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Hurricanes and Hawking Hats
Aug. 7th, 2024 08:16 pmAll night there was thunder and rain, and the sound of wind whistling through the lanai as Hurricane Debby skirted us.
When I woke up it was like this (CLICK HERE to see)
I hadn't really expected it to be noticeably "bad," but there was a tornado watch and the winds were concerning, so after fighting myself about it over coffee I caved and called my Papa Pal client to ask if we could cancel, citing concerns about travel safety. Since this person didn't actually need any help, just companionship, they were totally fine with canceling. It was important to get their approval because anything canceled less than 24 hours before a visit is considered last-minute, and you can be penalized for it.
Spent the morning practicing trombone, reading the hat shop employee manual, picking out what to wear. The dress code is wildly vague (literally the only stipulations are "have good hygiene," "nothing too baggy," and "wear one of our hats") so based on what my boss was wearing I'm going with my cruise ship "Hawaiian" outfit, white dress pants and a red sheer floral top, which I think would go well with a sun hat while still being somewhat dressy.
When the rain died down I drove to Walmart specifically for Starbucks Smoked Butterscotch Coffee for me and milk for Jameson. Back home, packed my little lunch for work. I feel a bit silly packing like I would for a grade school kid, but when you don't have health care maybe the next best thing is self-care, in the form of a healthy meal lovingly packed.
Apple, low sodium V8, carrots, celery, peanut butter, leftover pork, 1/2 bagel, 1/2 NuGo bar, mint.
I am nervous about my first day. The job is self-explanatory, but there are always unknowns with new things. What will my boss and coworkers be like? Will I meet their expectations? What are the names of all the hats? What's the POS system like? Where am I supposed to park? What will customers be like? etc etc.
And I also wonder, what jobs should I CONTINUE looking for? Seems like data entry is going the way of the dinosaurs. So...more transcription? Library opportunities? Recertifying in digital court reporting? Something full time or part time? What work would I ENJOY doing, that I could recertify in without concerns that AI will take it over in a few years? So far I'm coming up blank on that.
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After breakfast and an early lunch a bit later on, I drove to Disney Springs. Parked in Lime Lot (I think we're supposed to park there) and got through security, got to the hat shop. The minute I walked in the door it seemed like twenty families followed me in, and the registers crashed.
Go figure!
Since I was fresh as a newborn babe I was exactly zero help, and all I could do was clock in and then assist people as best I could with hats I knew nothing about. Perhaps this sounds stressful...but really, they're HATS. It's not like people were queuing at the registers while my boss was fixing them (there was one customer who waited patiently for a solid 20 minutes, bless his heart.) Most everyone else in the store was essentially there to "do it for the 'gram": i.e., to play with hats and then leave :p
So, I helped people play with hats for about an hour...and played with some myself. Our dress code states that we're supposed to wear a hat at work. I had picked my "cruise ship" outfit for this reason, knowing that it was dressy-casual, summer-y, and would probably go well with some sort of sun hat.
The outfit in question, at work on an actual cruise ship circa 2019. White pants, red top. Sorry it's a blurry screenshot, I haven't found any photos of me wearing this.
And the hat I picked for this outfit:
(Used a pretty heavy filter here because this photo was taken in a storage closet with hideous lighting, I looked like a total corpse without some light and warmth, promise.)
I got compliments on it from guests all day so it must have been a good choice.
Anyway, finally my boss came up for air and gave me a name tag. It has a music note on it, without my asking :)
He showed me all of the hats and the more-or-less organization (a lot of which I'd figured out on my own for the hour he spent fighting the registers.) At his prompting I pelted him with questions: why were the Panama hats so expensive? (THIS is why.) Are most hats considered unisex? (Yes.) And other more basic questions like where's the nearest bathroom, how do we pick break times, how do we pick up shifts, etc. My boss seems very laid back and chill, and answered everything in a very straightforward way. And not one word about upselling or pushing this-or-that promotion. Maybe that will come later, but for today I was grateful and hopeful that this will not be a pushy-sales type of job.
