Good morning and happy Monday to each one of you.
First things first, the Pittsburgh marathon is in 6 short days and I am more excited for this than I have ever been in my entire life. I have managed to successfully train for this race without being hit by a vehicle, which is more than I can say for last year's performance. With that being said, I apologize in advance for anyone that has to deal with my perpetual happiness this week.
However, if you aren't happy every day, I highly suggest you do something to resolve that problem. I also suggest you do your best to avoid other people because, quite frankly, no one wants to be over-shadowed by your negative aura.
PS: Check out my finisher's photo from last year's marathon!
This week's blog post has been inspired by selfish individuals that have an overall disrespect to other members of the general public. In fact, the following people live day to day with absolutely no regard for the fact that they are not the only human being on the face of the earth.
We have all fallen victim to being in the same vicinity as these fools: the woman that leaves her cart in the middle of the cereal aisle and heads to the deli, the person that stops walking on the people mover at the airport and blocks all surrounding areas with their luggage, the person that looks at the Starbucks menu like they have never seen it before when you are on your way to work, the individual that drives ten miles under the speed limit in the fast lane and so on and so forth.
The following individuals have one-upped the aforementioned oblivious idiots. I have witnessed the following performances in the last week:
On Saturday afternoon, while my friends and I were trying to enjoy a delicious vegetarian lunch al fresco (outside), some oblivious Starbucks consumer exited the coffee shop, grabbed an empty chair roughly ten feet from us and lit up a cigarette. Up until we talked about him loud enough for him to hear, I ate mouth fulls of smoke thanks to his disgusting habit in correlation with brisk south west winds.
Now, had this man walked out of the coffee shop and took a quick glance around, here is what he would have seen: multiple people dining very close by, two professionals having a business meeting and a mother with her two children. But, he didn't look around. As far as he knew, he was the only person on McKnight Road. He was so worried about ingesting nicotine that he failed to see that his nasty habit was about to impact other people's well-being.
Additionally, a couple of weeks ago, I inhaled a face-full of cigarette smoke will running at the lake. As far as I am concerned, smoking on the running trail during marathon season should be punishable by a kick in the teeth.
Last week, as I am driving along minding my own business singing in my Jetta, the car to the left of me cut me off, nearly side swiping me, and then made a right turn. Yep, right turn from the left lane; standard operating procedure (no its not). When I honked my horn he threw his hands up in the air and then gave me the finger as if I was the douche.
Do you know what I do when I realize that I am about to pass the road that I need to turn onto? I continue on my way to the next light so that I can turn around safely in an effort to not jeopardize the safety of other drivers. We have all seen stories of 50 car pile ups on the news, and though I have not been involved, I can take a shot in the dark and guess that those accidents did not start from cautious drivers using their turn signals.
I could really go on for days but I am too excited to get to work this morning. Plus, I'm sure that all of you reading this are concocting a list of examples that you have witnessed in your head also, and I am not trying to ruin anyone's Monday.
The point is, everyone should use these examples of clueless citizens and make sure that you do not become these people. No matter what you may believe, you are not the only person on this planet and you have to act in a way that is conducive to the lives of others.
In fact, we should strive to not only act neutrally, but instead, in a way that can effectively better the lives of others. If everyone could temporarily step back from the things that they want at this very instant and look around for a second, we could start living our lives the correct way: for others.
Happy Monday, everyone. May your week be successful and productive.
Here's to observing our surroundings and adapting accordingly,
Xoxo
Happy Monday! :)
I apologize that my blog did not get posted this morning, I had a minor setback after some friends and I went a little too hard in the paint at yesterday's Pirate game.
I did learn a few important lessons, however. Three years after college, I am still absolutely terrible at corn hole. Doing lunges in the parking lot will gain the attention of those surrounding you. Frank's mustache will get more attention than my lunges. Make friends during a tailgate all you want, but don't be surprised when they start smoking pot in the parking lot. When purchasing nine dollar beers, never mind, just don't do that. It is not acceptable to lay on the sidewalk during the middle of the day and work on your tan (while fully clothed). And finally, I still cannot eat Mexican food. As fun as it was to spend my Sunday evening on the bathroom floor, I think I'll stick to vegetables from here on out.
