WALKING down the AISLE...

...at the pharmacy department!

Welcome to my three day stunt as 'Welcome Hostess' to the pharmaceutical department of a massive supermarket chain!

This department has been currently refurbished; what once was the dental aisle is now the feminine hygiene section.
I thought it's quite clever from the management team to hire a hostess to help customers finding their way around.. No supermarket should send their customers on a wild goose chase to find nail clippers and finding arthritis cream instead. (If you want to know, the clippers can now be found on aisle 13, in the BEAUTY section).

Here is a highlight of 3x 7 blissful hours spent among shop happy, pill popping, vitamin crazy Canadians:

On day one, still unfamiliar with the exact product placements, I offered a cheerful "Do you need any help Sir", (bright smile included) to an Asian gentleman looking at yellow boxes. Only to discover he was looking at condoms! (My husband still wants to know WHAT kind of advice I can give HIM?)

I learnt about the different ways to lighten the load if you are clocked up ( i.e. constipated). To keep a straight face was the hardest thing  when I guided various ladies and gentlemen to their laxatives, suppositories or fibre drinks.

A fellow country man, Mario, found himself lost in the aisle, looking for dis solvable vitamin C tablets. We started talking - and  bitch'n about the price  ($ 4.99 vs 0.98 cents in good ol' Germany for double the size. Nothing like a good chat in German in the vitamin aisle in Canada.

Since when are there so many different kinds of adult diapers on the market? Not that I was ever really concerned about this product - it is very comforting to know they exist . And who knows, we all might end up on aisle 8!

The couple I sent to the First Aid aisle; they re - appeared after 25 minutes (I kid you not) Guess what they were looking for? Band aids! Plain simple, waterproof and - tight band aids. Needless to say, this prompted another fun filled conversation about finding the right product for the right price.

And so far the best must have been the 72 year old lady who asked me if she should buy long or short PJ bottoms (?). I told her to get the short ones. Then she started telling  about her impending divorce to her husband of 53 years. Now I know about it- her husband, the poor soul, doesn't - yet!

The pharmacy department -
 being the hostess beats watching TV anytime. Thank God, I can go back next week!

There Is No Such Thing as a Boring JOB -

It is you who is boring!

Tony Robbins said this! A very long time ago I heard him speaking about the connection between a positive                                                       attitude and enjoyment at work:   "We are in charge of our own job satisfaction and enjoyment at work."                                                                                                                                                                                            I believe him!  Therefore, his pearls of wisdom have been my credo for at least two decades;                                                a mantra to get me through some mind numbing tasks.                                                                                                           As you  know, fame and fortune hasn’t come by - yet!                                                                                                                 The summer job is over and I decided to fill up my bank account doing part time                                                                       work as a “Brand Ambassador”. On Sunday I represented a well-known Canadian drugs company who offers a                                                                     supplement line for women during' different stages in their lives'! Where: A well known Canadian Drugstore                                                                                                                                    Location:   Coquitlam                                                                                                                                                            Time:   Sunday morning 10-2pm                                                                                                                                        Weather condition: Rainy, cold and miserable                                                                                                               Task: To raise awareness among the female shoppers for these supplements! Equipped with my fold-up demonstration table, the store manager                                                                                         positioned me at the corner of the vitamin isle - but somehow I ended up                                                                                  stuck in between the ‘magic-touch nail dryer’ and the new line of gift stockings. I had nine products on offer and a savings initiative of adding 2000 points to the                                                        customer’s shoppers- savings card if they purchase one of the supplements.                                                                       (Canadians love their bonus points! They redeem them for ‘free ‘stuff later on!) I don’t  know if it was the weather, the time of day or the day itself, but hardly                                                                            anybody was around during my 4-hour shift.                                                                                                                        Especially the vitamin aisle was deserted for the longest time! All in all, I feared the worse: Boredom might set in!  Four hours can be a                                                                             very long time if you have nobody to talk to.The voice of Tony became alive in                                                                      my head: “There is no such thing as a boring job. It is up to you to make it interesting!" I  memorized nine different instruction lists, the main ingredient lists and                                                                          benefits of these nine supplement bottles.  I was so focused and so keen to put my                                                                  knowledge to the test that the first question of the day totally caught me off guard:                                                                   “Where do I find the umbrellas please?” My product line is designed to help women to get through the first                                                                                        signs of menopause, helps to relieve symptoms of PMS, enhances sexual desire,                                                                   promotes healthy hair, skin & nails to name a few.                                                                                                               That meant, any men wandering down the aisle were rendered ‘unsuitable’ due to their gender alone. The few teenage girls I saw were still too young to worry about                                                                                             “abnormal cell growth in their breasts”. The ladies of desirable age let me knew that                                                                                                                          ‘they were swallowing way too many pills already’. Or, they knew exactly                                                                               which brand they were looking for and didn’t want to switch                                                                                                  from the known to the unknown. If I didn’t want to experience job boredom and render to the                                                                                                     fact that I am boring, I had to come up with a rescue plan:                                                                                                          I changed my approached and abandoned my post at the                                                                                        vitamin/supplement aisle and moved to the front of the store.                                                                                                Positioned at the corner of 'Beauty' and 'Parfumerie' I handed                                                                                            every 'suitable 'woman a flyer  ("Ï know how to keep a job interesting, I am Not boring”)! I started moving around, changing my position and finally, time went by much faster.                                                                                                                                                                                       And thank God for the elderly gentleman who needed my help to find the                                                                           chips in the long container’. Or the girl who was desperate                                                                                                          to locate digestive cookies, covered in    chocolate.                                                                                                                                                                                        It took all my imagination, creativity, sense of humour                                                                                                      and good attitude to make something extra-ordinary out of this somewhat dire situation!                                                                                                                                                                                      I fought for four hours – and I lost.  But sometimes,                                                                                                                    a woman needs to listen to herself and render to her own judgement:                                                                                         I did my best, I had a good enough time, but still, it was boring!                                                                                             Over the years I discovered that yes, sometimes tasks we are performing are boring!                                                         This is a simple fact of life!                                                                                                                                                   And, it has nothing to do with our attitude towards the job.                                                                                                            Boring is boring!  But I also discovered,                                                                                                                                     'doing a job can be boring, but that doesn't mean I am boring!'