One funny/ironic thing happened as we were talking. He asked if I'd seen any other hats that I wanted to try next, and I pointed to a fedora-looking thing, explaining that since I'm a musician I own a lot of black clothing and figured a hat like this (it's available in many colors) might look slick with a black collared shirt. He agreed and said, "You know, that's called a Pork Pie Hat, and it's actually a musician's hat. Very popular with jazz musicians in the 1930s."
Of all the hats in the shop, figures I'd pick the ONE hat with an association to music.
There are ghosts laughing over my shoulders, I swear.
After my dinner break my boss had to leave, and there were three other employees showing me the ropes. Everyone was very nice and chill. I also noticed that everyone was dressed WAY more casually than me. What I'll probably do (in consideration of wearing hats and because the shop AC barely works) is pick 5-6 "hat shop outfits" to wear specifically for this job. I just don't wanna wear my actual business casual, which I mostly bought for court reporting work and paid full price for. It's seems that my thrifted clothes will be more than acceptable.
Before I knew it the day was over, and I'd been offered a shift for Wednesday, which I accepted. Now I've got close to 30 hours, woot. Back home I did all the stuff people do, who work real jobs: cleaned myself up, packed a lunch for tomorrow, laid out an outfit for myself, charged my phone, told Jameson about my first day.
I anticipate more of the same, all week.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday was a morning shift, opening the store at 9:30am. I was up way too early, because I'm a type of person who needs quiet time and time to center themselves. Coffee, breakfast, watching anime, watching the morning sun streaming onto my banana trees. Stuff like that.
Off to work, and the annoyance of my own n00b ignorance, nervously shuffling from foot to foot while my boss unloaded and tagged inventory. I have a great deal of retail experience, and could see exactly what we were doing and what needed to be done. But it's only my second day and I don't know their tagging system, the names of the hats, some of the key differences between hat styles and weaves, etc. I couldn't touch anything for fear of mistagging something, shelving things in the wrong place, etc., but my boss seemed disinclined to hand me a task or give instruction. I had such helpless frustration!
Eventually he gave me some baseball caps to tag, and by that time customers were filtering in. I learned more about misc hats today, including how some hats could looks EXACTLY the same as far as color and style, but might have just the SLIGHTEST barely noticeable difference in weave that could cause them to have different SKUs. The flat caps were especially guilty of this feature.
And to my great disappointment, I discovered that fedoras and pork pie hats don't look good on me whatsoever. I have a long, plain, horsey face, and I think the height of fedoras makes my face look even longer. Hats with big generous brims seem to look better on me, maybe because they give an illusion of width and balance to my face. Eh...anyway, I was bummed.
I'd worn black-and-grey with a plan to wear a matching fedora, but with that off the table I had to hunt around for another hat style. Found this cloche and turned it slightly sideways, and liked it.
(Again, heavily filtered re: abysmal storage closet lighting.)
I once again got many compliments on it throughout the day, so I think rounded hats with wider brims and soft swoops/dips are a good choice to offset my horsey face. Two outfits and two hats down...tomorrow I want to do a "super casual" outfit so I can wear one of the rhinestone-encrusted novelty hats! Other hats on my personal Must-Wear List include a sage green sun hat; a stripey Australian "outrigger" hat; an Indiana Jones-style leather hat (it's a fedora BUT they have wider brims); a derby hat; and a Dapper Dan straw hat (otherwise known as a boater or skimmer.) And I am working up my courage to wear a real Panama straw hat.
The day went well, I felt it wasn't as crazy as my first day.
For the first time in many months, Jameson made dinner for us!! I felt very spoiled and treated.
He made wheat spaghetti and one of our favorite bolognese recipes which includes beer and marinates on the stove for about three hours. He also made garlic bread using the leftover Cuban bread I'd bought this week. Smart cookie! I was very grateful :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday: A shorter morning shift at the hat shop, maybe some time to practice at night if I can drum up the energy.
Friday: My first night shift at the hat shop, it's probably gonna suck because supposedly the drunks like to come in and try on hats after the drone show. Sigh.
