i think Charlotte is a great friend.

So I have 2 jobs. I have worked at the restaurant Magleby's Fresh for over 3 years now. I am entering my 4th school year at "the fresh." And i really do love it. I have great co-workers, my General Manager is chill, I get free food on my shift and discounts when i'm not working, I get to see LDS celebs like David Osmond, Harvey Unga, & Susan W. Tanner [among others], and it gives me extra brownie points with people [mostly because they want to use me to get cheaper french toast.] Almost a year ago I decided I needed to get a 2nd job if I was going to pay more of my bills and not worry about money as much. So Heavenly Father led me to the right place at the right time...Charlotte Russe.

Now I have loved Charlotte since I was a freshman. There wasn't a store near me on the east coast so I discovered it when i came out for school. I fell in love with their products! Whenever I had extra money to spare i would go to Charlotte 90% of the time. So Charlotte was where I applied. It was right before Thanksgiving so thankfully they were about to hire on more people for the Holiday season. I still remember walking on campus between classes and getting a phone call from one of my managers, Tiffanee, to ask if I could come in that day for an interview. I was so nervous! Karly was actually in town and took me over to the mall. My interview went well and shortly after Tiff called and offered me the job. My first day of training was the day before Thanksgiving and my first real day was yes...black Friday! I was scared out of my mind...I didn't know what I was doing! I've only ever worked on boats, in a restaurant, or performing. So if I could've dressed up as a mermaid to offer customers a stuffed breadstick on a sunset cruise I would've been set. But no....retail is a new kind of beast. It's a new kind of fun though. I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Before I left for Christmas break I felt comfortable enough.

I returned 2 weeks later after the break and really got in to it. Thankfully they asked me to stay after the Holiday season and I became a regular member of the staff. I fell in love with my managers: Janelle [store manager], Amy, Tiffanee, Crystal, & Emily. I looked forward to work mostly so I could hang out with them! Janelle would always schedule me and Christina on Friday nights so we could have pretzel fridays! If we beat the amount we made on that same day the previous year she would buy us pretzels from PretzelMaker. We would be selling machines so she'd have to pay up! Janelle was also great because she would sing to us in the headsets...always a pleasure. Amy is just straight up. She will be a snot if she needs to be and it cracks me up! She's so great though and we have the best time dancing at the registers together. Tiffy is the cutest thing. Ever. I admire her a lot and she and I had many talks where she gave me a spiritual boost when I needed it during my hard times. Crystal and Emily are fabulous too and I seriously love working with them.

Janelle, Tiffanee, & Amy

Now for some technical terms. ADS [Average Dollar Sale] UPT [Units Per Transaction] LY [Last Year] We have the goals of keeping our ADS at $30, UPT at a 4, and we always want to do better than LY. What our ADS and UPT are for those hours reflect those working...both managers and associates. If we're doing our job as in telling people about the promotions, adding on items in the fitting rooms and at the register, and just showing interest in the customers then our ADS is usually higher. It is the most exciting thing when our ADS and UPT are so high! And the opposite effect is not quite as fun. But I can still remember the day we got the reports in and under associates with the highest ADS in the region was my name! Kaycie - Store 320! YES! That is motivation enough to work hard to get your name on there again and again, week after week!

However, I think the real reason I enjoy this job so much is not getting my name on a report, but just loving fashion. I really do love it. It brings me joy. I love getting shipment in and seeing what the latest is. But my seriously favorite thing in the world is when people want me to shop for them! OH MY GOSH I LOVE IT! It is the greatest thing when someone walks in and says, "I don't know what I want. Can you help me?" Oh gracious...can I ever?! So from there I get to pick out all these outfits for the body shape and what their personality is. And the most rewarding thing is when they walk out of the fitting room and they love what they have on. They feel confident with their appearance. Like I'm smiling just thinking about it! And then the best is when they don't care how much money they're going to spend and they walk out of there with a new wardrobe that I personally picked out! Now there are definitely the days where I think if I have to do any more "go-backs" [putting clothes back from the fitting rooms] I'm going to throw up or if people can't learn to pick up the clothes they clearly just dropped and didn't bother to pick up I will just chuck it at them but...that's ok because...

I have a love affair with Charlotte. I've falling hard. And I'm never falling out of love.