Black Friday....On a Thursday....In March

So, in case you missed it, I've gone back to work again. I work at JoAnn Fabric and Crafts.  

We opened two weeks ago, but today was the beginning of our GRAND OPENING sale. It was like Wal-Mart on Black Friday. But in March. And without the fighting and the people trampling. So not like Wal-Mart.

No really, our customers were great. Even the one time my computer messed up and I had to wait for a manager to come explain how to fix it, the customers didn't get angry or upset. I have never in my 5 or 6 years of retail experience, seen lines that long and not had a single angry customer.

There wasn't so much any killer deals (that I'm aware of) as killer coupons. Numerous versions of a 50% off coupon. 20% entire purchase between 5pm and 8pm. AND a free gift card valued at 10, 20, or 210 dollars to the first hundred customers through the door. 

This is all going on through Sunday. If you live in Coeur d'Alene, you should come visit me tomorrow and Saturday. Or go on Sunday, I won't be there, but the saving could be epic.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I did some shopping after work and go this great, pink re-usable shopping bag. Everyone who spent $20 or more got one. You can never have enough bag. Especially with kids.

THIS IS MY DISCLAIMER: EVERYTHING IN THIS BLOG IS MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION AND NOT THE POSITION OR OPINIONS OF JOANN'S STORES INC.

They made me say that. It's in the employee handbook that I have to.  It's also why I can't tell you about the weird people I see and meet in my store. It might be construed as talking smack about our customers and that's a no no. 

How I Almost Died This Weekend

My father-in-law's birthday was earlier this month. Because he works in North Dakota, we celebrated at his house last friday. The evening was great. Very low key, plenty of time for the kids to play with grandpa, good conversation with family. On way home however, it was a completely different story. 

We went to my sister-in-law's house, about halfway between our house and my father-in-law's, to spend the night. Larch and Johnny wanted to go shed hunting the next day. If you don't know what shed hunting is, you are obviously not from a rural area. Just before you turn off the highway to get to my sister-in-lan's, the highway becomes two lanes, one going north, the other south. If you are driving north, there is a dotted yellow line and you can pass the semi-truck ahead of you, if there are no oncoming cars. We were driving south, after dark, when I see headlights coming straight at me. Some idiot, who we assume was drunk, decided to pass the semi in from of him right as we were passing the semi going the other direction. I'm pretty sure there was not physically enough room between my car and the semi for this car to get through. Somehow he did, and there is not a scratch on the 4 runner, or the semi, or the drunk idiot's car. Well, maybe on the idiots car, he could have been no so lucky further down the road. Also, surprise! I did not die from a heart attack either. Also, I did not wet my pants.