Even though my tummy couldn't handle Sunday's extravaganza, I adore my friends and had a blast up until the point where I died. You guys are perfect. Started from the bottom now we're.... here?
I also spent a few days of last week in Boca Raton, Florida with my friend Amy. We had a ton of fun and enjoyed every single second in the sun. So much so that I actually peeled off a layer of my forehead this morning. I sincerely hope that I will be able to move to Florida some day and spend my lunch breaks at the beach. I am so thankful for Amy and for the few days that I spent in paradise.
Though I try to disregard all of the terrible things that happen in the world, every now and then something awful happens that simply breaks my heart.
Last week's bombing of the Boston Marathon temporarily made me lose faith in humanity. It was absolutely heartbreaking to watch countless victims fight for their lives on a day that should be memorable for reasons on the opposite end of the spectrum. Running the marathon is such an amazing accomplishment that should be cherished by all participants. Instead, the spirit of the runners was over-shadowed by a United States tragedy brought about by those that lost touch of what mattered in the world.
With the Pittsburgh Marathon just two weeks away, my heart will be with those in Boston as I run the half on May 5th. We cannot let the evil in the world steal our special day, but we will not forget what happened to our fellow runners. We will run for Boston <3
Since I was out of town last week I really missed out on the opportunity to see customers naked in my store. However, since I have been back I was harassed in traffic so that gives me something to talk about.
Today, while sitting at a red light I heard someone yelling "hey" over and over again until finally I looked left to see a twenty-something wearing a bucket hat which lead me to believe that he was on his way to go fishing or simply forgot what year it was. When I looked over at him he said.. and this is not a joke.. "What's up, shorty?" To which I responded, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Once he repeated himself I said, "I guarantee I am taller than you." We argued back and forth about that for a couple of moments before I said, "So, have you ever actually successfully picked up a girl in traffic?" His response? "You're sweet."
And because God was looking out for him, our light turned green and we were not able to talk any longer.
Over the last few weeks I have watched countless girls cry over guys, only to realize that they are truly better off without them. Regardless of how great you thought something was, regardless of how it ends and regardless of what may happen in the future, just remember that what is done is done. Accept all things and move on. Whether it be a dumb man (or woman) or the evil in the world, we need to move on.
Here's to forgiving others,
Not because they deserve forgiveness,
But because we deserve peace,
Xoxo
Happy Monday! Also, don't forget that today is the last day to file your taxes!
My blog hit the 19,000 page view mark this week so thank you for that, you guys are obviously awesome. I wish I could high five each of you individually.
This week's blog shout out goes to my friend Lanae. A couple months back, Lanae entered the Toms Ticket to Give contest. We are pretty confident that Lanae may be a finalist of the contest. If chosen by Toms, Lanae will travel to another country to give out shoes to the less fortunate. We should find out soon if she has successfully out-voted the hundreds of other people in the contest. Thanks to Heidi and Zach, I don't see how she couldn't have won. We are proud of Lanae's dedication to the contest and to the betterment of others. Our work family is happy to have met Lanae last summer, she is truly a blessing.
And now, onto the topic at hand.
I am so sick of seeing naked customers in my store.
I get it, you don't want to wait in line for the fitting room. Sorry about your luck. It's Saturday at 2p.m. and unfortunately you aren't the only person who has decided to come to the mall today. Please don't scream at me because we only have three fitting rooms as I did not draw up the blueprints for this establishment.
Here is what I do know, I have seen more naked customers in my store in the last week than I have seen naked men in my own personal life. It's become a problem.
Last Saturday, a 30-something woman asked me to get a dress for her to try on. When I left to grab the dress and came back, she was standing ABSOLUTELY naked with the door propped open waiting for me. First off, the answer to your question is no, she was not wearing underwear. Secondly, there was a line of people waiting for the fitting room, most of which were children. All of them saw her naked body. One of her hands was being used to prop the door open and the other was just dangling by her side as if to say "no shame here." Moms were covering their daughter's eyes... the whole situation was mortifying.
Fast forward two days when I see a preteen sitting on the floor of the fitting room wearing nothing but a thong. Immediately red flagged this in my head for a few reasons. A. Since when did 12 year olds start wearing thongs? And B. She was really okay with just sitting bare-assed on the floor in a public place? Come on people.