Saturday & Sunday: Theoretically an actual weekend. I'll have chores and practicing to catch up on, but hope to also do a little thrifting, gardening, and cooking. The usual.
When I woke up it was like this (CLICK HERE to see)
I hadn't really expected it to be noticeably "bad," but there was a tornado watch and the winds were concerning, so after fighting myself about it over coffee I caved and called my Papa Pal client to ask if we could cancel, citing concerns about travel safety. Since this person didn't actually need any help, just companionship, they were totally fine with canceling. It was important to get their approval because anything canceled less than 24 hours before a visit is considered last-minute, and you can be penalized for it.
Spent the morning practicing trombone, reading the hat shop employee manual, picking out what to wear. The dress code is wildly vague (literally the only stipulations are "have good hygiene," "nothing too baggy," and "wear one of our hats") so based on what my boss was wearing I'm going with my cruise ship "Hawaiian" outfit, white dress pants and a red sheer floral top, which I think would go well with a sun hat while still being somewhat dressy.
When the rain died down I drove to Walmart specifically for Starbucks Smoked Butterscotch Coffee for me and milk for Jameson. Back home, packed my little lunch for work. I feel a bit silly packing like I would for a grade school kid, but when you don't have health care maybe the next best thing is self-care, in the form of a healthy meal lovingly packed.
Apple, low sodium V8, carrots, celery, peanut butter, leftover pork, 1/2 bagel, 1/2 NuGo bar, mint.
I am nervous about my first day. The job is self-explanatory, but there are always unknowns with new things. What will my boss and coworkers be like? Will I meet their expectations? What are the names of all the hats? What's the POS system like? Where am I supposed to park? What will customers be like? etc etc.
And I also wonder, what jobs should I CONTINUE looking for? Seems like data entry is going the way of the dinosaurs. So...more transcription? Library opportunities? Recertifying in digital court reporting? Something full time or part time? What work would I ENJOY doing, that I could recertify in without concerns that AI will take it over in a few years? So far I'm coming up blank on that.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After breakfast and an early lunch a bit later on, I drove to Disney Springs. Parked in Lime Lot (I think we're supposed to park there) and got through security, got to the hat shop. The minute I walked in the door it seemed like twenty families followed me in, and the registers crashed.
Go figure!
Since I was fresh as a newborn babe I was exactly zero help, and all I could do was clock in and then assist people as best I could with hats I knew nothing about. Perhaps this sounds stressful...but really, they're HATS. It's not like people were queuing at the registers while my boss was fixing them (there was one customer who waited patiently for a solid 20 minutes, bless his heart.) Most everyone else in the store was essentially there to "do it for the 'gram": i.e., to play with hats and then leave :p
So, I helped people play with hats for about an hour...and played with some myself. Our dress code states that we're supposed to wear a hat at work. I had picked my "cruise ship" outfit for this reason, knowing that it was dressy-casual, summer-y, and would probably go well with some sort of sun hat.
The outfit in question, at work on an actual cruise ship circa 2019. White pants, red top. Sorry it's a blurry screenshot, I haven't found any photos of me wearing this.
And the hat I picked for this outfit:
(Used a pretty heavy filter here because this photo was taken in a storage closet with hideous lighting, I looked like a total corpse without some light and warmth, promise.)
I got compliments on it from guests all day so it must have been a good choice.
Anyway, finally my boss came up for air and gave me a name tag. It has a music note on it, without my asking :)
He showed me all of the hats and the more-or-less organization (a lot of which I'd figured out on my own for the hour he spent fighting the registers.) At his prompting I pelted him with questions: why were the Panama hats so expensive? (THIS is why.) Are most hats considered unisex? (Yes.) And other more basic questions like where's the nearest bathroom, how do we pick break times, how do we pick up shifts, etc. My boss seems very laid back and chill, and answered everything in a very straightforward way. And not one word about upselling or pushing this-or-that promotion. Maybe that will come later, but for today I was grateful and hopeful that this will not be a pushy-sales type of job.
