"It's my first day"

So yesterday was the first day of my interim managerial duties, and to say that it was a tad rocky was an understatement. My old manager had understaffed us, so we had two less people than we were used to because no one was working a swing shift and by 11 am we were totally screwed for staff. Then one of the three girls who was supposed to be closing just didn't show up for her shift and my persistent calls to her cell phone went unreturned.

I took it to mean that she's quitting becasue she's called in sick for the last of her 3 or 4 shifts. So I made an executive decision and changed the schedule by calling in one of the other girls to work some of her shifts.

I was concerned that a customer that I wouldn't allow to return shoes (we're an exchange or store credit kind of store anyways) was simply going to take her shoes back and whip them at me as she left, so I was pleasantly surprised when she left without incident.

I've also taken to making executive decisions about some accessories we have at work that I'd just like to get rid of, so if you need a belt, and you're not that picky about what it looks like, I can sort of hook you up.

Because it was so busy all day, I could barely go for a break, let alone take an extended one to watch the Cheyenne Kimball performance in the mall.

...and to top it all off, whenever we weren't being bombarded by customers, we were unpacking boxes and boxes of fall WESC, Matix and DVS clothing.

I like it being busy because it means sales are going up and it will seem like I'm doing a good job motivating people when it's simply coincidentaly that my managerial stint coincides with back-to-school shopping season, but it also means that there aren't nearly enough hours in the day to get to everything we need to do.