This Kohl's Store is a Disgrace

Every time I walk into our local Kohl's store here in Anderson, IN I am absolutely appalled.  And embarrassed.  I haven't worked for Kohl's in years, but it still bothers me seeing one of 'our' stores looking the way this one does.  It is an absolute mess.  I have never seen a Kohl's store look this bad, or any store for that matter.  Either customers around here are even bigger slobs than customers anywhere else, or the associates in this store have never heard of recovery - or they just don't care and the manager lets them get away with it.  I'm thinking it's the latter, because even the Kmart here in town looks neater than the Kohl's store.

The first time I was there this fall, I thought maybe someone had been sick or they'd had a really big sale and just hadn't had time to get caught up.  Not that either of those would have been legitimate excuses for the place looking like this:

If it was just a rack or two, that would have been one thing, but it was basically every single rack and fixture in the Men's department, and most of the fixtures in the other departments, too.  We spent most of our time in Men's, so this is the department that really shocked me.  This is Kohl's, the store that had to get rid of shopping carts so they could carry Dockers - because a store with shopping carts is not high class enough for Dockers.  Oh yeah, well there are no carts here, but the Dockers are a huge mess.

Along with everything else.  Stuff on the floor, unfolded and tossed on the fixtures, and just a huge disorganized, disgraceful mess.

How did they let it get this bad?  I'm hoping things will get better and back up to Kohl's-like standards one of these days.  The last two times we were in there, I actually saw people straightening and organizing, which I had not seen before.  Maybe they got a new manager or someone from Corporate came in and told them they better straighten up.  I was going to post these pictures ages ago or send a note to Corporate after we first went in there, but I didn't right away.  I just kept putting it off, and then thinking that since I hadn't been there in a while maybe they'd improved, so I should wait and see.  Then I went back, and it was just as bad, and I still kept putting it off.  Just so you know, it's been bad since at least September. Pictures in this post are from September, November and December, and there was another time in there that I forgot my phone so I didn't get any pictures, but it was just as bad then.  I don't know about before September, but it had to get this way sometime.   And now, because they let everything get into such a mess, it is going to take a very concerted effort to get it back to the way it is supposed to be.

In the meantime, the Kohl's associates are going to need to keep on top of things, because the customers have obviously gotten used to the total mess of this store and see no reason to change their behavior.  Even racks or fixtures that have obviously been straightened recently had a few items thrown over the top or lying on the floor.  Customers as a rule seem to be pretty messy creatures, but I'm thinking they're more likely to at least try to leave things neat if they're already that way - but if they're already messy, why bother?

I used to work in those departments.  You spend your entire day roaming the department, straightening what needs straightened, picking things up, hanging things back up, etc.  (In between helping customers, setting ads, doing markdowns, putting out new merchandise, and all the other stuff that needs done)  And, when the store closes, everyone stays until all the departments are recovered. 

It never ends!  But, if you don't keep at it, it will get out of control.  Like this store.

He's in Trouble!

I woke up this morning to find dirt all over the living room floor.  That little brat Weasley got into one of my plants last night.  He dug it right out of the pot, and I found it across the room.  If cats could hire Federal Criminal Lawyers, I would have suggested he get right on the phone and call his lawyer! But they can't, and he didn't - but he definitely knew he was in trouble.

This isn't the first time he's messed with that same plant.  So I really should have thought about it, but I didn't.  Everything is messed up because of the painting.  Furniture is moved out from the walls, and all the plants got moved off the shelf and onto the floor - where they were just begging to be messed with.  And, for some reason, Weasley has it out for this particular plant.  I used to keep it on the end table, but he kept knocking it off and digging it up.  I don't know how many times I cleaned dirt off the floor and re-potted the poor thing.  Finally I gave up and set it outside to keep it away from him.  And then the tornado came through...

The pot got knocked over, and all the dirt spilled, and I thought that poor plant was a goner.  But I wasn't ready to completely toss it out, so I just plunked it into a pot of dirt.  Several weeks later, I realized that it still had green in the middle.  The stubborn little thing simply refused to die!  So, I left it outside all summer and then just recently re-potted it and brought it inside for the winter.  And, it was just fine, as long as it was on top of the shelf where Weasley didn't notice it.

But, he's so cute I can't stay mad at him.  I'm not gonna press charges.  This time.

A Flood!

If you read my last post, you're probably wondering what happened.  If you figured out it had something to do with water, you were right.

