Our pre-Valentine's Day palpitation is the certain arrival of our January Seconds Sale this Saturday in Madrona. After witnessing so many of our sales...this will be my 9th... the anticipation is ticklish and butterfly inducing, in a good way. There is always a flood of emails and phone calls that range from desperation to elation. One call yesterday was from a customer pleading her case for early entry to the sale. She has wrist surgery on Friday, recovery on Saturday and time to shop for seconds prior to the sale (today.) Painfully, I had to explain that the seconds are hermetically sealed until Saturday at 10 am when the floodgates open to shoppers. Part of the Sale aura is that seconds are untouchable until Sale day. Difficult, yet somehow magical.
Elation about the sale came in a series of email exchanges that I had with the lovely Courtney Lee. For much of our exchange, Courtney was seeking sale tips or as I like to reference...'Seconds Sale Rules of Engagement.' What emerged from her queries is the story behind her seconds quest. She will offer them as gifts to friends in New Zealand. Courtney shared this:
"...the person we are visiting in New Zealand, we met while he was here getting a test treatment for a rare form of acute Myloid Leukemia through Fred Hutch. He was here until October when he was allowed to return to New Zealand. He is still undergoing chemo to keep himself clear, but it is looking really positive for him right now. He saw glassybaby at our homes and really thought his wife would enjoy them, so we are bringing them as housewarming gifts. I just thought I would share how we came to the idea of bringing glassybaby half way around the world to another cancer survivor! See you all in the line up on the 23rd:)"
This is wonderful and heartwarming and I learned that Courtney plans upon scoring a kool dozen for her new found friends in New Zealand... She is our favorite courier to date.
End note. Preparing for the sale is an earnest endeavor. Scores of customers count on our organization. We even have a line manager at the sale and always an IT expert at the ready...in case of the rare, Point of Sale...crash...heaven forbid. My sale preparation includes gathering newspapers for wrapping seconds and lighters for lighting seconds. This always raises eyebrows at the store of my gathering. This time as my store cart held dozens of newspapers and dozens of large Bic barbeque lighters, the smiling, extrovert, woman in line before me said something like: 'Did you forget the kerosene? Should I be worried about you?' Hilarious. I learned with a little more banter that she adores glassybaby and adorns her prize winning home with them. Small...wonderful world. She was off to see Steve Earle in Vancouver...missing the sale with the most understandable superseding event.
End, end note...every day this week...I entered our office sanctuary and by rote...begged the question to Ryan, our Production Manager: "Want to go grab coffee?" Every day of this week she sweetly declined: " I can't...I am cleansing." Day after day...I forgot...and tortured her with my caffeinated question...today we shared our quotidian exodus to our coffee watering hole and all is well...and she is cleansed.
Until Next Time, Nicola
