It has been a trying and tiring couple of weeks, and I have one week left before things get to normal. We’re in the middle of getting ready for inventory, with this upcoming Friday being inventory day. I’m currently leading the inventory prep crew, working overnights to get ready.

For those of you who have never worked in retail, we are required to count all merchandise in the building once a year. The Balance actually has an article explaining why, but in short, business count inventory for tax purposes and to see how profitable they are.

My crews job is to organize and count everything in the overheads, facilitating an outside company, probaby RGIS, to do the actual counting on the sales floor, and inputting inventory data. Once that’s over, my crew will come behind and work reports for a few days to finalize inventory counts.

It has been a trying and tiring couple of weeks. I feel like a broken record.

My sleep pattern is all out of whack. I don’t get very much sleep during the week and try to catch up during the weekend. Any opportunties to dress up has become almost non-existent. At the moment I look ragged, in need of a shave, and maybe a complete makeover.

I need a makeover.

The good news is that my crew has done an excellent job. Our district Asset Protection Manager walked the store this past Friday and said we were ready to count. As the crew leader, that eases my stress level a bit. The negative is that we are enjoying a four-day weekend. I’m loath to see what kind of disaster we walk into Wednesday evening.

I’ll have to work next weekend and go directly to resuming my normal Monday – Friday, 1p-10p schedule. I’m also scheduled to travel to Oklahoma City the following week for leadership training. Just thinking about it is exhausting. I need a vacation. I’m planning a trip at the end of the month to Colorado to catch Halestorm. Maybe I’ll get some Stef time in then.

I can only hope.