Adjacent to the legitimate fitting rooms, there is a storage section of the store where we sometimes keep extra shopping bags and cleaning supplies. It never fails that I will find a naked man in that storage area at least once a weekend. So, here is my question to you. At what point do you walk into an area, see some boxes and a vaccuum cleaner and think to yourself "everything here checks out" before taking your pants off? No context clues have indicated that this is in fact NOT a fitting room? Poor 17-year-old Jasmine was exposed to a naked man this weekend when she walked into the storage area to get shopping bags. Next thing I know, Jasmine is saying, "Sir, please put your shirt back on... the fitting room is on the other side of the store."
It has been my experience that no matter where someone is standing, they will disrobe. Front of the store, back of the store, register, fake fitting room... anywhere. Additionally, never has anyone removed their shirt and I have thought, "Wow, look at his abs." If you catch my drift....
It needs to stop. I feel like I work at a strip club every time I accidentally see a naked shopper.
Anyways, I'm off to Florida for the week! I hope everyone has a productive one!
Here's to finding the fitting room THEN removing your pants,
Xoxo
Happy WARM Monday! Oh Happy day <3
I had an enlightening week last week and I am eager to share all of my experiences with you all. On Tuesday evening, myself and many of the members of the Pittsburgh management teams headed to Columbus, Ohio for leadership training. Since the training wasn't until Wednesday afternoon, we had the opportunity to see what Columbus had to offer. The city was very pretty and in some ways reminded me of a (cleaner) version of Pittsburgh. I enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with my work family for the evening in a fun atmosphere.
On Wednesday morning, we woke up and headed to the home office which was one of the most magical experiences of my existence. I feel so bad for everyone in the car that had to hear me say "I'm so excited" every few seconds. Everything about the campus at home office was really cool. To be fair, I only saw a small portion of the campus, but I'm sure the theme was consistent throughout. The cafeteria was bossy and the fact that the sell Abercrombie and Fitch water is just delightful.
The leadership training lasted about four hours and it was really great for all parties involved to meet managers from stores outside of our district and to meet district and regional managers that started off their career with the company just as we did. The training taught us how to improve our roles as leaders and also encouraged us to take the things that we learned and take them back to our management team and our staff at our respective stores.
Some of the important items that we talked about at training were things like emotional stability, communication and addressing conflict. Quite frankly, it's a good thing that we discussed these competencies in leadership training, because I needed to utilize them only a few hours after completing the class.
I'll shorten this story because it makes me mad just writing about it. On Wednesday evening we got back to the mall around midnight to pick up my car. Myself, Jesse, Tj, Megan and Liz were all in the car together. Next thing we know, mall security is honking their horn and flashing their lights at us. Jesse stopped the car and security pulled up next to us and the man driving the security car lost his mind and immediately began screaming and swearing at us.
It became VERY clear to me that someone gave this man a mall security badge and he now believed that he was a member of seal team six on a mission.
After Jesse and TJ tried talking calmly to this yelling idiot MULTIPLE times, I finally said, "Sir, what is your name?" To which he responded, "TONY CASSANO." He said his name in an affirmative tone as if to say "take this to the bank." Then he told us that he was going to arrest us, you know, in the parking lot of our own place of work. At this point I let him know that he was out of his mind. Then, I left on my own terms as he yelled, "you better hurry up." The next morning, I took Tony's name to the mall management and let them know about his poor behavior. My one regret from this situation was not utilizing my pepper spray on fat Tony as he screamed profanities at me.
I know that I don't usually expose first and last names but I think that everyone should learn a valuable lesson from this. If you choose to act like an idiot, don't be surprised when people talk about it. If you yell at someone or make a scene, it usually doesn't stay a secret. I'm sorry about your luck, but I am not sorry about your extortion.
On Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough (this is sarcasm) to see a middle aged European woman completely naked in the fitting room at my store. She asked me to get a dress for her, and when I came back she was holding the fitting room door open without a single stitch of clothing on, and began chatting with me as if she was wearing a down parka. Other people in line for the fitting room also got to see everything that this woman had to offer including a lot of hair, and also, large breasts.
