So, there's this customer at work that we all try to avoid as soon as we HEAR her. She's a senior (don't get me wrong, I like seniors), usually wears all one color and is loud - both spoken and what she wears.
She EXPECTS that she have one on one service, EVEN if it's busy. But, she rarely buys and if she does, she'll return it the next day. She's always at the Bay and most of the associates know her. When she puts items on hold, she gives her business card - fashion co-ordinator! If you saw her, you would know why this is funny. Recently, my friend nicknamed her Hollywood. Probably because she's so glitzy.
Tuesday was seniors day. While I was moving stock around in the back, I heard her. One of the associates came in the back and I asked her how it was going. She said that Hollywood doesn't want to be called a Senior...she wants to be called a Zoomer! What the heck is a Zoomer????
Should I now ask a customer when they are ready to pay, "Do you qualify for the zoomer's discount?"
It's always an adventure in Ladies Shoes!
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Monday, August 04, 2008
A Little Bit of Winter in Brazil
Penguins wash up closer to equator in Brazil, wildlife experts say
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazilian wildlife authorities say penguins from frigid waters near the bottom of the world are washing up closer to the equator than ever before.
A spokesman for Brazil's federal environmental agency says about 300 penguins have been found dead or alive in recent days along the coast of Bahia state. The area, close to the equator, is better known for sunbathers in bikinis than for seabirds native to Antarctica and Patagonia.
Biologists believe stronger-than-usual ocean currents have pulled the birds north.
Others suggest the increase might be due to overfishing near Patagonia and Antarctica that has forced the penguins to swim further in search of food.
Temperatures in the current Southern Hemisphere winter are in the low 20s Celsius.
"This is unheard of. There have even been reports of penguins washing up as far as Aracaju," Adelson Cerqueira Silva said, referring to a beachside state capital even closer to the equator.
Silva said the environmental authority was receiving hundreds of phone calls reporting penguin sightings.
"We're telling people if the penguins don't appear to be injured or sick to leave them alone so they can swim back," Silva said in telephone interview from the Bahia state capital of Salvador.
Rescued penguins have swamped a triage centre for rescued birds, and Silva said about 90 of the birds found alive have since died.
Penguins have been sweeping up on Brazilian shores in ever greater numbers this year, for reasons that are not entirely clear.
While penguins commonly wash up as far north as Rio de Janeiro state in July and August - hundreds have done so this year. Bahia is roughly 1,200 kilometres northeast of Rio.
P. Dee Boersma, a conservation biologist at the University of Washington who works with penguins in Argentina, said that while she has heard of penguins occasionally washing up as far north as Bahia, the numbers washing up this year are extremely high.
"The last time that you got a lot of penguins was in 2000, mostly in Rio but some further north. That year the sea surface temperature was a degree lower than the 30-year average so the penguins just keep swimming in search of food without noticing where they're going," said Boersma in a telephone interview from Seattle.
She also said overfishing near Patagonia and Antarctica could be a factor. In the past decade, penguins have had to swim an average of 60 kilometres further north to find food, Boersma said.
The majority of penguins turning up are baby birds that have just left the nest and are least able to outswim the strong ocean currents.
Guess all I'll have to do is visit the beaches of Rio when I'm in Brazil if I ever get homesick!
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazilian wildlife authorities say penguins from frigid waters near the bottom of the world are washing up closer to the equator than ever before.
A spokesman for Brazil's federal environmental agency says about 300 penguins have been found dead or alive in recent days along the coast of Bahia state. The area, close to the equator, is better known for sunbathers in bikinis than for seabirds native to Antarctica and Patagonia.
Biologists believe stronger-than-usual ocean currents have pulled the birds north.
Others suggest the increase might be due to overfishing near Patagonia and Antarctica that has forced the penguins to swim further in search of food.
Temperatures in the current Southern Hemisphere winter are in the low 20s Celsius.
"This is unheard of. There have even been reports of penguins washing up as far as Aracaju," Adelson Cerqueira Silva said, referring to a beachside state capital even closer to the equator.
Silva said the environmental authority was receiving hundreds of phone calls reporting penguin sightings.
"We're telling people if the penguins don't appear to be injured or sick to leave them alone so they can swim back," Silva said in telephone interview from the Bahia state capital of Salvador.
Rescued penguins have swamped a triage centre for rescued birds, and Silva said about 90 of the birds found alive have since died.
Penguins have been sweeping up on Brazilian shores in ever greater numbers this year, for reasons that are not entirely clear.
While penguins commonly wash up as far north as Rio de Janeiro state in July and August - hundreds have done so this year. Bahia is roughly 1,200 kilometres northeast of Rio.
P. Dee Boersma, a conservation biologist at the University of Washington who works with penguins in Argentina, said that while she has heard of penguins occasionally washing up as far north as Bahia, the numbers washing up this year are extremely high.
"The last time that you got a lot of penguins was in 2000, mostly in Rio but some further north. That year the sea surface temperature was a degree lower than the 30-year average so the penguins just keep swimming in search of food without noticing where they're going," said Boersma in a telephone interview from Seattle.
She also said overfishing near Patagonia and Antarctica could be a factor. In the past decade, penguins have had to swim an average of 60 kilometres further north to find food, Boersma said.
The majority of penguins turning up are baby birds that have just left the nest and are least able to outswim the strong ocean currents.
Guess all I'll have to do is visit the beaches of Rio when I'm in Brazil if I ever get homesick!
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