First our day started out a bit late because Jeffrey stayed home to talk to our contractor before going to work.  We ordered one kind of windows and got another kind delivered, so we had to figure out what we wanted to do and get that fixed.  So, it was really late when I finally got out of the house to walk, and then I had coffee and breakfast and got busy on laundry - and I never got around to getting in the shower.

Then Jeffrey called and said one of the workers was going to pull one of the windows out of the garage and let me see it right next to the trim, so I could decide for sure what to do with the windows.  I was about to jump in the shower, but he was coming right after lunch, and I wasn't sure when exactly that would be - so I waited.  He showed up.  I decided that the windows will work just fine, and he got to work pulling siding off the end of the house.  And I decided he had it handled and got in the shower.

Toward the end of my shower, when I was rinsing off, I noticed a sudden drop in water pressure.  I finished my shower as quickly as possible, and by the time I got dried off, there was no water at all.

Somehow the pipe going to the outside spigot had snapped while he was pulling the siding - even though he followed the proper procedures and it should not have done that.  Water started running into the basement, and he could not get any answer when he came to the door, because I was in the shower.  Thankfully, he came on into the house, called his boss, who called Jeffrey and found out where to shut off the water to the house.  If I had been available would it have made any difference?  Probably not, because while I knew where the water shut off is, I'm not sure I would have remembered at the time.  It's not something you think about or use every day.  Also, the light bulb was burned out in that part of the basement, and would I have remembered to grab the flashlight or would I have had to go back for it?

Regardless, there was water everywhere.  And, unfortunately, it was in the worst possible spot - right over the TV and by the entertainment center with all the electronics - stereo, DVD player, CD player, etc.  So, I grabbed a bunch of towels, and we spent the rest of the afternoon drying things off, and they brought in a couple of Shop Vacs and sucked up as much of the water as possible.  Then we left our fan and dehumidifier running.  Jeffrey disconnected and moved all the electronics when he got home, and he's got them all sitting and drying out.  Unfortunately, even if they dry out and still work, there's no way of knowing how long they'll keep working if water got into them.  The CD player and the tape deck both had water running out of them when he picked them up to move them.  Some of the other components were a bit further away from the water and may not have gotten much more than splattered in the front, but it's hard to know.

I know this is not the way any of us wanted to spend the afternoon!

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• Two Things (alwaysbcmom.com)

Maybe Labels Would Help

Now that school has started and Beth is working all the time, we never see her. The way her schedule works, she could come home after work, and we'd get to see her for a little while before bed, but she'd rather go see Tim. Then, every time we remind her that she needs to get her room cleaned up, she complains that she has no time. Well, yes, she does have time, it's just that she chooses to use it for other things. I honestly don't know how she lives in that room, or how she finds anything to wear, ever.

I am sometimes tempted to go in there while she is gone and clean and organize everything. I could use one of these DYMO Labelmakers to label all her drawers and bins and tubs so that she knows exactly what goes where. It would make me feel good, for a few hours, until she came home, got mad at me for messing with her stuff, and messed it all up again. If she'd only do it herself...

So, if you have kids who are still young and teachable, get one of these labelmakers and get everything organized now. Label the bins and label the boxes and label the shelves - label everything. Let the kids make their own labels so it's fun to get organized. Whatever it takes to avoid the mess. Get them organized now, and hopefully their rooms won't look like a hurricane went through later.

The DYMO website has all kinds of ideas and tips for getting organized and using their labelmaker to make it fun. There's a whole section on how to keep kids organized and some great ideas for back to school, too. Reading through this reminds me that we really need to put labels on all the kids' stuff, like their new cameras, iPod, Zune, anything they take back and forth to school.

What would you use the DYMO Labelmaker for?

What a Mess!

...or... a watched mug never boils, but turn your back, and it goes everywhere!

I have this habit of making hot cocoa out of my coffee. If I drink part of my coffee but it gets cold, I do not like the way it tastes when I warm it up - unless I add some hot cocoa to it. Yum, mocha! Well, usually I warm the coffee up, add the cocoa mix, stir it up, and then warm it up some more, and then add the marshmallows. I usually keep an eye on it, but there's never any problem. It just warms up nicely and gets kind of foamy.

Today, while I was warming it up, I came over to the computer to check on something. While I wasn't watching, the cocoa boiled over and spilled all over the microwave. Luckily I have the turntable that is easy to take out and rinse off. The mug is a mess, and ended up only half full. It tastes pretty good, though - more like dark chocolate than the usual milk chocolate flavor.

Oh, and I blame Cory for getting me hooked on this hot cocoa thing. We buy the big cans of it at Sam's, and he goes through it like crazy.