And finally last but certainly not least, today was a very exciting day for our AnF family as TJ was promoted to be a city recruiter in DC! We are so excited for TJ and we can't wait to visit him and drive around in his free Audi! TJ is a great example of how hard work pays off and I couldn't be more happy for him. You deserve this TJ, and I love you! <3
TJ would also like everyone to know that he has been in my blog TWICE.
I hope that everyone has a fantastic week and enjoys the sun :)
Here's to appreciating those around us and celebrating accomplishments,
We deserve to!
Xoxo
Happy Monday to everyone! May this Monday have great potential and set the pace to a highly successful week for all of you.
This week's blog shout out goes to Mike Kopke. Happy Birthday love! I miss you and I hope that you have a perfect day!
Some of you may have off of work today, but I do not. In fact, Easter Sunday is one of the three days of the year that the mall is closed. Having the day off and knowing that everyone else did also was quite relaxing. Don't you worry, though. All evening on Saturday, we had customers calling asking what the mall hours were for EASTER SUNDAY. How dare we get a holiday off, right?
Regardless...
Saturday evening I also hosted an after hours shopping party for two families who just couldn't seem to find the time to get to the mall during the regular operating hours of 10a.m. to 9p.m. At 9:15, when I approached one of the mothers still leisurely shopping around in my store, I let her know that she needed to bring her purchases to the register. In response, she said, "I don't understand why I can't keep shopping considering I am a paying customer." Now, what I told the woman was, "Well miss, the mall doors actually lock at 9:30." But, what I wanted to say was, "Don't be selfish, I'm trying to go out tonight." Looking back, I'm not really sure where the confusion came about. Perhaps this particular woman has spent too much time in the after hours panty parties that Victoria's Secret occasionally hosts.
On Wednesday, I witnessed a woman absolutely lose her mind (and her composure) on one of my managers when she found out that she could not have her return refunded to her in cash. You see, where we come from, you can only receive your refund based on your original form of payment. This particular woman originally paid with a check; therefore, her money could only be refunded back to her checking account. As it turns out, she disagreed. She argued with us for quite some time about the logistics of refunds and the logistics of how checks work. In her mind, "a check is cash" and she told us over and over again before saying "this store is retarded" as she stomped away. Someone should teach her social norms before they let her back out of the house or the institution that she came from that morning.
In the later portions of last week, I spent a couple of days in Altoona, PA working at one of our stores out there. As crazy as customers in Pittsburgh are, these customers made our looks like mother Theresa. For every 20 customers that I said hello to, 0 said hello back to me. For every 50 customers that I said hello to, 0 said hello back to me. Everyone there was rude, and struggled with the idea that you could not take merchandise out of the store without setting off the alarm. I saw multiple customers walk into the store pushing carts from Sears. I don't know whats in the water in Altoona, but I wasn't taking any chances. I only drank bottled beverages for those two days.
Much like every other experience in life, I used the things I learned there, applied them to my life, and brought them back to my store. I came home with a strong sense of appreciation for all of those that work at the 30176 and even an appreciation for those that shop at my store. Above all, I am thankful for the chance I was given to work with a new group of people across the state for a couple of days. It is great to know that I have an extended work family beyond the city of Pittsburgh.
Helping others is the best way to recognize your worth on this earth. The Dalai Lama once said, "Our prime purpose on this earth is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."
Last week after church, I explained to 10-year-old Nick (Nickbball) what kinds of foods you did not need to eat. I told him that some foods give you belly fat, and told him not to eat too much candy. Yesterday, Nick gave away a large amount of candy to his younger cousins. He told me that he couldn't stop thinking about belly fat and that "It was like I was stuck inside of his head." Often, when you touch one life, there is a trickling down that occurs. I'm sure that Nick's cousins ate the crap out of that Easter candy.
You don't have to donate thousands of dollars to a charity to make a difference in the world. In fact, some of the most memorable actions are those that seem the smallest to those who offer them. Hold the door for someone, smile, say thank you, ask someone about their day, lend a helping hand, give someone a ride, make someone laugh, tell your friends how much they mean to you, do anything you can to positively impact the life of another human being.
And if, for some reason, you cannot find the courage or compassion in your heart or in your life to positively impact the lives of others, then don't you dare grace someone's life negatively.
Here's to doing something, anything, for someone that isn't yourself,
Xoxo
