Black Friday Fallout.

Typical of this time of year, I have pretty much fallen off the map the last couple of weeks. Since the beginning of my retail career (at age 18), November and December have been a mix of the most fun/crazy and stressful/crazy months of my year. This year was different from those of recent memory (my first year in many as NOT being the *one* person in charge), but it was still a little nutty.

I was floored when I got my schedule for Anthro and was actually OFF not one, but BOTH days before Thanksgiving. This quickly changed, however, when my boss realized things were starting to spiral and I volunteered my services on Tuesday (I figured I would need the comp day much more down the road, especially with no paid vacation in sight). I still had Wednesday off, though, which was downright awesome. The last few years, the day before Thanksgiving has actually been my worst. It's not so much the 'calm before the storm'... more like the 'insane tornado before the storm'. There is always a huge, ridiculous, unnecessarily horrible ad to set, massive amounts of stock that HAVE to be delivered that day and HAVE to get to the sales floor for customers to gobble up on Friday, and the normal stocking of boxes/bags/bows/etc. Plus, there are a million customers in the store trying to find out what will be on sale for Friday and if they can go ahead and put it on hold. Beall's plans were no different this year, adding a one day sale discount on Wednesday (in conjunction with a 7am opening that day) and a brutal 4am opening on Friday. The store manager mandated shifts were no less than 3am - 5pm Friday and 5am - 5pm Saturday, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

LUCKILY, I am not there anymore! As I mentioned, I was off on Wednesday, allowing time for house cleaning, holiday baking, and general relaxation. I ended up working the early shifts on both Friday (5am - 2pm) and Saturday (6am - 3pm). I love the morning hours for many reasons, not least of which part of my time at work is spent with the store closed to customers. I also love the number one parking spot and lack of traffic. Both days, I got out *on time* and felt no where near the exhaustion I am used to feeling at the end of Thanksgiving week. Friday was without a doubt the easiest, least stressful, smoothest Day After Thanks I have ever worked. I'm feeling pretty good about the career move at this point.

Since I scored the early dismissal on Friday, I popped over to JoAnn's to take advantage of some yarn sales. The new job has forced me to concentrate the majority of my knitting time on researching cute work-appropriate attire items for myself, and I have not invested the effort into Christmas gifts that I should have up to this point. So, I hit the yarn aisles with basket and coupons in hand, in search of some super bulky at insanely low prices.

A lot of the colors had been picked over, and I had to fight my way past the cut counter (over 100 people waiting for fabric to be cut!), but I was generally pleased with my stash additions. I spent a grand total of $23, and left with a good 12 skeins of yarn. There was a beautiful colorway in a bulky yarn that is normally $6.99, but was on sale for $1.00! I gathered the rest of my bargains and headed to the checkout line, readying my excuse for why I couldn't be there before noon, and would they please honor my '20% off total purchase' coupon that expired at that hour. Thankfully, I had the greatest cashier ever (shoutout aisle 7!), and all I had to say was, "Actually, I have a question..." before she responded with, "Of course you can use your coupon".

The entire ordeal took about an hour and a half, and by the time I got through the line, I was ready to head home. Deane's entire family was here for the holiday, and one of his brothers was staying at the Ritz Carlton, so we headed there for a hangout/drink session. I should have recognized that my body was weakening at this point (the unrealized stress of new job, I think), but I didn't, and when I woke for my Saturday a.m. shift, my body was wrecked with a slight hangover and a massive head cold. As the day wore on, my immune system continued to shut down, and I left work yesterday afternoon achy, sniffly, congested, and bitchy. I have been off today, so I am trying to relax (the Colts/Browns offensive struggle of the century actually made me doze off several times), hoping the cold front passes quickly and my sinuses return to normal.

I'm not sure if you're supposed to feed a cold, starve a fever, or the other way around... but I am hoping that hours of knitting help me get well soon!