Make It Work.

As of late, I've fallen down the dangerous rabbit hole of late night binge watching Project Runway on Hulu.  And look, I don't even really know how to sew, so whether or not someone is able to get the invisible zipper or the pleats done correctly is completely beyond my skill set.  But I am completely compelled by watching a whole group of talented people COMPLETELY FREAK OUT as they try to finish an entire outfit in 10 hours knowing that Michael Kors and Heidi Klum will be there to critique the final results.  There is crying, there is swearing, there is drama, there is questioning of one's purpose and existence, and there is joy when a contestant is able to "make it work."  (In short, it is PJP this time of year...minus the runway and the $100,000 grand prize. And while I only took one semester of psychology in college, I'm self-aware enough to know that I'm basically distracting myself from my own concerns about Thanksgiving by watching other people survive high pressure situations while I lay on my couch with our dog and watch television.  I'm sure this is how all highly successful people got their start.  (Though, when I eventually write a book, I'm totally shouting out to Tim Gunn in the acknowledgements for being so nice to the contestants that I sometimes cry when I'm already feeling on the hinge.)

Yesterday afternoon, Behind-The-Scenes-Tech-Guru Jason, Jeanne, and I were reviewing the orders for next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week.  And after seeing those numbers, we decided that choosing a hard deadline to close the ordering system was definitely in order.  If you recall, last year we left the ordering system open right to the day before the initial round of pickups.  And in retrospect, that was a piece of the puzzle that worked against us during pickups for Thanksgiving 2k14.  Essentially it caused us to not have complete data (Behind-The-Scenes-Tech-Guru Jason would make reports and then we would take an extra order here and there and it changed all the totals.)

Correct data is an essential part of this working seamlessly this year.  To that end, we are closing to orders at 6 pm on Wednesday, November 18th.  (Even if someone cries or tells me that they now hate us and they will never come to our store again.)  (But I will obsess about that for the next 10 months at least, just so we are all clear.)

Last year, one of my very first (of many) epic meltdowns came when our pickup reports were completely out of order.  The staples would fall out and within the hour, you might find page two on the front counter and page 16 on the back boxing table.  It almost sent me over the edge.  This year, I'll be going straight to Staples or Office Depot or any one of those other office supply/copy center stores and having multiple copies of the pickup report spiral bound.  And possibly tattooed on my body.

So, if you haven't ordered yet, but you want your name in that report, be sure to stop by the store or call us or order online by Wednesday at 6 pm.  I think it is what Tim wants for us both.