Count This Motha'

The retail version of spring cleaning, inventory, has been kicking my ass at work. The amount of bizarre, useless junk that accumulates I2I (that's inventory-to-inventory for you non-jargon speakers) is both stunning and overwhelming. All those things you've been putting off for 12 months are finally calling, and they've decided its payback time.

I've been digging through piles and piles of loose shoes trying to find mated pairs. Once I find two shoes that are mates, the next step is to ID them as accurately as possible - a difficult task considering many of these items are not current and we have no record of owning them. After the merchandise has been ID'd I have to make a scannable barcode ticket.

Luckily, we don't actually take the count ourselves. We use an outsourced inventory agency to actually count the items. But on top of resolving those pesky mis-mates, I also have to clean up all the stockrooms as the inventory service is notorious for hiring a mostly less than competent workforce.

Every time this year, all the sales managers freak out. Often there are severe breakdowns, sometimes even resulting in tears depending on how well prepared said manager's area is. After the freaking out, there is a noticeable shift to a more fatalist "what will be will be" mentality, which lasts until about 12 hours before the actual count. From that point forward, the official position is "Fuck it."

No breakdowns here though. I'm in good shape. The count doesn't happen until Sunday night, and I've finished most of my tasks. There's still one day for things to go horribly wrong though. Keep your fingers crossed.