One funny/ironic thing happened as we were talking. He asked if I'd seen any other hats that I wanted to try next, and I pointed to a fedora-looking thing, explaining that since I'm a musician I own a lot of black clothing and figured a hat like this (it's available in many colors) might look slick with a black collared shirt. He agreed and said, "You know, that's called a Pork Pie Hat, and it's actually a musician's hat. Very popular with jazz musicians in the 1930s."
Of all the hats in the shop, figures I'd pick the ONE hat with an association to music.
There are ghosts laughing over my shoulders, I swear.
After my dinner break my boss had to leave, and there were three other employees showing me the ropes. Everyone was very nice and chill. I also noticed that everyone was dressed WAY more casually than me. What I'll probably do (in consideration of wearing hats and because the shop AC barely works) is pick 5-6 "hat shop outfits" to wear specifically for this job. I just don't wanna wear my actual business casual, which I mostly bought for court reporting work and paid full price for. It's seems that my thrifted clothes will be more than acceptable.
Before I knew it the day was over, and I'd been offered a shift for Wednesday, which I accepted. Now I've got close to 30 hours, woot. Back home I did all the stuff people do, who work real jobs: cleaned myself up, packed a lunch for tomorrow, laid out an outfit for myself, charged my phone, told Jameson about my first day.
I anticipate more of the same, all week.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday was a morning shift, opening the store at 9:30am. I was up way too early, because I'm a type of person who needs quiet time and time to center themselves. Coffee, breakfast, watching anime, watching the morning sun streaming onto my banana trees. Stuff like that.
Off to work, and the annoyance of my own n00b ignorance, nervously shuffling from foot to foot while my boss unloaded and tagged inventory. I have a great deal of retail experience, and could see exactly what we were doing and what needed to be done. But it's only my second day and I don't know their tagging system, the names of the hats, some of the key differences between hat styles and weaves, etc. I couldn't touch anything for fear of mistagging something, shelving things in the wrong place, etc., but my boss seemed disinclined to hand me a task or give instruction. I had such helpless frustration!
Eventually he gave me some baseball caps to tag, and by that time customers were filtering in. I learned more about misc hats today, including how some hats could looks EXACTLY the same as far as color and style, but might have just the SLIGHTEST barely noticeable difference in weave that could cause them to have different SKUs. The flat caps were especially guilty of this feature.
And to my great disappointment, I discovered that fedoras and pork pie hats don't look good on me whatsoever. I have a long, plain, horsey face, and I think the height of fedoras makes my face look even longer. Hats with big generous brims seem to look better on me, maybe because they give an illusion of width and balance to my face. Eh...anyway, I was bummed.
I'd worn black-and-grey with a plan to wear a matching fedora, but with that off the table I had to hunt around for another hat style. Found this cloche and turned it slightly sideways, and liked it.
(Again, heavily filtered re: abysmal storage closet lighting.)
I once again got many compliments on it throughout the day, so I think rounded hats with wider brims and soft swoops/dips are a good choice to offset my horsey face. Two outfits and two hats down...tomorrow I want to do a "super casual" outfit so I can wear one of the rhinestone-encrusted novelty hats! Other hats on my personal Must-Wear List include a sage green sun hat; a stripey Australian "outrigger" hat; an Indiana Jones-style leather hat (it's a fedora BUT they have wider brims); a derby hat; and a Dapper Dan straw hat (otherwise known as a boater or skimmer.) And I am working up my courage to wear a real Panama straw hat.
The day went well, I felt it wasn't as crazy as my first day.
For the first time in many months, Jameson made dinner for us!! I felt very spoiled and treated.
He made wheat spaghetti and one of our favorite bolognese recipes which includes beer and marinates on the stove for about three hours. He also made garlic bread using the leftover Cuban bread I'd bought this week. Smart cookie! I was very grateful :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday: A shorter morning shift at the hat shop, maybe some time to practice at night if I can drum up the energy.
Friday: My first night shift at the hat shop, it's probably gonna suck because supposedly the drunks like to come in and try on hats after the drone show. Sigh.
Saturday & Sunday: Theoretically an actual weekend. I'll have chores and practicing to catch up on, but hope to also do a little thrifting, gardening, and cooking. The usual.
