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Darlene was really worked up during the drive home hour yesterday. Normally her tirades are limited to a particular vendor who is notorious for showing up during lunch hours or a less than stellar employee who went MIA again. Yesterday’s issue de jour involved changing over her POS controllers for PCI compliance and, to make sure nothing got mucked up, she was planning to spend the night with the POS vendors.
Yes, our favorite supervisor, and self-diagnosed control freak, was planning on spending the next 12 hours at the store just to be sure all went well with the equipment jocks.
To prepare for the long night ahead, Darlene had reached for the new $3.99 twin pack of “Stacker2 6-HourPower” shots just before I had arrived. Anticipating the long 12 hours ahead, you guessed it, she downed both 6-hr shots at once. The tag line on the bottle says “Feel it Fast, Energy that Lasts, No Crash”. They aren’t lying. It’s true. Darlene was as jittery as Tiger Woods leaving a voice mail for his bimbo(s) while ducking his golf-club wielding wife.
What lessons did we learn this week, folks?
1. You don’t have to work 24/7 when you trust and surround yourself with reliable equipment vendors and sound software solution providers (like CMIsolutions…cough, cough.).
2. Sometimes a 5 hour energy boost just won’t cut it. However, don’t be gluttonous. One shot at a time, people. One shot at a time.
3. Keep your golf clubs locked up with your fire arms.
Thanks to all of those who responded to our last blog: THINK PINK! at NACS. This month is not only about gearing up for NACS and attempting to navigate through a shaky economy, but also about creating awareness for a disease that affects millions of people worldwide each year: breast cancer. We heard from several of you regarding your participation in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
- CMI's marketing manager, Stephanie Flury, ran along with 14,000 others in Charlotte, NC on October 3rd.
- Jan Underwood, controller of Davis Oil in Georgia, notes she will be running in Macon, GA on October 24th.
- Jerri Smith of PF & E will be running in Austin, TX on November 1st. Jerri has been running in this event for 10 years! She and a group in her office wear PINK to work every Friday during October as a way to raise awareness.
This is just a small sample of how the Petroleum Distributing and Retail industry employees, retailers and suppliers always step up to back a worthy cause no matter the economic climate.
Again, kudos to all of the runners involved in the cause. See you at NACS next week and remember to THINK PINK!
After I finished my workout on Monday evening, I went to my gym’s snack bar to pick up my usual dose of Muscle Milk. Of course, they were out. Luckily, my favorite convenience store was on my way home and I knew the store would always be stocked with Bud Light. As I headed toward the beer cave, the store manager, Darlene, (obviously not used to seeing me in shorts) let out a catcall. We started talking about fitness and she mentioned that she has spent the last six weeks training (and fundraising) for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k coming up this Saturday. Not only has Darlene involved herself in such a worthy cause, she also recruited her sister and two co-workers to join as well!
As October officially kicks into full swing today, we at CMI are getting pretty darn excited about what this month will bring. Many of you, like Darlene, will be participating in fundraising and public awareness activities for Breast Cancer Awareness month. We at CMI are doing our part as well.
We all have been affected by breast cancer either directly or indirectly…most likely more than once. This year CMI’s NACS theme is to THINK PINK!. We have purchased pink wristbands for distribution at NACS and they will be given to the first 1,000 visitors at our booth #3857 located in the technology pavilion. Stop by and pick up your wristband in honor of your mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, spouse, friend, co-worker, neighbor, and 1.3 million others diagnosed annually.
If any of your employees are walking, running, or otherwise participating in Breast Cancer Awareness this month and will not be able to visit us at NACS, let us know and we will mail them a wristband as we salute their effort to help find a cure!
I never know what to expect when I walk into my favorite convenience store. Take last week, for instance. I enter in and Darlene is hunched over the counter grasping a freshly scratched lottery ticket. Her eyes closed in prayer, she laments about losing another $10 to the State of North Carolina.
"Darlene," I said. "You're supposed to sell the tickets, not scratch the tickets!"
Laughing, she replied that a customer hit a winning $300 game card the day before and she was just trying her luck at winning the Mustang Fever $100,000 grand prize.
Speaking of the lottery, I asked if she had installed the latest version of CMI's PriceBook Manager with lottery reconciliation. I wanted to see if she had any questions or suggestions for enhancements. Darlene's eyes lit up like the sparkling headlights of her fantasy 'Stang as she praised how easy it was for her to now track lottery sales, end games, and activate new games. She loved how the store can now keep track of its lottery inventory in just a few minutes each day and how the online help screens and FAQs were really helpful in her understanding the system.
To those of you with the latest CMI upgrade, please take advantage of the lottery reconciliation enhancements recently made. You will hit the jackpot in time and efficiency!
Darlene was really worked up during the drive home hour yesterday. Normally her tirades are limited to a particular vendor who is notorious for showing up during lunch hours or a less than stellar employee who went MIA again. Yesterday’s issue de jour involved changing over her POS controllers for PCI compliance and, to make sure nothing got mucked up, she was planning to spend the night with the POS vendors. 
