Welcome to my beautiful new store!
As I wrote a few days back, I moved to Calgary, and one of the primary reasons was to help open this beautiful new Apple Store in a new expansion of Chinook Centre in Calgary. Although I can’t get too into detail about how the opening process works (it’s Apple, after all), I’ll talk a little about my experience and my thoughts about what it’s all meant for me.
After moving home to Calgary last week, I only had a day to settle in before starting work. It was interesting for me, because the whole new crew at Chinook could be neatly divided in half; transfers from the Market Mall location, and new people who had just trained together. and then there’s me. I’m glad I’m comfortable meeting new people, because it was definitely an experience, and I’m still learning names (I’m not very good with them, to be honest).
Anyways, after 6 days of hard work, we had a soft opening on Tuesday night for Chinook’s opening gala for their new expansion, which was… interesting. I thought it was pretty cool to see people at the Genius Bar, drinking. I would be willing to bet there aren’t too many Genius Bars that alcohol’s actually been consumed at, outside of Vegas. They tried for this whole classy feel to the event, with models at the stores, suits and cocktail dresses, etc; but I don’t think they counted on what I call “the open bar factor”. By 10, many guests were pretty inebriated. One highlight for me was looking at the dance floor with about 7 middle-aged people just hammered, dancing like idiots, and the catering and serving staff were watching, with expressions on their faces that just said, “wow.”
This morning, we had our official store opening, which, if you’ve ever been to an Apple Store opening or product launch, we always start with the warm welcome.
I’ve never gotten to do a warm welcome before (although I had been in one) so this was a really fun experience for me. It’s really part of the spirit of Apple I think, and I also think it’s a reason a lot of people come from a long ways away just for store openings around North America and around the world.
One thing that also went on over the last week was that in my role as a Back Of House Specialist, I actually came into the store as the only one in that role that wasn’t a new hire. So it’s been interesting for me, as I’ve tried to kind of take a leadership role with these new guys, and make my mark on the store and try and set a good example and standard. It’s interesting though, trying not to overstep my bounds, but at the same time, improve some things that I’ve seen and trying to make the store the best it can be.
Finally, one last part of my store is that the back room is actually up several flights of stairs, and going between there and the store floor is one of my primary roles, so today I got quite a workout. I was thinking about picking up a gym membership, but not anymore!
I pulled an 8 am-8 pm shift today though, and I’m pooped. So I’m going to hit the “create post” button and hit the sack and get ready for another round tomorrow. I’ve decided I’m going to get a jogging suit or something for my next shift. I’m taking the “runner” title seriously.
sorry for the boring post!
