First week at work...

First week at work, so far so good. Of course, there are a couple things I wonder if I can keep up with, can I actually wake up 20 minutes early and put make up on everyday? As a sales associate, I think appearance is important. Might not be the key component in making a sale, but looking nice is certainly a plus. I remember reading the employee handbook at my first day of work and one sentence really caught my eye.

Here goes: All piercings and tattoos must be tasteful

I've heard that facial piercings and tattoos can hinder someone in finding a white collar job, in this particular case, I guess only ugly ones will pose as a threat :)

With no prior experience in retail, there's a whole operations part I need to learn. Hitting sales goals, checking merchandise, putting in special orders etc. But I love the people part! Meeting customers everyday, learning their needs and preferences, giving them suggestions and telling them stories... What attracted me to this company is their dedication in knowing the chocolatiers we work with. Although only a handful of them are physically close to us, we go out of our way to get to know all of them. We learn about stories from third generation cocoa bean growers in Mexico, a Chocolatier from Oakland California running a one-man operation, small chocolate shops in Belgium. These stories about chocolate just fascinates me and I can't wait to share with everyone who walks into the shop!

Apart from daily chores, there's fun things like messing with the display window :) 

Or participate in annual wine walks, have you ever paired chocolate with red wine? 

Apart from knowing the story, I mean I also need to know how these chocolates taste. And I take tasting chocolates very seriously, I try to taste at most 5 pieces a day. Sadly I keep exceeding this quota, and this is going to bite me at some point.

When I interviewed for the job, my prospective manager then told me. The chocolates we carry at this store have a shorter shelf life because it's made with less sugar. Many generic brands of chocolate bars use sugar as a stabilizer and preservative; so they pile sugar in their bars. "That's why we eat chocolates all day and we don't get fat!" I was like that's music to my ears. 

After a couple of days working and happily tasting all kinds of chocolates, I saw my manager bringing carrot sticks and oranges to work as snacks... I commented how healthy his habits are, and he casually remarked how much weight he gained after taking this job. Ahhhhhh! I knew it!