You Need To Start Crafting Your Own Shopping Lists

I worked at a big box craft retailer twenty-five years ago. As a crafter myself, I’d jump in and help other employees with shoppers with questions. I helped this one older lady, and I guess she liked my service so much that she was determined to have me be her personal shopper after that.

She would call in looking for me and give me a huge vague list:

Customer: “I need a cross stitch kit with an ocean theme.”

I then needed to call her back to describe all the things I located.

This craft store did not offer personal shoppers, so this was a problem for my managers. They could not have me spending hours picking orders, calling, re-picking, calling again, etc., when I needed to be doing actual work.

It was getting to the point where she was calling on days when I told her I would not be there.

Finally, the manager stepped in and told her when she called looking for me:

Manager: “Ma’am, [My Name] can’t be doing this anymore. You can come in to shop or send someone to come shop for you.” 

I was probably only making $6 an hour at that time, so unless you are tipping me a lot and doing it on my off time, I really cannot devote all that time to you!