I want to be the good vendor

12 hour days every day, working, for weeks straight. 

Except for 2 days a week, which are spent running errands, often for work. 

Thank God for medication.  Most days, about all I do is my God Time, shower, and a blog.  Y'all are a high priority. 

The machines look great, the customers, happy.  Management smiles when they see me.  My side of the stockroom looks great. 

My corner, more.  The other vendors want another, bigger, stockroom.  [shaking my head]  That's not going to end well. 

Management was not happy I got screwed when it came to the stockroom.  In fact, he told me he would ensure I got more space if I needed it.  I assured him I'd make it work, and thanked him again for going above and beyond to get us a stockroom.  "You're going to save us a lot of time and trouble", I grinned. 

I want to be the good vendor, the one who never has any complaints.  The vendor who's always happy and hardworking, who accepts what she's given, gratefully.  My customers are happy and appreciated.    Poor things are always so shocked when I thank them for making a purchase.  I want to have a wide variety of products for all tastes and budgets.  I want to have clean, functional, vending machines with personal touches.  I want people to walk away happy. 

If I can't do that - if I can't be that person, I need to find another line of work.  Ron has really stepped up and allowed me a lot of leeway in running the business - and we are seeing great results. 

I already sold two detour bars, and 5 Belvita, in addition to the usual selections.  The customers like what we're doing and even the brown baggers are buying a treat now and then. 

I have to say, my favorite customer is the one who buys a snack item or two, then moves onto the soda machine, makes another purchase, and ideally even gets a food item from the cold food vending machine, before sitting down.  But I'll take a snack and soda any day.  Any sale is a good one. 

Ron and I made two trips to the warehouse today.  First trip, we bought some drinks and snack items.  Canned soda.  We came to work and stocked it.  Second trip, we got bottled drinks, and a case of juice.  The juice got chilled and stocked, the bottled drinks went in the fridge.  Now we just take them out and stock them. 

Ron and I find it anethema to stock a warm soda.  The State gave us a fridge unit - we use it. 

I put my excess inventory in the stockroom, on my racks.  "They're already snooping in our area, and complaining they don't have any room" I told Ron "We'd better fill those racks or we'll lose them."  Mission accomplished.  The racks aren't stuffed but they are clearly being used.  They can't complain we "don't need the space". 

Speaking of space, we had 2 handcarts and a folded-up wheelchair in our "open" area, about 7 feet by 2.  The carts look like this: 

 

It looked like we'd have to send one back.  However, we managed to bring the extra wheelchair home today, and we have plenty of room for both carts and our inventory.  The cart's only about 3 feet long, so plenty of room for them both.  One has stripped wheels but so what.  It rolls. 

 

Now Ron can have one, and I can have the other, for stocking.  I can load up his soda on one cart, tell him what it is (I usually have to tell him a few times before it sticks - but no dis' because I have a terrible memory, too), and set him off to do sodas, while I load snacks on my cart and do that.  I'm thrilled.  I can't wait to tell our boss to cancel the pickup. 

 

I'm really, really, happy about that. 

 

I try to see joy, and good things, in my life, even when I'm not manic.  God has richly blessed me.  No, I don't believe in that "favored" crap but God is rewarding our hard work (not really financially, yet, but we could pay sales tax and are able to buy inventory as needed, the rest will come in time).  I'm still kind of bitter about the other vendors, how they seem to want to stick a knife in our back at every opportunity, how they wouldn't give us a salt packet if we needed it - but I remind myself they're God's problem, not mine.  Ron has a far more Biblical attitude in the matter. 

 

My job's being the awesome vendor.