes in the last year as to how reorders/restocks work in the industry, but that is another conversation entirely. Suffice it to say, I’ve had to turn off the sub form on Tuesday afternoons in order to make my job a little easier in regards to processing all of your orders.
I have decided that due to the increases in my customer base and the sometimes arduous process of filling up a weekly form, that I am opening the ability to place monthly orders using the Previews consumer order form (along with a copy of a monthly DC checklist). If you are interested in ordering your favorite periodicals by the month, rather than using the weekly sub from, then please ask me about the program. I’ll help to get you set up and you will no longer have to use the sub form unless you want to add something extra. For the most part I stopped using this method years ago because I was having trouble keeping up with orders and we had more cases of people ordering hundreds of dollars worth of comics and then ghosting and leaving us holding the bag. But these days my methods have changed and I am generally a little better at keeping track of everything. Understand…this isn’t a mandated change and you will always be able to adjust your orders before FOC. It’s just another way that I’m trying to make it as easy as possible for you to make sure you get copies of all of your favorite comics!
Okily dokily…first customer just came in the door and I would really like to get the first coat of paint on this rack before the BBB rep shows up for our meeting, so I’m gonna wrap it up. Before I forget, I will be out of the office NEXT weekend (May 14th-16th) in order take a mini-vacation before Herr Teelander wraps up his employment stint with me. I will be taking the store laptop with me in order to stay on top of things so Jake will not have access to the tools of the modern comic shop that he normally does. If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to send a message on Messenger and I will get back to you as soon as humanly possible. Well, as fast as humanly possible while I’m on vacation…lol.
Have a great weekend!
Ed