I have been working at the TW store on Blvd Haussmann for the past 2 days, at the request of my boss so that I can get to know the product better and let him know my thoughts about the store, etc. Also, it's because he had to go to China right quick and wouldn't be able to spend any time with me on my first week.
I must admit, I've never worked retail before. And it's grueling--especially for this old lady!
Yesterday, I took notes on the store and all of the fabrics, etc… and then I helped unpack stock and put security tags on clothes, all the while apologizing to customers who asked me for help in French. How confusing for them. I looked like I was doing something official when I was writing stuff down in my notebook, surely I worked there. The worst was when I'd apologize and say I didn't speak French… and they'd ask me in ENGLISH and I'd still have to defer to someone who worked there! I didn't know what the heck was going on in the store!
Today, I got there at 8 am (it was still dark... boo) to help change the store around and tag things for sale, as well as to help change the window displays. As someone who'd never dressed (or undressed, which is really what I did) a window before, I must admit that I was pretty charmed to be able to do it right on Blvd Haussmann, among the "Grands Magasins" (Printemps and Galleries Lafayette). Everyone that walked by looked in to see what I was up to in the window; I would have been curious, too!
And to add to my first full day in retail, I headed out to lunch at McDonald's with the team because they invited me. I was secretly really excited about my team-building McDonald's lunch, but was sad when my Royal-O-Fish did not have any cheese on it like the plain ol' Filet-O-Fish sandwich in the states. Oh well. That crap is still crap in any country. Tomorrow I have promised myself a fancy sammich from the Galleries Lafayette gourmet counter, which is across from the Mickey D's.
In opening the plastic bags of new stock and putting on security tags, I realized that I would probably be good at an assembly line job--and quite possibly really enjoy it! It's like sitting on my ass on the computer all day, but without the computer. Not bad. :)
After my full day of work (and my realizations about my skill set), I hit up the Galleries Lafayette, but only the gourmet floor (I. Can't. Even. It is the best place on earth. Wasabi tarmamoussalata?!? Anything else you can dream of?!?) and the shoe floor. Tomorrow I do the collections.
Galleries Lafayette, you're so pretty.
And then I saw this. The amazing holiday displays are still up in the Printemps windows:
Divine! These marionnettes are attached to the ceiling. There were risers set up for the kids to enjoy the show.
Oh, Paris... you're growing on me. I am excited to start looking for an apartment of my own!
