Long lost Birdman

Blogging is like a diet, it never lasts unless you really change your lifestyle, or your born tendency to get exited about something for fifteen minutes. I'm still in retail but much has changed since 2009 and it's all about oil. I've never lived in a boom town before. It is disconcerting. Even as my pockets fill with cash I have an uneasy feeling. Change is the bastard we all avoid and money just means more bad habits. It is; however, now possible to get a decent cup of coffee and produce that does not look like it was retrieved out of a dumpster. It is also fun to sell the kind of items that I could not sell before: high end toys for men. I created a section in my store that is a public service for ladies. For so many years they have come in the store and said they can not think about what to get for their husbands. This blows me away. It is a no brainer: a remote control helicopter and a bottle of single malt. He will weep. He does not like the sweaters he gets. He is a simple stupid creature who wants nothing more than something to play with. It is good to be a man. I'm not known for my brilliant business sense, my partner does all the buying, but in this one instance I am a genius. And I am creating happiness, the mandate of all of us in retail, finding the gift that really makes an impact, that really shows you know and care. It has been a ton of fun and I get to fly the helicopters all over the store. So far I have knocked over a jewellery display that took a full afternoon to sort out and flown head on into the grandson's face but that turned out great. I can tell people no one will get really hurt, they will just cry for a little while. So we're doing better than surviving here. Cheers to all of you in the retail trenches and I'll try to post a little more often