Wall Drug Adventure 2020 - Day 18

   TGIF.  The weather turned marketable cooler overnight.  I woke up to around 54 degrees and when I walked into work it was about 67 degrees.  A very nice day and I would love having this temperature 365 days a year.  I think for the next 4 days we will be having relatively cool temperatures.

  I got into work at 11AM and it was fairly busy.  A lot busier in our area than it has been for a while.  I think when Pauline went on her lunch break I sold 7 or 8 pairs of moccasins in a half hour.  When she got back I told her I was done for the day as I could not do better than that.  She said, "Get back to work." She is such a slave driver.  :)  But in all reality it was a great day for moccasin sales and for belts and such.  Pauline was very happy.  Sometime during the day a store manager stopped by and I had a chance to talk to him about the store situation. He said in a normal tourist summer they would employ around 220 people.  Some full time year round and some temporary workers.  He said right now the store has only around 105 employees.  This is rather disturbing on two fronts.  One is that some people are not coming to be employed.  Secondly that less than half of normal employees can take care of the reduce amount of tourists coming in.  Gina, who works in the next store to mine, said that normally they would have 3 people working in each section.  That means in my small area of belts and moccasins, there would have been three employees running the register (as we only have one) and helping customers.  That would be very crowded.  Speaking of crowded.  Today the store was packed with strollers.  Big long ones and double side-by-side ones.    It was getting very hard to move in the store when multiple tourists were maneuvering their strollers around.  Some had kids and some had dogs.  As the picture shows below of one dog in a stroller.  I have nothing against strollers but there needs to be some common sense in that if the space in a store is at a premium, maybe one person just needs to keep the stroller outside of the store and let the other go in to shop.  Also strollers with twins side by side can barely make it through a doorway, let alone maneuver around a store with limited isle-ways.  Just a little public service announcement.  The manager I talked to indicated that the store sales were increasing and that this week they had some very promising days.  So maybe the store will do OK in the coming weeks or months.  They just need to get some workers to come back.

   By the way did I ever tell you I have to wear a mask all day.  I really hate it and boy am I ever glad to get that off when the day is over or I am on break. 

   On a side note I have heard from my friends at the Yellowstone store that things are not going well for the parent company Delaware North.  You see the company has many stores and venues that are shut down because of the virus.  They have furloughed quite a few employees, many of the middle management at Yellowstone.  Because of the financial hit they are taking some employees may not be coming back.  Delaware North is being tested financially right now and some at the store seem to be worried about how things will shake out.  I guess I am lucky I am working at Wall Drug this summer as the Yellowstone store is very understaffed and now they have this financial test hanging over their heads.  I will be keeping in touch with them over my contract as I worry about my friends and former co-workers.

   Well tomorrow is my first day off and I think I will get laundry done and then head to Custer State Park to try to drive the loop and to hike a little.  Take care you all and please stay safe.  Thanks for reading.

One of several dogs that get pushed around in a stroller.

The Dog-of-the-Day a Shepard Poodle mix.  Isn't he one unusual looking dog.  Very friendly though.