I literally never post in Smogoff, but with the number of times I just go off about how much I love my workplace to friends, I figured it'd be neat to bring that here as well :^)
To keep things short, sweet, and simple, this thread is simply to talk about my love for my job and hopefully spread the joy to others.
Below you'll find the basic info such as where I work, what exactly my job is, why I love it so much, and more, but if you have any questions along the way, please don't hesitate to ask as I'll always be more than happy to answer :)
As is probably obvious, I work in a candy store known as Lolli & Pops. The store originally took a retro aesthetic approach (think 50s style), but has since been shifting towards a more colorful and modern aesthetic approach.
I'm what the company refers to as a "Service Leader." This roughly translates to simply the immediate position under Boss/Manager/etc. to go into specifics, I do the following:
Sweep
Mop
Price
Restock
Handle Transactions
Customer Service
Boxing/Bagging Up Truffles/Macarons for Guests
Keeping Track of Finances and Profit
Closing and Opening the Store
Sweep
Mop
Price
Restock
Handle Transactions
Customer Service
Boxing/Bagging Up Truffles/Macarons for Guests
Keeping Track of Finances and Profit
Closing and Opening the Store
This reasoning may seem horribly cliche, so if you're not into innocent feelgood stuff, feel free to skip.
I don't know about others, but the idea of a candy store just seems so innocent and pure to me. Candy itself is great at making people feel happy and always pleasant to enjoy when it's around. Think about it: what do you normally gift people for Valentine's Day? What do you normally gift people for Easter? What do you sometimes gift someone for their birthday? What about Christmas? A Wedding? A party? In most cases, a safe bet is always going to be candy. The number of times I see people come in and either get blown away by how much candy is available to them or hear them say "I remember these!" or "Wow, look at all of this." always makes work that much more satisfying. Making people happy makes me happy by extension, so it's pretty rewarding.
Not only that, but it's literally a part of the job to taste every last candy in the store. Obviously not all at once, but it's always entertaining being able to try new things and broaden your horizons to new flavors. Like before I worked, I had no idea what a macaron was. I didn't know what constituted as "super sour", I didn't know what the heck meringue was, and I certainly wasn't aware of... How greatly TikTok trends affect business :I (the number of times I've had kids either call the store or ask me at face value if we have Jelly Fruits, or more recently, Slime Lickers, is actually nuts).
Furthermore, I have to say, the people I work with are amazing. All too often I hear other people say they hate their coworkers or they're just generally unhappy with their work environment, and honestly, maybe I'm just completely oblivious, but the people I work with are essentially like a second family. Supportive, understanding, but still manage a level of maturity? Yup.
Overall, literally could not ask for a better job right about now.
I don't know about others, but the idea of a candy store just seems so innocent and pure to me. Candy itself is great at making people feel happy and always pleasant to enjoy when it's around. Think about it: what do you normally gift people for Valentine's Day? What do you normally gift people for Easter? What do you sometimes gift someone for their birthday? What about Christmas? A Wedding? A party? In most cases, a safe bet is always going to be candy. The number of times I see people come in and either get blown away by how much candy is available to them or hear them say "I remember these!" or "Wow, look at all of this." always makes work that much more satisfying. Making people happy makes me happy by extension, so it's pretty rewarding.
Not only that, but it's literally a part of the job to taste every last candy in the store. Obviously not all at once, but it's always entertaining being able to try new things and broaden your horizons to new flavors. Like before I worked, I had no idea what a macaron was. I didn't know what constituted as "super sour", I didn't know what the heck meringue was, and I certainly wasn't aware of... How greatly TikTok trends affect business :I (the number of times I've had kids either call the store or ask me at face value if we have Jelly Fruits, or more recently, Slime Lickers, is actually nuts).
Furthermore, I have to say, the people I work with are amazing. All too often I hear other people say they hate their coworkers or they're just generally unhappy with their work environment, and honestly, maybe I'm just completely oblivious, but the people I work with are essentially like a second family. Supportive, understanding, but still manage a level of maturity? Yup.
Overall, literally could not ask for a better job right about now.
Below here are basically FAQs that Guests normally ask me every now and again, or questions I just enjoy answering :^)
This is always tough to answer. It depends on whether we're specifying chocolates, gummies, or both. Favorite chocolate is definitely either nonpareils or milk chocolate English toffee with sea salt. Favorite gummy has to go to either Beeps Bright Bears or our Mai Tai Boozy Bears. Between gummies and chocolates, I probably prefer the gummies, not gonna lie.
Quite a bit. We have truffles and macarons right as you walk in, then we have our brand stuff to the right wall which consists of gummy bear tubes, chocolate tiles, chocolate bars, candy popcorn, rice crispy cakes, and cotton candy. Then if you stay to the right going forward we have our selection of milk and dark chocolates, and along the wall and on a table we have candy from different parts of Europe (though realistically, it's pretty expensive...). On the opposite wall, we have our old-timey candies such as jawbreakers and licorice laces. If you stay on the left and keep going we have an entire wall dedicated to sour packaged candies, like spray candies and such. Go past that section and stay to the right, we have our gummies and along the wall, we have both Spanish and Asian candies, and towards the back of the store we have quite the assortment of gummies bears, and if you stayed to the left, we have our sour selection of candies.
Nope. They simply have the flavoring of their respective drink.
Nope. We do happen to have a big soda case with different drinks.
We do! We also have Vegan and Allergen Friendly stuff if that's what you'd prefer.
Weirdly enough, as part of work protocol, our customers are not, well, customers. They're Guests. It's meant to be friendlier and convey a sense of being welcome and good nature; basically, make the Guest feel at home, rather than simply shopping and spending money and that's it.
Quite a noticeable difference:
- A Macaron is a small burger-shaped cookie that comes in a variety of different flavors, colors, and designs.
- A Macaroon is a small gum-drop-shaped dessert mainly made of and with coconut and assorted nuts.
I'd provide images here, but every time I try to, the op borks, unfort.
- A Macaron is a small burger-shaped cookie that comes in a variety of different flavors, colors, and designs.
- A Macaroon is a small gum-drop-shaped dessert mainly made of and with coconut and assorted nuts.
I'd provide images here, but every time I try to, the op borks, unfort.
To be quite honest, I've only seen one instance which was... Awkward as hell to say the least. He came in, asked how to scoop candy (we have many bins filled with candy, each bin having a scoop to go with it. Basically, Guests can scoop their own candy and put it into what we call a "bulk bag," but since covid, we've required Guests to wear a pair of gloves before scooping), and when we explained how covid had affected the process of obtaining the candy, this man legit threw his arms into the air and began screaming how covid was a complete hoax and how he was outraged that he couldn't obtain his candy the normal way, and threw a few curses our way before storming off. Keep in mind, others were in the store when this dude decided to rampage, but I had to ask my coworker if we were on a hidden camera show because of how bizarre and insane the instance was. Haven't had any other issues since then though.
I can double check tonight considering I go in in a couple of hours, lol
