Deliveries…

Good evening from Butler & Bailey Market.

It is Wednesday evening, and “all is quiet on the western front”.  This week seems to be going a little better than last week.  I guess when I say better, it is more like it has been more orderly.  When you are obsessive compulsive like I am, you like order.  I am pretty good at taking chaos, processing it, formulating a plan to deal with it, which usually produces order, but I can spin out pretty quickly when my plan gets screwed up due to yet more chaos.  I have spun out so many times over the last couple of weeks my brain is tired and dizzy.

I do think everyone is starting to acclimate to the new normal.  Customers have gotten used to not finding everything they want.  They are also adjusting well to our new store hours.  We started our at-risk hours last Saturday, and I kind of got aggravated about how that went, but we did it again yesterday and it went a lot better.  We will continue to do this every Tuesday and Saturday, from 8am to 9am, until further notice.  I also noticed yesterday that the number of shoppers during the day was more back to normal instead of being overrun for hours on end.
Fortunately, we were closed at the store today, which should have meant a day off for all of us.  That didn’t happen.  Our Monday morning truck finally showed up about 8 o’clock last night, so many of us came to work today to stock the shelves with this load of merchandise.
I actually kind of enjoyed today.  One, you can get a lot done quickly (and orderly) when you are not open for business.  Secondly, it reminded me of when we first started out at the store.  We probably had a total staff of ten to twelve people, so all of us had to pitch in on every task at the store.  We were not making any money, but we were a very close-knit group.  Now our business is more successful, and we have between fifty and sixty people on staff, but I don’t get to work as closely with all of them as I once did.  I miss that aspect.
    

As I mentioned earlier, we did receive a truck, so tomorrow we will start out with fuller shelves.  We actually even got SOME paper products in.  We will continue to keep limits on certain items in the store like paper products, so please be aware of this.  We are in good shape in the meat department, as well as the deli and bakery.  The produce department remains spotty, but we do have a good supply of the basics.
      

Our next truck is due tomorrow morning, so I am going to predict that it will show up around Saturday night, which means we will probably be in the store our next day off (Sunday) to put it on the shelves.  I think I may try to trick the grocery gods and take tomorrow or Friday off?
    

Thanks for your patience, kindness, and understanding throughout this ordeal.  I and we really appreciate it!
     

I will do my best to keep you updated, and thanks for letting us be a part of your community!

Tom Butler